Kyle Barnett News
Appeals court upholds dismissal of juror’s wrongful termination suit after missing work for jury duty
NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has affirmed a district court’s decision dismissing a lawsuit brought by a woman who claims she was wrongfully terminated for attending jury duty.
BP seeks return of hundreds of millions in disputed overpayments
NEW ORLEANS – After more than a year of arguing that the business economic losses BP was paying out were overinflated and did not represent real losses, BP has inched closer to potentially recovering hundreds of millions it says should have never been awarded.
BP files emergency appeal to U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in suspension of claims payouts
NEW ORLEANS – BP has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene after the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court Appeals disallowed maintaining a temporary stay in claims payouts following allegations of fraud within the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill claims process.
Legacy lawsuit reform passes House committee minus amendment
BATON ROUGE – A bill governing the way lawsuits addressing the cleanup of land polluted in oil drilling operations, also know as legacy lawsuit, has passed the Louisiana State House Committee on Civil Law and Procedure minus an amendment added in the Senate that limited the bill to future lawsuits only.
La. constitutional amendment would make it easier to eliminate judgeships
BATON ROUGE – A bill that would create a constitutional amendment that would change the way judicial vacancies are handled is currently under consideration by the Louisiana House after passing the Senate last week.
BP claimant ordered by court to return $357K in fraudulent claims
NEW ORLEANS – U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier has ordered a Louisiana commercial shrimper to return a $357,000 claim involving the 2010 Deepwater Horizon.
Bill that would provide Louisiana ‘legacy lawsuit’ fix passes Senate unanimously
NEW ORLEANS – A bill that cleans up language in previously passed legislation that was meant to address how lawsuits involving land polluted by energy exploration activities are handled has passed the Senate unanimously.
Jury in southwest Louisiana federal court awards man $9B in bladder cancer case
LAFAYETTE – A jury in southwest Louisiana has ordered pharmaceutical corporations Takeda and Eli Lilly to pay total of $9 billion in punitive damages for allegedly covering up cancer risks of the diabetes drug Actos.
MoveOn.org sued by La. Lt. Governor over parody of $70M tourism slogan
BATON ROUGE – A liberal political action committee is being sued by Louisiana Lt, Gov. Jay Dardenne for alleged trademark infringement after the group parodied the state’s tourism slogan in a billboard deriding Gov. Bobby Jindal for not accepting federal Medicaid monies.
BP free to do business with federal government again after EPA agreement
WASHINGTON – British Petroleum is free to do business with the U.S. government once again after reaching an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency.
Civil litigation stayed as lawyer undergoes investigation for fraud concerning 'phantom' BP claims
NEW ORLEANS – A federal court has stayed litigation brought against Texas-based plaintiff’s attorney Mikal Watts by BP while he is under criminal investigation for allegedly falsely representing himself as counsel for several deckhands and fishermen supposedly affected by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Former judge removed from office after being caught on tape admitting to misconduct granted readmission to bar
NEW ORLEANS – The Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled in favor of allowing a disgraced former judge to resume practicing law after having bar license suspended for three years due to an investigation that revealed she gave a political supporter preferable treatment in civil lawsuit.
La. attorney sued by client over alleged mishandling of BP claim
GRETNA – A New Orleans-area attorney and law office are being sued by a client who had a claim against BP for damages stemming from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Louisiana Attorney General responds to lawsuit brought by oil and gas trade association
BATON ROUGE – The Louisiana Attorney General’s office has responded to a lawsuit brought against it by a statewide oil and gas trade organization.
Criminal investigation leads attorney to request stay on oil spill claims process
NEW ORLEANS – An attorney accused of falsifying his representation of tens of thousands of claimants in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill settlement is asking a federal court to stop actions concerning his clients in the settlement program until a criminal investigation is wrapped up.
Lawyer alleged to have falsified clients in BP settlement sued by group of fishermen
NEW ORLEANS – A group made up largely of Vietnamese-American fisherman has filed a class action lawsuit against a Texas attorney who they claim improperly named them as clients in settlement claims related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
BP ad in Wall Street Journal takes aim at law firms who have received oil spill settlements
NEW ORLEANS – In the wake of continued revelations of possible corruption in the settlement program form the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, BP has published a new advertisement in the Wall Street Journal chronicling law firms seeking payouts for themselves through the settlement program.
BP’s latest attempt to revisit settlement agreement shot down by appeals court
NEW ORLEANS – BP has suffered another blow in its bid to restructure a settlement agreement after an appeals court decided that the district court had no duty to revisit the agreement between the oil giant and those who have filed for economic loss claims stemming from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Louisiana noted as ‘mecca for litigation’ in WSJ editorial
NEW ORLEANS – A Wall Street Journal editorial published last week noted Louisiana’s rising reputation as a litigation friendly state.
La. law school to revamp educational approach, make legal study more practical
NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola University New Orleans College of Law is set to unveil a reworked educational approach to legal studies it says will make legal education more practical when the Class of 2017 enrolls this fall.