Tagged: courts

Two Hollywood stars could spend the next two weeks in a New Orleans courtroom rather than on camera, on opposite sides in a real-life legal drama.

Jury selection is scheduled Monday for Stephen Baldwin's federal lawsuit against fellow actor Kevin Costner over their investments in a device BP used in trying to clean up the huge Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Both are expected to testify. U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman says every litigant must be in court every day because of the seriousness of the claims and in case of mid-trial settlement talks.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has been granted a 21-day delay for responding to a defamation lawsuit filed against him by Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma.

The delay is considered routine, and Goodell's lawyers now must respond by July 5 in U.S. District Court in New Orleans.

A deal has been reached to resolve nearly all of the remaining court claims from allegations that government-issued trailers exposed Gulf Coast residents to hazardous fumes after Hurricane Katrina.

Lead plaintiffs' attorney Gerald Meunier told The Associated Press on Monday that a class-action settlement agreement has been expanded to include several companies that manufactured, installed or refurbished FEMA trailers after the 2005 storm.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has come up with $103,000 to help replace contents of the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court damaged during Hurricane Katrina.

Following the 2005 storm, the basement of the courthouse flooded, destroying the contents of court offices, including the Judicial Administration Office which handles administrative functions required for the court to operate.

FEMA announced on Monday that the contents to be replaced include computer equipment and two-way radios, as well as drug testing equipment.

A federal magistrate has scheduled a hearing on a former BP engineer's request for permission to travel freely throughout the U.S. while he awaits a trial on charges he deleted text messages about the oil company's response to the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

U.S. Magistrate Daniel Knowles III is set to hear arguments May 29 on Kurt Mix's request.

Earlier this month, Knowles ordered Mix to limit his travel to Louisiana, Texas, Massachusetts and New York after a prosecutor claimed he had intended to leave the country for a job in Australia and wouldn't return.