Louisiana Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
Is it cruel and unusual punishment for a prison to not provide an extra pillow and mattress to an injured prisoner? According to Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, it is not. It is unsurprising that inmates often complain about mistreatment from prison officials. But what is required for a prison official’s conduct to be considered cruel and unusual punishment?
Amongst other things, the Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. U.S. Const. amend. VIII. Prisoners have a very high standard of proof when claiming that prison officials are guilty of such conduct. The prisoner must show that the prison official acted with “deliberate indifference to a prisoner’s serious medical needs, constituting an unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain.” Easter v. Powell, 467 F.3d 459, 463 (5th Cir. 2006).
In this case, Mr. Davis, an inmate at Avoyelles Bunkie Detention Center, was involved in an accident while traveling in an Avoyelles Parish Sheriff’s Office transport vehicle. The driver of the transport vehicle hit another vehicle while in reverse. Mr. Davis and the other inmates involved in the accident were taken to the hospital two hours after the accident occurred.
Decisiveness can be an excellent quality, especially in a judge. Court dockets are usually quite full and it can take a very long time for cases to be resolved. Whenever there is a confusion over which law to apply, however, patience is the greater virtue. In a lawsuit, lawyers will often request relief under various laws in hopes that one will bring success. In a recent case out of Venice, Louisiana, the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal reminded an Office of Workers’ Compensation Judge (“WCJ”) just how important patience is when issuing an order in a case with competing theories of recovery. 
Accidents in the workplace can rob one of the ability to work or even do simple daily tasks. The system of workers’ compensation exists to ensure that injured workers are compensated for their injuries. However, certain rules exist to ensure money is distributed efficiently. In a recent case out of Opelousas, the Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeal confronted the rules governing permanent or temporary disability status. 
Getting seriously injured on the job is always a terrible experience, but what if it is unclear for purposes of a lawsuit who you even work for? You know that someone owes you compensation for your injuries, but in this recent case out of Natchitoches Parish that “someone” may not be where your employment application was filed. 
“My neck, my back, my neck and my back” is a cliche that has been used in television shows and movies when someone gets hurt in an accident and likely tends to file a lawsuit. Although Caddo Parish, Louisiana woman, Ruth Toliver, may not have used the exact phrase, she did fall on the job and filed for workers’ compensation benefits. After receiving a workers’ compensation settlement, she filed a lawsuit to recover for additional injuries. But whether Ms. Toliver could recover twice proved another matter. 
Sometimes we are asked to do a task at work that we do not feel qualified to perform. We think things like, “Hey, that wasn’t in my job description.” Well, that’s essentially what happened to Mark Barto but, unfortunately, attempting to perform his assigned task resulted in a back injury that led Mr. Barto to file a lawsuit.
Employees can pit employers against each other just like children do with parents. If permission is limited by one person the employee/child will simply repeat their request to the other party. What an employee is permitted to do can be ambiguous. In a recent automobile accident case out of Shreveport however, the Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed that employer “permission” in Louisiana provides a wide berth to an employee and can result in unexpected liability. 
On the sea, a life jacket can save your life. In the courtroom, the life jacket that can save your case is provable and relevant facts. Seaman, Frank Glaze, recently found this to be true when a Louisiana Court dismissed his Jones Act personal injury case due to a lack of evidence.
An accident at the workplace is never fun, not for the employer, and certainly not for the employee. In addition to the difficulty of the injury itself, determining who pays for the medical treatment is often in dispute. Whether there is enough evidence to show that the accident actually caused the injury helps a judge decide if the employer is required to pay. This connection may also play into whether the payment will be limited to a $750 cap.
Over the last few years, we have all seen the videos of police arrest that seem to involve excessive methods. These videos stoke controversy and encourage a discussion on what constitutes “excessive force” during an arrest. Even with video evidence, the actions of the police and the arrestee are subject to multiple interpretations. The search for the truth becomes even harder when the arrest is not videoed and the participants all give different testimony on those events. The following case out of Shreveport Louisiana demonstrates how the Civil court system handles differing testimony on allegations of excessive force during an arrest.