[StBernard] Federal judge rules St. Bernard Parish must cover legal fees in housing discrimination lawsuit

[Westley Annis]

Federal judge rules St. Bernard Parish must cover legal fees in housing
discrimination lawsuit
by The Times-Picayune 
Thursday July 23, 2009, 3:13 PM
A federal judge has ruled that St. Bernard Parish must cover legal fees and
costs in connection with a recent housing discrimination lawsuit brought
against the parish.

U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan in March ordered the parish to lift its
ban on multi-family housing developments. Her order came after a hearing in
which the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center and Provident
Realty Advisors, who sued the parish, and claimed the ban unfairly
discriminated against minorities. 

Berrigan also said that the parish, in adopting the ban on multi-family
housing developments, was in contempt of an earlier consent order that
settled a previous housing discrimination suit brought by the Greater New
Orleans Fair Housing Action Center. 

Berrigan's ruling Wednesday that the parish pay legal fees and costs
referred the issue of how much the parish will have to pay to Magistrate
Judge Sally Shushan. 

The parish opposed the plaintiffs' motion for contempt and sanctions, saying
the issue was premature because the parish has appealed Berrigan's ruling
that the parish had violated the consent order.