Louisiana sports betting bill fails in House committee

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US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Opinions
United States v. Tello

Docket: 18-40347
Opinion Date: May 21, 2019
Judge: Carl E. Stewart
Areas of Law: Criminal Law

Border Patrol agents may conduct a canine sniff to search for drugs or concealed aliens at immigration checkpoints so long as the sniff does not lengthen the stop beyond the time necessary to verify the immigration status of a vehicle's passengers. The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of a motion to suppress evidence found during an immigration-checkpoint stop. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, the court held that the canine sniff here did not prolong the immigration stop. In this case, defendant did not dispute that the stop lasted approximately 30 seconds where border patrol agents asked defendant about his citizenship, cargo, and travel, all of which were permissible. The court also noted that defendant gave valid consent to the search.

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US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

United States v. Jones

Dockets: 18-50086, 18-50088
Opinion Date: May 16, 2019
Judge: Stephen Andrew Higginson
Areas of Law: Criminal Law

The Fifth Circuit vacated defendant's conviction for possessing and conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. The court held that defendant's rights under the Confrontation Clause were violated when a law enforcement officer testified that he knew defendant received a large amount of methamphetamine because of what the officer was told by a confidential informant. Furthermore, the error was not invited by the defense and was not harmless. The court also vacated the related revocation of supervised release and remanded for further proceedings.

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Louisiana receives low rankings for health care, education in national report

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US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Opinions
McDonnel Group, LLC v. Great Lakes Insurance SE

Docket: 18-30817
Opinion Date: May 13, 2019
Judge: E. Grady Jolly
Areas of Law: Arbitration & Mediation, Insurance Law

After insurers denied McDonnel's claim, McDonnel initiated a declaratory and breach of contract action. The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of the action in favor of arbitration and held that the insurance policy's conformity provision did not negate the agreement to arbitrate. The court held that the state statute, La. Rev. Stat. Ann. 22:868, was preempted by the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, and thus the statute did not and could not apply to McDonnel's policy. Consequently, there was no conflict between the policy and the state statute. Therefore, the court held that the conformity provision was not triggered, and its inapplicability leads only to the conclusion that the arbitration provision survives, undiminished by state law.

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Louisiana Supreme Court Opinions


Murphy v. Savannah

Docket: 2018-C-0991
Opinion Date: May 8, 2019
Judge: Per Curiam
Areas of Law: Civil Procedure, Personal Injury

Robert Murphy was operating his motorcycle on a two-lane stretch of Louisiana Highway in a southerly direction. At the same time, Shauntal Savannah was driving her Nissan Maxima in the northbound lane. As she pulled into the southbound lane with the intent to turn, she entered Murphy's lane of travel. Murphy’s motorcycle struck the passenger-side door of Savannah’s vehicle, causing him injury. Murphy and his wife (plaintiffs) filed the instant suit against the State of Louisiana through the Department of Development and Transportation (DOTD), alleging DOTD failed to warn of a dangerous condition and failed to remedy the defective design of the intersection. After discovery, DOTD filed a motion for summary judgment, relying on the affidavit of a DODT civil engineer who averred that at the time of the accident, DOTD did not have a record of any repairs, maintenance, or construction projects that were being performed in the section of the roadway located at or near the intersection. The engineer stated DOTD had no record of any complaints within 180 days prior to the accident with respect to the intersection. Additionally, DOTD attached Savannah’s deposition testimony in which she said she was familiar with the intersection, and admitted she was at fault for the accident because she did not see Murphy’s motorcycle before making her turn. Savannah also denied that a curve on the road prevented her from seeing the oncoming motorcycle. Plaintiffs appealed when DODT's motion for summary judgment was granted. The district court determined they failed to establish any genuine issues of material fact regarding whether the intersection at issue was unreasonably dangerous. Finding no error in the district court's judgment, the Louisiana Supreme Court affirmed, reversing the court of appeal's judgment to the contrary.

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Louisiana Supreme Court Opinions

Louisiana v. Turner

Docket: 2018-K-0780
Opinion Date: May 8, 2019
Judge: Per Curiam
Areas of Law: Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

Defendant Randy Turner was found guilty of aggravated flight from an officer. He was adjudicated a habitual offender based on the commission of seven predicate felonies and sentenced to 40 years imprisonment at hard labor. The court of appeal reversed the conviction and sentence. A majority of the panel found the district court erred in instructing the jury, and in allowing the State to argue, that the jury could find human life was endangered if the defendant committed one of the acts enumerated in La. R.S. 14:108.1(D) more than once. The dissent disagreed with the majority's interpretation of the statute; the Louisiana Supreme Court granted certiorari review to resolve the disagreement as to whether the crime of aggravated flight from an officer requires proof that a defendant committed two different acts from among those enumerated in La.R.S. 14:108.1(D), or whether proof of the repeated commission of one of those enumerated acts suffices. The Supreme Court found no real uncertainty in the meaning of “at least two of the following acts” in La.R.S. 14:108.1(D). Instead, the Court found the language of the statute in its context plainly encompassed the commission of one of the acts enumerated in that provision more than once. Therefore, the district court did not err in instructing the jury. Accordingly, it reversed the court of appeal and reinstated defendant’s conviction and sentence.

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US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Opinions
United States v. Torres

Docket: 16-20191
Opinion Date: May 6, 2019
Judge: Leslie H. Southwick
Areas of Law: Criminal Law

On remand from the Supreme Court, the Fifth Circuit held that defendant's prior Texas aggravated assault conviction was a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. 16(a). The court held that a knowing threat to another of imminent bodily injury, which was the state statute's requirement, was knowingly threatening to employ a force capable of causing physical pain or injury, which was the section 16(a) requirement. Accordingly, the court affirmed defendant's sentence.

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