Let’s not forget the hurricane victims

By James O. Heiting
President, State Bar of California

Heiting

“I left with one suit, the one I had on. I knew I’d be back the next day. We’ve done this a hundred times. Three weeks later, I came back to no home, no clothes, and everything lost. My place was under over six feet of water for three weeks. We lived in that house 27 years. It was our home. My wife died two years ago, and I know I should have given her things to our daughter and grandchildren, but I didn’t, and it was all lost. All of our clothes, furniture, records, pictures, even letters and cards from my wife and my gold railroad watch, gone.” This is what Jimmy Fitzmorris, 85-year-old lawyer and former lieutenant governor of Louisiana, told me when I visited with him.

I went to Louisiana and Mississippi in mid-March to view, firsthand, the effects of the hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the area and on the families and businesses there. My original intent was to investigate what, if anything I (we) could do to assist in advancing access to justice in a place without records, with attorneys having no available records of their clients and having no way to get in touch with them, and without courts or functioning courthouses.

On driving into New Orleans, I must confess my impression that it was not as badly damaged as had been reported. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I cannot adequately describe the extent of the devastation: mile upon mile of utter destruction of houses and businesses and entire communities; streets filled with debris; no electricity; no water; entire shopping centers totally obliterated; government facilities shattered and boarded closed; and only one public school (an elementary school) open in the entire city.

Where to start. Just the thought of what to do with all the trash and debris is overwhelming. Not a lot of “rebuilding” is happening yet. People express total frustration with FEMA and inability to understand and/or get through the red tape or even get appropriate advice on the “how to” of it all.

The ABA Young Lawyers Division has a contract with FEMA to provide counseling, and they have answered, through a hotline at LSU, about 10,000 calls. The contract requires that the YLD have sole and complete responsibility for FEMA’s legal efforts through state, local and other bar associations, and “may not initiate or counsel a disaster victim to initiate litigation against the federal, state, or local governments, with respect to obtaining disaster assistance.”

I realize, and reported, that I cannot commit financial resources or contributions from our State Bar, and it is difficult to envision any organized contribution from our bar in the distant state of California.

I did commit to carry the message to you to remind us that our fellow Americans, most not as financially blessed as we are, have great and overwhelming needs that cannot be met by government alone. The needs of the citizens, the lawyers and courts will not be met for years to come.

I also met with Supreme Court Associate Justice Catherine Kimball, placed in charge in the state to rebuild the courts and get them active and responsive again. She said the destruction was “equivalent to seven Manhattans,” including hundreds of thousands of houses.

The city of New Orleans and surrounding parishes (our equivalent of counties) are in profound financial and legal trouble. Many of the courts are still closed. Criminal defendants await trial in the old jail (it holds only 1,500 and the new jail had to be shut down). Of those in jail, any who need medical treatment have a difficult time at best.

Many hospitals are closed, and the prisoners and their guards have to make a difficult trip some distance to get any medical attention. The courts do not know how many cases are waiting. Estimates range from 750 to 4,000 at one court.

Criminal judges have to handle cases in the federal courthouse, each allotted nine hours per week maximum. A team of “indigent defense” lawyers will have arrived in the area to address problems by the time this goes to print.

Civil cases are going nowhere. Time limits have been extended, first by the governor (later ratified and extended further by the legislature), but they will need to be stretched even further.

Of the lawyers, solo and small firm practitioners were hardest hit. Some 70 lawyers in just one small area of the city lost their offices, their computers, phones, practices, files and records.  Many of those cannot reconstruct their files or even their client list. Many cannot afford an office restoration. Justice Kimball and I agreed that they will likely be faced with discipline problems as complaints start coming in. All reasonable steps should have been taken to protect client lists, files and property.

I discussed some of our experiences in California and gave Justice Kimball a copy of a booklet prepared at the time of the wildfires of Southern California.

We discussed needs for “continuity of operations plans” for lawyers and courts. She plans to meet with the Louisiana State Bar president and the governor to share the insights and information we discussed, including putting in place a special committee of court and bar members and preparing a booklet of their own. She expressed the wish that they had some magic fix and that her job seems overwhelming and almost impossible at times.

One cannot visit the area without recognizing the fragility of life and circumstance and acknowledge that, should such circumstances strike, feelings of self-pity, lethargy, isolation and provincialism must be quickly overcome with a sense of pioneer spirit of building and rebuilding, which leads to hope, optimism and self-respect. We need to hear not what went wrong here, but what went right.

I carried a message of caring, that the people of the Gulf Coast are not forgotten. I was met with sincere gratitude for our visit and our concern.

When we have a chance, any chance, let’s go out and do some good.