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Ray
New Orleans, Louisiana, Earth
Civil appellate lawyer
Interests: Blues
Recent Activity
Did you know that the Louisiana Third Circuit has its own citation manual? I happened to come across it today on the court’s web site. If you practice in the third circuit, I suggest downloading a copy and getting familiar with it. Among the rules that caught my eye are... Continue reading
Posted May 19, 2023 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
Yesterday, the U.S. Fifth Circuit issued an interesting judgment raising issues of appellate jurisdiction and standing: Jackson Municipal Airport Authority v. Harkins, No. 21-60321 (5th Cir. May 10, 2023). First, the jurisdictional issue. The plaintiffs included members of the Board of Commissioners of the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority, whose positions... Continue reading
Posted May 11, 2023 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
Today I again gave my semi-annual CLE presentation on appellate practice at the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Bridging the Gap seminar for new and relatively new lawyers. I intended for the legal citations in my written materials to be hyperlinked to the cited cases and statutes, but the hyperlinks got... Continue reading
Posted May 3, 2023 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
The Louisiana Supreme Court is considering an amendment of Rule XII, concerning acceptance of certified questions from federal courts. Currently, the LASC may accept certified questions from the U.S. Supreme Court or any U.S. court of appeals. The proposed amendment would allow the LASC to also accept certified questions from... Continue reading
Posted Apr 27, 2023 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
In passing by the Louisiana Supreme Court’s web site today, I noticed that the 2022 Annual Report is out. As in past years, the report is loaded with statistics about the Supreme Court and the courts of appeal, total and broken down by circuit. You can use the statistics to... Continue reading
Posted Apr 21, 2023 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
This post is both a tip and a plea: if you get to choose the font for whatever you’re writing, please do not choose Garamond. Of all the Microsoft system fonts one might use in legal writing, Garamond has to be the hardest to read, making it worse than the... Continue reading
Posted Apr 17, 2023 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
If your opponent files an appellate brief with offensive language, should you move for sanctions? Probably not. That’s the lesson from a decision rendered last month by the Louisiana First Circuit in Brumfield v. Village of Tangipahoa, 2022-CA-0730 (La. App. 1 Cir. 3/6/23), — So. 3d —. In an earlier... Continue reading
Posted Apr 6, 2023 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
Last month, the Louisiana Fifth Circuit rendered a judgment reversing a trial court’s dismissal of an appeal because of the appellant’s failure to pay the appeal costs timely. In re Medical Reviiew Panel for Singleton, 22-CA-285 (La. App. 5 Cir. 3/1/23), — So. 3d —. It includes an informative discussion... Continue reading
Posted Apr 5, 2023 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
Here’s a tip for anyone practicing in the Louisiana Supreme Court: before relying on any LASC rule you find in a printed source, check the LASC’s web site for any updates. I happened to be wandering around the web site today and came across this page of amendments to the... Continue reading
Posted Feb 10, 2023 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
Under La. Code Civ. P. art. 2133, an appellee can file an answer to an appeal to obtain relief against the appellant that the trial court denied. The answer is “equivalent to an appeal on [the appellee’s] part from any portion of the judgment rendered against [the appellee] in favor... Continue reading
Posted Feb 1, 2023 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
On March 1, a panel of the Louisiana First Circuit will be riding circuit, but they won’t be riding very far. They will hold oral arguments in five cases at the LSU Law Center. The proceedings will start at 9:30 a.m. in the David Robinson Courtroom. To see the docket,... Continue reading
Posted Jan 31, 2023 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
Please welcome to our blogroll Take the Fifth, a blog reporting on developments in the U.S. Fifth Circuit. The proprietor is Tad Bartlett, a fine lawyer and an excellent writer. Continue reading
Posted Jan 30, 2023 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
On the home page of this blog, I’ve done some maintenance of the links on the right side of the screen: a few additions; a few deletions; and a little re-arranging. The goal was and is to make this blog more useful to readers. Under the heading “Resources,” you’ll find... Continue reading
Posted Jan 30, 2023 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
I’ve added a new feature to this blog: the Uniform Rules of Louisiana Courts of Appeal, presented in a format that (I hope) will make it easy to look up a specific rule. You can find a complete set of the Uniform Rules in one PDF document on some of... Continue reading
Posted Jan 27, 2023 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
Next month, some Louisiana Fifth Circuit judges will be riding circuit. On February 7, the Fifth Circuit will hold oral arguments at the 40th JDC courthouse in Edgard; and on February 15, the Fifth Circuit will hold oral arguments at the 23rd JDC courthouse in Convent. Follow the links below... Continue reading
Posted Jan 26, 2023 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
Sometimes in writing appellate briefs, we adapt and reuse arguments from trial-court briefs, especially on issues subject to de novo review. But in one case in the U.S. Third Circuit, an appellant carried that idea too far. As a result, the Third Circuit awarded damages against the appellant’s counsel under... Continue reading
Posted Jan 25, 2023 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
Speaking of rule changes, a few amendments to the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure went into effect last December 1. Nothing major. FRAP 25(a)(5), on privacy protection, was tweaked to add a provision for appeals in benefits cases from the Railroad Retirement Board. And FRAP 42, on voluntary dismissal, was... Continue reading
Posted Jan 24, 2023 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
A reminder: On January 1, a new set of Uniform Rules for the Louisiana Courts of Appeal went into effect. While there were no revolutionary changes, many rules were updated to account for electronic filing (now available in all five circuits) and to abolish obsolete provisions. You can find the... Continue reading
Posted Jan 24, 2023 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
Here’s a video walk-through for giving an oral argument at the U.S. Fifth Circuit. This comes courtesy of the Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit. Continue reading
Posted Jan 24, 2023 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court issued a report of its investigation into last year’s leak of the draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The Court’s investigation was conducted by the Office of the Marshal and reviewed by The Chertoff Group, headed by Michael Chertoff. While the marshal’s... Continue reading
Posted Jan 20, 2023 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
Next Thursday, Judge John Michael Guidry will be sworn in as the new chief justice of the Louisiana First Circuit Court of appeal. Follow this link to read the First Circuit’s announcement and a brief bio of the new chief. Continue reading
Posted Jan 13, 2023 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
Yesterday I learned of this notice posted on the La. First Circuit’s website: All documents to issue by mail (not email) Wednesday, December 21 2022 The court is experienceing significant technical diffculties with its email system. Therefore, UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE ALL DOCUMENTS TO BE ISSUED BY THE COURT will be... Continue reading
Posted Jan 5, 2023 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
If you’re a Louisiana lawyer with substantial experience in appellate advocacy, here’s a goal to consider for 2023: becoming a board-certified specialist in appellate practice. The window to apply for certification is open until February 28, 2023. Here are the basic requirements: Active membership in good standing with the Louisiana... Continue reading
Posted Dec 30, 2022 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
The Louisiana Supreme Court has updated its forms for the civil writ-application filing sheet and (for expedited writ applications) the civil priority filing sheet. The formats of both have been revised to make them easier to read—no more tiny type. The writ-application filing sheet has a few new questions to... Continue reading
Posted Dec 23, 2022 at Louisiana Civil Appeals
A few months ago, I wrote a blog post about a comprehensive set of amendments to the Uniform Rules of Louisiana Courts of Appeal to take effect January 1, 2023. As I wrote back then, the amendments appear to be intended to do three things: to update the rules to... Continue reading
Posted Dec 16, 2022 at Louisiana Civil Appeals