Merritt
A seven-year-old slip and fall case against the city of New Orleans originally set for a July 18 trial has been continued to January 10 in Orleans Parish Civil District Court.
New Orleans residents Frank and Lavinzale Batiste are suing the city of New Orleans, the Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) and SMG Crystal LLC on behalf of Maggie Batiste, who broke her ankle after slipping on uneven steeps at a graduation ceremony put on by OPSB and SMG at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts.
New Orleans attorney Gregory Merritt filed the original petition for damages in June 2003, which claims Maggie Batiste lost her footing and fell "due to the defective lighting, combined with an unusual step configuration."
New Orleans attorneys Loretta Mince and Lance McCardle are representing SMG Crystal.
Assistant city attorney Detrich Hebert is representing the city and New Orleans attorney Philip Costa is representing the OPSB.
Judge Piper Griffin is overseeing this case. On June 25, she ordered that the plaintiffs had 90 days to produce written reports from three plaintiff experts whose depositions were taken on June 7, 8 and 9 respectively.
A hearing on July 2 for a motion for discovery filed by Mince was continued without date because the motion was satisfied.
Orleans Parish Case 2003-08461