Stories by Jamie Kelly on Louisiana Record

BATON ROUGE—The Baton Rouge Police Department has a history of heavy-handed tactics and excessive use of force that continues even in its treatment of protesters in the wake of the shooting of Alton Sterling, according to a community activist.

NEW ORLEANS—Tulane University’s school of law has always prized pro bono work and was the first law school in the country to require it to graduate, which helps explain why so many alumni and students were honored by the Louisiana State Bar Association, according to the school’s associate dean.

NEW ORLEANS—The father of a man shot and killed by St. Tammany Parish deputies in October has sued the sheriff’s office, claiming excessive force, but a  2014 U.S. Supreme Court decision might make his case difficult to win. 

The case of Sidney Torres IV versus ex St. Bernard Parish President David Peralta finally came to an end in late May, nearly four years after it was filed and nearly five years after the television commercials in question aired.

BATON ROUGE—A bill that would have limited the amount of time that can elapse before a real estate appraiser is sued for an error failed in the Louisiana House of Representatives earlier this year, but the legislative assistant who brought the bill to its sponsor said he and others are planning to revive the measure next year and think it will pass then.

NEW ORLEANS—A Florida woman who claims that the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office cremated her deceased husband without her permission has sued the office in federal court for infliction of emotional distress and lost worker’s compensation, as well as to ensure such unauthorized cremations don’t happen again, according to her lawyer.

NEW ORLEANS—A U.S. District Court judge recently ruled that Rodney Henry, former assistant to New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson, must submit to arbitration overseen by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

NEW ORLEANS—The conflict between the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office and the State Treasurer’s Office over supplemental pay was unusual, not least because such disputes rarely escalate so far.

HOUSTON—Corporate fraud, like the kind alleged in a recent lawsuit filed against several Louisiana residents, can be difficult to detect and can go on for years before being discovered, experts say.

BATON ROUGE – Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and others recently criticized subpoenas issued by attorneys general around the country as prosecutorial overreach and an effort to silence dissent in the debate over climate change.