A Baton Rouge judge who is suing his 19th Judicial District colleagues over their decision not to assign him civil cases is alleging that his fellow judges may be using public funds inappropriately to pay their defense attorneys.
An amended petition filed Dec. 31 by Judge Beau Higginbotham says that the judges recently voted to allocate up to $10,000 for each defendant named in Higginbotham’s lawsuit to hire and pay private counsel. The money – potentially $170,000 – comes from the district’s Judicial Expense Fund, which is earmarked for court administration purposes related to salaries and expenses
“It may be appropriate for this honorable court to address the issue, or alternatively, request that the Louisiana Supreme Court invoke their supervisory jurisdiction and/or their administrative power to establish rules and procedures of Louisiana courts to address the expenditure of court resources and governmental money from the 19th JDC Judicial Expense Fund (JEF) that does not seem to enhance the function of the court …” Higginbotham’s motion states.
Baton Rouge attorney Stephen Irving, who represents 19th District Judge Tiffany Foxworth-Roberts, emphasized that the defendant judges are being sued in their official capacity rather than for personal decisions. In addition, the payment process for the attorneys was approved at multiple levels, Irving told the Louisiana Record in an email.
“Their legal expenses for defending the lawsuit are therefore as much a cost of operating the judicial office as employee salaries or office supplies,” Irving said. “Judge Higginbotham, who is suing as a private litigant, tried to get the clerk of court to pay his attorney fees and lost. His request was properly denied. That was the correct result because in the instance of this case he is a private litigant.”
Higginbotham’s lawsuit alleges that his seniority as a criminal court judge required that he be assigned civil cases in the wake of the retirement of Judge Janice Clark at the close of 2020. In his latest filing, the judge said he should assume the civil docket of Judge William Morvant, who retired on Jan. 1, based on his seniority.
A majority of the 19th Judicial District judges, however, have said that Higginbotham forfeited his seniority when he moved from one criminal division to another.
The lawsuit maintains that Higginbotham should have been assigned to the civil bench based on well-established policies.
“Despite … a custom for many decades of respecting seniority, the judges of the 19th JDC have not assigned either of the upcoming vacant civil sections to Judge Higginbotham contrary to law and their own policy/rule,” the petition states.