Pediatric Kid-Med v. Hartford Ins. Co. of Southeast

Full title: PEDIATRIC KID-MED, LLC v. HARTFORD INSURANCE COMPANY OF THE SOUTHEAST

Court: United States District Court, E.D. Louisiana

Date published: Feb 14, 2007

CIVIL ACTION NO. 07-284, SECTION M (E.D. La. Feb. 14, 2007)

Opinion

CIVIL ACTION NO. 07-284, SECTION M.

February 14, 2007

ORDER

PETER BEER, Senior District Judge

Before the Court is Plaintiff's Motion to Remand which is opposed and which came for hearing on February 14, 2007, on the briefs. After consideration of the Motion, the opposition and the applicable law, the Court grants the Remand.

Plaintiff, Pediatric Kid-Med, LLC, (Pediatric), is a medical practice in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. Pediatric alleges that to operate its business, Pediatric sees patients both at its office, in a medical office building, and in a hospital, Oschner Medical Hospital, formerly Meadowcrest Hospital (Meadowcrest). Meadowcrest is connected to the building where Pediatric's office is located by a connecting bridge corridor. Pediatric alleges that its physicians regularly "make rounds" at Meadowcrest, but the physicians are not employees of the hospital, and that they have no control over the operations of the hospital itself.

Pediatric alleges that to protect the security and continuity of its business interest, Pediatric retained Huval Insurance Agencies, Inc., a Louisiana Corporation, (Huval) to recommend, find, negotiate for, and place casualty and other forms of insurance covering its property and affairs. Huval originally placed Pediatric's "business interruption" insurance with Hartford Insurance Company of the Southeast (Hartford) in approximately 2001. Pediatric alleges that these policies were regularly reviewed and renewed by at their respective expirations. Huval arranged for the renewal of Pediatric's "business interruption" policy by Hartford, with an effective date of December 1, 2004 through December 1, 2005. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina damaged Pediatric's Office as well as Meadowcrest Hospital. As a result of this damage, Pediatric alleges it suffered business interruption and loss of income all of which is covered by the Hartford policy. Hartford refused to pay Pediatric on its claim of lost income derived from seeing patients in Meadowcrest, contending that Meadowcrest is not a covered premises at which the loss occurred.

Pediatric sued Hartford as well as Huval in the 24^th Judicial District Court, for the Parish of Jefferson. Hartford removed the action to this Court. Pediatric seeks a remand back to the state court.

Pediatric contends that Huval was negligent and breached its duty to plaintiff in failing to obtain the proper insurance coverage plaintiff requested to cover its business loss income.¹ Hartford alleges that Pediatric have no viable action against Huval because the action against him is preempted.

1 See Paragraph XV of Pedatric's Petition for Damages.

If the plaintiff states a viable cause of action against a non-diverse defendant, then that carries with it a presumption of regularity. Any alleged but unresolved facts are accepted in the fact-pleading record. See 28 USCA § 1441(b); see also Smallwood v. Illinois Cent. R.R., 285 F.3d 568 (5^th Cir. 2004).

Accordingly, the motion is GRANTED, and the matter is REMANDED to the 24^th Judicial District Court for the Parish of Jefferson.