This case concerns an alleged taking of nearly eighteen acres of real property within the bounds of the Lafitte Area Independent Levee District (“LAILD”) in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana.
CMP owns property within the boundaries of the LAILD in Jefferson Parish. As part of the Rosethorne Basin Lafitte Tidal Protection Levee Project, LAILD entered CMP’s property on or about May 27, 2024, to raise the height of an existing levee. Nearly three months later, on August 22, 2024, LAILD passed Resolution 495, which provided for the appropriation of the portion of CMP’s land containing the levee. CMP filed the suit against LAILD for failure to pay just compensation for a taking under the Louisiana Constitution.
Throughout the course of the underlying suit, CMP hired three experts, Baldwin R. Justice, Dr. Fred Fellner, and Dr. Malcolm Guidry to assist in calculating the value of its land occupied by LAILD. LAILD sought to exclude, or alternatively limit, the testimony of CMP’s expert witnesses.
Arborist Expert Witnesses
Frederick Joseph Fellner, Ph.D. worked for Louisiana State University for 25 years as an Arboricultural and Green Infrastructure Manager. In this role, he was responsible for “all landscape construction” including “protection . . . pre, during and post construction” and oversaw “risk reduction for the protection of people and property from failure of trees.”
Dr. Malcolm M. Guidry is a consulting arborist with more than 30 years of experience in arboriculture, urban forestry, tree risk assessment, and forensic tree investigations. He has provided expert consulting services since 1991 in matters involving tree appraisal, tree health diagnosis, construction-related tree impacts, and urban forest management.
He is licensed as a consulting arborist in both Louisiana and Mississippi and is affiliated with professional organizations including the American Society of Consulting Arborists and the International Society of Arboriculture.
Appraisal And Valuation Expert Witness
Baldwin R. Justice is a general certified real estate appraiser in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Florida and Alabama, and he has extensive experience in the appraisal of nearly all property types in markets across our entire geographic coverage area. He has also been awarded the prestigious the MAI designation by the Appraisal Institute®. Finally, Justice has been qualified as an expert witness in the field of real estate appraisal and provided testimony in numerous local, state, federal, and Unites States Tax courts throughout the region.
Discussion by the Court
LAILD did not challenge the qualifications of Justice, Fellner, or Guidry, nor did it argue that their expert reports are the products of unreliable methodology or principles. Instead, LAILD contended that the expert reports of Justice, Fellner, and Guidry are irrelevant because they applied an improper method of valuation and/or compensation.
Here, the Court found that the expert report of Justice, along with Fellner and Guidry’s joint report, are relevant to the issue of damages. All three experts opine on the valuation of the land taken by LAILD, and their reports will assist the jury in understanding the appropriate amount of compensation, if any, owed to CMP. Moreover, the Court found that the testimony based on the expert reports did not present a danger of unfair prejudice, will not confuse the issues, or mislead the jury.
The Court has found that LAILD engaged in an unconstitutional partial taking of CMP’s property and determined that CMP is entitled to recover damages pursuant to the theory of inverse condemnation under Louisiana law. Specifically, the Court reasoned that CMP would be entitled to present evidence relating to the “highest and best use” of the taken property, severance damages, and fair market value of the property.
In sum, the Court’s determination as to the legal standard for any damages undercuts LAILD’s argument, as such evidence is relevant for the jury in deciding the factual determination of damages. Because CMP’s expert reports enumerate damages consistent with those categories, the Court declined to exclude the testimony of the experts as to their expert reports under Rule 403. Importantly, to the extent that any portion of the reports are inconsistent with the Court’s legal determination of appropriate damages for a partial taking, the experts will be precluded from testifying as to those inconsistent parts of the reports.
Held
The Court denied LAILD’s motion to exclude, or alternatively limit, the testimony of CMP’s expert witnesses, Baldwin Justice, Dr. Fred Fellner, and Dr. Malcolm Guidry.
Key Takeaway
Even if evidence satisfies the requirements of Rule 702, other evidentiary rules, such as Rule 403, may still operate to exclude the evidence.
Case Details:
| Case Caption: | CMP, L.L.C. V Board Of Commissioners For The Lafitte Area Independent Levee District |
| Docket Number: | 2:24cv2298 |
| Court Name: | United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana |
| Order Date: | January 22, 2026 |
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