Partner
epreaus@preausroddylaw.com

Eugene R. Preaus is one of the founding partners of the firm. In his 35 years of practice, he has handled cases in most areas of commercial litigation. His primary practice areas are fidelity and surety litigation and bankruptcy litigation. He has lectured and published extensively in those areas. He has particular experience handling claims on and under financial institution bonds, commercial crime policies, bankruptcy trustee bonds, the Miller Act, the Louisiana Private and Public Works Acts, directors and officers liability policies, and creditors’ issues in bankruptcy. Mr. Preaus has been trial or appellate counsel in over eighty reported decisions. Of particular significance are the decisions in 9 to 5 Fashions, Inc. v. Spurney, In re Royale Airlines, Inc., In re T-H New Orleans Ltd. Partnership, and Resolution Trust Corp. v. Ayo.

Case list of Eugene R. Preaus

Admissions:
Louisiana, 1966

Education:
Princeton University (A.B., magna cum laude in history, 1963);
Tulane University (J.D., 1966); Omicron Delta Kappa; Member, Board of Editors, Tulane Law Review, 1964-1966.

Memberships:
New Orleans, Louisiana State (Vice-Chair, 1991-1993; Chair, 1993-1995, Fidelity, Surety and Construction Law Section) and American Bar Associations;
Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel;
Surety Claims Institute;
U.S. Fifth Circuit Bar Association.

Publications:
Co-Author, Bankrupt Principal: Defining Construction Surety's Interest in Contract Balances, Defense Counsel Journal, Vol. 58, No. 1, Pg. 56, 1991;

Co-Author, Asserting the Negligence of or Breach of a Duty by Federal Regulators as a Defense to a Claim on a Financial Institution Bond, S. SURETY & FIDELITY CL. CONF. (1991);

Quinlan v. Liberty Bank & Trust Company: The Louisiana Supreme Court Allows a Direct Action Against Directors' and Officers' Policy, La. State Bar Journal, Vol. 40, No. 1, 1992;

Current D&O Issues, S. SURETY & FIDELITY CL. CONF. (1993);

Co-Author, “Bankruptcy Trustee Bonds” Are They What the Underwriters Think?, S. SURETY & FIDELITY CL. CONF. (1995);

“A Review of Insuring Agreement “E” of the Financial Institution Bond”, S. SURETY & FIDELITY CL. CONF. (1997);

Co-Author, Admiralty & Maritime Law; the Use of Bonds and Other Security Devices in the Legal Framework of International Shipping, in THE LAW OF MISCELLANEOUS AND COMMERCIAL SURETY BONDS, A.B.A. SEC. TORT & INS. (Todd C. Kazlow & Bruce C. King eds., 2001);

Contributor, THE SURETY’S INDEMNITY AGREEMENT, A.B.A. SEC. TORT & INS. (Marilyn Klinger, Gary Judd & George J. Bachrach eds., 2002).

Courts:
U.S. Supreme Court;
U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit;
U.S. District Court, Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana

Born:
Ruston, Louisiana, September 22, 1941