Could Baker's city court judge receive statutory civil-case fees even though the council could not set pay on a fee basis?

Plain-English summary

Baker City Court's judge asked how to reconcile two compensation rules. One state statute gave city court judges certain fees in civil cases in addition to salary; a Baker-specific provision said the city council could not establish compensation on a fee basis. In Opinion 03-0022, the Louisiana Attorney General said the provisions did not conflict. The statutory civil-case fees remained payable, while the council could not set the judge's own salary by a fee formula.

The AG described the judge's compensation as combining amounts supplied under several statutory sources, including local and state salary components and the civil-case fees. He said the total could not exceed the salary of a district judge in the same judicial district. On administration, he favored calculation through the city's finance department and said he knew of no statutory authority for the court to establish its own payroll department.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2003. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

What the opinion meant at issuance

Baker City Court judge

The AG said the statutory fees for civil cases were payable alongside the other salary components. He distinguished those fees from a city-council decision to create fee-based compensation and said the total annual pay remained subject to the cited district-judge cap.

Baker city council and finance department

The opinion said the council could set the city-paid salary under the Baker-specific provision, but could not base that salary on fees. It identified the city finance department as the place to calculate the amounts payable by the city and compare total compensation with the district-judge limit.

Court administrators

The judge asked whether the court should maintain its own payroll account. The AG said he was unaware of statutory authority for a separate court payroll department and did not suggest creating one.

Common questions

Q: Did Baker's ban on fee-based judicial pay cancel state-law civil-case fees? A: The AG said no. He read the ban as restricting what the city council could establish as salary, while the separate state statute supplied civil-case fees.

Q: Were criminal-case fees part of the judge's compensation under the quoted provision? A: The statute quoted in the opinion said city court judges did not receive fees in criminal matters, including peace-bond cases.

Q: Could the judge's total pay exceed a district judge's salary? A: The AG said no under the salary cap he cited. He treated salary as total annual compensation from all sources for judicial services.

Q: Did the AG favor a separate court payroll office? A: No. He said the city finance department should handle the calculation and that he knew of no authority for the court to create its own payroll department.

Background and statutory framework

The opinion identified Baker's population as 13,793 in the 2000 census and placed it in the relevant population band of R.S. 13:1874. It discussed statutory civil fees, local salary authority, a state salary, and a total-compensation cap. It reconciled R.S. 13:1874 with Baker's R.S. 13:2488.27 using the Civil Code's rules for reading statutes together. It also cited R.S. 13:2488.34 on payment of fines and penalties into the city treasury. The PDF's issue-date stamp is garbled, so the exact date is left blank.

Citations and references

Authorities in the opinion: R.S. 13:1874; R.S. 13:2488.27; R.S. 13:1874.1(C); R.S. 13:2488.34. The opinion also quotes Civil Code articles on statutory interpretation.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/03-0022

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain — the linked PDF is authoritative.

~t~t~ ~ ~o~isia~a
One American Place
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
301 Ma~n Street, Suite 600
CIVIL DIVISION
P.O. Box 94005
BATON ROUGE
TEL.: (225) 342-7013
FAX: (225) 342-2090
RICHARD P. IEYOUB
70804-9005
ATTORNEY GENERAL

,-r_S 0 T 2003
OPINION NUMBER 03-0022

15 COURTS
R.S. 13:1874; R.S. 13:1874.1; R.S. 13:2488.27 Honorable Mark D. Plaisance
Baker City Judge
Discussion of computation of salary of Judge of
The City Court of the City of Baker
Baker City Court.
P. O. Box 1
Baker, LA 70704

Dear Judge Plaisance:

You requested the opinion of this office concerning the compensation to be paid the Judge of the City Court of the City of Baker. Baker is a city with a population of 13,793 according to the official 2000 census.1

The compensation of city court judges in general is set forth in R.S. 13:1874, which provides in pertinent part as follows:

A. (1) ... city court judges shall receive an annual salary payable monthly in equal proportions by the respective municipalities and parishes where the courts are located, as follows:

(b) Those in which the population of the territorial jurisdiction of the court is ten thousand or more but less than twenty thousand shall be paid a minimum salary of four thousand eight hundred dollars.

(2) In addition to these salaries, they shall also receive the same fees as are payable to justices of the peace in all civil cases where the amount involved does not exceed one hundred dollars, exclusive of interest, and the same fees as are payable to clerks of district courts in all other civil cases. They shall not receive any fees in criminal matters, including peace bond cases.

lSource: http://www.state.la.us/census/2OOO/demographic.htm

Judge Mark D. Plaisance
OPINION NUMBER 03-0022
Page -2-

C. In all cases, the city and the parish, or either of them, may pay to the judges of their respective courts any additional salary that they may deem proper.

E. In addition to the compensation and fees payable to the city court judges in this state under the provisions of this Section and R.S. 13:1875, each city court judge shall receive an annual salary of twenty-three thousand seven hundred sixty dollars, payable by the state and payable monthly on his own warrant .... (Emphasis added)

Your question pertains to whether the salary mandate set forth in R.S. 13:1874(A)(2) is preempted by the last sentence of R.S. 13:2488.27, which prohibits the Baker City Council from establishing a fee basis compensation. R.S. 13:2488.27(B) provides as follows in pertinent part:

B. The judge shall hold no other public office except that of notary public or membership in the reserve defense establishment. The judge shall not be a public officer, official, or employee nor shall he hold any public or political office or be an officer, official, employee or member of any political organization, committee, or factional group. The salary of the judge payable by the city shall be as fixed by the city council until changed by the council, by ordinance. No fee basis compensation shall be established by the council. (Emphasis added)

General rules of statutory interpretation include the following provisions of our Civil Code and Revised Statutes:

C. C. art. 9: "When a law is clear and unambiguous and its application does not lead to absurd consequences, the law shall be applied as written and no further interpretation may be made in search of the intent of the legislature."

C. C. art. 10: "When the language of the law is susceptible of different meanings, it must be interpreted as having the meaning that best conforms to the purpose of the law."

C. C. art. 11: "The words of a law must be given their generally prevailing meaning..."

C. C. art. 12: "When the words of a law are ambiguous, their meaning must be sought be examining the context in which they occur and the text of the law as a whole."

Judge Mark D. Plaisance
OPINION NUMBER 03-0022
Page -3-

C. C. art. 13: "Laws on the same subject matter must be interpreted in reference to each other."

La. R.S. 1:3: "Words and phrases shall be read with their context and shall be construed according to the common and approved usage of the language. Technical words and phrases, and such others as may have acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning in the law, shall be construed and understood according to such peculiar and appropriate meaning..."

La. R.S. 1:4: "When the wording of a Section is clear and free of ambiguity, the letter of it shall not be disregarded under the pretext of pursuing its spirit."

It is the opinion of this office that when reading R.S. 13:1874(A)(2) and R.S. 13:2488.27 together there is no conflict. R.S. 13:1874(A)(2) provides that in addition to the annual salary set forth in R.S. 13:1874(A)(2) which is based upon population, the City Court judges shall receive the same fees as are payable to justices of the peace in all civil cases where the amount involved does not exceed one hundred dollars, exclusive of interest, and the same fees as are payable to clerks of district courts in all other civil cases. The City Court judges are also paid an annual salary by the State. R.S. 13:1874(E). As a fourth means of funding the salary of the City Court judges, the City may pay any additional salary as the City may deem proper. R.S. 13:1874(C) and R.S. 13:2488.27. However, the city council cannot establish the salary on the basis of fees. Nor can the salary of a city court judge exceed the salary of a district judge of the judicial district in which the city court is located. R.S. 13:1874. I(A). "Salary" is defined to mean the total annual compensation paid directly or indirectly from all sources for services as judge. R.S. 13:1874.1(C).

Your second question is if these fees are allowed, how are they paid? In Baker, the Judge and clerk staff receive paychecks from the city treasurer. Therefore, should the court maintain its own payroll account or coordinate payment with the city finance department?

R.S. 13:2488.34 requires that all fines, forfeitures of bonds and penalties, excluding costs, shall be paid into the city treasury. The monies paid in the city treasury should be classified as criminal or civil fines, forfeiture or penalties in order to determine which monies can be attributed to your salary. The City finance department then should add the salary due under R.S. 13:1874(A)(1)(b), with the additional salary payable under R.S. 13:1874(A)(3), with the dollar amount determined to be equal to "the same fees as are payable to justices of the peace in all civil cases where the amount involved does not exceed one hundred dollars, exclusive of interest, and the same fees as are payable to clerks of district courts in all other civil cases" to compute the amount of your salary payable from the City. Of course, the amount of the State salary should be added to this subtotal to compare to the salary of the district court judges to insure that there is no violation of R.S. 13:1874.1. Without specific statutory authority, which we are unaware of, we do not suggest that the court establish its own payroll department.

Judge Mark D. Plaisance
OPINION NUMBER 03-0022
Page -4-

Trusting this adequately responds to you request, we remain

Yours very truly,

RICHARD P. IEYOUB
Attorney General

BY:

Assista it Attorney

RPI/MSH