Federal Courts in Louisiana Get Emergency Help from Congress

Congress this week passed emergency legislation to let two federal courts based in New Orleans to resume operations. The bill allows the U.S. District Court and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana to conduct court business outside the district's geographic boundaries.

The legislation will enable the district court's judges and employees to relocate in three separate sites away from New Orleans – Baton Rouge in the Central District, Lafayette in the Western District, and Houma in the Eastern District.

Preparations coordinated by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts are underway to move about 60 district court judges and employees to Lafayette, where the federal Judiciary has leased space. About 35 persons will be relocated in Houma, and about a dozen in Baton Rouge.

Filing deadlines in the district court have been suspended. For more information, check the court's web site, www.laed.uscourts.gov.

The bankruptcy court also lost its home when the federal building it occupied was flooded. About 35 members of that court family are being relocated to Baton Rouge, where they will share work space with the bankruptcy court for the Middle District of Louisiana. To check about filings in that court, go to its web site, www.laeb.uscourts.gov.

The House of Representatives voted 409-0 for the legislation on September 7. The Senate passed it by unanimous consent on September 8, and it was quickly sent to the White House for the President's signature.

The Judicial Conference of the United States, which makes policy for the federal courts, had asked Congress for the legislation to address the jurisdictional problem.

The new law will allow any district or bankruptcy court to do likewise when emergency circumstances require it.

In addition, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which handles appellate cases from Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi, was forced from its primary home in the John Minor Wisdom U.S. Courthouse in New Orleans.

The appeals court is in the process of relocating to Houston for three months, and then relocating to Baton Rouge. More than 80 employees of the circuit clerk's office will transfer to Houston, along with 14 members of the circuit executive's staff, several staff attorneys and nine automation employees.

The appeals court will not reopen for business in Houston until September 14. All filing deadlines on or after August 24 through September 30 are automatically extended until October 3, 2005. For more information, check the appeals court's web site at www.ca5.uscourts.gov/news/news/CourtInformation-09022005.htm.

In the Southern District of Mississippi, federal courthouses in Gulfport and Hattiesburg were closed due to damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. Court operations in both courthouses are likely to be suspended for several weeks.

In the Southern District of Alabama, both the district and bankruptcy courts resumed operations in the John A. Campbell U.S. Courthouse in Mobile, Alabama. Power and telephone service have been restored in the federal defenders' office, as well as a DSL line allowing Internet access.