Courts to fast-track storm-related suits

New Orleans civil courts this week began fast-tracking what they expect to be thousands of lawsuits stemming from damage done to homes, businesses and personal property during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

In many of the cases, property owners will be asking the courts to force insurance companies to pay claims for storm-related damage.

"We hope to expedite the cases and have them brought to trial within six to eight months of the petition being filed," said Civil District Court Judge Nadine Ramsey, adding that ordinarily the pretrial wait is 18 months or longer.

The Hurricane Litigation Pilot Program will govern the handling of hurricane-related property-damage disputes in Civil District Court and 1st and 2nd City Courts.

Ramsey, who heads a court committee on the fast-track program, said that since Monday, such cases are being assigned a special code and all pleadings in them stamped with the words "hurricane litigation."

Filing the case triggers a series of events, all aimed at bringing the matters to fast resolution:

-- Once a case is filed, the attorney handling it will take the paperwork to the judge assigned to the case.

-- Within 45 days, the judge will hold a case management conference so the two sides can begin gathering testimony and other information to prepare for trial.

-- About 90 days after the case is brought to court, the judge will hold a conference to schedule the trial for within one to three months.

Ramsey said the judges presiding over hurricane property-damage cases filed before this week have discretion to put them into the fast-track system.

In one such case, 1st City Court Judge Sonia Spears this week ruled in favor of a homeowner who claimed a workman she'd paid $5,000 to repair her roof took the money and never came back. Spears ordered the defendant, who didn't show up in court, to pay the woman $24,000.

Civil District Court's judicial administrator, Kenneth Burrell, said the judges presiding in hurricane-related lawsuits that were filed before this week have the discretion to route them to the new program for faster treatment.

The program, which is designed to take these cases out of "the normal round of pending cases," is the judges' response to a cry for help from the public, Burrell said.

"We know there have been a lot of damages, and we have heard about frustration about the interpretation of (insurance) policies," he said. "Judges are elected to resolve disputes, and judges are here to do that in a timely manner."

Insurance defense lawyer Phil Wittmann, whose clients include State Farm, said whether a hurricane-related property case can move swiftly depends on how complicated it is. For example, he said, if there's a dispute over what caused the damage and each side puts on an expert, that could slow the proceedings down.

"But it seems like they (the civil courts) are at least trying to help people who have insurance difficulties," he said.