A 19th Judicial District Court judge ruled today that Mayor Sharon Weston Broome and Metro Council member Lamont Cole—two of four plaintiffs challenging the incorporation of the prospective city of St. George—have the legal standing to move forward with their lawsuit.
But Judge William Morvant also ruled that state law does not allow a third plaintiff in the case, community activist M.E. Cormier, to join the suit, which was filed in the wake of last fall’s successful election to incorporate the new city.
As a practical matter, today’s ruling changes little in the battle over the prospective city because the standing of a fourth plaintiff in the suit—attorney Lewis Unglesby, who lives within the proposed footprint of St. George—was never challenged by St. George’s attorney. The suit was going to go forward regardless of today’s outcome.
Still, Mayor Sharon Weston Broome says she is “extremely happy” with the ruling, which she characterized as a victory.
“Our contention has been and will continue to be the merit of this lawsuit, which is to prove whether they can sustain a city of 86,000 people,” she says. “Where’s their budget? Where’s their operating information? I owe it to every citizen of this parish to make sure that is done.”
St. George organizers also called today’s ruling a victory, citing a stipulation read into the court record prior to the hearing by Broome and Cole’s attorney, Mary Olive Pierson, that the lawsuit was not a challenge to the election.
“That is a win,” says St. George spokesman Drew Murrell. “They aren’t saying the election was not lawful. They are saying this isn’t about the election. This is about money.”
Pierson scoffed at Murrell’s claim, pointing out that her suit never challenged the election and saying it was St. George’s attorney who tried to suggest, erroneously, that the suit was an election challenge.
“There’s no election contest. We didn’t allege one,” Pierson says. “If you want to file an election contest, which I have filed plenty of, you’ve got to do it within four days of the election and you have to alleged fraud and all kinds of stuff. We didn’t allege that. This is not an election challenge … never was, never will be.”
Following the hearing, attorneys met with Morvant, who told them to put together a schedule for discovery, says Pierson, whose legal team will start asking St. George organizers for detailed budgetary information about their prospective city.
She predicts the court battles will drag on for at least three years.
St. George organizers, meanwhile, say they’re moving forward and are focused on drafting a transition district bill, expected to pass in the Legislature later this year, outlining how the prospective city will become a reality.
A similar measure was approved by lawmakers during the 2019 legislative session but was vetoed by Gov. John Bel Edwards, who said then the measure was premature because the election had not yet been held.
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