Louisiana Injury Lawyer Blog

Baton Rouge, Louisiana trial attorneys, Randy Piedrahita and Kirk Guidry, of the Louisiana personal injury law firm, Due', Price, Guidry, Piedrahita and Andrews, obtained a jury verdict in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, in excess of $15,000,000. Multiple members of the same family were burned when their house exploded due to fugitive natural gas that was negligently released into their rent house. The gas utility, CenterPoint Energy, had turned off their natural gas at the meter due to non-payment of their gas bill. After several weeks, a family member broke the plastic lock placed on the meter by CenterPoint with a household wrench, forgetting that he had left an open gas line in the house after removing a gas appliance. Plaintiff Attorney Randy Piedrahita presented evidence to the jury that the plastic lock did not meet industry standards and that a metal lock, as used by many competitors, should have been in place to prevent consumers from turning on their own gas, so as to prevent foreseeable explosions. CenterPoint alleged that in addition to the plastic lock, that it installed a metal blind plate inside the meter to prevent the flow of gas, and that the blind plate must have been removed by the consumer. After deliberating for several hours, the St. Landry Parish jury disagreed, finding CenterPoint Energy 50% at fault for the accident and resulting burn injuries.

Continue reading "St. Landry Parish Louisiana Jury Awards Over $15,000,000 to Burn Injury Victims" »

Louisiana State Police Troop F Troopers investigated the twenty-third fatal car wreck of 2010 on July 23, 2010, in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana. A Florida man was killed and several others injured when a 2002 Chevrolet Suburban traveling on I-20 swerved right and struck a 2002 GMC truck traveling in the adjacent lane. The injured persons were transported to Lincoln General Hospital for medical treatment.

Continue reading "Lincoln Parish Louisiana Car Wreck on I-20 Claims Life of Florida Man" »

Louisiana State Police Troop I investigated its 36th fatal car crash on July 9, 2010 on Louisiana Highway 347 in St. Martin Parish, Louisiana. A Loreauville, Louisiana man who was not wearing his seat belt lost his life when he failed to negotiate a curve and ran his 1996 Pontiac Grand Am into a ditch, striking a culvert.

Continue reading "St. Martin Parish Louisiana Car Crash Claims 36th Life in Louisiana State Police Troop I" »

Louisiana Association for Justice President Donald W. Price of the Baton Rouge, Louisiana admiralty and maritime law firm of Due', Price, Guidry, Piedrahita & Andrews will present a webinar entitled Gulf Oil Disaster: Claims for Economic Damages Under the Oil Pollution Act and General Maritime Law for LAFJ on July 8, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. CST.

Donald Price will discuss the bases for economic loss claims arising out of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig disaster under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and general maritime law. Discussion will include the basis for liability, potential defenses to liability and the unique procedural aspects of making federal law claims.

Courts have recognized the potential for a "conspiracy of silence," whereby local doctors would refuse to find one another at fault in medical negligence cases, and the adverse effects this would have on patients. To offset this danger in Louisiana, the specialist's duty is governed by a national standard of care. As such, a specialist is held to a higher standard of care because he has held himself out as having expertise in that specialty. See La. R.S. 9:2794; Ogletree v. Willis-Knighton Memorial Hospital, Inc., 530 So. 2d 1175, 1180 (La. App. 2nd Cir.), writ denied, 532 So.2d 133 (La.1988), citing Ardoin v. Hartford Accident and Indemnity Co., 360 So.2d 1331, 1335 (La. 1978); and Bryant v. St. Paul Fire and Marine, 382 So.2d 234, 237 (La.App. 3d Cir. 1980), citing Ardoin v. Hartford Accident and Indemnity Co., 360 So.2d 1331, 1335 (La. 1978).

Continue reading "Louisiana Personal Injury Law: Conspiracy of Silence" »

A 19 year old active duty soldier was killed in a single vehicle car crash in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana on July 2, 2010, when his 1994 Ford Explorer ran off the right side of Louisiana Highway 120 in a curve. As the driver attempted to reenter the highway, he over-corrected and his Ford Explorer began to rotate to the left and then rolled over. The driver was not wearing his seat belt.

Louisiana State Troopers in Troop E have investigated 32 fatal car crashes this year, resulting in 37 fatalities

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The plaintiff in a medical negligence case is not required to show that she would have obtained a perfect outcome in the absence of medical treatment that fell below the accepted standard of care. Rather, the plaintiff may recover on a showing that the physician's unacceptable care denied the plaintiff a chance of a good outcome. Graham v. Willis-Knighton Medical Center, 27,338 (La.App. 2 Cir. 9/29/95), 662 So.2d 161.

If a defendant physician, by action or inaction, has substantially increased the chances of a patient developing complications and damages, then such conduct by the defendant physician is considered to be a cause of the patient's damages. Hastings v. Baton Rouge General Hospital, 498 So.2d 713, 720-21 (La.1986).

Continue reading "Louisiana Personal Injury Law: Loss of a Chance of Survival" »