Sargent Cauefield and Jim Lucas v. The Fidelity and Casualty Company of New York

HUTCHESON, Circuit Judge:

These cases, consolidated for trial, were brought by Sargent Cauefield and Jim Lucas to recover damages for the alleged desecration of a Louisiana cemetery in which relatives of theirs are buried. The district court granted a motion by defendants to dismiss on the theory that the suit was foreclosed by the doctrine of judicial estoppel, as applied in Louisiana, due to a previous state court judgment which denied a similar claim made with respect to the same cemetery. We affirm.

The background details of this controversy and the legal principles involved were set forth…