HomeLegal Thursdays

New Orleans takes a wrecking ball to a couple’s constitutional rights

Like Tweet Pin it Share Share Email

New Orleans doesn’t just destroy Confederate memorials. They destroy private property too.

When David and Lourdes Garrett purchased a neglected townhouse from the City of New Orleans in 2015, they had plans to renovate it and rent it out. But they never had a chance. Approximately four months after the acquisition, the City demolished the building. It provided the Garretts with no prior notice, hearing, or opportunity to repair.

The City’s actions are unconscionable since the Garretts’ interests were easily ascertainable and indeed, obvious, given the Garretts’ recent and recorded purchase from the City itself. Yet, the only notices and hearings prior to demolition were directed to a long-gone owner of the property from the 1990’s, someone who had not owned the property since the City took possession in 1998.

When the Garretts protested the demolition of their property, the city responded by sending an $11,000 bill for the cost.

Pacific Legal Foundation is one of the good guys and are taking the case to the 5th Circuit. Read more here.