St. Jude Children's Hospital Names New Clinical Director

Nielsen & Treas, LLC, is a Louisiana-based law firm that specializes in areas of governmental interest litigation and litigation involving the National Flood Insurance Program. Outside its professional scope, Nielsen & Treas, LLC, supports many worthy causes, including St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital recently announced a change in a key leadership position at the hospital. Effective March, 2017, Ellis J. Neufeld, MD, PhD, will take over as the new clinical director, physician-in-chief, and executive vice-president of the hospital.

For the past twenty-six years, Dr. Neufeld served as a faculty member of the Harvard Medical School. He also headed up the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. He is also an accomplished hematology researcher, specializing in the conditions of hemophilia, thalassemia, and immune thrombocytopenia.

In his new position, Dr. Neufeld will be responsible for all clinical activity within the organization, including day-to-day clinical operations, as well as its academic departments. With an accomplished background in pediatric hematology, St. Jude’s appointment of Dr. Neufeld is made with the specific goal of widening the reach of its cancer treatment programs, both locally and worldwide.

Appellate Decision Against Homeowners in Flood Damage Case

Nielsen & Treas, LLC, is a respected Metairie, Louisiana, law firm offering representation in cases involving civil litigation, insurance disputes and civil rights matters. Recently, after the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals remanded Spong v. Fidelity Nat. Prop. and Cas. Ins. Co., 787 F.3d 296 (5th Cir. 2015), to district court, Plaintiffs filed their Third Amended Complaint alleging a litany of extra-contractual claims, including but not limited to purported misrepresentations and Texas Insurance Code violations, against the Write-Your-Own (WYO) National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) carrier, Fidelity National, and other claims against United States of America. Defendants filed motions for summary judgment. Claiming ignorance of federal regulations, the Plaintiffs relied on the fact that Fidelity had issued a federal flood insurance policy but the Plaintiffs’ property was situated within a Coastal Barrier Resources System (CBRS). Nevertheless, the district court held, based upon U.S. Supreme Court cases that charge insureds with knowledge and a duty of self-investigation in the context of federal benefit programs, that when the Spongs acquired the property and applied for the federal flood insurance policy they were aware that their property within a CBRS is not insurable. In addition, the court found that Fidelity, as WYO carrier, had a duty to protect against improper expenditures of federal funds. Accordingly, the court granted the summary judgment dismissing all claims with prejudice.