Laundromat's suit against Entergy challenged

Defense counsel in a suit against Entergy Inc. counters that a plaintiff's claims in Orleans Parish Civil District Court have prescribed and the lawsuit should be dismissed.

Helen Chin owns the Cleanerama Laundromat and she is suing Entergy for allegedly damaging her business' electrical equipment when repairmen blew out a transformer in early December 2008.

New Orleans attorney Marc Frishhertz filed the original petition for damages in March 2010. The suit claims that Chin filed a claim through Superior Claim Services Inc. and that Entergy acknowledged the damage, but she has not heard from them since.

New Orleans attorneys Marcus Brown and Alan Katz are representing Entergy. Their preemptive motion of prescription claims that, under Article 3492 of the Louisiana Civil Code, this suit is subject to "prescription of one year, which commenced to run on December 6, 2008."

The defense also claims that, though Chin submitted claims with Superior, "those communications were limited to request that Ms. Chin provide detail on the damages alleged" and that she "never provided that detail or documentation."

Orleans Parish Judge Herbert Cade will oversee a hearing on the motion of prescription on Oct. 8.

Orleans Parish Case 2010-2348