NEW ORLEANS - Defendants in a negligence case are seeking to remove it to federal court.
Target Corporation of Minnesota, Target Corporation of MN, Ace American Insurance Company of PA and Darryl Mitchell of GA petitioned for their case to be transferred to the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Louisiana on June 19.
The suit states that the plaintiff Joyce Patrick Rushing had originally filed a petition for damages against the defendants on or about Dec. 3, 2014 alleging that she sustained personal injuries when struck by a motorized shopping cart one year earlier at a Target store managed by Mitchell in Hammond, LA.
According to the suit, Rushing filed a complaint with “generic allegations” but lacking a specific amount in damages. The complaint states that the defendants later received information indicating that the amount exceeds $75,000.
The filing indicates that defendants received the plaintiff’s discovery responses via email on May 16 wherein Rushing identified a pending lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for a similar complaint approximately six weeks after the Target incident.
Because medical expenses for both claims were in the exact same amount of $32,443.67, the defendants claim they submitted a request for admissions to the plaintiff challenging her declared $75,000 amount. She allegedly responded May 27 denying the challenge.
Defendants claim to have satisfied procedural requirements for removal.They wish to remove the case from the 21st Judicial District for the Parish of Tangipahoa to the docket of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
The case is represented by David Curlin of Lawrence & Associates in Mandeville.