Tag: Bourbon Street

Bourbon Pub Parade files class-action lawsuit after insurance company denies coronavirus-related claim

A Bourbon Street nightclub on Monday sued its insurance company for alleged breach of contract after a claim for damages caused by a forced shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic was denied.

Bourbon Pub Parade, located at 801 Bourbon St., sued Nautilus Insurance for breach of contract after the company denied to cover a claim for ongoing damages caused by a city order ceasing business operations to prevent coronavirus spread, according to a federal lawsuit filed on May 4.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell issued a March 16 proclamation ordering certain businesses, including bars, to close as a measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus. This includes the vast majority of businesses in the French Quarter, which relies heavily on tourism income.

While the actual economic impact from the business closures has yet to be fully quantified, tourists in New Orleans spent $9.1 billion in 2018, with much of it driven by leisure- and work-related travel, according to the city’s Tourism Marketing Corporation.

French Quarter Festival, Satchmo Summerfest canceled due to COVID-19

“The damages [Bourbon Pub Parade] has sustained were not ’caused by or resulting from’ COVID-19,” the lawsuit states. “Rather, the proximate cause of…losses were the precautionary measures taken by the mayor of New Orleans and the Louisiana governor to prevent spread of COVID-19 in the future.”

The insurance purchased by Bourbon Pub Parade included an “all-risk” policy that provided coverage for all risks, unless the risk was specifically excluded, according to the lawsuit, adding that the policy includes coverage for business interruption, extra expense, civil authority and extended business income.

While the policy doesn’t provide an exclusion for losses stemming from a pandemic, it does exclude losses “caused by or resulting from any virus, bacterium or other microorganism that induces or is capable of inducing physical distress, illness or disease,” according to the lawsuit.

Nautilus denied the insurance claim on two grounds: first, that the bar and surrounding property didn’t suffer any physical damage; and second, the policy’s virus and bacteria exclusion.

Bourbon Pub Parade, however, said Nautilus’ reasons are erroneous because of the impact coronavirus is having on physical spaces throughout the world.

Citing coronavirus studies, the bar said contaminated surfaces could serve as a potential source of transmission.

“Based on what is understood about the way COVID-19 is transmitted, it is clear that the insured premises and surrounding areas have sustained direct physical losses within the meaning of the policy,” said Bourbon Pub Parade.

Additionally, the bar said losses aren’t directly attributed to coronavirus, but Cantrell’s order forcing it to close.

In the lawsuit, Bourbon Pub Parade requests a jury trial and class-action certification, which could involve other plaintiffs that are denied similar claims.

Read the lawsuit below:

Bourbon-Pub-Parade

NOPD releases crime camera map after LA Supreme Court rejects city’s appeal to keep it secret

New Orleans Police released hundreds of crime camera locations throughout the following the rejection of a legal appeal in March over a public records request to keep them secret.

The Louisiana Supreme Court on March 16 refused to hear an appeal filed by New Orleans on behalf of Homeland Security Director Collin Arnold, who sought to keep the locations 400 city-operated crime cameras hidden from public view, even though they are visible from the street.

The appeal’s rejection forced the city to reveal the locations its crime cameras, which are operated and viewed by personnel on a 24-hour basis inside the Real-Time Crime Center located at 517 N. Rampart St., which were sought in a public records request filed in 2018.

Additionally, the rejection awards attorneys fees to Orleans Public Defender Laura Bixby, who filed the lawsuit and was represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana.

Bixby filed her records request in August 2018 seeking documents on the RTCC, including staffing numbers and a map of “publicly visible” crime cameras, which is shown below.

City officials, however, denied the portion of the request seeking the camera map, citing a public records law exemption for investigative documents and physical security information.

Bixby and the ACLU sued the city in February 2019, eventually winning an appeal at Louisiana’s Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal in December of that year.

The city’s refusal to release crime camera locations echoed a concern by the Office of Independent Police Monitor in a letter to Mayor-elect LaToya Cantrell shortly after the RTCC was completed in November 2017.

The RTCC and cameras were part of a $40 million Citywide Public Safety Improvement Plan unveiled by then-Mayor Mitch Landrieu in January 2017. The plan included the deployment of other surveillance technology, such as automatic license plate readers and a computer-assisted dispatch center.

It replaced a camera system similar to one initiated by Ray Nagin in the early 2000s, except many cameras didn’t work and the project was mismanaged, ultimately becoming a boondoggle for the convicted former mayor and cost taxpayers an estimated $13 million, according to WWL-TV.

Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin gets early release from federal prison due to coronavirus pandemic

In the OIPM’s letter, which was issued on Nov. 28, 2017, Cantrell was warned of the risks to privacy abuse surrounding the retention of camera images.

“The retention of images and data may increase the likelihood of misuse and improper release whether from hackers, surveillance personnel, or police officers anxious to gather evidence,” wrote Susan Hutson of the OIPM. “Retaining images increases the likelihood of violating our 4th Amendment rights to privacy through the practice of ‘tracking’ citizen’s movements and identity.

“Additionally, Louisiana’s fairly permissive public records law may present a challenge to the city, if and when members of the public and the press wish to obtain such data.”

The map published on the city’s website, which can be viewed here, shows 32 crime cameras located in the French Quarter and its outskirts, with most of them concentrated along the 100 to 900 blocks of Bourbon Street.

Crime cameras flash blue and red lights and have the NOPD logo on them.

Images and data retained by the camera system are used by New Orleans Police for investigative purposes and regularly included in press releases issued by the NOPD.

Click to access filed_copy_amended_petition_bixby_v._arnold.pdf

Big Al Carson, longtime Bourbon Street blues and jazz singer, passes away at 66

Alton ‘Big Al’ Carson, right, performing with guitarist Harry Sterling live at Jazz Fest in 2012. Photo by robbiesaurus | CC.

Big Al Carson, a longtime jazz and blues singer whose vocal eminence packed crowds into Bourbon Street nightclubs for decades, died on Sunday. He was 66 years old.

Carson had suffered a heart attack two weeks ago, although it was later cited as his cause of death on Sunday, according to several local news reports.

Born Alton Carson in New Orleans on October 2, 1953, Carson grew up in the Lafitte Housing Projects and went on to study at Xavier University. He started off as a tuba player for local Bourbon Street brass bands before settling on a singing career, according to Offbeat.

Carson performed at Tropical Isle and Funky Pirate several nights each week for more than two decades with his band, The Blues Masters, which also included bassist Harold Scott, guitarist Harry Sterling and drummer Rodney Rollins.

As his weight approached 500 pounds, he’d use it to pull crowds off Bourbon Street and into bars with his “495 pounds of pure New Orleans” slogan advertised on placards displayed outside the door.

Carson’s power to sway a crowd occasionally included reminding them to not smoke cigars in his presence (he disliked the smell of the smoke), which was always obliged.

The Blues Masters performed regularly at Funky Pirate until Carson took time off to recover from health issues in 2013 before returning to the stage.

Carson and The Blues Masters were also regular performers at Jazz Fest and French Quarter Festivals.

Aside from performing live, Carson recorded several albums, including three in the 1990s under the Mardi Gras Records label.

On Sunday, the Tropical Isle and Funky Pirate released a Facebook statement on his passing.

“It is with a heavy heart that we extend our warmest condolences to his wife, Corina, and family, his friends and all that knew him, appreciated him – not only for his talents, but for who he was, his strength, his kind soul, his infectious smile, his sense of humor and, of course, his music.

“We were so fortunate to have him share his brillance with us for over 25 years at the Bourton St. Honky Tonky (Funky Pirate).”

Watch Big Al Carson and The Blues Masters perform at Funky Pirate in 2011:

New Orleans Police search for Bourbon Street graffiti vandalism suspects

Surveillance camera footage that allegedly shows two suspects who vandalized the Cat’s Meow with graffiti on Saturday. NOPD contributed photo.

Two suspects are wanted by New Orleans Police for allegedly vandalizing several Bourbon Street businesses with graffiti on Saturday.

The two are wanted for criminal damage to property, according to NOPD Eighth District officials, whose area of responsibility includes the French Quarter protected historic district.

The suspects were seen on surveillance camera footage tagging several Bourbon Street businesses at about 1 a.m. on Saturday, according to New Orleans Police.

Several tags included the letters “BJF” and “Fos,” New Orleans Police said, adding that a female suspect wrote “Julia” on one of the buildings.

New Orleans Police on Monday released alleged surveillance camera footage of the suspects, who are pictured above.

The Cat’s Meow on Saturday. David Punch via Facebook.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced elected officials to shutter “nonessential” businesses, including the vast majority of bars and shops in the French Quarter, which would normally crawling with tourists — and cops — on a Saturday morning.

The vandalism appeared around the same time graffiti art from artist Josh Wingerter popped up along plywood window coverings in other parts of the French Quarter and Frenchmen Street, but aren’t included in the vandalism investigation.

Anyone with information regarding the identities and the location of the two Bourbon Street vandalism suspects are asked to contact NOPD Eighth District detectives at 504-658-6080. Anonymous callers can contact Crimestoppers of Greater New Orleans at 504-822-1111 or call toll-free at 877-903-7867.

‘Queen of Bourbon Street’ Mamie Marie recovered from coronavirus just in time for Easter

As soon as Mamie Marie Francois recovered from a bout of coronavirus, she resumed her Bourbon Street rump-shaking booty duty with a vengeance in a sign that the French Quarter is starting to resemble the way it was before the COVID-19 outbreak.

And just in time for Easter Sunday.

In a video post to social media by user Nancy Mae, Marie was recorded riding her signature rolling tricycle disco down an empty Bourbon Street at midday on Friday before disembarking and twerking in a pink bunny suit.

Described as the “Queen of Bourbon Street,” Francois has become a fixture of the Vieux Carre gracing pedestrians with dance moves and a decorated musical tricycle.

Francois, 72, came down with a 100-degree temperature in the days following St. Patrick’s Day and eventually went to the doctor where she tested positive for coronavirus, according to the The Times Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate.

She has since recovered, at least to some degree, and is back patrolling the streets making sure the French Quarter stays weird.