§4108. New Orleans; proceedings following hearing relating to drainage area

If, after hearing the objections of the owners of property in the defined drainage area, the sewerage and water board shall determine to proceed with the drainage of the defined area, it shall file a petition in the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans and shall annex to the petition a copy of the report of the board of appraisers and a copy of the plea for the drainage of the defined area including any modification thereof, and ask for the confirmation or modification of the report in the manner specified in the petition. Immediately upon the filing of the petition in the district court, the clerk of court shall give notice thereof by causing publication of the notice to be made once a week for four consecutive weeks in a daily newspaper published in the city of New Orleans.

It shall not be necessary in the notice for the clerk of court to name the parties interested, but it shall be sufficient to say: "Notice of Filing of Suit to Confirm Appraisers' Report for __________ Drainage Area

"Notice is hereby given to all persons interested in the lands embraced within __________ Drainage Area which drainage area is described as follows (here describe boundary lines of drainage area) that the appraisers heretofore appointed to assess benefits to the property and lands situated in the drainage area have filed their report, and that suit to confirm the same has been filed in this office on the ______ day of ______, 19__, under the No. ______, and you and each of you are hereby notified that you may examine the report and file exceptions or contests to all or any part thereof, or to the suit, as provided by law, within forty days of the date of the first publication of this notice.

______________________________

Clerk of the Civil District Court for

the Parish of Orleans, Louisiana"

Not less than twenty (20) days prior to the date fixed for the hearing the clerk of the court shall mail a copy of said notice to all owners of property and lands in the drainage area whose names and addresses are known or may be ascertained with reasonable diligence, and he shall file with the court, prior to the hearing, his certificate evidencing compliance with this direction.

The judge of the district court shall without delay set the suit for hearing by the court for a date not earlier than fifty days from and after the date of the first publication of the notice. On the day set for the hearing of the suit, the judge shall proceed by preference to hear and determine in a summary manner and without the intervention of a jury all issues tendered in said suit, and it shall not be necessary to enter defaults against any property owners who have not answered or contested the suit.

If it appears to the satisfaction of the court after having heard and considered the report of the board of appraisers, the petition of the sewerage and water board, and all objections and contests that have been filed, that the percentage of the estimated cost of the drainage works provided in the plan which is to be assessed against the owners of lands in the drainage area is not greater than the benefits assessed against the lands and other property in the drainage area as such assessment of benefits may have been modified by the court, then the court shall approve and confirm the plan and the report of the board of appraisers as the same may have been modified and amended by the court. The report as so confirmed shall be incorporated in and made a part of the court's decree.

In the event of contest over the confirmation of the report, the court shall apportion the costs as may seem equitable.

Appeal may be taken from the decree of the court by the sewerage and water board or any party in interest who has filed contest in the proceedings as in other cases, and all appeals shall be tried in a summary manner and by preference.

The decree of the district court or the decree as affirmed or amended upon any appeal therefrom, shall be conclusive upon every person of the legality in every respect of the report of the board of appraisers as the report shall have been confirmed by the decree and shall be conclusive of the right of the sewerage and water board to carry out the plan for drainage of the defined area, and to levy assessments and issue drainage certificates as hereinafter provided.

Added by Acts 1976, No. 167, §1.