§1373. Enforcement of health, safety, and welfare ordinances in Jefferson Parish and Orleans Parish

A. In addition to the authority for criminal prosecutions provided in R.S. 14:107.3 and other authority provided by law or home rule charter for civil enforcement of health, safety, and welfare ordinances, including but not limited to the authority provided in R.S. 13:2575, 2575.1, and 2576 for administrative adjudication for violations of public health, housing, fire code, environmental, building code, zoning, historic district, permitting, vegetation, and nuisance ordinance, in Jefferson Parish and Orleans Parish the public authority may enforce health, safety, and welfare statutes or ordinances or otherwise seek to eliminate blighted property, unsafe structures and equipment, unlawful structures and structures unfit for human occupancy, housing violations, or public nuisances in any court of competent jurisdiction in accordance with this Section.

B. The following terms, whenever used or referred to in any proceedings pursuant to this Section or in R.S. 13:2575, 2575.1, and 2576 shall have the following respective meanings, unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context:

(1) "Blighted property" means commercial or residential premises, including lots, which are vacant, uninhabitable, and hazardous and because of their physical condition, are considered hazardous to persons or property, or have been declared or certified blighted, and have been declared to be a public nuisance by a court of competent jurisdiction or by an administrative hearing officer acting pursuant to competent jurisdiction or by an administrative hearing officer acting pursuant to R.S. 13:2575 et seq., or any other applicable law.

(2) "Deleterious premises" means any property, including any yard, garden, outhouses, accessory structures and appurtenances belonging thereto, upon which is located any structure which is deemed an "unsafe structure", an "unlawful structure", a "structure unfit for human occupancy", or a structure that contains "unsafe equipment" or "housing violations", or is otherwise defined as "blighted property", or a "public nuisance".

(3) "Housing violations" means those conditions in privately owned structures which contravene the provisions of state statute or local ordinances and are determined to constitute a threat or danger to the public health, safety, and welfare or to the environment by a court of competent jurisdiction or by an administrative hearing officer acting pursuant to R.S. 13:2575 et seq., or any other applicable law.

(4) "Owner" means the holder of the title or a mortgagee of premises, whose interest is shown on the public record, or any person who is in possession of premises, or in control of the premises, including a tenant or the agent of any such person.

(5) "Parties in interest" means a person(s) who has an interest in premises as shown on the public record or who is in possession of premises or in control of the premises, including a tenant or the agent of any such person.

(6) "Public authority" means state or local government or any department, agency or branch thereof charged with the enforcement of health, fire, permitting, or building regulations, or otherwise charged with the regulation of activities concerning property maintenance.

(7) "Public nuisance" means any garage, shed, barn, house, building, or structure, that by reason of the condition in which it is permitted to remain, may endanger the health, life, limb, or property of any person, or cause any hurt, harm, damages, injury, or loss to any person in any one or more of the following conditions:

(a) The property is dilapidated, decayed, unsafe, or unsanitary, is detrimental to health, morals, safety, public welfare and the well-being of the community, endangers life or property, or is conducive to ill health, delinquency and crime.

(b) The property is a fire hazard.

(c) The conditions present on the property and its surrounding grounds are not reasonably or adequately maintained, thereby causing deterioration and creating a blighting influence or condition on nearby properties and thereby depreciating the value, use and enjoyment to such an extent that it is harmful to the public health, welfare, morals, safety and the economic stability of the area, community, or neighborhood in which such public nuisance is located.

(8) "Public officer" means any officer, public officer, public employee, or agent authorized by the state or local government to exercise the powers prescribed in the laws and ordinances governed by the provisions of this Section.

(9) "Unfit for human occupancy structure" means any structure which is an unsafe structure, an unlawful structure or otherwise is in such a degree of disrepair, lack of maintenance, is unsanitary, vermin or rat infested, contains filth and contamination or lacks ventilation, illumination, sanitary or heating facilities or other essential equipment required by state statue or local ordinances, or because of the location of the structure constitutes a hazard to the occupants of the structure or to the public.

(10) "Unlawful structure" means any structure, in whole or in part, that is occupied by more persons than permitted under state statute or local ordinances or was erected, altered or occupied contrary to state statute or local ordinances.

(11) "Unsafe equipment" means any unsafe equipment, including but not limited to any boiler, heating equipment, elevator, moving stairway, electrical wiring or device, flammable liquid containers or other equipment on the premises or within a structure which is in such disrepair or condition that such equipment is a hazard to life, health, property or safety of the public or occupants of the premises or structure.

(12) "Unsafe structure" means a structure that is found to be dangerous to the life, health, property or safety of the public or the occupants of the structure by not providing the minimum safeguards to protect or warn occupants in the event of fire, or because such structure contains unsafe equipment, or because such structure is so damaged, decayed, dilapidated, structurally unsafe or of such faulty construction or unstable foundation, that a partial or complete collapse is possible.

C. Local ordinances in Jefferson Parish and Orleans Parish may authorize public officers to exercise any powers necessary or convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of ordinances governed by this Section. Additionally, public officers shall have the authority pursuant to this Section to:

(1) Investigate the conditions of premises to determine whether said premises are unfit for human habitation and to request and obtain search warrants for entry if necessary.

(2) Obtain and receive evidence.

(3) Enter upon any premises for the purpose of making examinations provided the entries are made in such manner as to cause the least possible inconvenience to the persons in possession.

D. Any civil judicial proceeding instituted in accordance with this Section that is on the environmental docket of the Twenty-Fourth Judicial District Court or the Civil District Court for the parish of Orleans, or the successor to such court, or the Municipal Court of New Orleans, may be heard by summary proceeding and the public authority shall bear the burden of proof by a preponderance of the evidence in an action instituted pursuant to this Part.

E. The court may order remedial action be taken, including but not limited to repair of the premises to appropriate standards, securing premises from entry by others, and demolition of any unsafe structures unfit for human occupancy. The court may accept all credible evidence regarding the valuation of the premises, including but not limited to the tax assessment value.

F.(1) Jefferson Parish may bring an action in rem in addition to or in lieu of civil in personam procedures in the event of the following circumstances relative to any deleterious premises and its record owner:

(a) The owner is a not a resident of the state; or

(b) The residence of the owner is unknown; or

(c) It is unknown whether the owner is living or deceased; or

(d) It is known that the owner is deceased.

(2) If the parish takes an action as provided in Paragraph (1) of this Subsection when it is known that the owner is deceased, that no succession representative has been appointed, and that his heirs and legatees have not been sent into possession judicially, the court shall appoint a curator ad hoc as provided in Paragraph (3) who shall open the succession.

(3) If the parish takes an action as provided in Paragraph (1) of this Subsection, the court, in accordance with Code of Civil Procedure Article 5091, shall appoint a curator ad hoc to represent the defendant and upon whom service of the petition and citation shall be made. Such curator shall receive for his services a fee to be fixed by the court, the same to be taxed as costs of suit.

(4) The petition and citation in all proceedings provided for in this Subsection shall be served as in ordinary suits.

G.(1) An appeal from a final judgment rendered pursuant to this Section may be taken only within ten days from the date of the judgment or from the day after the clerk has mailed, or the sheriff has served, whichever is later, the notice of judgment when such notice is necessary. However, a judgment shall not be suspended during the pendency of an appeal unless the court, in its discretion, orders a suspension.

(2) The delay for applying for a new trial shall be three days commencing from the date of the judgment or from the day after the clerk has mailed, or the sheriff has served, whichever is later, the notice of judgment when such notice is necessary. When an application for new trial is timely filed, the delay for appeal commences on the day after the motion is denied, or from the day after the clerk has mailed, or the sheriff has served, whichever is later, the notice of the order denying a new trial, when such notice is necessary.

(3) When an appeal is taken, the trial court shall give notice of the order of appeal to the appellate court and to all the parties or their counsel of record. The trial judge shall fix the return day at a time not to exceed five days after application for appeal. The defendant who takes an appeal, prior to the return date, shall furnish bond in an amount determined by the court to secure the payment of costs and satisfaction of the judgment.

(4) The clerk of the trial court shall prepare the record on appeal and transmit it to the appellate court on the return day.

(5) Immediately upon receipt of the record, the appellate court shall notify the parties, and the case shall be heard no later than thirty days after the record is lodged. Judgment shall be rendered within five days after the case is argued. The court of appeal shall indicate the date and time rendered on the judgment and shall immediately notify all parties or their counsel of record by telephone or facsimile transmission of the judgment.

(6) An application to the supreme court for a writ of certiorari shall be made within five days after judgment is rendered by the court of appeal.

H.(1) The violation of any judgment, order, or decree issued in accordance with this Section shall constitute contempt of court, and any person who continues to maintain previously adjudicated blighted property, deleterious premises, public nuisances, or housing violations in accordance with this Section shall be declared in contempt of court.

(2) Any person found guilty of contempt of court in accordance with this Subsection shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned for not more than six months, or both, for each offense. In addition, a judgment of contempt may order immediate remedial action in accordance with Subsection E of this Section.

Acts 2007, No. 277, §2, eff. July 6, 2007; Acts 2008, No. 587, §1, eff. June 30, 2008; Acts 2008, No. 627, §1, eff. July 1, 2008; Acts 2008, No. 736, §2, eff. July 3, 2008; Acts 2010, No. 472, §2; Acts 2014, No. 380, §1, eff. May 30, 2014.