New Orleans’ First and Second City Courts, which handle the majority of the city’s evictions, won’t start proceedings for newly filed eviction cases until July 6, according to courts spokesman Walt Pierce.
The courts will, however, start eviction proceedings on Monday for the backlog of evictions filed before the court suspended them on March 13. That order put 106 eviction cases on hold that were already scheduled between March 13 and March 30.
Residential evictions have remained on hold under both local court orders and a statewide moratorium signed by Governor John Bel Edwards, put in place due to coronavirus restrictions that stopped the economy in its tracks and put record breaking numbers of Louisiana residents out of work.
Those orders expired on June 15, allowing landlords to file new evictions for the first time in months. Technically, the court could have started eviction proceedings last Thursday — three days after the first new filing — according to Hannah Adams, a housing attorney with Southeastern Louisiana Law Services. But the court isn’t scheduling those cases until July 6.
