Louisiana Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
Imagine buying land and then realizing that it was already occupied. What can the purchaser do when faced with this situation? What rights do the occupants of the purchased land have? Recently, the Third Circuit Court of Appeal for the State of Louisiana addressed these questions when deciding whether Saline Lakeshore, LLC (Saline Lakeshore) owned Horse Island after it purchased the property.
It all started in 2013 when Saline Lakeshore purchased Horse Island, which is land near the Saline Lake and Saline Bayou in Avoyelles Parish. At the time of the purchase, four individuals, Marlon Littleton, Buddy Cannon, Frank Morace, and Eric Morace, lived on the island in “camps.” These camps were housing structures which the four used to float to Horse Island. These houseboats were built in a way to float whenever Horse Island flooded, which was a frequent occurrence. When the island was not flooded, the four occupants would take care of the dry land by clearing and maintaining the camp yard. Additionally, the four occupants built docks, sheds, pavilions, roast pig cookers, fish skinning rocks, and water wells on the property. All of these improvements occurred prior to Saline Lakeshore purchasing Horse Island.
After buying the property, Saline Lakeshore sent Littleton, Cannon, and the Moraces a letter requesting that they remove themselves and their property from the island. Littleton and Cannon filed a possessory action against Saline Lakeshore, as did the Moraces. A possessory action is an action to stop the disturbance of property one possesses. To establish a possessory action, one must prove: 1) person had possession of the property, 2) the possession was uninterrupted for more than a year prior to disturbance, 3) the disturbance was a recognizable disturbance under Louisiana law, and 4) the action was instituted with a year of the disturbance. La. C.C.P art. 3658 (2016). The two separate actions were consolidated into one action for efficiency. Littleton, Cannon, and the Moraces then filed for summary judgment. The trial court granted the motion for summary judgment finding that the four occupants satisfied the requirements under Louisiana law. Summary judgment is when a trial court decides a case before it goes to trial. To obtain a summary judgment, both sides must agree on the material facts of the lawsuit. The trial court then makes the determination of the law, granting judgment to one side.
Sometimes procedural rules are overlooked as merely a peripheral aspect of a lawsuit. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Oftentimes you need to overcome numerous procedural hurdles just to reach the merits of a case. The following case illustrates the importance of procedure in the practice of law.
Many people own a gym membership but upwards of 80% of those people fail to regularly go to the gym. If you find yourself infrequently inside of a gym, it can seem like a strange place. There are many different machines and sometimes it isn’t so clear how to properly use those machines. Indeed, misuse of gym equipment can result in serious injury. So what sort of duty does a gym owe to its members? The following case may help shed some light on this issue. 
Louisiana has laws in place requiring drivers to carry car insurance. However, insurance policies are not uniform and some policies may contain ambiguities or be silent altogether on specific issues. The following case illustrates such a scenario.
When you let a friend borrow your car you probably don’t give much thought to who’s insurance policy would cover any potential accidents. Insurance policies contain many loopholes that can exclude coverage when an accident occurs. The following case out of Lafayette, discusses the problems that can arise when a friendly gesture turns into a legal nightmare for the parties involved.
In Louisiana, a victim of fraud can recover actual damages resulting from the fraud, treble damages up to three times the amount of actual damages, and reasonable attorneys fees and costs. However, this potentially large recovery is barred by a peremptory period if the defrauded party doesn’t bring the lawsuit within one year. In certain cases, the issue of when exactly this one-year timer starts can be dispositive. The following case dealing with two real estate transactions illustrates the point. 
Wrongful demolition is a cause of action rarely invoked because the events giving rise to such an action rarely occur. Essentially, a claim for wrongful demolition arises when a plaintiff’s property was mistakenly or wrongfully demolished. In the following case, Morgan Moss found himself in the unique position of asserting such a claim against the town of Rayville, Louisiana. See 
Medical malpractice can be a nuanced area of the law and good lawyers rely on the facts of a case coupled with their knowledge of the law and expert opinions to adequately perform their jobs. The following case illustrates that a competent legal team can make the most out of a tragic situation by obtaining some measure of justice and relief for a victim via compensation from the responsible parties.
A lawsuit out of Lafayette Parish demonstrates how Louisiana law allocates workers’ compensation benefits. To qualify for benefits, an employee must be injured during the course of employment. Temporary Total Disability (TTD) Benefits are paid while the employee is unable to work due to an injury. Supplemental Earnings Benefits (“SEB”) are a bit more technical. SEBs are paid when the injured worker has reached “maximum medical improvement” and is no longer eligible for TTD, but is incapable of earning 90% of pre-accident wages. 
When you get hurt on the job, it is common to seek workers’ compensation benefits to help with the costs of your injury. However, the employer will likely at some point seek to diminish or cease payment altogether. In a recent case out of the Parish of Calcasieu, we learn just how far an employer must go in helping a former employee find a replacement job before reducing benefits.