Crystal E. Domreis is an associate practicing in the areas of casualty litigation, health care liability, professional liability, commercial litigation, insurance issues, and transportation law. She was admitted to the Louisiana Bar and received her Juris Doctor from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law in 2008. While earning her law degree at Loyola University, she served on the Moot Court Board as Alumni Chair and competed on the Sports and Entertainment Law Moot Court team, which reached the semifinals at the Tulane University Sports and Entertainment Law Competition. She was also a member of the Sports and Entertainment Law Society, the Law and Technology Journal, and the St. Thomas Moore Society. Ms. Domreis obtained her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of New Orleans (UNO) in 2004 where she was a member of the women's golf team and four time first team All-Sunbelt Conference.
Ms. Domreis is licensed to practice in the state of Louisiana as well as in the U.S. Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She is a member of the Louisiana State, Federal, and American Bar Associations, the New Orleans Bar Association, the Youth Leadership Council (YLC), and SOLACE.
PUBLICATIONS AND SPEECHES
- "Transition from Law School to Law Practice: The Skills and Pointers We Wish We Had Known," co-authored with Michael C. Mims for the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel’s Associate Skills Set Seminar, June 2012.
PROFESSIONAL & CIVIC ASSOCIATIONS
- Louisiana State Bar Association
- SOLACE - Support of Lawyers/Legal Personnel – All Concern Encouraged Program
- Federal Bar Association
- New Orleans Bar Association
- American Bar Association
- Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel
- Defense Research Institute
- Homeless Experience Legal Protection (H.E.L.P.)
- East St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce - Emerging Young Professionals
REPRESENTATIVE CASES
2012
Anderson v. Illinois Cent. R. Co., 475 Fed.Appx. 30 (5th Cir. 2012).
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a per curiam opinion (5th Cir. 11-30747) affirming United States District Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt’s grant of summary judgment and dismissal with prejudice of a civil action filed by the parents of a minor who sustained injuries while playing on Illinois Central’s right-of-way near Harahan Louisiana. As did the trial court, the unanimous 3 judge panel found that Illinois Central owed no duty under Louisiana Law to provide additional warnings to the minor, whose presence on the railroad’s right-of-way that day was unknown to the railroad and its train crew, of the obvious risks posed by playing on or near a momentarily stationary inbound train. See also Eugene Anderson et al. v. Illinois Central Railroad Company, 2011 WL 1303865 (E.D.L.A. 4/4/2011), Engelhardt, J. (slip opinion).
2011
Tusa v. City of Kenner Police Dept., 10-791 (La App. 5 Cir. 5/10/11); 64 So.3d 904, writ denied, 2011-1145 (La. 9/16/11); 69 So.3d 1146.
2010
Yolande C. Dugas, etc., et al v. Illinois Central Railroad Company, et al., Docket No. 44798, 29th Judicial District Court, Parish of St. Charles Louisiana (Judge Lemmon) Defense verdict; no liability. This case was brought on behalf of numerous St. Charles homeowners against our client, Illinois Central Railroad Company and the Parish of St. Charles. The case arose out of the torrential rainfall that inundated St. Charles Parish as well as a number of other southeast Louisiana parishes over the course of the late evening hours of May 8, 1995. Among the areas affected by the storm were three St. Charles Parish residential areas situated on the east bank of the Mississippi River between River Road and IC's Baton Rouge-to-Harahan right of way and track. The fifty-seven plaintiffs, who all resided in those residential areas, alleged that their homes and personal property sustained damage due to water inundation caused as a result of the IC track structure acting as a dam to the natural flow of water from the Mississippi River towards Lake Pontchartrain and loose discarded railroad crossties clogging Parish maintained drainage canals. The case was tried over the course of nine days beginning in February and finally to completion in April 2010. Following the trial Judge Lemmon entered a judgment finding that plaintiffs' damages were not caused by any negligent or substandard conduct on IC's part.
