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Fifth Circuit Moves to Houston;
Will Reopen for Business September 21

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, and will relocate to Houston for three months, reopening for business on September 21.

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. 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.

Public Law 109-63 allows any federal district or bankruptcy court to relocate when emergency circumstances require it.

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

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, Houma in the Eastern District, and Lafayette in the Western District. Lafayette is now accepting LA(E) filings. For more information, check the court's web site, www.laed.uscourts.gov.

Bankruptcy court operations have been relocated to Baton Rouge, LA. To check about filings in that court, go to its web site, www.laeb.uscourts.gov.

In addition, Probation/Pre-trial Services operations relocated to Lafayette, Covington, Houma, LA, with officers operating at other locations also. Federal public defenders’ offices have relocated to Lafayette, Houma and Covington, LA.

Gulfport and Hattiesburg federal courthouses in the Southern District of Mississippi were closed due to damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. The Dan Russell, Jr. Federal Courthouse in Gulfport is expected to be repaired in six months.

Both the district and bankruptcy courts in the Southern District of Alabama resumed operations in the John A. Campbell U.S. Courthouse in Mobile, Alabama.