Mitch landrieu house arrest
Mitch landrieu house arrest
New Orleans mayor avoids house arrest in lawsuit.
By Kathy Finn
NEW ORLEANS, Sept 11 (Reuters) - A last-minute action by the Louisiana Supreme Court saved New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu from being placed under weekend house arrest over a decades-old dispute with local firefighters who are owed $75 million in back wages.
The standoff arose from a decades-old dispute over back wages that went unaddressed by the city through several mayoral administrations.
The local firefighters union recently asked a court to hold the city in contempt for not paying the judgment.
Civil District Court Judge Kern Reese last week granted the union's request and said he would order Landrieu to be confined to his home during weekends if the case was not resolved by the end of business on Friday.
Landrieu initially said he would rather accept weekend house arrest than agree to a deal he considers devastating to the cash-strapped city.
The city on Friday morning appealed Reese's rulings to both a state appellate court and the state Suprem