La. Mineral Code Preempts Shreveport City Ordinance

The City of Shreveport gets its drinking water from nearby Cross Lake. The City passed an ordinance barring new oil and gas drilling within 1,000 feet of the lakeshore. But in Energy Management Corp. v. City of Shreveport, handed down today, the U.S. Fifth Circuit holds that the Mineral Code preempts the ordinance.

Normal Diversity Rules Apply To National Banking Associations

28 USC § 1348 says that national banking associations are "citizens of the States in which they are respectively located." Does this mean that for diversity purposes (28 USC § 1332), a national banking association is a citizen of every state where it has a branch office? No, says the U.S. Fifth Circuit in Horton v. Bank One, N.A., decided yesterday. The court interprets § 1348 as applying the normal rules of diversity to national banking association. "We hold that the definition of “located” is limited to the national bank’s principal place of business and the state listed in its organization certificate and its articles of association." Slip op. at 19.

19th JDC Judge Invalidates Amendment Banning Same-Sex Marriage

District Judge William Morvant has invalidated the Louisiana constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, on grounds that the amendment had more than one purpose: banning both same-sex marriage and civil unions. The AP story reporting this development is here.

Edwards v. Daugherty

Last Friday, the Supreme Court released an interesting opinion in Edwards v. Daugherty, No. 03-C-2103 (La. Oct. 1, 2004). The opinion holds:

1. Louisiana law allows a liability insurer to deduct from policy limits the cost of defending the insured, if the policy so provides.

2. But the policy in question allowed the insurer to deduct only the cost of defending the insured, not the cost the insurer incurred in defending itself.

3. Louisiana law prohibits reduction in policy limits due to payment of legal interest. "Any policy provision which attempts to limit an insurer's liability for legal interest on the policy limits contravenes public policy." Slip op. at 24.

4. A plaintiff who recovers future damages in a tort case is entitled to an award of legal interest from the date of judicial demand on those future damages.