Court Opinion

ID: 9914937
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-01-03 19:01:04.155389+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:15:41.262069
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-30365       Document: 00517019112             Page: 1      Date Filed: 01/03/2024

              United States Court of Appeals
                   for the Fifth Circuit                                       United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                        Fifth Circuit

                                    ____________                                      FILED
                                                                                January 3, 2024
                                     No. 23-30365
                                                                                 Lyle W. Cayce
                                   Summary Calendar                                   Clerk
                                   ____________

   Ellis Keyes, Executor for the Estate of Christine C. Keyes,

                                                                   Plaintiff—Appellant,

                                           versus

   BP Exploration & Production, Incorporated,

                                              Defendant—Appellee.
                    ______________________________

                    Appeal from the United States District Court
                       for the Eastern District of Louisiana
                     USDC Nos. 2:10-MD-2179, 2:14-CV-2211
                    ______________________________

   Before Jones, Southwick, and Graves, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam: *
          This appeal arises from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that occurred
   in April 2010. Ellis Keyes, proceeding pro se and as executor of the estate of
   his mother, Christine C. Keyes, filed a civil toxic-tort complaint against BP
   Exploration & Production, Inc. (BP). He alleged that his mother’s death in

          _____________________
          *
              Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion
   should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set
   forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4.
Case: 23-30365      Document: 00517019112           Page: 2    Date Filed: 01/03/2024

                                     No. 23-30365

   September 2010 was attributable to exposure to environmental pollution
   released during the oil spill and the subsequent cleanup.
          An order entered in the wider Deepwater Horizon multidistrict
   litigation case informed plaintiffs that, to establish personal injury claims,
   they had to “prove that the legal cause of the claimed injury or illness [was]
   exposure to oil or other chemicals used during the response” to the oil spill.
   In re Oil Spill by Oil Rig “Deepwater Horizon” in Gulf of Mexico, on Apr. 20,
   2010, No. MDL 2179, 2021 WL 6053613, 11 (E.D. La. Apr. 1, 2021)
   (unpublished). BP filed a motion for summary judgment on the grounds that
   Keyes had not identified any expert testimony he would use on the issue of
   general causation. The district court granted judgment in favor of BP, and
   Keyes timely appealed.
          On appeal, Keyes asserts that the district court erred in denying his
   motion to compel his mother’s medical providers to produce her medical
   records and other discovery. In his opening brief, Keyes devotes two
   conclusional sentences to stating that summary judgment should not have
   been granted. In his reply brief, Keyes asserts that his mother’s medical
   providers would have given expert testimony on causation, but he does not
   explain how they could have given expert testimony on general, rather than
   specific, causation. Although pro se briefs are liberally construed, even pro
   se litigants must brief arguments in order to preserve them. Yohey v. Collins,
   985 F.2d 222, 225 (5th Cir. 1993). By failing to adequately brief his appellate
   issues, Keyes has abandoned them. See Yohey, 985 F.2d 225.
          Keyes is warned that it is inappropriate to include derogatory
   comments about a district-court judge or about the judiciary in general in
   documents filed with this court. Such comments, even by a pro se plaintiff,
   invite the striking of the documents in which they are contained. See
   Theriault v. Silber, 574 F.2d 197, 197 (5th Cir. 1978).
          AFFIRMED; SANCTION WARNING ISSUED.

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