BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Jonathan Compretta knows how the flashy
fun of Mardi Gras can turn tragic, and he thinks Louisiana
lawmakers want to make it too easy for companies who build the
elaborate floats that carry bead-throwing riders to escape
responsibility when things go wrong.
Compretta's brother Jody was crushed two years ago, when a Krewe
of Endymion float lurched forward, throwing him under just as he
was trying to disembark and attend the end-of-parade party.
Compretta's family blamed the company that built the float and
hired the driver. Jody's wife filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
Now, Compretta says, a bill passed by the Louisiana House to
limit the liability of float-builders would damage future attempts
for float riders or watchers to sue when parade festivities hurt or
kill someone.
"You're making a higher standard than other people have to live
by when you're driving a car," Compretta said.
The bill by Rep. Jeff Arnold, D-New Orleans, would require proof
of gross negligence or a deliberate act before the companies that
build Mardi Gras floats could be held liable for damage, injuries
or death during parades.
Arnold said the proposal is designed to stop frivolous lawsuits
by people who get "hit with a pair of beads or something."
"If a float falls apart, and the pieces of the float fall on
somebody, obviously they're still liable for that," he said. "I'm
trying to protect the float builders from just being sued because
of something that happened that had nothing to do with what they do
as a profession."
Compretta, a lawyer and lobbyist in Jackson, Miss., said the
change in legal standard would make it far tougher to hold people
accountable for injuries and deaths on parade routes.
"You're looking at a situation where if this happened after
this bill is passed, my sister-in-law and my niece and my nephew
are left high and dry without anybody to hold accountable for my
brother's death," he said.
The bill passed 73-21 in the House and heads to the Senate for
debate. Mardi Gras krewes already have the liability exemption, and
Arnold's bill would extend it to manufacturers or leasers of a
trailer or float used in a parade, or of a vehicle used to tow
those floats.
The liability limitation wouldn't extend to any claim linked to
the failure in design, manufacture or maintenance of a float.
Arnold acknowledges he sponsored the bill for Blaine Kern
Studios, the business of well-known float builder and Mardi Gras
enthusiast Blaine Kern that is located in Arnold's district. The
Kern family has been in the New Orleans float design and sculpting
business for decades, making some of the most ornate and memorable
floats for the city's best-known parades.
Compretta's family is suing Kern's business, and Compretta said
he believes Kern is trying to get the liability immunity passed by
state lawmakers because of his family's lawsuit. The case is
pending.
Attempts to speak with someone at Blaine Kern Studios were
unsuccessful. Phone calls by The Associated Press were not
returned.
Compretta, whose father is the number two-ranking leader of the
Mississippi House of Representatives, blames Endymion and Kern for
his brother's death, saying float riders should have been provided
safety information about where and how they should exit the Mardi
Gras float.
Arnold said if the tractor driver of the float was negligent, he
and the company would still be liable for damages under the law,
even if his bill passes.
Compretta said he's e-mailed Louisiana lawmakers asking them to
vote against Arnold's bill. He said gross negligence requires a
high burden of proof that's hard to meet in a case - and he thinks
it would discourage people with legitimate claims to file lawsuits.
"I understand if you say, 'We don't want people to get hit in
the face with a pair of beads and become millionaires.' I
understand that," he said. "But you have to know you're throwing
a whole lot more in there, and that's just not right. I can't let
what happened to my brother happen to somebody else."
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