Louisiana Injury Lawyer Blog

After teaching Insurance Law during the Fall 2010 semester at the Southern University Law Center (SULC), Baton Rouge, Louisiana product liability and personal injury lawyer, Scott Andrews, was selected to teach Product Liability at the Southern University Law Center during the Spring 2011 semester.

The Southern University Law Center is located on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River and provides opportunity to under-represented racial, ethnic, and economic groups.

Scott Andrews joins the faculty ranks of the senior member of the firm, Paul H. Due', who previously taught at the Southern University Law Center, and the Of Counsel to the firm, David W. Robertson, who is the W. Page Keeton Chair in Tort Law at the University of Texas School of Law.

By Act 75 of the 2010 Regular Legislative Session, Louisiana Revised Statute 9:2800.17 was enacted to provide as follows for liability for the diminution in the value of a damaged vehicle:

Whenever a motor vehicle is damaged through the negligence of a third-party without being destroyed, and if the owner can prove by a preponderance of the evidence that, if the vehicle were repaired to its preloss condition, its fair market value would be less than its value before it was damaged, the owner of the damaged vehicle shall be entitled to recover as additional damages an amount equal to the diminution in the value of the vehicle. Notwithstanding, the total damages recovered by the owner shall not exceed the fair market value of the vehicle prior to when it was damaged, and the amount paid for the diminution of value shall be considered in determining whether a vehicle is a total loss pursuant to R.S. 32:702.

The Baton Rouge, Louisiana personal injury law firm of Due', Price, Guidry, Piedrahita & Andrews was selected for first tier (those firms that scored within a certain percentage of the highest scoring firms) inclusion in the 2010 inaugural rankings of U.S. News - Best Lawyers "Best Law Firms", in the practice areas of Personal Injury Plaintiffs and Product Liability Plaintiffs. "The selection involved surveying thousands of law firm clients; leading lawyers and law firm managers; partners and associates; and marketing officers and recruiting officers. Each were asked what factors they considered vital for clients hiring law firms, for lawyers choosing a firm to refer a legal matter to, and for lawyers seeking employment."

"Client and lawyer surveys collected mostly reputational data. Using a scale of 1 (weakest) to 5 (strongest), clients voted on expertise, responsiveness, understanding of a business and its needs, cost-effectiveness, civility, and whether they would refer another client to a firm. Lawyers voted on expertise, responsiveness, integrity, cost-effectiveness, and whether they would refer a matter to a firm and whether they consider a firm a worthy competitor."