Trobona v. Home Depot: New Federal Case Filed in Louisiana

Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. removed a personal-injury suit filed by plaintiff Deborah Trobona from the 21st Judicial District Court, Parish of Tangipahoa, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana under federal docket 2:26-cv-00372. The removal and related filings were logged Feb. 20, 2026, and the case was assigned to Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown with Magistrate Judge Janis van Meerveld, the initial case assignment recorded at 1:11 PM that day.

The Notice of Removal was filed at 1:06 PM on Feb. 20 and included three exhibits and a civil cover sheet, with a filing fee of $405 recorded under receipt number ALAEDC-11346583. The docket text for that filing reads in part: "NOTICE OF REMOVAL from 21st Judicial District Court Parish of Tangipahoa, case number 2025-4449 (Filing fee $ 405 receipt number ALAEDC-11346583) filed by Home Depot U.S.A., Inc..Attorney Ashlyn Faith Vickers added to party Home Depot U.S.A., Inc.(pty:dft).(Vickers, Ashlyn)"

Home Depot followed the removal with an Answer to the Complaint that includes a jury demand, filed at 2:32 PM on Feb. 20. Shortly after, at 2:39 PM, the company filed a Statement of Corporate Disclosure identifying corporate parent Home Depot, Inc., and at 2:43 PM filed a further docketed "NOTICE (Other)." The filings list Ashlyn Faith Vickers as Home Depot’s counsel on the federal docket entries.

The federal cause and nature fields designate the matter as 28:1332 Diversity-Personal Injury and "360 Torts - Personal Injury - Other Personal Injury," indicating the company invoked diversity jurisdiction as the basis for removal. The removal docket references the state-court case under two formatting variants - "25-04449" and "2025-4449" - both tied to the 21st Judicial District Court, Parish of Tangipahoa, in the case metadata.

On Feb. 23 at 9:47 AM the clerk entered a directive labeled "DIRECTIVE of the Clerk regarding compliance with 28:1447(b) re1 Notice of Removal." The docket label references 28 U.S.C. § 1447(b), the statutory provision that governs procedure after removal; the directive text itself is not reproduced on the docket summary available in the public entries. The federal docket was last updated Feb. 23, 2026, at 11:59 PM CST.

The federal entries preserve administrative details but do not, in the available excerpts, show the plaintiff’s original complaint text or identify plaintiff counsel on the federal docket. The Notice of Removal’s attachments are listed but their contents are not displayed in the summary entries. With Judge Brown and Magistrate Judge van Meerveld in place, the next docket items to watch are the clerk’s formal directive text, any motion to remand under § 1447(b), and plaintiff filings that will disclose the factual allegations and damages sought.