Can Lake Charles City Court hear the city's nuisance-abatement and property-standards cases?

Plain-English summary

Lake Charles City Court's judge asked whether limits on city-court jurisdiction prevented the court from hearing cases to enforce the city's nuisance-abatement and property-standards ordinances. The attorney general said the court had jurisdiction over those matters.

The opinion quoted a provision giving a city court in a territory with more than 50,000 residents concurrent jurisdiction with the district court when a government seeks injunctions or other civil relief to stop or abate ordinance violations. Lake Charles exceeded that population threshold. Another provision excluded cases involving title to immovable property, but the office said the nuisance and property standards ordinances did not address title. The property-related subject matter alone did not remove these enforcement cases from city court.

What this means for you

Lake Charles officials

The opinion said the city court could hear the described nuisance and property-standards enforcement matters under the city's ordinances. It relied on the jurisdiction for government-initiated abatement and on the absence of a dispute over property title in those matters.

City court judges

The office read the general abatement jurisdiction together with the list of excluded cases. It found that enforcing the two ordinances did not fall within the title-to-property exclusion discussed in the request.

Property owners

The opinion addressed which court could hear these ordinance-enforcement cases. It did not decide whether a particular property violated an ordinance or resolve anyone's title to property.

Common questions

Q: Can Lake Charles City Court order relief in a nuisance-abatement case?
A: The attorney general said it could hear the city's nuisance and property standards enforcement matters under the jurisdictional provisions it analyzed.

Q: Does a case about property automatically belong outside city court?
A: No. The opinion distinguished a property-standards enforcement case from a case deciding title to immovable property, which the cited statute excluded.

Q: Did the opinion decide the merits of any blighted-property case?
A: No. It resolved the court's jurisdiction to hear the categories of enforcement matter presented.

Background and statutory framework

The city sought court help enforcing Chapter 12.5 on nuisance abatement and Chapter 23 on property standards after various natural disasters in 2020 and 2021, with many blighted properties remaining. La. Code Civ. P. art. 4843 gave qualifying city courts concurrent jurisdiction over government actions for cessation or abatement of ordinance violations, regardless of property value or amount disputed. La. Code Civ. P. art. 4847 listed excluded categories, including title to immovable property. The attorney general said these ordinances did not put title at issue and concluded that Lake Charles City Court could hear their enforcement cases.

Citations and references

• La. Code Civ. P. art. 4843 (city-court abatement jurisdiction)
• La. Code Civ. P. art. 4847 (jurisdictional exclusions)
• Lake Charles Code of Ordinances Chapters 12.5 and 23 (ordinances analyzed)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/24-0064

Original opinion text

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

STATE OF LOUISIANA
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A.i1ouNI:Y GENER.\L

July 19, 2024
OPINION 24-0064

The Honorable Jamie B. Bice
15 COURTS - City Courts - Jurisdiction

Judge, Lake Charles City Court
La. Code Civ. P. art. 4843
Ward 3 Calcasieu Parish
La. Code Civ. P. art. 4847
P.O. Box I 664
City court has jurisdiction to assist in enforcing nuisance
Lake Charles LA 70602-1 664
abatement and property standards provided in the Lake
,
Charles Code of Ordinances.

DearJudge Bice:

This office has received your request for an Attorney General’s opinion concerning the jurisdictional limits of the Lake Charles City Court. According to your request, the City of Lake Charles has been making great strides in recovering from the various natural disasters it experienced in 2020 and 2021 However, many blighted properties remain .

throughout Lake Charles which need to be addressed by the City.

Specifically, the City has requested that the court assist in enforcing Chapter 12.5 (Nuisance Abatement) and Chapter 23 (Property Standards)1 of the Lake Charles Code of Ordinances in proceedings to help clean up the City.2 According to your request, there has been a concern raised about the potential limitations on the jurisdiction of City Courts as set forth in La. C.C.P. art. 4847.

The issue for resolution in this opinion is whether the jurisdictional limitations set forth in La. Code Civ. P. art. 4847 prohibit the court from hearing matters relating to nuisance abatement and property standards under the Lake Charles Code of Ordinances.

For the reasons set out below, we conclude that the City Court has jurisdiction over those matters.

1 Your request indicates that other ordinanCes may be implicated, but these are the primary ordinances at issue.
2 In a telephone discussion with this office, you advised that the court has not previously handled cases
involving these ordinances. Instead, private attorneys have been sworn in as “magistrates” of the City to handle those cases; however, this system has apparently not worked as well as hoped.

Page 2

OPINION 24-0064
Judge Jamie B. Bice
Page 2

The jurisdiction of city courts is established in La. Code. Civ. P. art. 4843 as follows:

B. The civil jurisdiction of a city court in which the population of the territorial jurisdiction is greater than fifty thousand3] is concurrent with the district court in cases or proceedings instituted by the state, a parish, a municipality, or other political subdivision of the state for injunctive relief or other civil relief for the cessation or abatement of any acts or practices which may violate a parish or municipal ordinance or state law. In such case, the court has jurisdiction regardless of the amount in dispute or the value of the property involved.

Article 4847 lists certain types of cases for which city court jurisdiction is excluded.
Specifically, the article provides:

A. Except as otherwise provided by law, a parish court or city court has no jurisdiction in any of the following cases or proceedings:
(1) A case involving title to immovable property.
(2) A case involving the right to public office or position.
(3) A case in which the plaintiff asserts civil or political rights under the federal or state constitutions.
(4) A claim for annulment of marriage, divorce, separation of property, or alimony.
(5) A succession, interdiction, receivership, liquidation, habeas corpus, or quo warranto proceeding.
(6) A case in which the state, or a parish, municipal, or other political corporation is a defendant, except for a petition for nullity filed in the City Court of East St. Tammany to nullify a judgment of bond forfeiture rendered by the City Court of East St. Tammany.
(7) Any other case or proceeding excepted from the jurisdiction of these courts by law.
B. In addition, city courts shall not have jurisdiction in tutorship, curatorship, emancipation, and partition proceedings.

Although Chapters 12.5 and 23 of the Lake Charles Code of Ordinances deal with
property issues, they do not address title to immovable property. Accordingly, nothing in
Article 4847 would prevent the court from hearing cases to enforce these ordinances.

Thus, the City Court has jurisdiction to enforce these ordinances.

As of the 2020 census, the population of Lake Charles was 84,872. See U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts:
Lake Charles city, Louisiana.
‘
Chapter 12.5 NUISANCE ABATEMENT I Code of Ordinances I Lake Charles, LA I Municode Library.
-

Chapter 23 PROPERTY STANDARDS I Code of Ordinances Lake Charles, LA I Municode Library.
-

Page 3

______

OPINION 24-0064
Judge Jamie B. Bice
Page 3

We trust that this adequately responds to your request and the issues that you have
raised. If our office can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

With best regards,

LIZ MURRILL
ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY:
Chimène St. Amant
Assistant Attorney General

LM/CS