Cases

Martin v. Lafon Nursing Facility of the Holy Family, Inc., 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85956 (E.D. La. 2007)

This is a class action case filed against a nursing home following Hurricane Katrina. The magistrate denied Defendant’s motion to implead the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a third-party defendant, finding they could not be liable. Defendants asked the District Court to set aside the magistrate’s ruling.

In reviewing the rules, the Court found that a third-party complaint is not proper pursuant to Rule 14 “if the defendant cannot show a basis for the third-party defendant’s liability to the defendant (also known as the third-party plaintiff).” Thus, the Magistrate was correct in first examining the alleged basis for liability. The court found that the Army Corp of Engineers would not be constructively liable to Defendant under a strict liability claim because the law had changed and premises liability claims sound only in negligence. Further, it would not be secondarily liable to Defendant because Louisiana’s comparative fault rules only require a Defendant to pay that proportion of damages for which it is responsible.

Decided November 20, 2007

Published by
David McGuffey

Recent Posts

2025 Spousal Impoverishment Standards

On November 15, 2024, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services posted the 2025 spousal…

5 days ago

Social Security Disability versus Veteran’s Disability

The word disability doesn't have the same meaning in all contexts. If you have a…

2 weeks ago

Social Security Announces 2.5 Percent Benefit Increase for 2025

On October 10, 2024, the Social Security Administration announced that Americans will increase a 2.5…

1 month ago

Getting Organized

Many people think that estate planning is just having documents prepared. They have a lawyer…

1 month ago

Beneficiary who accepted inheritance under Will could not bring action for tortious interference

In Chambers v. Edwards, 365 Ga. App. 482 (2022), William Chambers sued his sister, Kathy…

2 months ago

Medicaid’s payment of medical bills does not bar recovery from negligent party

When an injured party sues someone who negligently injured him or her, one form of…

2 months ago