Felipe Ortiz v. Home Depot U S A Inc

Summary

The United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana granted Home Depot U.S.A., Inc.’s motion for partial summary judgment concerning Felipe Ortiz’s claims for lost wages and impairment of earning capacity. The court concluded that Ortiz failed to present competent, admissible evidence that the December 8, 2020 accident caused or contributed to those claimed losses, particularly because he had been permanently disabled and unemployed before the accident. The court dismissed those claims with prejudice.

Holdings

1. To recover actual wage loss, a plaintiff must prove that he would have been earning wages but for the accident and must provide independent support for the claimed loss.
2. Ortiz failed to submit evidence sufficient to create a genuine issue of material fact on his claims for lost wages or impairment of earning capacity, so Home Depot was entitled to partial summary judgment.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Home Depot was entitled to partial summary judgment on Ortiz's claims for past, present, and future lost wages and impairment of earning capacity.
2. Whether Ortiz produced sufficient summary-judgment evidence to create a genuine dispute of material fact that the accident caused compensable wage loss or loss of earning capacity.

Disposition

other