Woods v. Arch Ins. Co.

Full title: JAMIE WOODS v. ARCH INSURANCE COMPANY, ET AL.

Court: United States District Court, Middle District of Louisiana

Date published: Sep 30, 2022

Civil Action 21-644-SDD-EWD (M.D. La. Sep. 30, 2022)

Opinion

Civil Action 21-644-SDD-EWD

09-30-2022

JAMIE WOODS v. ARCH INSURANCE COMPANY, ET AL.

SHELLY D. DICK CHIEF JUDGE.

RULING

SHELLY D. DICK CHIEF JUDGE.

The Court has carefully considered the Motion,¹ the record, the law applicable to this action, and the Report and Recommendation ² of United States Magistrate Erin Wilder-Doomes dated August 31, 2022. The Defendants submitted an Objection ³asserting that they recently received additional medical records from one of Plaintiff's physicians which were unavailable to the Magistrate Judge at the time of her report. Based on these new records, the Court finds that the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000. Special damages alone total $82,062.00. This includes $17,556.90 for various medical expenses,⁴ $15,000.00 for doctor's fees,⁵ approximately $30,946.00 for two radiofrequency ablations,⁶ and $18,560.00 for lost wages (calculated at minimum wage).⁷Considering the new information provided by Defendant, the Court declines to adopt the Report and Recommendations.

1 Rec. Doc. 14.

2 Rec. Doc. 17.

3 Rec. Doc. 14.

4 Rec. Doc. No. 18-6.

5 Rec. Doc. No. 18-9, p. 4.

6 See Id., p. 14; Rec. Doc. No. 18-10.

7 Rec. Doc. No. 18-7, p. 4.

ACCORDINGLY, the Court finds that jurisdiction over this matter is proper and Plaintiff's Motion to Remand ⁸ is DENIED.

8 Rec. Doc. No. 14.