Louisiana lawsuit could limit benefits for state legislators

The Louisiana Supreme Court will review whether it is fair to grant automatic delays in court proceedings to lawyers who are also state legislators. The justices’ decision in the case came just days after Gov. Jeff Landry vetoed a bill that would have changed the practice.

The court agreed Tuesday to hear arguments on whether Sen. Alan Seabaugh and Rep. Michael Melerine, Republicans who are partners in a Shreveport law firm, unreasonably delayed legal proceedings related to the car accident because of their legislative duties.

Caddo Parish resident Theresa Fisher in April 2019 sued the driver who hit her car and his insurance company, Hanover Insurance Group, which Seabaugh and Melerine represent. According to her lawyers, she is seeking financial compensation for health problems caused by the accident. the case in the First Judicial District in Caddo has been delayed several times, sometimes because of conflicts with Seabaugh’s legislative schedule. She has been a legislator since 2010. Melerine joined the Legislature earlier this year.

The trial was first set for March 2021 and has since been pushed back four times. It is now on the calendar for this coming October. Fisher’s attorneys, J. Cole Sartin and Joseph Gregorio, asked the judge to assess whether the legislative continuance, which was responsible for one of the hearing delays, as well as other extensions, is justified in interfering with their client’s right to a trial in court. Louisiana gives legislators the discretion to file motions for delays in court proceedings. They can seek continuances for any period from 30 days before the legislative session to 30 days after the legislative session, as well as for travel and other meetings required by their elected office.

After Sartin and Gregorio first raised concerns about legislative delays with the court this spring, Seabaugh introduced legislation that would give him leverage over opposing lawyers.

Lawmakers, many of them lawyers, supported Seabaugh’s proposal and voted unanimously to approve it, but the governor vetoed the proposal.

Senate Bill 185 would require lawyers who challenge legislative extensions to pay the court costs and legal expenses of opposing state lawmakers. In other words, it would likely force Fisher, through Gregorio and Sartine, to pay Seabaugh because her lawyers raised a legal challenge to his legislative extensions, Gregorio said.

Seabaugh and Sartin declined to comment for this article. Gregorio said it was a “welcome relief” to see Landry veto the bill that would have burdened his client with additional costs.

But not everyone was happy that the bill was thrown in the trash. While it included some expansion of lawmakers’ authority to extend court dates, the bill also imposed new restrictions on a practice that advocates for domestic violence victims have been pushing for years. If it becomes law, Seabaugh’s bill would prohibit lawmakers from using extensions in cases involving protective orders, harassment, domestic violence and sexual assault. Child custody cases would also be exempt from automatic continuances for lawmakers for the first time.

Kim Sport, a lawyer and advocate for survivors of domestic violence, expressed disappointment that the bill did not become law. In intimate partner violence cases, months of delays can be dangerous because one of the lawyers is also on the legislature, Sport said. Years ago, she had a client whose child custody dispute with an abusive ex-husband was delayed because the husband’s lawyer was a lawyer, she said. This year, the legislature met for three legislative sessions, from January to early June. The schedule authorized any lawyer serving as a legislator to delay court proceedings from the second week of January to early July. The Louisiana Supreme Court will not address the issue of whether extending the legislation is appropriate in cases of domestic violence, sexual abuse or child custody, because Seabaugh’s delay complaint is unrelated to those issues. Seabaugh and Melerine aren’t the only lawmakers who have drawn outrage for using their jobs in the Legislature to delay court cases. As The Advocate reported, Rep. Edmond Jordan, D-Port Allen, angered a state judge in Baton Rouge last year and lost a case by failing to show up in court. Jordan has filed three motions to continue the legislative process, but all have been denied. Like Seabaugh, he drafted legislation in 2023 to give lawmakers more power to seek extensions when their work as legislators conflicts with their law practice. The Louisiana Senate rejected the proposal.

In his case, Seabaugh argued that the extension of the legislation was not the only reason for delaying Fisher’s trial and should not be made a scapegoat. The automatic continuances were necessary to ensure that legislative lawyers could adequately represent their clients, he wrote in a briefing earlier this year. “This allows lawyers who are also members of the legislature to be fully prepared and not distracted by their legislative duties,” he said.

Attorney General Liz Murrill, a political ally of Seabaugh, filed an amicus curiae brief in support of him, but Landry suggested in his veto message that more scrutiny of the expansions of the legislation might be warranted.

“(A)ny lawyer-legislator cannot simply register as a listed attorney or put his name on an application to be eligible for a continuation or extension in any case,” Landry wrote of the current law. “By comparison, Texas allows legislative continuances, and a lawyer seeking a continuance must file a copy of the continuation with the Texas Ethics Commission.”

“Unless Louisiana provides similar oversight, courts will exercise review where legislative continuation is simply not possible,” Landry said. The governor may also have had less fundamental reasons to reject Seabaugh’s legislation. Landry and Seabaugh are friends and usually politically evenly matched, but for the past two weeks the two men have been publicly sparring on conservative radio appearances. Seabaugh is upset that Landry vetoed another bill sponsored by Melerine that would have lowered the cap on financial damages possible in car accident lawsuits. In response, Landry publicly stated that Seabaugh cannot be trusted with compensation claims from lawsuits because he works as a lawyer for insurance companies that are frequently sued. Landry’s office declined to comment on whether his fight with Seabaugh contributed to the veto.

There is no date yet set for the Louisiana Supreme Court to hear arguments on the extensions put in place by lawmakers, Gregorio said, but it will likely happen in the fall.

— The Louisiana Illuminator is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization whose mission is to shine a light on how decisions are made in Baton Rouge and how they impact the lives of everyday Louisianans, especially those who are poor or otherwise marginalized.

This article originally appeared on the Shreveport Times: Louisiana lawsuit may limit benefits for lawyers who are state legislators