General

· The guidelines below are being used by the First Circuit Court of Appeal Clerk’s Office and only relate to the documents due that are marked timely or late upon filing when there is no immediate interaction with the Court at that time.

· Any rehearing applications relate to dismissals prior to consideration on the merits by the Court. There are no rehearing deadlines on cases that the Court decided in August that fall during the week of August 27th through Sept 2nd.

· Also, note that the Clerk's Office does not determine whether a writ application is filed timely or late. All writ applications filed are routed to a Court panel. The reference in the guidelines below to the writ application extension concerns only the collection of the fee.

· “Affected case” means a case involving a court that is in an area that is not functional or involving an attorney in a non-functional area, such as Orleans, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, etc. For the most part, this will be a "good judgment" call for the Clerk’s Office. All actions taken by the Clerk’s Office are subject to review by the Court if there is not a “meeting of the minds” in regard to the Clerk’s Office’s designations.

Dates/Fees for Filing Documents

· Monday and Tuesday, August 29 and 30, 2005 are “holidays” for filing purposes.

· All documents, except rehearing applications, answers or other document with a due date established by law, due on any day from August 27, 2005 through September 5, 2005 will be considered timely if filed on or before Tuesday, September 6, 2005. If an extension is presented for one of these document due, it will be processed; however, a request for an extension does not have to be filed provided the document due is filed on or before September 6, 2005. Fees for extensions of briefing deadlines will be suspended from August 27, 2005, through September 5, 2005 (in the event the filing cannot be made by September 6, 2005).

· The Clerk’s Office will review all recently lodged cases for due dates for briefs on cases involving “affected cases” and will automatically suspend briefing until further notice. The list of “affected cases” with suspended briefing will be posted to the web-site LA-FCCA.ORG. This list will be reviewed periodically and updated with briefing resumed when the case is no longer on the “affected case” list. (To reduce the potential number of extensions, notices of abandonment, rehearing applications, etc. for those who may be non-functional for several months).

· After September 6, 2005, for those not on the list of "affected cases", each situation will be handled on a “case-by-case” basis to determine timeliness for the filing. A fee for an extension of briefing deadlines may be suspended on a case-by-case basis for a newly-discovered “affected case”.

· Fees for extensions of due dates for writ applications will be suspended on a case-by-case basis for “affected cases”.

· All rehearing applications, answers or other document with a statutory deadline will be filed according to regular rules. If “late”, the pleading will be marked as such and a “show cause” issued so the Court can determine whether or not the pleading can be considered in light of Hurricane Katrina circumstances.