Top Nagin aide quits to join law firm

The Times Picayune reports: Charles Rice, the City's Chief Administrative Officer, is quitting to join the local law firm Barrasso, Usdin, Kupperman, Freeman & Sarver. Rice had been the City Attorney before he took the post of CAO.

Free Legal Research Tool for LSBA

Starting on July 1st, members of the Louisiana State Bar Association will be able to perform free legal research using Fastcase, an online library of court opinions. Fastcase will provide access to all US Supreme Court opinions; US Ct of Appeal opinions from 1924; US District Ct opinions from 1932; all Bankruptcy Ct opinions, and opinions from all 50 state courts from at least 1950. For more information, visit the LSBA link about this.

Appellate-procedure legislative update

House Bill 226, with a few Senate amendments, has passed both houses of the Legislature. If signed by the governor, it will become effective on January 1, 2006 and will make two important changes in Louisiana appellate procedure:

1. In class actions, it will make an order granting or denying class certification appealable as of right, thus codifying Davis v. Jazz Casino Co., LLC, 849 So.2d 497 (La. 2003).
2. It deletes the provision in La. C.C.P. Art. 2083 allowing appeal from an interlocutory judgment that will cause irreparable injury. Instead, interlocutory judgment will be appealable only when expressly provided by legislation.

In addition, the bill will allow a party 10 days from the mailing of notice of judgment to request written reasons for judgment, and will provide that the filing of a motion to revive a judgment interrupts prescription on the judgment.

The bill was originally blogged on Naked Ownership here.

Appellate tip of the day

Under the Rule 2-12.7, Uniform Rules of Louisiana Courts of Appeal, an appellant's reply brief is due 10 days after the appellee files its brief. Note carefully: that's not 10 days after the appellee's due date, but 10 days after the appellee actually files. For example, let's say you represent the appellant, and the appellee's brief is due on June 1. If the appellee actually files on June 1, your reply brief is due on June 11. But if the appellee files a day early, on May 31, your reply brief is due on June 10, not June 11.

And remember that in the Louisiana courts of appeal, you can file by mail, and the date of the postmark is deemed the date of filing. So in the above example, if the appellee mailed the brief on May 31 and it arrived at the clerk's office on June 1, it will be deemed filed on May 31.