Richard T. Haik, Sr.
Judge Haik no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Haik decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
On insurance disputes he reads the policy's own procedural safeguards strictly against the insurer: where a flood policy gave the insured a notice-and-cure right before a duplicate policy could be cancelled, the insurer's failure to give that written notice and 30-day opportunity was itself a breach, entitling the policyholder to summary judgment.
“Allstate erred by failing to afford the Bulls the opportunity to utilize Section U(l)(a) or U(l)(b) of the 2435 Egret Street SFIP.”
Procedural preferences
He applies federal preemption as a clean, dispositive ground at the pleading stage: state tort claims against a Class III premarket-approved medical device are dismissed under Rule 12(b)(6) because they would impose requirements different from or in addition to the FDA's, without needing to reach the factual merits.
“the Court will grant Medtronic's Motion To Dismiss Supplemental Complaint.”
He relies heavily on his magistrate judges for dispositive-motion work in complex multi-party civil-rights litigation, adopting a detailed report and recommendation after independent review and entering a claim-by-claim, defendant-by-defendant judgment that grants dismissal in part and preserves the remainder.
“After an independent review of the record, including the Objections and Reply to Objections, this Court concludes that the Report and Recommendation of the Magistrate Judge is correct and adopts the findings and conclusions therein as its own.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED.”
“Defendant Allstate's Cross Motion for Summary is DENIED and Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED.”
“For the reasons which follow, the Court will grant Medtronic's Motion To Dismiss Supplemental Complaint.”
“The defendants' motion is GRANTED with regard to all of plaintiffs' claims for injunctive relief, section 1985 conspiracy claims, state-law claims, claims predicated upon alleged violations of the Fourth Amendment, and claims predicated upon alleged violations of their due process and equal protection rights ... 5. The defendants motion is DENIED in all other respects.”
“For the reasons that follow, the judgment of the Bankruptcy Court will be affirmed.”
“For the reasons set forth above, the Plaintiffs' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment is GRANTED.”
“This court denies summary judgment as to all of the 'economic loss' claimants in the instant proceeding.”
“IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the Motions are DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 632 days (N = 10).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 101 days (N = 14).
As an active Lafayette-Opelousas district judge (1991-2015, Chief Judge 2002-2009), Haik carried a general civil and criminal docket -- maritime and motor-vehicle personal injury, products liability, insurance, employment civil-rights, Social Security appeals, bankruptcy appeals and habeas petitions -- referring pretrial and recommendation work to the division's magistrate judges. The 10 cases timed below are 2008-filed substantive civil cases for which the record carries filing and termination dates; they are a single-filing-year slice, not a random caseload median.
A historical record
Judge Haik no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.