Extension of Katrina/Rita prescription constitutional, says LSC

Justice Traylor, for a unanimous court, writes, "We exercise our supervisory authority in an expedited manner to determine whether Acts 2006, Nos. 739 and 802, which extend the prescriptive period under which certain insurance claims arising from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita may be filed and which may alter the insurance contractual provisions regarding the time period in which to bring a claim, are constitutional. After review of the relevant state and federal law, we find that the legislative acts at issue are constitutional." State v. All Property and Casualty Insurers Authorized and Licensed to Do Business in the State of Louisiana, No. 2006-CD-2030 (La. 8/25/06).

La. Supreme Court's 2005 Annual Report

The Supreme Court's 2005 Annual Report is posted on the Court's web site. If your practice includes applying to Louisiana appellate courts for writs, then you'll find some interesting statistics near the end of the report, showing, which will give you a general idea of the odds against getting a writ granted. For example, here are the Supreme Court's 2005 numbers:

All cases
Writ applications filed (excluding prisoner pro se): 1,520 Prisoner pro se writ applications: 866 Writs granted: 163

Civil cases
Writ applications filed (excluding prisoner pro se): 1,157
Prisoner pro se applications: 34
Writs granted: 73

Criminal cases
Writ applications filed (excluding prisoner pro se): 363
Prisoner pro se applications: 832
Writs granted: 90

The report contains similar statistics for each Court of Appeal.