News & Knowledge

Malissa Wilson and Ahmad Smith recently achieved a unanimous defense verdict in Hinds County (MS) Circuit Court involving allegations that the defendant backed into the plaintiff, who was driving a golf cart, in a restaurant parking lot.

November 2018: FormanWatkins successfully argued the appeal on behalf of an indigent prisoner seeking medical care. 

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.

Click the image below to read about the experience and accomplishments of our Labor & Employment Practice Group, or download a PDF:

Forman Watkins & Krutz represented a Mississippi law firm in a legal malpractice case filed by one of its former clients.

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.

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.

Summertime brings summer vacations and holidays.  However, for employers, it can also bring a pattern of Friday and Monday absenteeism by employees on intermittent leave under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or, perhaps in these instances, better referred to as the “Friday Monday Leave Act.”  Understandably, this pattern may raise the suspicion of an employer who questions the validity of the absence, but feels there is no recourse for fear of violating the FMLA.  However, employers, have no fear, there are ways to address the matter without running afoul of the FMLA.

Courtney Hunt successfully represented a Guatemalan woman seeking asylum in the United States.  The basis of the asylum claim was persecution that the client had suffered on account of an imputed political opinion.  The firm drafted the client’s asylum brief and represented her at her hearing in the Memphis Immigration Court.  The case was referred to Forman Watkins through its pro bono partnership with Catholic Charities in Jackson, whose immigration attorney Amelia McGowan provided invaluable support.  The firm’s Jackson attorneys are currently representing several other asylum seekers through this partnership.  

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.