News & Knowledge

New Orleans partners, Charles Abbott and Amy Maccherone, recently won a significant motion for summary judgment on behalf of a Fortune 500 company whose business involves the manufacturing of, among other things, marine diesel engines.

Forman Watkins & Krutz is pleased to announce the additions of Taylor Herring White and Margaret McLaughlin to the Firm.

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.

On April 23, 2018, New Orleans partner Charles Abbott and Larry Centola with Martzell, Bickford & Centola guest lectured for LSU Law School’s Toxic Torts class. Abbott and Centola focused their lecture on class actions and multi-district litigation generally and specifically related to the toxic tort arena.  This is the second year in a row that Abbott and Centola have guest lectured together, providing second and third year law students perspectives from both the plaintiff and defense side, in connection with various aspects of toxic tort litigation.  

On March 26, 2018, New Orleans attorneys Charles Abbott and Melissa Fuller were guest lecturers for LSU Law School’s Toxic Torts class.  In addition to addressing emerging mass torts, Mr. Abbott and Ms. Fuller provided the second and third year law students with a historical overview of asbestos, benzene and silica litigation, and taught practical aspects and current trends in the litigation of these cases in Louisiana and across the country.

On March 7, 2018, New Orleans attorneys Charles Abbott and Chelsea Gaudin guest lectured at LSU Law School.  Teaching both second year and third year law students in the Toxic Torts class, Mr. Abbott and Ms. Gaudin provided practical experiences and advice related to various topics and issues, including but not limited to causation, expert witnesses, and Daubert challenges of expert witnesses. This is Mr. Abbott’s sixth year guest lecturing in the Toxic Tort class at LSU Law School.

The firm congratulates Charles Abbott, of our New Orleans office, for being selected by New Orleans CityBusiness as “One to Watch” in the February 2018 Legal issue.

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.

As a follow up from our April 2017 post regarding a pro bono asylum case, Louisiana Super Lawyers magazine published a story in the January 2018 issue featuring Michelle Roy’s work on this case. April 2017: Tim Gray and Michelle Roy of our New Orleans office represented a client, a minor, who fled from Guatemala to the United States with her family in 2015 to escape gang violence and political persecution. The firm sought permanent status for this client as a “Special Juvenile Immigrant” and as a member of a persecuted class entitled to asylum. The firm accepted this pro bono representation through a program sponsored by the Catholic Charities which matches volunteer lawyers with undocumented juvenile children in Louisiana. The firm continues to represent other undocumented minors through this program. We are honored for the featured publication on Michelle’s dedication to this case, you can read the full issue by clicking here. Or read her article here:  

Charles Abbott and Byron Kitchens undertook representation of a national power tools manufacturer in July 2017 in claims arising out of a residential fire in Orleans Parish, Louisiana in which the homeowner’s insurer claimed losses of nearly $700,000.00, casting allegations of sole fault for the loss upon the power tool manufacturer, claiming its product was defective under the Louisiana Products Liability Act. Partnering with attorneys from Lightfoot, Franklin & White, our team quickly removed the lawsuit from the Civil District Court of Orleans Parish to the United States Eastern District of Louisiana.  Within two weeks of removal, the Plaintiff-Insurer transmitted a settlement offer. Assessing the evidence, or more particularly lack thereof, the defense counter-offer was simply an opportunity for the Plaintiff-Insurer to dismiss its case with prejudice.  A week later, the Plaintiff-Insurer accepted the “offer” and agreed to dismiss its case with prejudice.