Yacoubian
A group of French Quarter businesses have filed a class action lawsuit against Entergy Enterprises Inc. over a day-long power outage that occurred in March 2009.
The outage occurred when an underground electrical vault ignited after a transformer failed which caused an entire grid to lose power, according to the suit filed March 26 in Orleans Parish.
The proposed class is led by Jimani Lounge, operated by Toby is Dead Inc.
Damages are being sought for loss of business and inventory as a result of the power outage in the commercially dense, 12-block area of the French Quarter.
Plaintiffs plead the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur in the suit against Entergy because the transformer and vault were under the company's sole care.
Attorneys Alan J. Yacoubian, Neal Favret and Rachael Catalanotto of Johnson, Johnson, Barrios and Yacoubian of New Orleans seek to represent the class.
The power outage lasted from 5:38 p.m. on March 27, 2009 to March 28, 2009 at approximately 8:00 p.m. The outage occurred after the National Weather Service had extended a tornado watch from the night of March 26 until 8 a.m. on March 27.
According to reports in the Times-Picayune on the morning of the 27th, several roads were closed due to standing water left from overnight storms, but none of those roads lay within the grid described in the suit.
Orleans Parish Case 2010-02991