Inside:
Belly Up with the Bar
Committee 2013
EVENT DATE: Friday, Nov. 1
Act 88 creates an
intent-based transfer
avoidance action
Obligations under
the Medicare
Secondary Payer Act
Fall Expo in review
Sample ballots
2
Around the Bar
November 2013
inside
NOVEMBER 2013
4
Contributors
5
Letter from the president
“November is a great month to be a lawyer” BY MICHAEL S. WALSH
7
“The Holiday Star Project — A calling to continue serving others”
BY BRANDI COLE
9
Tales from the bar side
“Day of infamy” BY VINCENT P. FORNIAS
On the
O
th cover:
The BRBF Belly Up with the Bar event will take place Friday,
Nov. 1, 2013, beginning at 5 p.m. in the horse arena at Live Oak
Arabians Stables, 6300 Jefferson Hwy. in Baton Rouge, La.
Featured on this month’s cover are members of the 2013 Belly
Up with the Bar Committee, including (L to R) Victor Suane
Jr., Brandon DeCuir, Loren Shanklin, Ben Anderson, Chris Day,
Andrea Knouse (vice chair), Savannah Steele and Jennifer Racca
(chair). Donna Buuck, staff liaison of the Belly Up with the Bar
Committee, is not pictured.
Cover photography by Pamela Labbe.
10
West’s Jury Verdicts — Baton Rouge
11
Bar news
14
“Act 88 creates an intent-based transfer avoidance action”
BY WADE R. IVERSTINE
16
Gail’s grammar
18
“Obligations under the Medicare Secondary Payer Act, Part I:
Conditional Payments” BY KAREN D. MURPHY, JD, MSCC
22
Sample ballots / candidate bios
25
Foundation footnotes
BRBA 2014 elections:
Nov. 1 - Nov. 22, 2013
Cocktails
with the Court
Sponsored by
the BRBA Young
Lawyers Section
Nov. 14, 2013
November 2013
Around the Bar
3
Published by the Baton Rouge Bar Association
contributors
P. O. Box 2241, Baton Rouge, LA 70821
Phone (225) 344-4803 • Fax (225) 344-4805 • www.brba.org
The Baton Rouge Bar Association will be the beacon for the
full spectrum of the legal profession by fostering professional
courtesy; increasing the diversity of the bar and the participation
of under-represented groups; maintaining a sound financial base;
enhancing and developing member services and community
outreach; and promoting and improving the image of the profession.
Brandi Cole, an associate with Phelps Dunbar, LLP,
is a contributing writer.
Vincent P. Fornias, an assistant editor of Around the Bar, is a solo
practitioner whose practice focus is alternative dispute resolution.
OFFICERS
Michael S. Walsh, President ..........................................344-0474
Darrel Papillion, President-elect .................................236-3636
Robert “Bubby” Burns Jr., Treasurer ...........................767-7730
Jeanne Comeaux, Secretary ........................................381-8051
Gail S. Stephenson, Past President ..........771-4900, ext. 216
DIRECTORS AT LARGE
Wade R. Iverstine, an associate with Steffes, Vingiello & McKenzie,
LLC, is a contributing writer.
Pamela Labbe is the communications coordinator
of the Baton Rouge Bar Association.
Shelton Dennis Blunt
Linda Law Clark
Karli Glascock Johnson
Christopher K. Jones
Amy C. Lambert
Eric R. Miller
Scotty Chabert, Ex Officio
Wendy L. Edwards, Ex Officio
Leonore Heavey, Ex Officio
ABA DELEGATE
Karen D. Murphy, J.D., MSCC, the managing partner with Murphy’s Law,
APLC, in Ascension Parish, is a contributing writer.
Gail S. Stephenson, an assistant editor of Around the Bar and
BRBA past president, is the director of legal analysis and writing
and an associate professor of law at Southern University Law Center.
Michael S. Walsh, a partner with Lee & Walsh, is the
2013 president of the Baton Rouge Bar Association.
Jack K. Whitehead
APPELLATE SECTION
Susan Kalmbach.......................................................................Chair
BANKRUPTCY SECTION
Erin Wilder-Doomes ................................................................Chair
CONSTRUCTION LAW SECTION
Kelsey Funes ..............................................................................Chair
Adrian Nadeau ................................................................. Past chair
FAMILY LAW SECTION
Wendy L. Edwards ...................................................................Chair
Joanna Hynes .................................................................Chair-elect
Anne Richey Myles ..........................................................Secretary
Laurie Marien ................................................................... Past chair
PUBLIC LAW PRACTICE SECTION
Leonore Heavey .......................................................................Chair
Christopher K. Odinet .................................................Chair-elect
Danielle Clapinski ............................................................Secretary
Beaux Jones ............................................. Attorney General Rep.
Stephanie Le Grange .............................Executive Branch Rep.
Lyla DeBlieux ...............................................Judicial Branch Rep..
Dawn Watson .........................................Legislative Branch Rep.
Jimmy Burland .......................................... Private Attorney Rep.
Maimuna Magee .................................Local Government Rep..
Henry Graham ................................................................. Past chair
WORKERS’ COMPENSATION SECTION
Robin L. Krumholt.............................................................Co-Chair
Debra T. Parker ...................................................................Co-Chair
Michelle M. Sorrells ..........................................................Co-Chair
Judge Pamela Moses-Laramore ..................................Co-Chair
YOUNG LAWYERS SECTION OFFICERS
Scotty Chabert, Chair .....................................................771-8100
Laranda Moffett Walker, Chair-elect .........................376-0268
Scott Levy, Secretary ..................................................... 336-5200
Jamie Hurst Watts, Past Chair ......................................922-5110
YOUNG LAWYERS SECTION COUNCIL
Jodi Bauer
Mackenzie Smith Ledet
Victor J. Suane Jr.
Kara B. Kantrow
Loren Shanklin
BATON ROUGE BAR ASSOCIATION STAFF
Ann K. Gregorie, Executive Director
Donna Buuck, Youth Education Coordinator
Emily Chambers, Pro Bono Coordinator
Meredith French, Administrative Assistant
R. Lynn S. Haynes, Asst. Teen Court Coordinator
Robin Kay, Pro Bono Coordinator
Susan Kelley, Office Manager
Pamela Labbe, Communications Coordinator
Carole McGehee, Lawyer Referral Coordinator
Julie Ourso, Bookkeeper
214-5563
214-5556
214-5558
344-4803
214-5564
214-5561
214-5559
214-5560
214-5557
214-5572
PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE
AROUND THE BAR supports participation of the membership in its production. We encourage the submission of articles and letters to the
editor. Articles should be less than 2,000 words, typed and single-spaced. A Microsoft Word file should be e-mailed as an attachment to:
[email protected].
For advertising information call Pamela Labbe at 225-214-5560. Display ads should be high-resolution attachments (.PDF), and
classified ads as text only. Please email all ad artwork to [email protected]. Publication of any advertisement shall not be considered an
endorsement of the product or service involved. The editor reserves the right to reject any advertisement, article or letter.
Copyright © by the Baton Rouge Bar Association. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without permission is prohibited. To
request permission or for more information, contact Pamela Labbe at 225-214-5560 or [email protected].
4
Around the Bar
Editor:
Asst. Eds.:
Ed Walters — 236-3636
Vincent P. Fornias — 769-4553
Gail S. Stephenson — 771-4900, ext. 216
Art Vingiello — 751-1751
Graphic Design / Ad Sales: Pamela Labbe — 214-5560
Robert Collins
Rachel Emanuel
Greg Gouner
Grant J. Guillot
Lexi Holinga
Dianne M. Irvine
Dale Lee
John McLindon
Christopher K. Odinet
Darrel Papillion
Gracella Simmons
Katie E. Sumner
Jeff Wittenbrink
Robert A. Woosley
Monika Wright
All Rights Reserved • Copyright ©2013
November 2013
letter from
the president
BY MICHAEL S. WALSH
PHOTO BY RCL PORTRAIT DESIGN
November is a great
month to be a lawyer
November is one of my favorite months at the 19th Judicial District Court because there are
four official court holidays. In addition to Thanksgiving and Acadian Day, the 19th JDC will
be closed on All Saints Day (Friday, Nov. 1) and Veterans Day (Monday, Nov. 11). With all of
these November court holidays it is going to be a tough month to make your
minimum billable hours, but other than that minor issue, November is a great
month to be a lawyer.
As the clerk of court and the judges have seen fit to celebrate All Saints
Day on a Friday (which will give us a three-day weekend on which LSU will
be playing “Open Date” and Southern will be at Texas Southern in Houston),
this will be one wild weekend in Baton Rouge. With no home college football
games, folks will be having kids’ birthday parties/weddings/long-planned girls’
weekends and fishing trips. The weather will be cooler, the Tigers will not lose
this weekend and the Jags should win at Texas Southern.
The celebration of All Saints Day on Nov. 1 is a fortuitous event for the
BRBA because we will have our 15th Annual Belly Up with the Bar cooking
and cocktail-making competition at Phil Witter’s Live Oak Arabians stables
on Jefferson Highway. If you have not attended a Belly Up, please come out
and see how well your fellow lawyers not only can cook, but also make adult
beverages. In addition to eating and drinking you’ll have a great opportunity
Michael S. Walsh
to interact with lawyers whom you only get to talk with while you are waiting
on the elevators at the 19th JDC. Belly Up has grown through the years because of the very hard
work of the committee headed by Jennifer Racca. We will have the band Storywood playing and
Mr. Witter’s place is a great outdoor covered venue for this event suitable for children of all ages
(unless they are crawling, in which case be prepared for a mess.) Dress casually, bring your family
and come out and have a good time.
While I have nothing against the Saints (Saints as in “All Saints Day” or for that matter the
New Orleans Saints), I really think the celebration of Veterans Day is as important because of
the sacrifices our military veterans have made to make our country great. Veterans Day started
as Armistice Day in 1918 and it was to celebrate the end of the “war to end all wars.” Well, the
war to end all wars was World War I and it sure wasn’t the last war America has had to fight.
United States service men and women are still fighting and dying in wars overseas. Our military
is still being called upon to protect the rights of not only the citizens of the United States, but to
protect civilians in other countries while trying to uphold civil liberties and democracies all over
the world.
Our local bar is blessed to have many veterans who have served our county in times of war
and peace. If you’ve traveled by air lately, you’ve likely seen many men and women traveling in
their service uniforms. To me, they all seem so very young, and I often wonder where they are
headed and where they have been. So I’d ask that on this Veterans Day, regardless of your political
views on the U.S.’s involvement overseas, you keep our service men and women in your thoughts
and prayers because they’ve got a very difficult and dangerous job.
Next month we’ll talk about the upcoming Christmas holidays and why December is my
second favorite month at the courthouse. Y’all have a good Thanksgiving with your families, and
I’ll see you on All Saints Day at Phil Witter’s place.
November 2013
Around the Bar
5
The Holiday Star Project –
A calling to continue serving others
According to a poll conducted of 6,000 moms in 2011,
parents planned to spend an average of $271 per child at
Christmas, with one out of 10 reporting that they would
spend more than $500 on gifts for each child.1 While these
amounts probably sound like the norm to many families
in Baton Rouge, there are a number of children in our
area who receive nothing for Christmas. The Holiday Star
Project brings joy to nearly 1,000 of these children every
year.
The Holiday Star Project was established by the Baton
Rouge Bar Foundation. Through the generous hearts of
members of the Baton Rouge Bar, this project distributes
gifts to children through a number of reputable agencies
in the community, including Children’s Hospital, Family
Services, Gulf Coast Teaching, HAART, LSVI, Metro
Health, St. Anthony’s, VOA Special Services, YWCA Early
Head Start, and Grandparents Raising Grandchildren.
The children served by these agencies often come from
low income and single parent households, and many suffer
from disabilities or other issues.
The Children’s Hospital in Baton Rouge has been
served by the project for a number of years. Approximately
95 percent of the patients at Children’s Hospital are
Medicaid patients with income below poverty guidelines.
This hospital serves children of all shapes, sizes and
illnesses, with a number of children who spend most of
their time in the hospital. Some are not able to go to
school, so their social life consists of their contacts with
the nurses and other patients at the hospital. Six years
ago, the Children’s Hospital began hosting an annual
Christmas party for its patients, which usually happens
the Monday before Christmas. This party, which started
with cake and cookies in the lobby, has grown into the
event the children most look forward to each year. With
BY BRANDI COLE
Santa Claus, elves, face painting, singing and even a visit
from some Louisiana State Troopers, it is the highlight of
Christmas for the kids involved. For many, it is their only
Christmas. The Holiday Star Project makes this an extra
special event – where most of these children are presented
with the only gifts they will receive for the year. Although
most children served by Holiday Star receive their gifts on
Christmas morning, this agency is different. The gifts are
distributed at the party to both patients and their siblings.
The hard-working and kind nurses to these patients are the
eyes and ears of the hospital to determine which children
are in need of help from this project. The nurses also pick
the annual Christmas King and Queen, a great honor for
the children. The first king was autistic and blind. Last
year, the queen had cerebral palsy. Apparently this little
lady did not let her satin blue “queen” gloves prevent her
from gobbling down some chicken drummettes.
When I think of the meaning of the holiday season, I’m
always taken back to “It’s A Wonderful Life.” Through
George Bailey, an ordinary fellow, this movie reminds
us that it is often the small and seemingly unremarkable
decisions in life that really make a difference to others. As
Clarence Oddbody, George’s guardian angel, tells George
when he sees the world without himself: “Strange, isn’t it?
Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t
around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?” Clarence
shows George that his choices, many of which he never
thought twice about, not only affected, but also saved
others. If you are looking for a way to affect a child’s life
this holiday season, please consider sponsoring a child for
the Holiday Star Project. Your generosity could make a
significant difference to a child in our community.
1
www.today.com. (Dec. 12, 2011).
The Young Lawyers Section
Holiday Star Project
Sign up to sponsor a child. Please fill out the
form below and fax it to the Bar office
at (225) 344-4805.
Name: ________________________________________________________________________________________
Firm: _________________________________________________________________________________________
Address: ______________________________________________________________________________________
City:________________________________________________________ State: _________ Zip: _______________
Phone: _______________________________________ Fax: ___________________________________________
Email: _____________________________________________ # of stars you wish to sponsor: _______________
The Baton Rouge Bar Foundation will mail your star and child’s wish list directly to you,
along with instructions. Should you have any questions, call Susan Kelley at (225) 214-5559.
6
Around the Bar
November 2013
*Ethics; **Professionalism, ~Law Practice Management
PLEASE CHECK YOUR REQUESTED SEMINARS:
Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013
TIME
†8-9 am
†9:10-10:10 am
†10:20-11:20 am
CREDIT TOPIC
1.0
Professionalism**
1.0
Long-term Prognosis of Soft
Tissue Injuries
1.0
†11:30am-12:30 pm 1.0
†1:30-2:30 pm
1.0
†2:40-3:40 pm
1.0
†3:50-4:50 pm
1.0
†5-6 pm
1.0
†6:10-7:10 pm
1.0
A Review of Open Records &
Public Meetings Law
IRS Collections: Options
& Obstacles
Professionalism Jeopardy**
Products Liability for Inherently
Dangerous Products
Ethics*
Traps for the Unwary in
Divorce Litigation
Forensic Accounting Update
PRESENTER
Eugene Groves
Robin Krumholt
& Dr. Jay Perniciaro
Emalie Boyce
Cary & Angie Bryson
Kelly Legier
& Sandra Diggs-Miller
James d’Entremont
Judge John
Michael Guidry
Jeffrey Wittenbrink
Tuan Pham
Friday, Dec. 6, 2013
†8-9 am
†9:10-10:10 am
1.0
1.0
†10:20-11:20 am 1.0
†11:30am-12:30 pm 1.0
†1:30-2:30 pm
†2:40-3:40 pm
1.0
1.0
† 3:50-4:50 pm
1.0
Criminal Law Updates
Kurt Wall
Common Ethical Mistakes in Legal
Marketing ... and How to Avoid Them*
Richard Lemmler
Bankruptcy
Ryan Richmond
Recent Developments in
Successions & Donations
Joseph Mengis
La. Mineral Rights
Keith Hall
Professionalism:
Ethel Graham
Political Correctness**
& Tiffany Smith
Family Law
Mike Aaron
Thursday, Dec. 12, 2013
†8-9 am
†9:10-10:10 am
†10:20-11:20 am
1.0
1.0
1.0
†11:30am-12:30 pm 1.0
†1:30-2:30 pm
1.0
†2:40-3:40 pm
1.0
†3:50-4:50 pm
1.0
†5-6 pm
†6:10-7:10 pm
1.0
1.0
Professionalism**
Mark Plaisance
Evidence
Johnny Joubert
Tax Consequences in Tort
Recoveries
Bill Potter
Special Education Law
Danielle Munro
A Primer on La.’s New Tax Credit
Registry Act
Chris Odinet
Residential & Commercial Purchase
Agreements & Related Contracts Randy Roussel
Understanding Employees’ Rights
to Overtime Under the Fair Labor
Standards Act
Jerry Martin
Professionalism**
Judge Jay Zainey
Ethics*
Amy Groves Lowe
Friday, Dec. 13, 2013
†8-9 am
1.0
†9:10-10:10 am
†10:20-11:20 am
1.0
1.0
†11:30am-12:30 pm 1.0
†1:30-2:30 pm
†2:40-3:40 pm
1.0
1.0
†3:50-4:50 pm
1.0
Law Practice Management:
Going Paperless (LPM) ~
Professionalism**
10 Rules for Success Your Mom
Taught You (LPM) ~
How to Survive & Thrive as a
Solo or Small Firm
Ethics*
DWI Checkpoints
Recent Developments in
Labor & Employment Law
Brian Munson
Travis Broussard
Ann Wise
David H. Ogwyn
Robert S. Kennedy Jr.
Franz Borghardt,
Steve Moore &
Carson Marcantel
Levy Leatherman
CLE
BY THE HOUR
Join us at the
Renaissance Hotel BR
7000 Bluebonnet Blvd., Baton Rouge, LA 70810
EARLY REGISTRATION: $30/hr. for BRBA members; $45/hr. for non-members by 5 pm,
Monday, Nov. 18, 2013.
REGULAR REGISTRATION: $45/hr. for BRBA members; $60/hr. for non-members after
5 pm, Monday, Nov. 18, 2013.
LATE REGISTRATION: $55/hr. for BRBA members; $70/hr. for non-members beginning
at 5 pm Dec. 4, 2013. “No Shows” will be billed. To be considered registered, both
payment and registration must be received by the BRBA office. It is the policy of the BRBA
CLE Committee that no refunds will be given for cancellations received within 48 hours prior
to each seminar. Time is allowed for lunch on your own each day. Wireless access is available
in the meeting room. Materials will be made available online in advance of the seminar.
Register online at www.BRBA.org.
Thursday, Dec. 19, 2013
TIME
†8-9 am
CREDIT TOPIC
PRESENTER
1.0
Intro. to the Medicare Secondary
Payer Act
Rafael Gonzalez
†9:10-10:10 am
1.0
Intro. to Mandatory Insurer
Reporting
Rafael Gonzalez
†10:20-11:20 am 1.0
Intro. to Conditional Payment
Resolution
Rafael Gonzalez
†11:30am-12:30 pm 1.0
Adv. Conditional Payment
Resolution Update
Rafael Gonzalez
†1:30-2:30 pm
1.0
Intro. to Medicare Set Asides
Rafael Gonzalez
†2:40-3:40 pm
1.0
Adv. Medicare Set Aside Update Rafael Gonzalez
†3:50-4:50 pm
1.0
MSP & Settlements (Ethics)*
Rafael Gonzalez
†5-6 pm
1.0
Preparing for & Presenting Your
Case at Mediation
Paul Marks
†6:10-7:10 pm
1.0
Professionalism of
Patrick Broyles &
of Social Media**
Abboud Thomas
Friday, Dec. 20, 2013
†8-9 am
†9:10-10:10 am
†10:20-11:20 am
1.0
1.0
1.0
†11:30am-12:30 pm 1.0
†1:30-2:30 pm
1.0
†2:40-3:40 pm
1.0
†3:50-4:50 pm
1.0
Professionalism**
Real Estate
The ABCs of Inclusion:
A Professionalism Primer**
Ethics*
Business Valuation Update
TBA
Criminal Law & Procedure
Charles R. Moore
Clay Tanner
I.J. Clark-Sam
Murphy Foster III
Ed Tatum
Michael C. Palmintier
Cheney Joseph &
Bernard Boudreaux
Friday, Dec. 27, 2013
†8-9 am
1.0
†9:10-10:10 am
†10:20-11:20 am
1.0
1.0
†11:30am-12:30 pm 1.0
†1:30-2:30 pm
1.0
†2:40-3:40 pm
1.0
†3:50-4:50 pm
1.0
Ethical Responsibilities of Supervising
Non-Lawyers in Your Office: An
Exploration of Ch. 5 of the La.*
Rules of Prof. Conduct
Robert Lancaster
Voir Dire
Franz Borghardt
Professionalism: Social Media
for Lawyers**
Amanda Stout
Civil Motions
Scott Kaiser
Ethics*
Judge Tim Kelley
TBA
Todd Gaudin
Trust Accounting: Bank Records
Don’t Lie (LPM) ~
Julie White
Saturday, Dec. 28, 2013
†8-9 am
†9:10-10:10 am
1.0
1.0
†10:20-11:20 am 1.0
†11:30am-12:30 pm 1.0
†1-2 pm
1.0
†2-3 pm
1.0
Ethics*
Professionalism:
Civility Matters**
Jennifer Durham
Collections
Ethics: Not Following the Rules*
Professionalism vs. Mayhem**
Identity Theft (LPM) ~
Jim George &
Dale Baringer
Garth Ridge
Judge Jessie LeBlanc
Brian Coody
Robert Woosley
HOW TO REGISTER: (1) REGISTER AND PAY ONLINE by credit card at www.brba.org; (2) MAIL this entire page, along with your payment, to:
BRBA, P.O. Box 2241, Baton Rouge, LA 70821; or (3) FAX registration form and credit card information to 225-344-4805.
I am registering for _______ hours @ _____________ per hour = $___________ Total amount due
Name: _________________________________________________ Firm: _________________________________________ Bar Roll #: _________________
Address: ___________________________________________________________City: ______________________________State: _______ Zip: ____________
Phone: ________________________________ Fax: ____________________________________ Email: ____________________________________________
Credit Card Account No.: ______________________________________ Expiration: __________________Type of Card: (circle one) MC VISA AmEx Discover
Security Code: ________________ Name on Card: ______________________________________________________________________________________
November 2013
Around the Bar
7
15th Annual
“Belly Up with the Bar” Entry Form
C
o
o
k
-
o
f
f
&
B
r
e
w
f
e
s
t
Event takes place Friday, Nov. 1, 2013
The 15th Annual “Belly Up with the Bar” is a cook-off, brewfest and outdoor party with live music—sponsored by the Young
Lawyers Section of the Baton Rouge Bar Association. Proceeds from this event will benefit the BRBF’s Youth Education
Program. Team and individual entries are welcome. Judges will select winners in a variety of categories. Advance general
admission tickets are $25 per adult, $20 per law student, $10 per child ages 12 to 17, and FREE admittance to children ages
11 and under. Prices at the door are $30 per adult or law student, and $10 per child, so buy ’em now!
LOCATION:
Live Oak Arabian Stables, 6300 Jefferson Hwy., Baton Rouge, LA 70806 in the sheltered arena.
DATE:
Friday, Nov. 1, 2013, 5 p.m. - until — mark your calendars NOW!
WHO CAN ENTER: Anyone who’s willing to cook and serve enough to feed/water our local bar. The entry fee, which is
$125 per team (up to 5 members per team), gets you:
(1) in the door to try all the fabulous food and drinks
(2) all the beer you care to drink, and
(3) the chance to show off your culinary talents
THINGS YOU’LL NEED TO BRING:
• Enough food to serve roughly 300 “sample size” portions
• Any cooking/heating/brewing equipment necessary to serve your entry
• A team of no more than 5 members
• A sign to indicate what you’re making
• Serving bowls (serving size), cups or plates
THINGS WE’LL PROVIDE:
Forks and spoons; beer, live music . . . and fabulous prizes
ENTRY FORM — PLEASE FILL OUT THIS FORM AND FAX IT TO: (225) 344-4805 OR MAIL IT ASAP
To: Baton Rouge Bar Association, ATTN: YLS, P. O. Box 2241, Baton Rouge, LA 70821. Registration Deadline: Oct. 1, 2013.
(CHECKS SHOULD BE MADE PAYABLE TO “BRBF - BELLY UP WITH THE BAR.” CREDIT CARD INFORMATION
CAN BE PROVIDED BELOW.) Booths are assigned as forms and payment are received, so submit your form early!
TEAM NAME:
__________________________________________
TEAM CAPTAIN’S NAME:
__________________________________________
CAPTAIN’S CONTACT NUMBER:
__________________________________________
CAPTAIN’S EMAIL:
__________________________________________
CAPTAIN’S CITY/STATE/ZIP:
__________________________________________
WHAT YOU’LL BE SERVING:
__________________________________________
FOR “BELLY UP WITH THE BAR” TICKET INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE BRBA AT (225) 344-4803.
*If you are unable to participate or attend, but you wish to make a donation for the BRBF’s award-winning Youth Education Program, please make your check payable to the BRBF.
Credit Card Information: Type of card: (circle one)
MC VISA AmExp Discover
Name on card: ___________________________________________________________
Exp. Date: _________________________
Security code: ______________________
Credit card number: _______________________________________________________
Signature: ______________________________________________________________
8
Around the Bar
November 2013
tales from
the bar side
BY VINCENT P. FORNIAS
Not many of you may have heard of one Vaughn
Meader. Well, maybe Mike McKay, and possibly Bob
Downing. For the rest of you with a life, Vaughn Meader
was hot stuff back in the early Sixties. Looking and
sounding like a dead ringer for JFK, Meader was the
toast of “The Ed Sullivan Show” and the star of his own
runaway hit of a comedy album, entitled appropriately
enough, “The First Family.” Look it up.
So let us travel back some five decades to that
dreaded day at Dealey Plaza in Dallas. Yours truly was
an impressionable fifth grader at St. Matthias parochial
school in the Broadmoor section of New Orleans. I will
admit that barely three years past our exile from our Cuban
homeland, my parents were not the greatest fans of the
presidency of JFK. He was known by our small community
to have stranded our liberators on the beachhead at
the Bay of Pigs awaiting promised air support that was
withdrawn at the eleventh hour, hammering the last nail on
the coffin of that long anticipated mission. His celebrated
diplomatic triumph during the Missile Crisis was rumored
Day of infamy
to be at the expense of a sobering quid-pro-quo pledge to
Krushchev never to invade Cuba. I will admit to harboring
a silent disagreement with my parents when it came to
Kennedy, especially when one magical Spring morning in
third grade we were bused to the streets of New Orleans to
behold him in his magnetic magnificence as he whizzed by
in an open Presidential convertible, smiling and waving,
his shockingly auburn locks blowing just right in the crisp
golden sunshine. The adoring crowd lining the motorcade
was squarely in the palms of his charismatic hands.
Fast forwarding to fifth grade, I recall a noon recess
that Friday, Nov. 22, 1963, when our traditional postlunch touch football game was suddenly interrupted by
the nuns who watched over us. Ashen-faced, they quickly
herded us into the school building for a rare midday
gathering where we were told that the President had been
shot while in a motorcade in Texas. We were to quietly
return to our individual classrooms to recite the rosary on
his and his family’s behalf.
In my defense, none of us knew at that moment that
the assassin(s) had already achieved his
(their) ultimate goal. And yes, even then I
had a certain appreciation for absurdities
in times of stress. My best friend Jimmy
was next to me as we filed upstairs. I made
a passing comment under my breath to
him. He burst out a laugh. Then came
the inevitable Inquisition. Jimmy wasn’t
snitching—he was loyal to the death—but
I wasn’t about to let him pay the price for
my little indiscretion. And so I spilled the
beans to our teacher, confessing that it was
I who had prompted Jimmy’s untimely
guffaw.
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November 2013
Teacher: “And just what did you say to
him, young man?”
Me (looking down): “I guess I said, ‘There
goes Vaughn Meader’s career.’”
Most of you alive when it happened
remember precisely where you were and
what you were doing when you heard
the news of JFK. I too remember it well.
I was on my way to my very first visit to
a principal’s office. Don’t ask about the
second time. That one I do place squarely
on Jimmy’s head—but my lips are forever
sealed.
Around the Bar
9
10
Around the Bar
November 2013
PHOTO BY PAMELA LABBE
bar news
BY PAMELA LABBE
Belly Up with the Bar event to be held Nov. 1
Live Oak Arabians Stables will serve as the venue
again this year for the BRBF Belly Up with the Bar event
Friday, Nov. 1, 2013. Jennifer Racca is the committee
chair and Andrea Knouse is the vice chair. Donna Buuck
is the staff liaison and the coordinator of the event.
Celebrity judges will be on hand to judge all the
delicious food and beverage entries. Event tickets are
available in advance and at the door. Bring your appetite
and your family, come prepared to have fun and wear
shoes that you don’t mind getting dirty.
All proceeds from Belly Up support the Baton Rouge
Bar Foundation’s youth education programs. For more
information on this event, please contact Donna at
225-214-5556 or [email protected].
Cocktails with the Court to be held by the YLS
Attention all Young Lawyers! Please join us at the
Gallery at Manship, this year’s venue for the YLS Cocktails
Thomas Enright, H. Alston Johnson III, Susanne Inman and J. Richard Williams
were photographed after Johnson’s presentation of his annual legislative
update, which was provided as a CLE seminar at this year’s BRBA Fall Expo &
Conference at L’Auberge Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013.
with the Court, on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013, 5-7 p.m.
Coordinating this year’s event is Mackenzie S. Ledet and
Loren Shanklin. Susan Kelley is the staff liaison to the
YLS Council.
Sponsors of this year’s Cocktails with the Court are
Citizens Bank & Trust; Smith Shanklin Sosa, LLC; Walters
Papillion Thomas Cullens, LLC; Decuir, Clark & Adams;
and Tyler & Possa. For more information, contact the
BRBA at 225-344-4803.
10620 Timberlake Dr.
Baton Rouge, LA
70810
225-761-1981
FAX: 225-761-1983
www.themdclinic.com
November 2013
Around the Bar
11
PHOTO BY PAMELA LABBE
Fall Expo & Conference, Bar Luncheon features
chief justice as keynote speaker
Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Bernette
Joshua Johnson spoke to a full house Thursday, Oct. 3,
2013, in the Grand Ballroom of L’Auberge Casino &
Hotel, which was the new venue for the BRBA October
Bar Luncheon.
This year the event was packaged as the BRBA Fall
Expo & Conference, and it featured three CLE seminars,
including an ethics, a professionalism, and H. Alston
Johnson III’s annual legislative update. The Expo portion
of the event featured 33 booths. The event was held from
11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., and it concluded with a reception
sponsored by Doré Jeansonne. Bryan Jeansonne served as
chair of this year’s Law Expo Committee, and Michael
Platte is the past chair.
The sponsors and exhibitors of this year’s event were
American Mailing & Shipping; Applied Business Concepts;
Automated Filing Systems; Avansic — E-Discovery &
Digital Forensics; BancorpSouth Insurance Services, Inc.
dba Wright & Percy Insurance; Baton Rouge Association
of Women Attorneys (BRAWA); Baton Rouge Health Care
Center; Baton Rouge Paralegal Association; Belly Up with
the Bar (BRBF); Bench Bar Conference (BRBA); Clarity
Litigation Support; Clary Medical Legal Consulting, Inc.;
Photographed are BRBA President-elect Darrel Papillion, President Michael
S. Walsh welcomed attendees to the October Bar Luncheon and introduced
guest speaker Chief Justice Bernette Joshua Johnson with the Louisiana
Supreme Court.
Commerce Title; Electronic Business Systems; Gilsbar,
Inc.; Global Data Systems, Inc.; Hannis T. Bourgeois,
LLP, CPAs; Kay E. Donnelly & Associates (silver
sponsor); Louis A. Martinet Legal Foundation; Louisiana
Bar Foundation; La. Dept. of the Treasury Unclaimed
Property Div.; Louisiana State Bar Association; MAPS,
Inc. (Mediation Arbitration Professional Systems); The
Medical and Diagnostic Clinic; Mercedes-Benz of Baton
*
*Available for qualified customers only.
Contact Kyle Talbert for details:
225-490-3101 • [email protected]
12
Around the Bar
November 2013
PHOTO BY PAMELA LABBE
PHOTO BY PAMELA LABBE
Photographed at the reception following the Fall Expo &
Conference are Molly Smith with Thomson Reuters, Danny
McGlynn and Gretchen Boudreaux with Thomson Reuters.
Rouge; MidSouth Bank; Mid South Insurance
Agency; Palmetto Addiction Recovery Center;
Perry Dampf Dispute Solutions; Postlethwaite &
Netterville (platinum sponsor); Quality Litigation
Support, Inc.; Thomson Reuters; Total Care
Injury & Pain Centers; and Venyu.
Thanks to all volunteers and Law Expo
Committee members who contributed to the
success to this year’s event.
Members of the Law Expo Committee attended the Oct. 3, 2013, reception at
L’Auberge, including (L to R) Michael Brassett, Bryan Jeansonne (chair) and Andrew
Reynolds.
BRBA to offer online voting for 2014 election
Inside this issue (pp. 22-24), you will find the photos and
bios of those BRBA members who are running for the Young
Lawyers Section Council and Board of Director 2014 elections.
Ballots will be mailed and emailed to you soon, if you have not
already received them.
There are only two ways to vote: online, or by mailing
your paper ballot to the address on the return envelope, and the
ballots will not be accepted at the bar office, whether delivered
in person, or by fax, mail, email or courier.
Call at 225-344-4803 with any questions.
FORMER SOCIAL SECURITY JUDGE
PETER J. LEMOINE
Social Security Disability Law
Offices in Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Cottonport
Adjunct Professor (1994-1997), Northwestern State University
MEMBER: American Bar Association, Louisiana State Bar Association, Baton Rouge Bar Association,
Avoyelles Parish Bar Association, National Organization of Social Security Claimant Representatives,
Legal Services for Purposes of Disability Committee (Louisiana State Bar Association).
PUBLISHED ARTICLES: “The Worn-Out Worker Rule Revisited,”
“Significant Work-Related Limitations of Function Under §12.05C,”
“Questionable Retirement and the Small Business Owner,”
“Crisis of Confidence: The Inadequacies of Vocational Evidence Presented at Social Security Disability Hearings.”
225-922-4551
November 2013
Around the Bar
13
act 88 creates an intent-based
transfer avoidance action
BY WADE R. IVERSTINE
Louisiana Act 88 of 2013 amends
Civil Code article 2041 and makes an
important change to a creditor’s right
to collect a debt from property that
the debtor has transferred to someone
else. Unlike alternative approaches to
transfer avoidance, the right of action
in Louisiana — the revocatory action —
makes a transferor’s intent to defraud
creditors irrelevant. The proof is simple.
The creditor may seize and sell the transferred property
if the transfer of that property caused or increased the
debtor’s insolvency.
Act 88 does not change the elements of the revocatory
action under Louisiana Civil Code article 2036;1 it changes
the limitations period in “cases of fraud.” The relevant
language from Act 88 reads:
Civil Code Article 2041 is hereby amended and
reenacted . . . to read as follows:
Art. 2041. Action must be brought within
one year
The action of the obligee must be
brought within one year from the time he
learned or should have learned of the act,
or the result of the failure to act, of the
obligor that the obligee seeks to annul,
but never after three years from the date
of that act or result.
The three year period provided in this
Article shall not apply in cases of fraud.2
In these undefined “cases of fraud” the creditor may
look back to transfers passed in the last ten years, compared
to three years in normal cases. In the world of transferavoidance laws, the look-back period is everything. By
more than tripling that period based on the transferor’s
intent, Act 88 invites every plaintiff to plead fraud generally
and take discovery into the transferor’s mind.
The 1984 revisions to the Civil Code eliminated the
debtor’s fraudulent intent as an element of proof for a
revocatory action in favor of the objective-insolvency
test. If Act 88 means anything, it must mean that we
14
Around the Bar
have returned to the old search for the
debtor’s bad thoughts.
Act 88 changes a key feature of this
state’s transfer avoidance policy
Each jurisdiction in the United States
provides a system for creditors to collect
from property that a debtor transfers to
someone else. The basic policy goal is to
protect the value of unsecured debt from
deceitful transactions while balancing the opposing need for
security of title. As time passes from the transaction date,
the particular transferee’s property rights overshadow the
generalized concern for the value of debt instruments. To
strike a balance, each available system, including our own,
provides creditors with limitation periods proportionate
to a suspected level of deceit. As a result, creditors have
more time to intercept deceitful transactions and less time
for honest ones.
Louisiana’s solution is the revocatory action, derived
from the Paulian Action under Roman law. The present
revocatory action makes a creditor’s proof simple: the
transfer is annulled if it 1) occurred after the debt was
incurred and 2) increased the transferor’s insolvency. The
creditor is protected from the detrimental effects of deceit
by starting the one-year prescriptive period on the date the
creditor knew or should have known of the transaction.
The transferee is protected by a three-year peremptive
period beginning on the date of the transaction, regardless
of the debtor’s intent to deceive.
By comparison, the debtor’s deceitfulness is the main
focus of common law “fraudulent conveyance” doctrines,
which, for 43 states, have been codified in the Uniform
Fraudulent Transfer Act (the UFTA).
The UFTA establishes three types of fraudulent
transfers, subject to the following limitations periods. For
the worst kind of deceit — where the transferor has the
“actual intent” to defraud creditors — a UFTA cause of
action extinguishes after the later of fou years from the
transfer date or one year from the date the creditor either
learned or reasonably should have learned of the transfer.3
For the second worst kind of deceit — where actual intent
is missing but the debtor should have known what it was
doing, given the value it received for the transfer and the
amount of its debts — the cause of action extinguishes
November 2013
four years after the transfer date, regardless of whether the
creditor discovered or should have discovered the transfer.4
For the lowest level transfers — where the transferor
received less than “reasonably equivalent value” at a time
of insolvency — the cause of action extinguishes one year
after the transfer date regardless of what the creditor was
able to know.5
Louisiana’s concise approach to transfer-avoidance law
was a major innovation of the 1984 Obligations Revisions
to the Louisiana Civil Code of 1870. The pre-1985
revocatory action required proof of 1) insolvency of the
debtor, 2) injury to the creditor, 3) intent to defraud the
creditors, and 4) pre-existing and accrued indebtedness.6
The evidence that established the debtor’s intent to defraud
under transfer-avoidance law was difficult to target.
The modern revocatory action provides the most
direct solution to the main problem by shifting the focus
away from the debtor’s bad faith and, instead, upon the
damage to creditors. A seizing creditor cares only about
preserving the debtor’s collectible net worth, not what
the debtor was thinking in attempting to avoid collection.
Much deliberation and explanation was expended in
retracing the origins of the Paulian Action to bring us
to our state’s modern-day objective-insolvency test. The
objective approach appropriately focuses on the restitution
owed to unsecured creditors while balancing the rights of
transferees, without the needless complexity of proving
the debtor’s intent.
The revocatory action has always targeted
“cases of fraud”
Act 88 in search of a problem replaces the three-year
peremptive period with a special 10-year prescriptive
period7 reserved for “cases of fraud.” In the context of
the revocatory action, however, the term “cases of fraud”
is redundant. Every revocatory action targets a case of
fraud.
The purpose of the objective-insolvency test — the
hallmark of the modern revocatory action — is to target
transactions made “in fraud of creditors” in the way that
Roman Paulian Action applied that concept,8 i.e., to ensure
that a creditor’s process of execution is not prejudiced by
transactions that deplete the debtor’s net worth, regardless
of the debtor’s intent.
The debtor’s intent to defraud creditors was the
primary cause for a revocatory action before 1985.
However, the focus on the debtor’s deceitful intent was the
result of a confusion in the meaning of the Latin phrase
in fraudem creditorum (in fraud of creditors), found in
the source articles. In Latin, fraus means “prejudice” or
“disadvantage”; it does not mean deceit in the modern
November 2013
sense of the word “fraud.” By missing the distinction,
over time, the jurisprudence focused on the deceitfulness
of the transaction. As a result, a formula was created
for distinguishing between “actual” and “constructive”
fraud.11 That formula led to inconsistent applications.
The objective-insolvency test introduced by the 1984
Obligations Revisions eliminated that inconsistency
and confusion. By eliminating the debtor’s intent as an
element of proof, the modern revocatory action focuses
on the prejudice the transaction has on the creditor’s
collection process, as opposed to the deceitful qualities of
the transaction. Nevertheless, “fraud” in the sense of the
Paulian Action remains the target of the modern Louisiana
revocatory action.
Legislative history notwithstanding, Act 88 creates an
intent-based revocatory action
Unfortunately, the legislative history of the revocatory
action and importance of the objective-insolvency test was
lost on this year’s Legislature. It is unfortunate because had
the Legislature retained a memory of its work in 1984, it
would have recognized the redundancy and thus confusion
created by (again) interjecting the concept of “fraud” into
the revocatory action.
Legislation trumps history (and logic) as a source of
law. We are not allowed to interpret legislation in a way
that renders the words meaningless or superfluous.12 We
must search for a meaning, even if the Legislature gave
us a poor, however “solemn[,] expression of legislative
will.”13
Bound by these rules, creditors obviously cannot
argue that the 10-year prescriptive period always expires
after the three-year preemptive period on the basis that
all revocatory actions are cases of fraud. If all revocatory
actions are cases of fraud (as in fact they are in the Paulian
Action sense of the word), then either the 10-year or
three–year limitation period applies, but not both. That
interpretation renders Act 88 superfluous. Instead, the
10-year revocatory action must be interpreted to guard
against a type of transaction or protect a type of creditor
that is different from the type targeted by three-year
version.
Act 88 provides no way to distinguish the ten-year
from the three-year right. Unlike the other intent-based
approaches to transfer avoidance law that we have seen
in Louisiana, Act 88 is an incomplete thought. Nothing
in the Civil Code can be read in pari materia to define the
kind14 of fraud that distinguishes between intent-based and
objective revocatory actions. Nothing allows us to define
against whom the fraud must be committed and what
must be the object of the fraud. The pre-1985 revocatory
Around the Bar
15
action and the UFTA were clear on these points.
At least under the pre-1985 revocatory action, we had
a complete system for determining when the right of action
prescribed and what triggered the right of action. Unlike
Act 88, we had a way to define what the Legislature meant
by “in fraud of a creditor’s rights.” Even our Legislature’s
flirtation with the UFTA back in the early 2000s15 was
better than Act 88. It was at least a complete thought.
Conclusion
Act 88 is a move backward in the area of transferavoidance law. The new 10-year right of action in cases
of fraud uses outdated, redundant terminology to define
the limitations period, which is one of the most important
aspects of the revocatory action. The terminology
resurrects needless uncertainty in an otherwise artfully
crafted, objective, easy-to-use law. That uncertainty will
require judges to “proceed according to equity”16 far
more quickly than the primary source of Louisiana law
(i.e., legislation17) should allow.
The Legislature should either repeal Act 88 or
complete its thought, in that order of preference.
1
Louisiana Civil Code article 2036 provides: “An oblige has a right
to annul an act of the obligor, or the result of a failure to act of the
obligor, made or effected after the right of the oblige arose, that causes
or increases the obligor’s insolvency.”
2
The original bill was sponsored by the Louisiana State Law Institute
and introduced by Representative Abramson. It dealt only with tolling
agreements that had previously not worked in Louisiana. After passing
the House (with a technical amendment), it was amended in the Senate by
Senator Martiny to include the revisions to article 2041.
3
Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act § 9(a).
4
Id. § 9(b).
5
Id. § 9(c).
6
Thomassie v. Savoie, 581 So.2d 1031, 1035 (La. App. 1 Cir. 1991).
7
Now that the three-year period “shall not apply in cases of fraud,” no
limitation period is “otherwise provided by legislation[; therefore, the]
personal action is subject to a liberative prescription of ten years.” La.
Civ. C. art. 3499.
8
See Murray v. Mae M. Stacy Trust (In re Goldberg), 277 B.R. 251,
270-285 (Bankr. M.D. La. 2002), for a concise summary of scholarship
following the origins of the modern revocatory action.
9
Id. at 273.
10
Id. at 279.
11
E.g., Gast v. Gast, 19 So.2d 138, 141 (La. 1944).
12
Credit v. Richland Parish Sch. Bd., 11-1003 (La. 3/13/12), 85 So.3d
669, 678 (“It is a cardinal rule of statutory interpretation that ‘it will not
be presumed that the Legislature inserted idle, meaningless or superfluous
language in the statute or that it intended for any part or provision of the
statute to be meaningless, redundant or useless.’").
13
La. C.C. art. 2.
14
“As used in [the] source articles, the word ‘fraud’ has a meaning which
is difficult to determine but which appears different from its meaning in
other contexts.” La. C.C. art. 2036, cmt. b.
15
The Legislature passed the UFTA in 2003 and then repealed it in
2004.
16
La. C.C. art. 4.
17
La. C.C. art. 1.
GAIL’S GRAMMAR
What is wrong with the following
sentence? After Thibodeaux was
arrested for embezzlement,
he called Mike Walsh.
A prosecutor might prefer that
wording as it implies Thibodeaux
committed embezzlement and was
arrested for it. Better wording, at
least from the defense attorney’s
standpoint, is “after Thibodeaux
was arrested on suspicion of
embezzlement.” A more neutral
wording is “in connection with an
embezzlement.”
Send suggestions for future Gail’s Grammar
columns to Gail Stephenson
at [email protected],
16
Around the Bar
November 2013
board synopsis
IT ISN’T TOO EARLY
TO START THINKING ABOUT
SYNOPSIS OF AUG. 1, 2013, OF THE BRBA & BRBF BOARD OF DIRECTOR
MEETING MINUTES – PERDIDO BEACH RESORT, ORANGE BEACH, ALA.
Board reviewed the year-to-date financial reports and
the 2012 compilation (BRBA) and audit (BRBF); approved
a $5 increase in 2014 membership dues for all categories
of membership; approved a request from the La. Supreme
Court to house certain operations in the BRBA Middleton
Bar Center in the event the court is evacuated from New
Orleans due to a disaster; agreed to co-host the LSBA’s
7th Annual Conclave on Diversity on March 21, 2014;
approved a contract with the Grand Hotel Marriott for
the 2014 and 2015 Bench Bar Conferences; reported the
receipt of grants from the Louisiana Bar Foundation in
the amount of $42,500 for Pro Bono and $11,687 for
Youth Education; advised of the receipt of $2,500 from
BancorpSouth Bank to provide additional financial literacy
seminars; accepted the contract with the La. Department
of Public Safety & Corrections Office of Juvenile Justice
for FY 2014 in the amount of $44,753.
BENCH BAR 2014,
which will be held in Point Clear, Ala.,
Grand Hotel Marriott
Resort, Golf Club & Spa
July 24-26, 2014.
at the
Call Marriott Central Reservations at
1-800-544-9933 or book on-line at www.
marriottgrand.com. Hotel reservation
room block code for BRBA members is:
BAABAAA
LAW OFFICES OF M.D. BREAUX, LLC
Michael D. Breaux
Attorney at Law
Loyola Law School Graduate • 20 Years Experience
P.O. Box 566 • Prairieville, LA 70769
225-644-8213 • Fax 225-644-5236
Toll Free 1-866-501-MDMD (6363)
www.attorneymdbreaux.com
Social Security Disability • Short and Long Term Disability • LASERS Disability
Also a member of Sokolove Law, LLC
November 2013
Around the Bar
17
Obligations under the Medicare Secondary Payer Act,
Part I: Conditional Payments
BY KAREN D. MURPHY, J.D., MSCC
Medicare, which was
created by Congress in 1965
as America’s National Health
Insurance, is completely
funded at the federal level and
is administered by the Social
Security
Administration.
Medicare originally used a
fee-for-service format modeled
after traditional health insurance.
Eligibility for Medicare is based on
age or disability status; it is not means tested like Medicaid.
Currently, in order to qualify for coverage, you must (1)
be age 65 or older1 or (2) have received Social Security
Disability Insurance Benefits or Children’s Disability
Benefits for 24 months. The 24-month waiting period is
waived for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,
and patients with end-stage renal disease are eligible for
coverage three months after dialysis begins. Medicare
provides medical coverage for qualified individuals as long
18
Around the Bar
as it is “reasonable and necessary
for the diagnosis or treatment of
illness or injury or to improve
the functioning of a malformed
body member.” Medicare will
also pay for hospice care.
Section 1862 of the
Social Security Act established
Medicare as a secondary payer
to workers’ compensation in
the Medicare Secondary Payer Act
(MSPA).2 In 1980 the MSPA was broadened
to include group health plans and automobile, liability
and no-fault insurance (including self-insurance) as thirdparty payers. In general, under this section, Medicare does
not owe payment for medical treatment where “payment
has been made or can reasonably be expected to be made
under a workmen’s compensation law or plan of the
United States or a State or under an automobile or liability
insurance policy or plan (including a self-insured plan) or
November 2013
no fault insurance … .”3
Conditional Payments
Even under the above-stated circumstances, Medicare
can still make a payment, but such payment is “conditioned
on reimbursement,” i.e., a conditional payment.4 The
MSPA states: “A primary plan, and an entity that receives
payment from a primary plan, shall reimburse [Medicare]
for any payment made … under this subchapter with
respect to an item or service if it is demonstrated that such
primary plan has or had a responsibility to make payment
with respect to such item or service.”5 In other words,
if Medicare makes any payments for medical treatment
that are really the responsibility of a third party, Medicare
must be reimbursed.
The United States has the right to recover such
conditional payments from “any or all entities that are
or were required or responsible … to make payment …
under a primary plan. The United States may … collect
double damages against any such entity. In addition, the
United States may recover under this clause from any
entity that has received payment from a primary plan or
from the proceeds of a primary plan’s payment to any
entity.”6 This means Medicare can recover such payments
from the primary person responsible, i.e., the defendant/
defendant’s insurer, OR from the plaintiff, the plaintiff’s
November 2013
attorney, the plaintiff’s physician, etc.
Medicare’s Rights of Recovery have priority over all
other private, statutory or government liens or claims, i.e.,
it is a “super lien.” The right of recovery is triggered at the
time the payment is made. If Medicare is not reimbursed,
the Department of Justice can prosecute any of the aboveidentified entities and seek double damages plus interest.
The maximum recovery that can be had, however, is the
total settlement minus fees and costs.7
Under the above law, there was a lot of uncertainty for
parties attempting to reimburse Medicare for conditional
payments. For example, when information on the amount
of the conditional payment was sought, Medicare would
often include all charges it had paid on an individual’s
behalf, whether related to the accident/injury at issue.
Parties had to be very vigilant in reviewing the initial
demand letter sent by Medicare to ensure they were not
paying for things that were unrelated. Further, the parties
could not find out the final demand amount until AFTER
the settlement was finalized. If a party agreed to enter into
a pre-settlement agreement with Medicare, they had to
pay the amount demanded by Medicare within 30 days of
receipt and could not appeal that amount as they waived
any appeal rights they had.
The prescriptive period applicable to Medicare’s claim
for reimbursement was also another murky area. Under
Around the Bar
19
the above law, Medicare had six years from the date
of discovery to recover from the primary payer,8 which
did not lend itself to any level of certainty when settling
claims where Medicare had made conditional payments.
Changes have been made to the MSPA, however, which
better define the rights of Medicare and the parties where
conditional payments have been made.
SMART Act
On Jan. 10, 2013, President Obama signed into law
the Strengthening Medicare and Repaying Taxpayers
(SMART) Act. This law reforms certain aspects of the MSPA
and the Medicare, Medicaid & State Children’s Health
Ins. Program Extension Act of 2007 (MMSEA). This law
does not directly deal with the protection of Medicare’s
interests with regard to future medical payments, but
does deal with components of the conditional-paymentreimbursement process.
The SMART Act provides that within nine months of
enactment, or by Oct. 10, 2013, Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (CMS) will implement a new process
to provide a final conditional payment amount before
settlement.9 Using this new process, parties will be able to
request such an amount online, and there will be stricter
timelines for when CMS must provide the final demand
amount. Specifically, the procedure outlined in the act
provides that anytime 120 days before settlement, the
20
Around the Bar
party is to notify CMS of the expected settlement date and
amount of the settlement. (No guidance was given in the
law itself on how notice is to be made.)
During this time, conditional payment information
will be available on a “website,” which appears will be the
Medicare Secondary Payer Recovery Portal. Medicare must
post payment information to this website no later than 15
days from the payment date. Within 65 days from the date
CMS receives notice of the settlement, a “statement of
reimbursement amount” will be available for download,
which can be considered a final demand as long as you
are within the “protected period.” The “protected period”
is the 65 days after CMS receives notice of settlement,
judgment or award. This period can be extended by CMS
for an additional 30 days, but only under exceptional
circumstances.
The “statement of reimbursement amount” will be
provided in a format where the final demand is time and
date-stamped. Settlement must occur within three business
days of download of the statement or it will no longer be
valid as a final demand. It is not clear what happens if the
parties do not finalize the settlement within three business
days, but it seems that the parties can simply re-download
a new time and date-stamped “statement of reimbursement
amount” when settlement is about to occur.
If a party wants to dispute the conditional payment
amount demanded in the “statement of reimbursement,”
November 2013
CMS must be provided with a proposed resolution amount
along with an explanation of the reason for the requested
adjustment. CMS then has 11 business days to do one of
the following: (1) no response, which means the proposed
resolution is deemed accepted; (2) respond and state
disagreement with the party’s proposed resolution amount;
or (3) respond with a proposed “alternate discrepancy
resolution.” Further, CMS is to promulgate regulations
creating a formal appeals process.
In addition, the SMART Act requires the Department
of Health & Human Services to calculate and publish
a single threshold amount for settlements, judgments,
awards or other payments for which it will NOT seek
reimbursement of conditional payments. This amount will
be published each year by Nov. 15 and will begin in 2014.
The threshold amount will be that amount where CMS
can demonstrate that its costs in recovering the conditional
payments equals the collections.
A new statute of limitations is also applicable to
Medicare’s right of reimbursement for conditional
payments. Instead of providing a very open-ended period,
i.e., six years from the date of discovery, now, if CMS is
provided notice of the settlement, judgment, award or
other payment, it may not seek recovery of that conditional
payment any later than three years after notice is given.
This provision was scheduled to take effect July 10, 2013.
Medicare’s right of recovery for conditional payments
November 2013
must be taken seriously by both plaintiffs and defendants,
as well as their respective attorneys, given the potential
exposure if the parties fail to do so. The implementation
of the changes provided for in the SMART Act, however,
should make this easier for all involved, as well as provide
some measure of peace of mind when settling claims
involving Medicare recipients.
1
It has been proposed over the past few years that the minimum age of
65 be increased to 67.
2
42 U.S.C. § 1395y, et seq., Medicare Secondary Payer Act.
3
42 U.S.C. § 1395y(2)(A)(ii).
4
42 U.S.C. § 1395y(B)(i).
5
42 U.S.C. § 1395y(B)(ii).
6
42 U.S.C. § 1395y(B)(iii).
7
See U.S. v. Harris, 2009 WL 891931 (W.D. W.V. 2009).
8
28 U.S.C. § 2415(a).
9
The SMART Act states that CMS must promulgate “final regulations”
by October 2013. CMS has announced, however, that it will release an
Interim Final Rule (CMS-6054-IFC) sometime in October 2013. This
announcement contains only a very general statement that indicates that
the IFR will address the process by which parties will access “beneficiary
specific Medicare Secondary Payer information” from the new conditional
payment portal. The statement does not provide anything in relation to
the “appeals” process referenced in the SMART Act. It is not clear at this
time if the forthcoming interim rule will address the appeals process or if
CMS will address this aspect separately.
Around the Bar
21
Candidate Bios for BRBA Directors-at-Large — 2014 ELECTION
Online election begins Nov. 1, 2013, and ends Nov. 22, 2013.
Each BRBA member will also be mailed a paper ballot. Ballots are to be mailed to the address provided on the envelope
enclosed with the ballot, and ARE NOT to be submitted to the BRBA office. The 2014 Board officers are as follows:
Darrel Papillion, president; Robert “Bubby” Burns Jr., president-elect; Karli Johnson, secretary; Jeanne Comeaux, treasurer;
and Michael S. Walsh, past president. You will need to vote for six of the following 14 candidates.
Shelton Dennis Blunt
Law School: Southern University Law Center and
the Emory University School of Law. Year: 1992.
Law Firm: Phelps Dunbar, LLP. Seeking third
term, Director. Activities: CLE Committee (past
member; past chairman). Past member of the Law
Day, Law Expo and Publications Committees.
Volunteer: BRBA speaker for the Youth Education
Committee at Baton Rouge schools and other
BRBA CLE programs. Member: ABA; National
Bar Association; Louisiana Association of
Defense Counsel (past board member); Louis A.
Martinet Legal Society (past president/first board chairman). Other: Fellow
of the American Bar Foundation and adjunct professor at SULC.
Bryan Grant Jeansonne
Law School: Loyola University New Orleans.
Year: 2008. Law Firm: Dore' Jeansonne Law
Firm. Seeking first term, Director. Member:
Law Expo Committee (2013 chairman; 2012
vice chair); Technology Committee; Family
Law Section; Business/Corporate Law Section.
Other: East Baton Rouge Parish Board of
Election Supervisors member; East Baton
Rouge Parish Alcoholic Beverage Control Board
member; Republican State Central Committee
member representing District 69A; Krewe of
Orion member; DC Mardi Gras Krewe member;
City Club of Baton Rouge member.
Jason Bonaventure
Law School: Southern University Law Center. Year:
1998. Law Firm: Dunlap Fiore, LLC. Seeking first
term, Director. Activities: Young Lawyers Section
(past chair; past board member). Past chairman
of the Construction Law and Belly Up with the Bar
Committees. Member: Construction Law Section;
CLE Committee; Teen Court. Past member: Dean
George Henry McMahon Inns of Court; Federal
Bar Association. Member: National Association
of Railroad Trial Counsel; Louisiana Association
of Defense Counsel. Other: Current Assistant
Scout Master; BSA Troop B1 and member and
Pre-Teen Ministry Leader at Fellowship Church in Prairieville, La.
Christopher K. Jones
Law School: LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center.
Year: 2002. Law Firm: Keogh, Cox & Wilson,
Ltd. Seeking second term, Director. Member/
Activities: BRBA YLS Board Member (2007-08);
Century Club – Pro Bono Project; Thirst for
Justice participant; Ball Maul Committee
(chair: 2005-10); Athletic Committee (co-chair
2007-13); CLE seminar speaker; Bench Bar
Conference Committee Golf Tournament (cochair 2004-13); Belly Up with the Bar participant
(2002-13). Recipient: Judge Joseph Keogh
Memorial Award (2006); President’s Award 2007. Other: LSBA Young
Lawyers Pro Bono Award recipient (2008); Louisiana Arts & Sciences
Museum Board of Trustees (2007-present; past chair); Catholic High
School Alumni Association Board of Directors (2006-10; former chair); Boys
& Girls Club of Baton Rouge Board of Directors (2007-10); Baton Rouge
Business Report Top 40 Under 40 (2011 recipient); Federal Bar Association
– BR Chapter, Board of Directors (2012-13); LSBA Young Lawyers Section
Council member (2009-11); LSBA Leadership Class 2008-09 participant.
Linda Law Clark
Law School: LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center.
Year: 1993. Law Firm: DeCuir, Clark & Adams,
LLP. Seeking sixth term, Director. Member:
Family Law and Public Law Sections; served 16
years on the following BRBA committees: Pro
Bono (chair), Membership (chair), Law Expo (cochair), Law Day, Youth Education and Volunteer.
Volunteer: Thirst for Justice and Junior Partners
Academy. Sponsor of Belly Up, Holiday Star,
Bench Bar Conference. Awards: 2013 Women
of Distinction (Girl Scouts Louisiana East);
2010 BRBA Century Club (more than 1000
hours); 2005 BRBA David Hamilton Lifetime
Achievement Award; LSU Order of the Coif; LSU Law Review; LSU Law
Center Hall of Fame. Other membership: Federal Bar Association; BRAWA;
Louisiana Bar Foundation (Fellow); Girl Scouts Louisiana East (first vice
president); Habitat for Humanity Woman Build; Leadership Baton Rouge;
and AAUW.
Wendy L. Edwards
Law School: LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center.
Year: 2003. Law Firm: Dampf, Thibaut &
Hessburg, LLP. Seeking first term, Director.
Member: CLE and Bar Governance Committees.
Family Law Section (2013, 2012 chair). Other:
Served as liaison for the BRBA and Family
Court and helped organize services for Family
Law Section members at the Family Court;
participant in Belly Up with the Bar; speaker at
various BRBA CLE seminars.
22
Around the Bar
Melanie Newkome Jones
Law School: LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center.
Year: 1991. Law Firm: Solo. Seeking first
term, Director. Member: Family Law Section
(past chair); Pro Bono volunteer and Century
Club member (more than 800 hours). Other:
Participant in Holiday Star and Teen Court.
BRAWA (past president); Family Law Board
Specialization Committee of the Louisiana
State Bar Association; Certified Civil and Family
Mediator.
Amy C. Lambert
Law School: LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center.
Year: 1996. Law Firm: Taylor Porter. Seeking
fifth term, Director. Activities: Pro Bono
Volunteer; Young Lawyers Section Council
(past president); Publications Committee (past
member). Other: Baton Rouge Business Report
Top 40 Under 40; Selected LSU Law Center
Hall of Fame; LSU Law Center Annual Funder
(2013 vice chair); Selected for inclusion in The
Best Lawyers in America; Executive Committee
(past member); Wex Malone Inns of Court;
active member of St. Aloysius Catholic Church;
Playmakers of Baton Rouge (past president).
November 2013
Laurie Marien
Law School: LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center.
Year: 2006. Law Firm: Downs, Saffiotti &
Boudreaux. Seeking first term, Director. Member:
Family Law Section (past president); Belly Up
with the Bar; Holiday Star; Pro Bono Project.
Other: Family Law Specialist; East Baton Rouge
Parish Planning & Zoning Commissioner; BREC
Commissioner.
Eric R. Miller
Law School: LSU
Paul M. Hebert Law Center. Year: 1992. Law
Firm: The Kullman Firm. Seeking third term,
Director. Member: Law Expo Committee (past
chair); Pro Bono Committee; CLE Committee
(past chair); Volunteer Panel (Law Day, Thirst for
Justice, Easter Egg Hunt); Bench Bar Conference
Committee; Youth and Juvenile Justice
Committee; Contributing author, Around the Bar.
Louisiana State Bar Association; Texas State Bar
Association (admitted 1991); Baton Rouge Bar
Association; Houston Bar Association; Access to
Justice Committee; LSBA; Wex Malone American Inns of Court; Federal
Bar Association (Baton Rouge Chapter, past
president); and SHRM (Baton Rouge Chapter).
Awards: BRBA David A. Hamilton Pro Bono
Award (2009); CALSC Pro Bono Honoree (2008);
LSBA Pro Bono Publico Award (2007). Other:
More than 500 hours as a pro bono volunteer.
Jennifer M. Moisant
Law School: Southern University Law Center.
Year: 2003. Law Firm: Manasseh, Gill, Knipe &
Belanger. Seeking first term, Director. Activities:
November 2013
Member of the Family Law Section; contributing author to Around the Bar;
Pro Bono Project volunteer.
David Abboud Thomas
Law School: LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center.
Year: 1993. Law Firm: Walters, Papillion,
Thomas, Cullens, LLC. Seeking first term,
Director. Member: Bench Bar Conference
Committee (past chair); Holiday Star Committee.
Other: Assistant Bar Examiner; LSBA House of
Delegates; American Board of Trial Advocates;
Wex Malone American Inns of Court; CLE
presenter for the BRBA.
Jamie Hurst Watts
Law School: LSU
Paul M. Hebert Law Center. Year: 2002. Law
Firm: Long Law Firm, LLP. Seeking first term,
Director. Member: Young Lawyers Section
Council (2012 chair); Volunteer Committee.
Other: LSBA YLD Outstanding Young Lawyer
(2013); LSBA Public Utility Section (chair);
Junior Achievement volunteer; Manship Theater
Board of Directors (member).
Mary Ann McIntyre White
Law School: LSU Paul M. Hebert Law
Center. Year: 2004. Law Firm: Shows, Cali &
Walsh. Seeking first term, Director. Member/
Activities: Thirst for Justice Volunteer; Easter
Eggstravaganza volunteer; Holiday Star; Belly Up
with the Bar participant; Bench Bar Conference
attendee. Other: Southern Professionalism
Orientation volunteer.
Around the Bar
23
Candidate Bios for BRBA Young Lawyers Section Council
— 2014 ELECTION —
Online election begins Nov. 1, 2013, and ends Nov. 22, 2013.
Each BRBA member who is also a member of the Young Lawyers Section will receive a paper ballot on which they can vote for both
members of the BRBA Board of Directors and for the YLS Section members. Ballots are to be returned to the address provided on the envelope
enclosed with the ballot, and ARE NOT to be submitted to the BRBA office. The 2014 YLS officers are as follows:
Laranda M. Walker, YLS chair; Scott Levy, YLS chair-elect; Kara Kantrow, secretary; and Scotty Chabert, YLS past chair.
You will need to vote for five of the following six candidates.
Ryan J. Chenevert
Law School: LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center.
Year: 2012. Law Firm:
Fletcher & Roy,
Attorneys at Law. Seeking first term, council
member. Activities: Bench Bar Conference
attendee; CLE attendee; Belly Up with the Bar
participant. Other: 23rd Judicial District Court
law clerk for Judge Ralph Tureau.
Francisca Comeaux
Law School: LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center.
Year: 2011. Law Firm: Phelps Dunbar, LLP.
Seeking first term, council member. Activities:
Wills for Heroes; Easter Eggstravaganza; LPB
Telethon and serving at St. Vincent de Paul
with the Volunteer Committee; Belly Up with
the Bar participant; BRBA Softball Tournament
participant. Member: Energy Bar Association;
Hispanic National Bar Association; LSBA
Utilities Section.
Grant J. Guillot
Law School: LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center.
Year: 2009. Seeking first term, council member.
Law Firm: Shows, Cali & Walsh, LLP. Member:
Volunteer Committee; Publications Committee.
Other: Contributing writer for Around the
Bar. Member: 2014 Leadership LSBA Class
(2014 co-chair, 2013 member); Louisiana Bar
Journal Editorial Board; Louisiana Bar Journal
contributing writer; Wex S. Malone American
Inns of Court; CLE seminar speaker; Pro Bono
Project volunteer.
Carrie LeBlanc Jones
Law School: LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center.
Year: 2008. Law Firm: Shows, Cali & Walsh,
LLP. Seeking first term, council member.
Activities: Belly Up with the Bar participant;
Holiday Star; Easter Eggstravaganza; Thirst for
Justice; Law Day; BRBA Softball Tournament
participant; Pro Bono Project volunteer. Other:
LSBA Leadership Class (2013-14).
Mackenzie S. Ledet
Law School: LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center.
Year: 2009. Law Firm:
Baker, Donelson,
Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz. Seeking
second term, council member. Member/
Activities: Volunteer Committee (chair 2012-13);
Mock Trial Committee; Holiday Star Committee;
Thirst for Justice. Member: ABA; Louisiana
State Bar Association. Other: National Trial
Competition team at LSU Law School (coach);
Registered lobbyist.
Loren Shanklin
Law School: LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center.
Year: 2010. Law Firm: Smith Shanklin Sosa,
LLC. Seeking third term, council member.
Member:
Bench Bar Conference Silent
Auction Committee; Belly Up with the Bar
Committee; Volunteer Committee. Other: Pro
Bono Project volunteer; Louisiana Association
for Justice member; Volunteer judge for LSU
Law Center’s Ira S. Flory Trials (2013); LSU
Student Bar Association (Executive Director
of Programming 2009-10); Volunteer in Public
Schools’ 2006 Exceptional Volunteer; Teacher at Westdale Middle School
(2005-07).
Immediate opening for trial attorney in plaintiff’s civil practice
to be first chair in significant cases.
Trial experience and strong academic credentials required.
Medical malpractice experience preferred.
Submit confidential resumé only to [email protected]
24
Around the Bar
November 2013
foundation footnotes
PRO BONO REPORT – AUGUST / SEPTEMBER
TEEN COURT REPORT – JULY / AUGUST / SEPTEMBER
PRO BONO PROJECT REPORT
We would like to thank all of our Pro
Bono Project volunteers for their contributions
during August and September.
The Thirst for Justice solo practitioner
volunteers in August and September were
Terry Bonnie, Scott Gaspard, Hansel Harlan,
Byron Kantrow, Glenn Marcel, James Rourk,
and Jimmy Zito. Thirst for Justice volunteers
practicing with a firm were Charles Castille,
Melissa Grand, E.L. Henry, Scott Levy,
Patricia McMurray, Adams and Reese; Bill Davis, Steve
Strohschein, McGlinchey Stafford; and Mac Womack,
Taylor Porter.
The Ask-A-Lawyer volunteers were Jim Austin, Adams
and Reese; Miranda Conner; John Hopewell, Hopewell
Law Firm, LLP; Juli Keenan; Glenn Marcel; Paul Matzen,
Live Oak Legal Services, LLC; Garth Ridge; Mardrah
Starks; and Emily Ziober.
The Self Help Resource Center attorney volunteers
The Pro Bono Project is financially assisted by the Interest on Lawyers’
Trust Accounts (IOLTA) Program of the Louisiana Bar Foundation;
Southeast Louisiana Legal Services; Family, District and City Court
Filing Fees and the Baton Rouge Bar Foundation.
were Roy Bergeron, Phelps Dunbar; Talya
Bergeron, Pamela Moran, Steven Reed,
Hanna Thomas, Southeast Louisiana Legal
Services; Terry Bonnie; Ryan Brown, Roedel,
Parsons; Nicolette Colly, Louisiana Dept.
of Justice; Dean Esposito, The Law Firm
of Ezim & Associates; Denise Lee; Siobhan
Leger, Legacy Center of Louisiana, LLC;
Alexis Luker; Judy Martin, Franciscan Legal
Services; Jennifer Ashley Mitchell; Tracy
Morganti, Adams and Reese; John Obebe;
Cody Passman, Postlethwaite & Netterville;
Sherrye Palmer; Jennifer Gauthreaux Prescott, deGravelles,
Palmintier, Holthaus & Fruge; Sarah Thigpen, LeClere
Law Firm; and Emily Ziober.
The following volunteers accepted pro bono cases in
August and September: Jennifer Alford, Cullen Clement,
Live Oak Legal Services, LLC; Ronnie Berthelot, The
Berthelot Law Firm LLC; Michael Breaux; Marci
Burden, Cynthia Reed, Southern University Law Center;
Kelly Carmena; Booker Carmichael, Murray & Murray;
Jamie Gomez, McGlinchey Stafford; Robert
Lancaster, LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center;
Lakita Miller; Eric Miller, The Kullman
Firm; Barrington Neil; Lauren Nero;
Adrienne Rachel, Smith Law Firm; and
J.Ryan Vivian, Hopewell Law Firm, LLP.
DAVOLI, KRUMHOLT & PRICE
offers years of combined experience
in handling cases involving the
Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Act
and the Longshore and Harbor
Workers’ Compensation Act.
We practice exclusively in these areas and have helped
thousands of client’s over the years obtain the benefits
they are owed AND assisted countless
other attorneys with workers’ compensation
issues that arise in their own cases.
WE ARE AVAILABLE TO TALK TO YOU.
TEEN COURT REPORT
Raveen Hills and DeAnne Murrey
served as judges for the Teen Court hearing
in July. Curtis Nelson, Raveen Hills, Gail
Grover, Kent Moroux and Matt Nowlin
conducted the August training session and
Judge Darrell White (Ret.) performed the
swearing-in ceremony. Matthew Belser,
Raveen Hills, Matthew Nowlin, Melanie
Newkome Jones and Diangleo Frazer
served as judges and jury monitors for the
September hearings.
6513 Perkins Road • Baton Rouge, LA 70808
(225) 757-8908 • (225) 767-4486 fax
email: [email protected]
Attorneys are frequent lecturers on workers’ compensation issues, members of the
Louisiana Bar Associations Legal Services for Persons with Disability Committee,
Baton Rouge Bar Association Workers’ Compensation Section
and the Governor’s Executive Counsel involving workers’ compensation issues.
Brad Price is the attorney responsible for the content of this advertisement.
November 2013
Teen Court of Greater Baton Rouge is funded by a
grant from the Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice
(formerly the Office of Youth Development).
The Youth Education Program is financially assisted
by the Interest on Lawyers Trust Account (IOLTA) of
the Louisiana Bar Foundation.
Around the Bar
25
November 2013
For classified or display ad rates,
contact Pamela at (225) 214-5560
or email: [email protected]
Duty Court
Schedule
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19THJDC CIVIL COURT
Oct. 21- Nov. 1
Nov. 4-Nov. 15
Nov. 18-Nov. 29
Judge Kelley
Judge Hernandez
Judge Clark
19TH JDC CRIMINAL COURT***
Oct. 25-Nov. 1
Nov. 1-Nov. 8
Nov. 8-Nov. 15
Nov. 15-Nov. 22
Nov. 22-Nov. 29
Nov. 29-Dec. 6
Judge Daniel
Judge Moore
Judge Johnson
Judge White
Judge Marabella
Judge Anderson
Calendar of Events
Ongoing: Every Wednesday & Thursday, 3-5 p.m.,
Thirst for Justice takes place at St. Vincent de Paul.
Classifieds
LAW OFFICE SHERWOOD FOREST AREA.,
ideal for solo practitioner up to three offices with
room for secretary. Common office building
with three attorneys. Ample parking. High
ceilings. Includes water, lawn, and electricity.
Phone system in place and included. Copier/
Fax/Internet included. Pricing from $550. Call
Greg at 225-266-4130 to see.
Ongoing: Every Tuesday & Thursday,
10 a.m.-2 p.m., Self Help Resource Center,19th JDC
1
2
4
O F F I C E S PA C E AVA I L A B L E
for rent in downtown Baton Rouge law office.
Amenities include telephone system; security
system; access to reception area, conference
room, kitchen and parking. Utilities included.
Call (225) 346-8777.
5
6
7
BATON ROUGE CITY COURT*
Oct. 28-Nov. 3
Nov. 4-Nov. 10
Nov. 11-Nov. 17
Nov. 18-Nov. 24
Nov. 25-Dec. 1
Judge Davis
Judge Temple
Judge Wall
Judge Alexander
Judge Ponder
B AT O N R O U G E O F F I C E S PA C E :
Established firm; 201 Napoleon St., Downtown
near 19th JDC and Federal courthouses,
area for support staff, off-street parking,
conference room, copier, phone, fax, internet,
etc. Some over-flow work available. Call Scott
Gegenheimer: 225-346-8722.
Judge Day
Judge Lassalle
Judge Baker
Judge Woodruff-White
Judge Day
Judge Taylor-Johnson
NOTE: Duty Court changes at 5 p.m. each Friday unless
otherwise specified.
*City Court’s Duty Court schedule changes each Monday at
8 a.m.
**Family Court’s Duty Court schedule changes at 4 p.m. each
Friday
***19th JDC Criminal Court changes each Friday at noon
COURT HOLIDAY
Friday, Nov. 1
Monday, Nov. 11
Thursday, Nov. 28
Friday, Nov. 29
26
Around the Bar
All Saints Day
Veterans Day
Thanksgiving Day
Acadian Day
Volunteer Committee activity
with Habitat for Humanity
Teen Court hearing, EBR Parish
Juvenile Courthouse, 6-8 p.m.
YLS Council meeting, 12-1 p.m.
Volunteer Committee meeting,
12-1 p.m.
Ask-A-Lawyer legal clinic, Delmont
Service Center, 9-11:30 a.m.
8
12
Family Law Section CLE,
Camelot Club, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Finance Committee meeting, 7:30 a.m.;
Executive Committee meeting, 8 a.m.;
Workers’ Comp Meeting & CLE,
Sullivans, 12-2 p.m.
I M M E D I AT E O P E N I N G F O R T R I A L
attorney in plaintiff’s civil practice to be first
chair in significant cases. Trial experience
and strong academic credentials required.
Medical malpractice experience preferred.
Submit confidential resume only to pam@
moorethompson.com
13
14
DEDICATED ATTORNEY SEEKS POSITION
with local law firm. Currently serving in
an executive agency of the state, but has
significant private practice experience. Has
experience with motion and trial practice,
depositions and other pre-trial matters.
Enjoys long hours and challenging work.
[email protected]
Pro Bono meeting, 12-1 p.m.
Lunchtime Conversations with
Bankruptcy Court Judge Douglas
Dodd, 12-1 p.m.;
Cocktails with the Court, Gallery at
Manship, 5-7 p.m.
16
JUVENILE COURT
Nov. 1-Nov. 30
Belly Up with the Bar event, starts
at 5 p.m., Live Oak Arabians Stables
Workers’ Comp Fall Social, Boudreaux
& Thibodeaux’s, 5-7 p.m.
FAMILY COURT**
Oct. 28-Nov. 1
Nov. 4-Nov. 8
Nov. 11-Nov. 15
Nov. 18-Nov. 22
Nov. 25-Nov. 29
*Unless otherwise noted, all meetings will
be held at the Baton Rouge Bar office.
17
Ask-A-Lawyer legal clinic, Fairwood
Library, 9:30-11:30 a.m.
CLE Committee meeting, 12-1 p.m.;
Teen Court hearing, EBR Parish
Juvenile Courthouse, 6-8 p.m.
20
Ask-A-Lawyer legal clinic, Catholic
Charities, 9-11:30 a.m.;
Public Law Practice Section
Lunch & Learn, 11:45 a.m.-1 p.m.;
8 HOURS OF CLE CREDIT
Smart Growth Summit, November 18-20.
$75 registration before Nov. 4.
Topics include redevelopment & financing
tools, energy & housing policy,
economic development.
summit.cpex.org
Bench Bar Conference Committee
meeting, 12-1 p.m.
27
28
29
Youth Education meeting, 12-1 p.m.
BRBA Office Closed – Holiday
BRBA Office Closed – Holiday
November 2013
Save the date!
Practicing Law
in Baton Rouge
U.S. District Court for the
Middle District of Louisiana
Dec. 16, 2013
Followed by
the
Admission
to the
Courts
Ceremony
For more information,
contact Ann K. Gregorie
at 225-214-5563
or [email protected]
November 2013
Around the Bar
27
Baton Rouge Bar Association
P.O. Box 2241
Baton Rouge, LA 70821
Return Service Requested
PRSRT STD
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
BATON ROUGE, LA
PERMIT NO. 746