Insight and Analysis of Legal Issues Impacting the Energy Industry
This article was updated on April 14, 2020.
Day-to-day life has been dramatically impacted by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and many courts in Louisiana and Texas have been forced to close or limit operations in conjunction with stay-at-home orders. A brief discussion of how COVID-19 has affected Louisiana and Texas courts is discussed here.…
Continue Reading Louisiana and Texas COVID-19 Stay-at-Home Orders and Effects on State Courts
The Fifth Circuit recently issued an en banc opinion in Latiolais v. Huntington Ingalls, Inc.,[1] a case previously featured on the Blog, overruling “extraordinarily confused” precedent and establishing a new removal test under the Federal Officer Removal Statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1442(a)(1). This new test is likely to have significant impact on future removals to federal court.…
Continue Reading En Banc Fifth Circuit Issues Long-Awaited Ruling on Federal Officer Removal
Can targeted advertising establish general jurisdiction over a foreign corporation? The Fifth Circuit had not addressed this issue until Frank v. P N K (Lake Charles) L.L.C., No. 18-31060, 2020 WL 288213 (5th Cir. Jan. 21, 2020). But in so doing, the court may have announced a new jurisdictional test with significant ramifications for future cases.
Frank was a wrongful-death lawsuit filed in Texas state court against L’Auberge Hotel & Casino and its marketing division, PNK. Following removal to federal court, the district court granted PNK’s motion to transfer, finding PNK was not subject to general jurisdiction in Texas. The plaintiffs appealed.[1]
When is a case removable to federal court? The general rule is that removability is determined at the time a case is filed. One exception is the so-called “voluntary-involuntary” rule, which permits removal only when the plaintiff’s voluntary action in state court creates federal jurisdiction. The textbook example is the voluntary dismissal of a non-diverse defendant who settled with the plaintiff. The textbook counterexample is when the non-diverse defendant is dismissed via contested motion—an involuntary dismissal. In Hoyt v. The Lane Construction Corporation, 927 F.3d 287 (5th Cir. 2019), the Fifth Circuit blurred the line between these categories and expanded the cases that can be removed to federal court.…
After years of inconsistent rulings, the Fifth Circuit is poised to address a removal issue with significant ramifications for Louisiana tort cases. The previous version of 28 U.S.C. § 1442 authorized removal to federal court of a suit against a federal officer “only when the state suit was ‘for any act under color of such office.’” The Fifth Circuit, interpreting this language, held that the removing party must show a causal connection between its actions and the plaintiff’s claims. The causal connection requirement demands more than “mere federal involvement[;] instead, the defendant must show that its actions taken pursuant to the government’s direction or control caused the plaintiff’s specific injuries.”…
Continue Reading 5th Circuit Grants En Banc Rehearing to Address Federal Officer Removal
