Wrongful Death Case In Concrete Crushing Machine Incident Remanded To Louisiana Court

Following the death of a Louisiana worker pulled into a concrete crushing machine, the worker’s mother brought suit against a number of entities in state court, some of which were Louisiana companies and some of which were out-of-state entities.  The out-of-state entities, including the manufacturer of the machine, removed the case to federal court on the grounds that the in-state entities were improperly joined.  Yesterday, however, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana granted the plaintiff’s motion to remand the case back to state court.

The two in-state defendants allegedly operated the concrete crushing operation and allegedly owned or leased the property on which the incident occurred.  On the face of the Complaint, the court found that the plaintiff adequately alleged a cause of action for negligence against each entity under Louisiana law, despite an affidavit by the out-of-state defendants indicating that the in-state entities did not supervise the workers, had no involvement with safety programs, did not finance the operation, and had no responsibility in reporting the worker’s death.  The court indicated that there were conflicting pieces of evidence, including a commercial general liability policy insuring one of the in-state entities for the “stone crushing operation[s]” occurring at the property, and an OSHA citation against the in-state entities for violations as a result of the incident.  Accordingly, the removing defendants could not satisfy “the heavy burden of proving improper joinder.”