HOW TO FILE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Law firm Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann, LLC partnered with Louisiana Appleseed to survey Louisiana's clerk of court systems to determine how they are accepting filings during the pandemic. The results illustrate a patchwork environment of processes and procedures that may be difficult for some attorneys and self-represented litigants to navigate.
The map below is intended to demystify some questions on how to file and where. Click on your parish or judicial district court to learn what methods of filing are available at this time. Download a bulletin with this information in chart form here.
Please contact Louisiana Appleseed by email if you have additional information on your court's filing procedures (info@LouisianaAppleseed.org).
Information for online subscriptions is also provided below.
The information in this map was last updated April 2020.
ONLINE ACCESS TO COURT RECORDS
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the necessity of remote access to legal files. In Louisiana, 4 judicial district court clerks offer remote access or paid subscriptions to their parish's court records: East Baton Rouge (19th JDC), Jefferson (24th JDC), Bossier (26th JDC), and Orleans (41st JDC) Parish Clerks. Even though the costs to each court's records vary, these parish court systems have afforded an ideal method in creating Access to Justice at a time when in-person court appearances have been widely discouraged.
Meanwhile a third-party company has emerged to accept filing online. Odessey is an e-filing platform for Ascension, Calcasieu, Iberia, Iberville, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Livingston, Plaquemines, and St. Tammany/Washington Parishes.
The pandemic will only continue to modify our court systems, and in some cases the changes will be permanent. Louisiana Appleseed looks forward to the time when all litigants have equitable remote or online access to the public record.
The cost for access to each of these court's records is listed above. Please contact the clerk's offices directly for more information or to subscribe.