I am a district court judge in New Orleans. I thought it would be important to document how Katrina touched our court system. In doing so, it is important to remember that in New Orleans, unlike any other parich, the district courts are divided into criminal and civil courts. I will only address what has happened with the civil system. The impact to the criminal system has been far more devastating, but I am not completely familiar with all the details.\r\n\r\nMy first recollection is finding out that the Supreme Court, who is charged with the administrative responsibility of supervising all the courts in Louisiana, wanted all the judges in New Orleans to contact them. The Supreme Court, which is normally located in the French Quarter of New Orleans, had set up temporary headquarters at the First Circuit Court of Appeal in Baton Rouge. None of the judges of the Civili District Court had contact information on each other, nor did the administrative branch of the Supreme Court know how to get in touch with any of us. I called the First Circuit giving them my cell phone number as well as the number at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital where my daughter was hospitalized after the storm. Almost immediately, I received a phone call from Associate Justice Kitty Kimble of the Supreme Court. Apparently I was the first judge of the Civil District to check in with the Supreme Court. She was very concerned about how the storm would impact the filing of suits in our courthouse which was now inaccessible. Because of the concept of prescription (meaning that a suit must be filed within a certain period of time or it won\'t be considered by the court), Justice Kimble asked if I would be willing to sign an Order suspending prescription. I agreed. One of the employees of the Supreme Court actually brought the Order to the hospital where I was staying with my daughter. Eventually, the governor would sign executive orders further delaying the prescriptive periods. Of course, this made sense. Many lawyers didn\'t have access to their files to even know when a case prescribed. Until a clerk\'s office was set up, there was no place to even file a lawsuit. The offices of many law firms were destroyed making it difficult for attorneys to even know what cases they had. Contacting clients was difficult, if not impossible.\r\n\r\nThe next task was setting up a temporary courthouse and clerk\'s office. No one knew how long it would be until we could even get back to New Orleans to see how our courthouse had fared. Because it appeared that a good number of lawyers had re-located to the Baton Rouge area, the Court decided to rent office space in Gonzales. The judges in Gonzales were gracious enough to let us use their courtrooms when they were available. Depending on availability, we also used courtroon space in St. Tammany and Donaldsonville. It was imperative that we have someplace for attorneys to file their pleadings and someplace for the judges to conduct court. Interestingly, it was the domestic relations judges who were the busiest. Katrina changed child custody issues, child support issues, relocation issues and we saw an increase in domestic violence. \r\n\r\nAs judges, we also had to confront what we were going to do about staffing. Because we are almost completely funded by filing fees, we knew that we would have to make cutbacks. We decided to retain a small number of court reporters based on seniority. Of the four remaining people on our staffs, we each had to terminate two employees. What a terrible thing to have to do. \r\n\r\nOur goal was to return to our courthouse located at the corner of Poydras and Loyola in New Orleans. After much hard work cleaning and repairing the building, we returned to the courthouse the first of 2006. How wonderful it felt to be back at home!!! My personal experience is that we have not been as busy as we normally are. Some lawyers have not returned to the area. Those that have can\'t find their clients or witnesses. Doctors have left the area so their depositions must be taken for trial. AS each month goes by(it is now the first of June), I find that I am busier and busier. I have already tried two jury trials which is very exciting. I was very concerned that we would not have enough people to get a jury or that those who came would have difficulties serving. I was wrong on both counts. Most of the potential jurors had some kind of Katrina claim. Most said that they were angry with their insurance company but that they could be fair jurors. It felt wonderful to be back on the bench helping people resove their disputes. I do find that the conferences that I hold with attorneys to discuss cases are taking much longer. Everyone wants to discuss their Katrina experience. Questions such as How did your fare? Where are your living? What happened to your law practice? Where are your kids in school? are common. \r\n\r\nThere are eighteen judges on our court en banc. That number includes 14 district court judges and 4 city court judges. Almost all of us lost our homes. Only those that lived uptown or in Algiers were spared. I personally lived 4 houses from the now infamous 17th Street Canal. I have sold that house and moved to Algiers. Some of the judges are rebuilding their homes. Some have moved. We have had the same difficulties dealing with insurance companies as everyone else. \r\n\r\nBecause our court was very concerned that we would be flooded (pardon the pun) with huricane litigation, we have implemented a local rule to handle all lawsuits dealing with Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. Basically, the rule is an attempt whenever possible to fast track all the hurricane litigation. Any suit arising out of hurricane property damage claims will be included in the program. The filing itself will be stamped \"Hurricane Litigation\". All of the timelines for handling the cases have been shortened. Of course, a judge has the ability to change the timeline for good cause. Our hope is that we can assist the public in quickly resolving etheir disputes. Anyone wanting further information about this program or anything else about the court may access our website at orleanscdc.com.