NEW ORLEANS (Legal Newsline) – A federal judge has agreed with a lawyer who sued Penn National Gaming over a fall off a hotel toilet that the case should be heard in state court.
New Orleans federal judge Sarah Vance granted the motion to remand of Dominic Varrecchio, who sued after a bathroom mishap in Boomtown Casino Hotel that he says left him with injuries to his head, neck, back, knees and left heel.
Hotel general manager Brad Hirsch argued he was only named as a defendant because he is a Louisiana resident – and Penn National is not – and that fact would help Varrecchio argue his case belonged in federal court.
Penn National removed the case to federal court earlier this year and filed a motion for summary judgment, but will now have to litigate the case in Jefferson Parish.
Varrecchio amended his complaint to add Ramelli Janitorial Services, a Louisiana corporation, as a defendant while the case was in federal court.
“The parties do not dispute that plaintiff is a Louisiana citizen. Further, plaintiff alleges, and defendants PNG and Hirsch do not dispute, that Ramelli is a Louisiana corporation,” Vance wrote.
“Further, defendants do not dispute that Ramelli was properly joined as a defendant in this matter. Accordingly, the Court finds that Ramelli is a citizen of Louisiana for the purposes of diversity jurisdiction. Because plaintiff and Ramelli are citizens of the same state, the requirements of complete diversity under 28 U.S.C. § 1332 are no longer satisfied.”
State courts are often seen as more plaintiff-friendly, especially in jurisdictions like Louisiana that tort reformers have been concerned about for years. Varrecchio, a lawyer representing himself, sued Boomtown and Hirsch earlier this year in Jefferson Parish court over an alleged February 2020 incident in his hotel room.
Varrecchio says when he rose from the toilet, the seat detached suddenly, causing him to slip and hit his head on the sink and shelves, then fall on the floor.