Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome back to the deep dive.
You know, if you're a property manager, you probably look at eviction as this single legal hurdle. You file a form, a judge rules, and it's done.
[00:00:11] Speaker B: Right.
[00:00:12] Speaker A: But that assumption that it's simple, that's really where the trouble starts. Especially in certain parts of Louisiana.
[00:00:17] Speaker B: It absolutely is.
[00:00:19] Speaker A: So today we're doing a very specific deep dive into the. Well, the unique and often treacherous eviction process in St. Bernard Parish, known locally of course, as the Parish.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: And that misconception about simplicity is exactly why it's so difficult. St. Bernard, it. It operates under a completely different rule book than, say, New Orleans or Mississippi area. The whole system is built on something called the ward system.
[00:00:42] Speaker A: The Ward system. So what does that mean exactly?
[00:00:45] Speaker B: It means the court structure is deliberately fragmented.
[00:00:49] Speaker A: Fragmented how?
[00:00:50] Speaker B: You've got the main court, the 34th Judicial District Court in Chalmette, but then you also have this whole network of really local, often less formal justice of the peace courts, the JP courts.
[00:01:01] Speaker A: Okay, so it's not one central system.
[00:01:03] Speaker B: Not at all. And logistically, that fragmentation is everything.
As the landlord, you have to know your property's location down to the specific ward. Think of it like a hyper localized legal zip code.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: So an address in Araby could be totally different from one just a few blocks away in Moreau.
[00:01:19] Speaker B: Exactly. Your property in Araby might be Ward A.
But if you file with the JP in Moreau, who's in Ward C, your case is dismissed instantly. That's the level of precision we're talking about here.
[00:01:31] Speaker A: So our mission today is to kind of give you a shortcut. We're going to unpack the three mandatory steps. The notice, the filing, and then the enforcement. And we're focusing hard on those logistical details, like counting days or picking the right court that make the difference between a successful eviction and really costly failure.
[00:01:49] Speaker B: And before we jump in, we should be really clear about our source. We've gathered this from a professional process serving agency. These are the people on the ground handling the paperwork every single day.
[00:01:59] Speaker A: They're the logistics arm.
[00:02:00] Speaker B: The logistics arm. Exactly. They're procedural experts. But, and this is vital, this content is for educational purposes. We are not giving legal advice. We're reporting on the mechanics. For any specific questions about your property, you have to talk to a qualified local attorney in St. Bernard.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Understood. Procedural execution, not legal strategy. Okay, let's start with step one, the notice. We're calling this the five day trap.
[00:02:26] Speaker B: So the first absolutely non negotiable step is delivering a legal notice to vacate without that, you can't even start a lawsuit. The baseline in Louisiana for non payment of rent is a five day notice.
[00:02:38] Speaker A: But I've heard there are ways around those five days. I mean, that sounds like a huge time saver if you're trying to get a property back. What are the big exceptions here?
[00:02:45] Speaker B: There are two critical traps with this five day window. The first one is found right in the lease itself. It's called the waiver clause.
[00:02:51] Speaker A: A wave clause.
[00:02:52] Speaker B: Yep. A standard Louisiana lease often has a provision where the tenant actually waives their right to that five day notice for non payment.
[00:03:00] Speaker A: So if that clause is in the lease, why would a landlord ever send the notice? Seems like a waste of time.
[00:03:05] Speaker B: That's a great point. If that waiver is in there and it's enforceable, the landlord can, in theory filed the eviction suit immediately. The five day notice is just gone. You save a full week.
[00:03:17] Speaker A: But the trap is what? Forgetting to check?
[00:03:20] Speaker B: Forgetting to check or assuming it's there when it isn't? If you think you have a waiver but the language isn't right, or you just send the notice anyway, you've just added a needless delay. You can lose another week of rent just from that simple mistake.
[00:03:32] Speaker A: Okay, so let's assume the waiver isn't there and the notice is required. Let's talk about the second, and it sounds like the most dangerous.
The counting.
[00:03:42] Speaker B: This is hands down the most common reason we see for dismissals in the source material. If you need to give notice, Louisiana law is crystal clear. You must exclude weekends and legal holidays when you count those five days.
[00:03:56] Speaker A: Wait, wait. So it's not five calendar days, it's five business days.
That is a huge difference, especially if you get hit with a holiday weekend.
[00:04:03] Speaker B: It changes everything. Let's use the example from the sources.
Say you, the landlord, post the notice on a Friday in Chalmette. Day one of that count does not start until the following Monday.
[00:04:14] Speaker A: And if that Monday is a holiday.
[00:04:16] Speaker B: Then day one might not start until Tuesday.
[00:04:18] Speaker A: Wow. And if the landlord makes the mistake of counting Saturday or Sunday and files.
[00:04:23] Speaker B: Too early, the case is dismissed instantly. You lose your filing fee, you lose the time you spent, and you have to start the entire notice process all over again.
A simple miscount can easily add 10 to 14 days to your timeline.
[00:04:37] Speaker A: The message is check the lease first, then count the days like an obsessed bureaucrat.
[00:04:42] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:04:42] Speaker A: Okay, a great point. So surviving the five day trap gets us to the next big challenge. Step two, filing the suit. Now we have a valid notice. But we're facing St. Bernard's biggest structural problem. That split court system.
[00:04:55] Speaker B: This is where it gets really confusing. Filing the right paperwork in the wrong court is the fast track to dismissal. And even if you did the notice perfectly.
[00:05:04] Speaker A: Let's start with option A, then. The justice of the Peace courts. Who are these for?
[00:05:08] Speaker B: The JP courts are.
They're designed for speed. They handle most standard residential evictions as long as the rent is under $5,000 a month. They're meant to be local, you know, quick justice.
[00:05:20] Speaker A: But the catch is what trips everyone up.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: It's the ward mapping. You have to get this right.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: So give us a real world example of that confusion.
[00:05:28] Speaker B: Okay, so we saw this testimonial from an investor who Thomas R. He had rentals in both Arby and Moreau, and he said his biggest problem was knowing which JP had jurisdiction. Araby, for example. It might cover parts of two different wards, say, Ward A and Ward B. Oh, I see. So if his property was just a few streets away from that line and he filed with the wrong jp, the judge has no choice. They have to dismiss the case because they don't have territorial jurisdiction.
[00:05:55] Speaker A: That's fascinating. So the whole court structure is based on these, like, old hyperlocal geographical lines, not modern convenience.
[00:06:03] Speaker B: Precisely. Before you even think about paperwork, you have to map your property address to its specific ward.
[00:06:08] Speaker A: Now, let's talk about option B. The 34th Judicial District Court. What kind of cases go there?
[00:06:13] Speaker B: The 34th JDC. That's the superior court. You're filing there for more complex stuff. Commercial evictions, high value claims, or, you know, cases with big contractual disputes.
[00:06:25] Speaker A: And I'm guessing the paperwork and procedure there are a lot stricter than the local JP courts.
[00:06:30] Speaker B: Oh, significantly, the district court is formal. You're dealing with the clerk of court, and your process server has to file these perfectly executed returns of service.
[00:06:41] Speaker A: And that's the sworn proof the tenant got the papers?
[00:06:43] Speaker B: It's the sworn proof. If that's not filed correctly and on time, your whole suit could be invalid.
[00:06:48] Speaker A: And this is where that logistical support comes in. The sources say these services are vital because they're on the ground every day. They know the clerk's hours, and they help landlords map the property to the right ward to make sure that service is valid everywhere from Chaumet to Violet and Poydres.
[00:07:04] Speaker B: The physical act of getting that paperwork to the right person in the right building in the right ward, that's the hinge the whole case turns on.
[00:07:12] Speaker A: Okay, so we've filed in the right court. We've proven service. Let's move to step three, the hearing and physical possession.
The landlord wins. What happens the second that gavel falls?
[00:07:25] Speaker B: Well, once the judge issues the judgment of eviction, the tenant is legally given 24 hours to leave the property voluntarily. It's like a final grace period.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: But the reality is, sometimes they just don't leave. What can the landlord not do at that point?
[00:07:38] Speaker B: They absolutely cannot engage in what's called self help.
The landlord is legally forbidden from using force, moving the tenant stuff out, or changing the locks themselves once those 24 hours are up.
[00:07:50] Speaker A: So the victory is only on paper at that point.
[00:07:52] Speaker B: It is. The landlord has to take the next administrative step. Yeah, they have to go and pay for a warrant of possession.
[00:07:57] Speaker A: The warrant of possession. That's the document that authorizes the physical removal. So who actually does that in St. Bernard? Is it always the sheriff?
[00:08:04] Speaker B: No. And this is another critical split. It all depends on where you filed the suit in the first place. It ties right back to the ward system.
[00:08:11] Speaker A: So if the case was heard in.
[00:08:12] Speaker B: A local JP court, then the physical removal, supervising the lock change, everything is done by that specific wards constable.
[00:08:20] Speaker A: But if you went to the main court, the 34th JDC, then it's enforced.
[00:08:24] Speaker B: By the St. Bernard Sheriff's Office. So for the landlord, that final step means knowing which badge to call, which agency to pay, and how to coordinate with their specific schedule. It's a procedural relay race. You have to hand the baton to the right runner.
[00:08:38] Speaker A: Okay, here's the final and maybe most important legal hazard warning. Let's just reiterate the consequences of trying self help.
Why is changing locks or cutting off the water so catastrophic?
[00:08:50] Speaker B: Because it's immediately classified as an illegal eviction. The moment a landlord does that, they open themselves up to being sued by the tenant for damages.
[00:08:58] Speaker A: Even if the eviction was justified.
[00:09:00] Speaker B: Even then you can win the case and then turn around and lose a fortune defending yourself for an illegal act. You have to wait for the constable or the sheriff, period.
[00:09:09] Speaker A: That clarity is so important. And this brings us back to the role of the process server. The ground level execution experts. How do they simplify all this?
[00:09:18] Speaker B: Their main job is making sure the court has undeniable proof of service.
They deliver the initial notice to vacate and the formal rule for eviction.
[00:09:27] Speaker A: What if the tenant is hiding? You know, they see someone coming with papers and just don't answer the door.
[00:09:32] Speaker B: That's where they use a method called tacking. It's a specific method allowed under Louisiana law.
[00:09:37] Speaker A: Wait Tacking. Does that mean you literally just tape the document to the door and the.
[00:09:43] Speaker B: Court accepts that that is exactly what it means. When you can't deliver it by hand because the tenant is actively avoiding servo, the process server can legally and securely affix the document to the door.
[00:09:54] Speaker A: And that holds up in court?
[00:09:55] Speaker B: It does. It ensures the service is valid so the case can move forward.
They then provide a sworn affidavit proving that tacking happened. And the 34th JDC accepts that that as valid proof.
[00:10:07] Speaker A: It's proof that you made the effort, and the court respects that. It just shows how much ground knowledge you need.
[00:10:13] Speaker B: Absolutely. It takes the guesswork out of the system. For any landlord in St. Bernard, the goal is map the property. Right, count the days. Right. And know which enforcement armed sheriff or constable will be there at the end.
[00:10:25] Speaker A: And for our listeners who do need that kind of procedural help, the sources noted that documents can be uploaded and pricing viewed on their platform, which is for lowly informed sloth process servers, which.
[00:10:41] Speaker B: Is really the fastest way to get your case from the logistical confusion phase into the execution phase.
[00:10:48] Speaker A: So after all this, what does it boil down to? If you're dealing with St. Bernard Parish, what are the two things you absolutely have to remember?
[00:10:55] Speaker B: First, always check your lease for that waiver clause. That's your potential fast track. But if you need the notice, you have to rigorously exclude weekends and holidays. When you're counting those five days, a miscount kills your case.
[00:11:06] Speaker A: And the second thing?
[00:11:07] Speaker B: Second, before you file anything, you have to correctly map the property to its specific JP Ward. The ward dictates the court and the court dictates the enforcement officer. Everything flows from that one geographical fact.
[00:11:18] Speaker A: And here's where it gets really interesting for me. After all that procedural perfection, we focus so much on the court battle. But the sources reveal this final piece of administrative follow through that a lot of landlords miss. Yeah, one winning the case. Yeah, that's only half the battle.
[00:11:35] Speaker B: It's true. The judgment itself is not automatic possession.
[00:11:38] Speaker A: No. The landlord has to actively go coordinate and pay a whole separate fee, that warranted possession fee, to get the constable or the sheriff to do the final removal.
It just emphasizes that eviction in St. Bernard isn't a single event. It's a procedural relay race. And the administrative follow through paying that final fee is just as important as the legal ruling. If you don't pay for that last sprint, you never actually cross the finish line.
[00:12:02] Speaker B: That's a great way to put it. The whole process is procedural and transactional from start to finish.
[00:12:06] Speaker A: A fantastic deep dive into some really complicated local rules. And as always, a reminder, this information is strictly for educational purposes. Eviction laws are complex, so you should always consult a qualified St. Bernard Parish Attorney for your specific legal needs.
[00:12:22] Speaker B: Thanks for joining us.
[00:12:23] Speaker A: We'll catch you next time on the Deep Dive.
