SHREVEPORT — On Feb. 16, U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark L. Hornsby issued a scathing memorandum to Under Armour Retail of Louisiana LLC’s legal team, Lawrence and Associates, after they failed to properly follow court orders while attempting to prove why their case should be removed from state court and moved to federal court.
Judge Hornsby reprimanded the legal team, saying that they failed to follow guidelines that had been explained by the court. In a memorandum issued to the legal team, he referred to the directives set forth by the court as “simple and straightforward.”
The memorandum came after Lawrence and Associate’s second attempt to remove this case from state court and have it moved to federal court. In the memorandum, the judge warned Lawrence and Associates that they have “one final opportunity to file.”
Judge Hornsby assured Lawrence and Associates that failure to follow the rules for the third time would force the court to “remand the case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.”
Judge Hornsby did not attempt to hide his annoyance or hold back his contempt when he insisted the legal team read all documents carefully and follow all guidelines in order to save the court time and resources.
“The court expects that the lawyers involved in a case will read the court’s orders, in full, and comply with those orders, in full,” he wrote. "Otherwise the court’s time is wasted, which is what happened here.”
The case is a personal injury lawsuit that was filed in September 2017. The plaintiff, Shanna Miller, alleges she was injured while in an Under Armour retail store in Bossier City, La. She is seeking more than $75,000 in damages.
While the extent of her injuries is not clear, Miller’s petition for damages makes generic allegations, including physical pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, medical expenses, mental anguish, humiliation, embarrassment and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
Under Armour’s legal team claims that Under Armour Retail of Louisiana LLC is a limited liability company. Although this particular store is located in Louisiana, Under Armour's headquarters is located in Maryland, allegedly making it a citizen of Maryland. Since Lawrence and Associates claims that Miller and Under Armour are citizens of different states, the store's legal team is attempting to move the case from the Judicial District Court in the Parish of Bossier to federal court.
Judge Hornsby scolded Lawrence and Associates for their failure to prove the citizenship of all members of the limited liability company.
"The citizenship of an LLC is determined by the citizenship of all of its members, with its state of organization or principal place of business being irrelevant,” Judge Hornsby wrote in the order.
Under Armour’s legal team has until March 2 to refile the motion to remove the case to federal court.