William Micheál Furman was convicted by a jury of conspiracy to violate federal laws including bank fraud and money laundering, as well as attempted bank fraud, and his conviction and sentence were affirmed on direct appeal. Years later, Furman filed a series of pro se motions seeking to discharge all charges and liens, expunge the records of the proceeding, obtain military back pay and benefits from 1991 onward, recognize a trust as tax exempt, and declare his property exempt from taxes, along with related requests for default and compulsion of the clerk. The court denied all requested relief, holding that the government had timely responded, that the district court lacked jurisdiction over back pay claims exceeding $10,000, and that no affirmative rights violation or other basis existed to support expungement or the remaining demands.
The case involved a contract dispute over the administration of Project Renaissance, a federally funded home repair program for low-income residents, where plaintiffs Hibernia and HCDC alleged that defendant U.S.E. and its employee Marquette improperly disbursed loan and grant funds, leading to non-reimbursement by the City of New Orleans. Plaintiffs sued U.S.E., Marquette, and insurer Columbia in Louisiana state court, and defendants removed the action to federal court on diversity grounds. Plaintiffs moved to remand, arguing that removal was untimely and that Marquette's presence destroyed diversity. The court denied the motion to remand, holding that the thirty-day removal period began upon Columbia's actual receipt of the petition rather than service on the Secretary of State, making removal timely, and that Marquette was fraudulently joined because Louisiana law does not recognize a personal negligence claim against an employee for acts performed in a commercial, contractual context on behalf of the employer.
In this maritime employment dispute, plaintiff Darren Myles sued his former employer, Sabine Transportation Company, alleging that a false-positive drug test led to his termination; he asserted claims for wrongful discharge under general maritime law, negligence and medical malpractice, violation of shipping articles, and related state-law claims. The court granted summary judgment to the defendant on the wrongful discharge claim, which it found had been abandoned in favor of other theories, and on the shipping articles claim because the statutory remedy did not apply to a discharge occurring after the voyage began and after one month’s wages had been earned. It denied summary judgment on the negligence and medical malpractice claims, finding them adequately pled under federal notice-pleading standards and potentially viable under general maritime law precedents imposing a duty on shipowners to provide competent medical care, and it rejected the Labor Management Relations Act preemption argument because the defendant offered no evidence that Myles was a union member covered by a collective bargaining agreement. The ruling turned on the liberal pleading rules, the specific language of 46 U.S.C. § 10313, and the absence of evidence supporting preemption.
The case involved a female firefighter who alleged that her employer, the St. Tammany Parish Fire Protection District, denied her requests for half-days off to attend classes while granting similar accommodations to male colleagues for school and personal reasons, prompting her resignation; she was later offered reinstatement with restored seniority and scheduling flexibility but claimed the district failed to honor the agreement and that she faced threats and a proposed transfer. The plaintiff sued the district and various officials for sex discrimination under Title VII, constructive discharge, procedural due process violations, and conspiracy. On the defendants' motion to dismiss, the court granted the motion in part and denied it in part, finding that the allegations sufficiently stated claims for discrimination and constructive discharge to survive dismissal but dismissing other claims such as conspiracy and due process for failure to meet pleading requirements or legal standards.
This case concerns whether Scottsdale Insurance Co. must provide coverage under an insurance policy to Space Walk Sales, Inc. for personal injury claims brought by Marjorie Harris, amid complications from similarly named competing companies and a family dispute. Scottsdale moved for summary judgment, arguing that Space Walk Sales failed to provide timely notice of the claims as required by the policy and that products liability coverage was excluded. The court denied the motion, finding genuine issues of material fact regarding whether Space Walk Sales had actual notice of the suit in 1994 given the circumstances of mail forwarding and corporate name confusion. The court also noted that the full policy language was not provided, preventing interpretation of the notice provisions and any products exclusion under Louisiana law.
This case involves the Orleans Parish School Board seeking to recover damages from insurers after the bankruptcy of Group Insurance Administration of Louisiana (GIA-LA), which had been hired to administer the School Board's employee health care benefits program along with Bankers Life and Casualty Company. The School Board alleged contractual and tort claims against GIA-LA's insurers, including Chubb (for employee theft under a crime policy), Bankers (for solidary liability and its own malfeasance), and AISLIC, stemming from GIA-LA's alleged improper claims processing between 1989 and 1994. The court granted Chubb's motion for summary judgment in full, finding that the policy's definition of "employee" did not cover the controlling officer whose acts were deemed those of the corporation itself, consistent with Fifth Circuit precedent. It granted Bankers' motion on solidary liability claims but ordered refiling on individual claims, and granted AISLIC's motion on contractual claims due to policy exclusions while denying it on tort claims. The rulings rested on analysis of policy language, lack of genuine factual disputes under Fed. R. Civ. P. 56, and separation of contract versus tort allegations.
business & regulatoryhealthcaretorts & liabilityprocedure
J.D., Tulane University of Louisiana
Affiliations
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit — appointed by George W. Bush
