$9.14 Million Verdict for Pediatric Oncology Nurse Brain-Injured When a Work Truck Rear-Ended Her
After trial: Judgment of about $12 million with interest on the $9,141,750 verdict of August 15, 2025 (Louisiana Jury Verdict Reporter). No appeal, remittitur or post-trial motion has been reported.
Won by Broussard, David & Moroux.
Alise Ardoin was a 26-year-old pediatric oncology nurse. On her day off she was driving to a Lafayette mall to buy a dress for the funeral of one of her child patients. A commercial pickup rear-ended her at roughly 40 mph and pushed her into the car ahead, whipping her head in two directions. The brain injury and the headache disorder that followed ended her nursing career.
What happened
On October 12, 2018, Alise Ardoin had the day off. She was 26 and a pediatric oncology nurse at Women's and Children's Hospital in Lafayette. One of her patients, a child, had died. She was driving to the Acadiana Mall to buy a dress to wear to the funeral.
She slowed for a light on Kaliste Saloom Road.
Behind her was a Ford F-250 that Taylor Foster was driving for his employer, Taylors International Services. He was doing roughly 40 miles an hour and, by his own account, never saw her before impact. The collision shattered her back glass and drove her car into the Volvo stopped ahead of her, so her head was thrown forward and then back again.
She sustained a mild traumatic brain injury and an intractable headache disorder. She did not return to nursing.
The jury returned its verdict on August 15, 2025, and the way it itemized the award is worth reading closely, because it is not the shape people expect from an eight-figure injury verdict. Past medical expenses came to $536,750. Future medical care, $4,000,000. Past lost wages, $505,000. Future lost earning capacity, $2,500,000. Non-economic damages, meaning everything the law calls pain and suffering, came to $1,600,000, which is less than a fifth of the total.
That is a verdict built almost entirely on what a career in pediatric oncology nursing was worth over a working life, and on what her care will cost for the rest of it.
Ardoin was represented by Blake R. David and Reed K. Ellis of Broussard, David and Moroux in Lafayette, with Alfred F. Boustany II, Alfred F. Boustany III and Chase Manuel of the Boustany Law Firm as co-counsel.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Louisiana Jury Verdict Reporter case sheet·Archived copy
- 2.Verdict form signed 8-15-2025, Ardoin v. Taylor's International, 15th Judicial District Court, Lafayette Parish·Archived copy
- 3.Louisiana Jury Verdict Reporter blog: 'awarded the plaintiff $9.1 million (upped to $12 million in the judgment with interest)'·Archived copy
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