Scope of appellate review may change

Under the Louisiana Constitution, Art. 5 § 10, appellate review in civil cases extends to both law and facts. But that would change under Senate Bill 77, now being considered by the Legislature. The summary says that the purpose of this bill is to amend the Constitution "to provide for the appellate jurisdiction of a court of appeal and to provide that appellate review extends only to questions of law." According to the Senate Judiciary Committee's agenda, a hearing of the matter was held (or will be held) today.

Adams and Reese expands into Memphis, TN

My law firm, Adams and Reese LLP, announced today its expansion into Memphis, Tennessee, effective May 1, 2006, when 15 lawyers formerly with Armstrong Allen PLLC will officially join the firm. Click here to view the press release. With this addition, Adams and Reese will have 10 offices in nine cities: Memphis and Nashville, TN; New Orleans and Baton Rouge, LA; Birmingham and Mobile, AL; Houston, TX; Jackson, MS; and Washington, DC.

Big win for one of your Naked Ownership bloggers

At the risk of shamless self-promotion, here is an item in New Orleans CityBusiness about a recent appellate decision:

NEW ORLEANS — The Louisiana Court of Appeal, Fifth Circuit, reversed an $88.75-million judgment against electrical products manufacturer Thomas & Betts Corp. in a March 28 ruling.

Adams and Reese attorneys Louis LaCour Jr. and Raymond Ward successfully prosecuted the appeal on behalf of T&B.

The judgment was in favor of Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Co., its reinsurers and one of its employees. The case arose from a July 5, 1999, explosion at the Kaiser plant in Gramercy, which destroyed a large section of the plant’s alumina-processing section....

The case is In re Gramercy Plant Explosion at Kaiser, 04-CA-1151 through 04-CA-1191 (La. App. 5 Cir. 3/28/06), — So. 2d —.

p.s. 4/18/06: Just noticed today that I forgot to link to the CityBusiness story. My apologies. That oversight is now fixed.