Karen Kidd News
Constitutional challenge to Slidell's panhandling ordinance unavoidable, law professor and attorney say
SLIDELL — A St. Tammany Parish city that recently promised a judge it wouldn't enforce its allegedly unconstitutional panhandling-permit law should have expected a challenge, a Loyola University law professor and an attorney said in recent separate interviews.
WTC litigation expected to continue for months
NEW ORLEANS – Despite the call by 10 current and former World Trade Center of New Orleans executives to expedite redevelopment of the riverfront property, a Florida businessman's litigation continues to block the work.
Fannie Mae's failure to maintain foreclosed properties in minority neighborhoods is modern redlining, New Orleans housing advocate says
NEW ORLEANS — Fannie Mae's failure to properly maintain foreclosed properties in minority communities, as alleged in a federal lawsuit, is a new twist on an old, discriminatory business practice, a New Orleans fair housing advocate said.
Edwards' attempt to hire campaign donors as attorneys helps keep Louisiana on ATRA's Judicial Hellhole list
BATON ROUGE – Despite its governor's reported efforts to hire campaign donors as attorneys, Louisiana has dropped from the No. 6 to seventh position on American Tort Reform Association's 2016-17 Judicial Hellholes list, which was issued earlier today.
Family appeals civil forfeiture from drug raid, have heavy burden of proof
HOUMA – Former area convenience store owner Mohamed Nagi and his family are appealing an approximate $1 million in civil forfeiture stemming from a June 2013 synthetic marijuana raid and appear to have a heavy burden of proof, a spokesman for an activist group said during a recent interview.
TCSI has only days remaining to appeal WTC development case dismissal
NEW ORLEANS – The winning bidders for the job to renovate and revitalize the World Trade Center are waiting out the last few days to see if the latest dismissal of the case holding up that work will be the last. Two Canal Street Investors, losing bidder and plaintiff in the case that didn't send legal counsel or any officers to the most recent hearing, has only days remaining to appeal Orleans Civil District Court Judge Tiffany Chase's decision to again dismiss the
Judge to rule in November whether to dismiss World Trade Center litigation
NEW ORLEANS – The presiding judge for pending litigation involving the bidding process to renovate the World Trade Center has said she will take more than a month to consider two motions to dismiss the case, according to one of two filings logged Nov. 7.
Judges should be barred from hearing campaign donor's cases, LSU law professor says
BATON ROUGE – While trial lawyers and other such groups have every right to make campaign contributions, they're not immune to the consequences of those donations, an Louisiana State University law professor said during a recent interview.
Law professor: Appointing, not electing, judges not 'undemocratic'
NEW ORLEANS – If Louisianans are genuinely troubled by the huge amount of campaign funds being spent on judicial elections in the state, they could stop electing judges, a legal ethics expert at Loyola University said during a recent interview.
Louisiana State University law school students surpass state's passage rate
&&& BATON ROUGE -- The dean of Louisiana State University's (LSU) law school expressed pride soon after this year's bar exam results were in that showed LSU has the highest percentage of students passing the Louisiana State Bar Exam.
Resigned TCSI president remains under judge's order to appear in World Trade Center litigation
NEW ORLEANS – The now resigned president of a development company that has stalled work at the World Trade Center with litigation over how the city awarded a bid in the project remains under a judge's order to appear for deposition next week.
Louisiana governor targets oil and gas industries, alarming business lobbyists
BATON ROUGE – Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards' drive to generate new litigation against the oil and gas industry is a clarion call for the legislature to reassure all industries that the governor's actions don't reflect the state, a business lobby president said during a recent intervie
Recent activity in dismissed WTC development lawsuit means case remains alive
NEW ORLEANS – Anyone who thought development of New Orleans' former World Trade Center, stalled for more than a year by litigation over how the city awarded bids in the project, would move forward after a judge's dismissal of a lawsuit in the case last summer has been disappointed.
Surveys suggest unaffiliated Senate candidate who sued over party misattribution would do better as a Republican
BATON ROUGE – The short-lived lawsuit filed by an unaffiliated candidate over being misidentified as a Republican in a poll last spring is over after a follow-up survey suggested he'd get more support if he did run for the GOP – but only slightly more.
Graves: Edwards' targeting of oil, gas industry is about politics, greed, not justice
A Republican Louisiana congressman lodged a stinging rebuke at the state's Democrat governor for his attempts to insert campaign donors as attorneys into controversial lawsuits against oil and gas companies, saying it's more about buying Mercedes than obtaining justice.
LLAW director: Attempt to place political donors as attorneys in lawsuits will be hard for Edwards to live down
BATON ROUGE – Gov. John Bel Edwards may answer to the state's voters, but likely no one else, after trying to insert campaign donors as attorneys into controversial lawsuits against oil and gas companies, a spokeswoman for a legal watchdog group said during a recent interview.
Edwards using new litigation to deflect pay-to-play controversy, oil and gas industry statement says
BATON ROUGE – Gov. John Bel Edwards' decision to double down on coastal litigation against the oil and gas industry is an attempt to distract from his own questionable actions in existing cases, according to a recent industry statement.
Special counsel: Best and brightest in legal field attracted to health care law
BATON ROUGE – Health care law is attracting the best and brightest in the legal profession, according to the former Louisiana assistant attorney general currently on Jones Walker's new special counsel on the firm's health care practice team.
State cosmetology board ‘does not want my business to survive,’ plaintiff in threading lawsuit says
NEW ORLEANS – It's white cotton thread, eyebrows and maybe a little facial hair.
New motions filed in professor's lawsuit seeking equal application of monument ordinance
NEW ORLEANS (Louisiana Record) – The Tulane University professor challenging a city ordinance that promoted a New Orleans' City Council vote to remove statues of Confederate-era historical figures says he has received much support for his case.