Judge James Selna has appointed Richard J. Arsenault to serve on the Plaintiff’s Lead Counsel Committee for Economic Loss in the multidistrict litigation against Toyota Motor Corp.

Earlier this year, all class action lawsuits stemming from Toyota’s ongoing problems with unintended acceleration in its vehicles were consolidated into a single court in Santa Ana, California. At that time, Judge Selna was selected as the federal judge that would preside over the cases.

In this newly appointed leadership position, Attorney Richard J. Arsenault will help direct the litigation against Toyota for the economic losses linked to the devaluation of its vehicles.

A veteran of class actions and complex litigation, Arsenault filed several class action lawsuits against Toyota and chaired two Toyota Recall Litigation Conferences, which were referred to as “must attends” by the Wall Street Journal. Additionally, Arsenault has been featured for his role against Toyota by NPR, the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, Reuters, CBS and other national and international media sources.

A key safety device known as the blowout preventer used in Transocean’s drilling rig, Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf had a hydraulic leak and other problems that suggest malfunction from working as designed, according to a congressional investigation. The device known as “blowout preventer” or “BOP” is the last line of defense against a well blowout and oil gushing into Gulf waters by sealing the pipe hole at the surface of the oil well. The congressional committee said that there were at least “four significant problems with the blowout preventer” used on the Deepwater Horizon drill rig. Rep. Henry Waxman says that his committee’s investigation into the Gulf oil spill reveals that a key safety device, the blowout preventer, had a leak in a crucial hydraulic system.

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., said that a 2001 report by Transocean, which made the device, indicated there can be as many as 260 failure possibilities in the equipment. “How can a device that has 260 failure modes be considered fail-safe?” asked Stupak. Stupak said BP confirmed in documents that a leak had been found in the hydraulic system that provides emergency power to a part of the blowout preventer. When a remote underwater vehicle tried to activate the safety device a loss of hydraulic pressure was detected, said Stupak. When dye was injected “it showed a large leak coming from a loose fitting,” said Stupak, citing BP documents. Also reported, BP confirmed that the blowout preventer had been modified so that one of its ram drivers could be used for routine testing and was no longer designed to activate in an emergency. He said after the spill BP “spent a day trying to use this … useless test ram.

Rep. Waxman said in a hearing that the investigation also discovered that the well had failed a negative pressure test just hours before the April 20 explosion. He cited BP documents received by the Energy and Commerce Committee that showed there was a breach in the well integrity that allowed methane gas and possibly other hydrocarbons to enter the well.

Sen. Robert Adley (R-Benton), with the enthusiastic backing of the Louisiana Chemical Association, has filed legislation which would limit types of lawsuits filed by law clinics that receive state funds. The bill would make the Legislature overseer of the law clinics and put the future role of university law clinics up in the air.

Adley’s bill would forbid law clinics at both public and private colleges from suing governmental agencies, individuals and businesses for financial damages or raising constitutional issues. The clinics give college law students real-world experience while working free of charge on behalf of the public.

In the past, the Tulane University law clinic has opposed the oil, gas and utilities sector on issues of environmental regulations and violations.

One has to wonder if Senator Adley’s motives are actually his own or that of his financial backers in the well-heeled energy field. Muzzling free speech and the activities of the well-intentioned law clinics is ill-advised, and smacks of a longtime politico doing the bidding of a powerful industry which does not want inquiries into its dumping of hazardous waste and byproducts into our state’s fragile environment and ecosystems.

Our legislature has a track record of passing legislation that benefits the business community and some of the wealthiest corporations at the expense of rights of injured employees, victims of negligence and hazardous activities without adequate recourse to recover their damages.

The Louisiana State Bar Association is proud to announce that it will be sponsoring the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Symposium on May 25, 2010 in New Orleans.  A talented faculty is being assembled to address the complex issues associated with this tragic spill.  Professor Tom Galligan and Richard J. Arsenault will be serving as the Co-Chairs.

Topics will include:

• The Economic and Environmental Impact
• Potential  Claimants and Recoverable Damages
• Limitation of Liability Act
• Oil Pollution Act
• Anatomy of a semi submersible drilling rig
• Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund
• Class definitions
• The role and function of regulatory agencies
• The contractual relationships between the parties
• Blowout Preventers
• Remote-control shut-off devices
• RICO
• The cleanup effort
• Justice Department and Congressional Investigations
• Attorneys General actions
• Activity by Environmental Groups
• Types and qualifications of experts involved in this litigation
• Punitive Damages
• Coast Guard  and MMS investigations
• Governmental claims
• Status of Multi-District Litigation

THOMAS C. GALLIGAN, JR. is currently the President of Colby-Sawyer College. He served as the Dean of the University of Tennessee College of Law from 1998-2006 and was a professor at LSU Law School from 1986-1998.   He has published and spoken extensively on maritime law and his scholarship has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Louisiana Supreme Court, other courts, and commentators.  His co-authored scholarship with Professor Frank L. Maraist has been honored by the Tulane Law Review and the Louisiana Bar Journal.

RICHARD J. ARSENAULT has been involved in maritime litigation for 30 years. He is a former Chair of the AAJ Admiralty Law Section and has chaired the Louisiana Bar Association’s Annual Admiralty Symposium since its inception 17 years ago. He has published and spoken extensively on maritime topics and his scholarship has appeared in various publications including the Maritime Lawyer, the Maritime Law Reporter, Trial Magazine and the La. Bar Journal. Arsenault is the current Chair of the Louisiana Bar Association’s Section on Insurance, Negligence, Worker’s Compensation and Admiralty Law.  Twice a year,  Arsenault, Professor Galligan and several Federal Court Judges participate in panel presentations designed to review recent maritime developments.  Arsenault also serves on the LSU Law School Trial Advocacy Faculty.

Nissan Motor Co. has issued a recall of over 100,000 Infiniti G35 sedans and coupes from model years 2005-2007 after discovering a connector problem that causes airbags to fail to deploy during a crash. Although no accidents involving injuries have been reported to the company as a result of the defect, Nissan is taking the precaution of an early recall in the wake of the Toyota scandal. Despite knowing of numerous unanticipated acceleration problems causing accidents and injuries, Toyota failed to timely notify the public of the problem and now faces numerous lawsuits and federal fines.

Federal safety officials have said that in the Nissan situation, the wiring that holds the airbags in place may wear down enough to interrupt the signal to deploy the airbags. It appears from this preemptive action, Nissan has learned from the mistakes Toyota made and is erring on the side of caution and consumer safety.

Neblett, Beard & Arsenault founder, Richard J. Arsenault, was interviewed by Wade Goodwyn on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition earlier today.

Arsenault, who has filed multiple class action lawsuits in the explosion, sinking and oil spill of Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon, was interviewed about the legal strategies in place in what could become the largest class action litigation in the nation’s history. He also discusses the possible defenses and tactics that BP, Transocean and other companies involved in the spill may employ in order to limit their liability in the disaster.

Richard Arsenault, a veteran of complex and class action litigation, represents Gulf coast residents and businesses whose lives and livelihoods have been adversely affected by the spill. He has filed lawsuits in Louisiana, Alabama and Florida against BP, Transocean, Halliburton and Cameron. He will also chair two upcoming oil spill litigation conferences including the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Oil Spill Symposium and the Oil Spill Litigation Conference for HarrisMartin Publishing.

To listen to Wade Goodwyn’s interview of Richard Arsenault on NPR, click here.

HarrisMartin Publishing has asked Attorney Richard J. Arsenault, founding partner of Neblett, Beard & Arsenault, to serve as chair for the Toyota Recall Litigation Conference, Part II today in Costa Mesa, CA.

The recall litigation conference, a follow-up to the widely publicized Toyota Litigation Conference held in San Diego this March, is scheduled on the eve of the inaugural Toyota Multidistrict Litigation Status Conference before the newly appointed Judge James V. Selna.

Richard J. Arsenault, a veteran of complex and class action litigation, has filed multiple lawsuits against Toyota as a result of the automaker’s on-going problems with sudden unintended acceleration in its vehicles. Under his leadership as co-chair, March’s Toyota Recall Litigation Conference was well-attended by over 100 plaintiff and defense attorneys. The event was profiled by the Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, National Public Radio, Bloomberg News, CBS, TV Tokyo, Nippon TV and other members national and international media.

Today’s conference boasts an impressive line-up of speakers, including some of nation’s most preeminent attorneys, many with decades of experience handling large, complex national cases. The curriculum will cover a number of issues pertaining to the unique circumstances of the Toyota recall and resulting litigation.

A major 18-Wheeler crash striking a passenger car on Interstate 30 in Texarkana, Texas, resulted in 10 people injured, and 3 seriously injured. Texas DPS say that traffic along I-30 was at a near crawl because of ongoing construction.

DPS reports that the driver of an 18-wheeler approached the construction zone and failed to slow down and ended up barreling through six vehicles before running off the road. Was the 18-Wheeler exceeding hours of service? Fatigued? Texting or email?

A total of 10 people were reportedly involved in the accident and 3 of the 10 were taken to an area hospital with what’s being described as serious injuries. Texas DPS reports that the three transported were in the first vehicle hit by the 18-wheeler.

Louisiana motorcycle crash fatalities surged to 104 last year from 81 in 2008 according to the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission. Nationwide motorcycle fatalities are expected to drop to 4762 from 5290.

Reasons for Louisiana’s increase may include the brief absence of a motorcycle safety program offered by the state. An estimated 2000 people took the course when offered by the Department of Education. Other reasons include a longer riding season than states with harsher seasonal weather and a higher number of alcohol-related motorcycle deaths.

Motorist also have to keep a vigilant outlook for the much smaller motorcycle. Increased awareness of approaching motorcycles and the elimination of distractions such as text messaging and cell phone will help the driver of a car visualize the motorcycle before it is too late to avoid a crash.

Louisiana’s Department of Health and Hospitals and other regulatory agencies are investigating a possible foodborne illness outbreak, which left 40 sickened and three dead at Central State Hospital in Pineville, Louisiana.

“This is one of the potential hazards associated with institutional dining settings…one tainted food handler or poisoned food item can contaminate a large number of people in a short amount of time,” said Attorney Richard J. Arsenault, who will be speaking on foodborne illness outbreaks at the upcoming American Association for Justice convention in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Arsenault’s firm, the Alexandria-based Neblett, Beard & Arsenault, has represented hundreds of foodborne illness victims throughout Louisiana and across the country.  The Firm has worked with many of the nation’s top food safety experts in some of the nation’s largest food poisoning outbreaks.

At Pineville’s Central State Hospital, patients and staff were sickened with “gastrointestinal symptoms” around Friday, May 7^th at 6:30am, by Saturday morning, 3 victims were dead and several more hospitalized.  Each of the victims reportedly ate chicken salad before developing symptoms.

“The health agencies are investigating what might have gone wrong at Central State.  They will be testing ingredients of the chicken salad that was served at the facility and reportedly eaten by the victims prior to the on-set of the illnesses,” added Attorney Richard J. Arsenault.

Investigators believe that the outbreak was limited to an isolated incident at the hospital.  Central State Hospital’s kitchen will remain cordoned while the investigation continues.  Health agencies are also anticipating receiving the autopsy reports for the three victims and other laboratory results within a few days.

“According to CDC estimates, foodborne illness is responsible for over 5000 deaths in America every year,” added Arsenault “that number of victims is just unacceptable when we are dealing with illnesses that are for the most part preventable.”