The following opinions were released by the Louisiana Supreme Court on May 21, 2008:

• Burmaster v. Plaquemines Parish Government (Calogero, C.J.; dissenting opinions by Victory, Traylor, JJ.). The Court held that 2006 La. Act 545 — which purported to retroactively provide immunity to public entities for claims brought pursuant to La. Civil Code arts. 2317 and 2317.1 for damages arising from Hurricanes Katrina or Rita — was unconstitutional as applied to the plaintiffs’ claims against Plaquemines Parish because the application of the Act to the plaintiffs’ claims would deprive them of their due process rights under the Louisiana and U.S. constitutions.
• Landry v. Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Co. (Kimball, J.; concurring opinions by Calogero, C.J., and Victory, J.). The Court held that the insurer had properly utilized La. R.S. § 22:695’s (the Valued Policy Law) opt-out provision to provide for an alternative form of loss valuation such that the insurer was not required to pay the full face value of the total loss where the loss was caused both by a covered peril (wind) and a non-covered peril (flood).
• Louisiana v. Granger (Kimball, J.). The Court held that La. R.S. § 15:578.1, which provided that a person arrested for DWI and placed into a pretrial diversion program shall have the fact of the arrest and the participation in the pretrial diversion program made public record, was not unconstitutional.
• Denoux v. Vessel Management Services, Inc. (Johnson, J.). The Court affirmed the district court’s ruling that the claims against Glidden had prescribed, and vacated those portions of the ruling that the plaintiffs are not Jones Act seamen, that the Belle of Orleans casino was not a vessel in navigation, and that the plaintiffs’ claims did not fall within admiralty jurisdiction.
• Hebert v. Webre (Victory, J.). The Court held that the wrongful death claims at issue were subject to the automobile insurance policy’s “each person” limit for the deceased individual, rather than the aggregate “each accident” limit.
• Louisiana v. Campbell (Traylor, J.; Calogero, C.J., and Johnson, J., dissenting). On direct appeal, the Court affirmed the defendant’s conviction and death sentence, holding that the defendant had not successfully raised an Atkins claim; that the defendant’s “mental age” argument for application of Roper was unsuccessful; that the district court did not err in finding the defendant competent to stand trial; that the district court did not err in permitting the defendant to represent himself and waive the right to counsel; that there was no erroneous admission of hearsay; that the district court committed no error in the voir dire with regard to death qualification of the jurors; that the district court did not err in denying the defendant’s motions to suppress various pretrial identifications of the defendant; that the indictment was constitutionally valid; that the district court did not err in instructing the jury as to reasonable doubt, specific intent, and gubernatorial commutation; that the defendant had not properly preserved for review issues related to the penalty phase jury instructions; that the defendant had suffered no impact to his appeal from the incompleteness of the appellate record; and that the death penalty imposition was not a disproportionately harsh sentence.
• Adams v. Rhodia, Inc. (Weimer, J.; dissents by Victory, Traylor, JJ.). The Court held that the jury did not err in finding Exxon 10% liable for the plaintiffs’ injuries, and reinstated the jury verdict.