Litigation

August 8, 2018

Silica Team Won Summary Judgment in Hinds County on Behalf of Precision Packaging

On August 1, 2018, Judge Joseph Sclafani entered an Order granting Precision Packaging’s motion for summary in the Robert Tucker case pending in Hinds County, Mississippi. Plaintiff had two claims against Precision: (1) a failure to warn claim; and (2) a “sand is defectively designed and unreasonably dangerous” claim. Plaintiff conceded Precision’s summary judgment motion on plaintiff’s failure to warn claim because plaintiff admitted in his deposition that the did not read Precision’s warning. However, plaintiff vigorously pursued his defective design claim.

August 3, 2018

Forman Watkins & Krutz Silica Team Won Summary Judgment in Crittenden County, Arkansas

On June 22, the silica team of Forman Watkins and Krutz won summary judgment in Crittenden County, Arkansas. The plaintiff claimed he contracted silicosis as a result of his exposure to silica sand supplied by FormanWatkins’ client. The judge ruled that plaintiff did not prove he was ever exposed to defendant’s sand as a matter of law and dismissed plaintiff’s claims against our client with prejudice. The client was defended in this case by Fred Krutz, Brian Hannula, and Andrew Stubbs.

July 12, 2018

LeFeve and Pujol Obtain Favorable Decision for Fortune 50 Client in Texas

On July 10, 2018, Forman Watkins attorneys, McCann LeFeve and Patrice Pujol, obtained a favorable decision for a Fortune 50 company and Firm client from a Beaumont judge in a workers’ compensation contested case hearing. The claimant sought both medical and indemnity benefits, alleging he was injured while walking on a stairway leading to the facility’s entrance. After extensive cross examination of the claimant and highlighting the many inconsistencies in his testimony, the judge ruled in our client’s favor, held the claimant did not sustain a compensable injury, did not have a disability resulting from the claimed injury, and denied the claim in its entirety.

July 3, 2018

Gault and Banks Win TCPA Case

On July 2, 2018, Forman Watkins attorneys Win Gault and Jake Banks obtained summary judgment in an arbitration concerning claims under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.  Claimant sought $3,000,000 in statutory penalties, alleging Respondent made hundreds of unauthorized calls to his cellular phone number to collect a delinquent debt.

May 10, 2018

Defense Verdict in Wrongful Death Chemical Exposure Case in Philadelphia

Tim Gray recently obtained a defense verdict for a Forman Watkins client in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Plaintiff alleged that her deceased husband’s aplastic anemia was caused by exposure to benzene and that the aplastic anemia caused his death. The claim against Forman Watkins’ client was that it supplied a chemical that contained benzene to a manufacturer who incorporated that chemical into its product that the plaintiff’s husband allegedly used.

April 2, 2018

FormanWatkins Wins at the Fifth Circuit

On April 2, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the Western District of Louisiana’s grant of summary judgment, finding persuasive the argument presented by Forman Watkins that the testimony of Appellant’s expert failed to create a genuine issue of material fact. The case was argued before a three-judge panel on March 5, 2018 by Alison McMinn and Peyton Smith.

March 7, 2018

FormanWatkins Defends Summary Judgment Before Fifth Circuit

On March 5, 2018, Alison McMinn and Peyton Smith argued before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, defending the summary judgment granted to their client last year. The Appellant contended that summary judgment was improper because fact questions remained regarding the cause of a truck rollover because their expert witness testified that the only possible cause of the accident related to the packaging of the load. In response, Alison McMinn urged the court to affirm summary judgment by highlighting several deficiencies in the expert’s opinion to underscore its speculative nature.

February 8, 2018

Gault and Smith Argue Wrongful Death Products Liability Case Before the Texas Supreme Court

Win Gault and Peyton Smith argued before the Texas Supreme Court on Wednesday on behalf of Mahindra USA Inc. Sharon Garner assisted in the briefing. This wrongful death products liability case presented the Texas Supreme Court with the first opportunity to address the 2015 amendments to the Texas Residency Exception in the Forum Non Conveniens statute.

January 17, 2018

Maccherone Wins Arbitration of Environmental Contamination Dispute

New Orleans Partner Amy Maccherone recently prevailed in an arbitration of a significant environmental contamination case. Maccherone’s client, a regional abrasive blasting and painting subcontractor, was accused of contaminating a jobsite with lead based paint during the performance of its work. The general contractor on the job claimed that the alleged contamination resulted in over $1.5 million in clean-up costs. It also claimed the Client was in breach of its subcontract and was liable for over $4 million related to that breach. In total, the general contractor sought roughly $5.5 million from the Client.