Jurisdiction: United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana

The Avondale defendants, Huntington Ingalls Inc. and its alleged liability insurers, moved to dismiss plaintiff Dennis Arceneaux’s claims for declaratory and injunctive relief.

Plaintiff Arceneaux alleged he was exposed to asbestos in his work at Avondale Shipyard from 1966 to 1968. In the instant suit, brought in federal court, Arceneaux sought declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent Avondale from raising affirmative defenses and from removing his theoretical state court lawsuit for asbestos injuries to federal court.

The court granted Avondale’s motion to dismiss, holding that a declaratory judgment about the validity of a defense the defendant may possibly raise in a future proceeding is not justiciable. Further, plaintiff lacked standing because the injury he is trying to avoid with an injunction is the possibility in theory that Avondale would seek removal of a future state court case against them. This is not a significant possibility of future harm, and plaintiff’s general desire to litigate in state court was determined insufficient to satisfy the injury-in-fact requirement.

A copy of the decision is attached.