Update: Supreme Court of Louisiana Vacates Court of Appeal’s Judgment to Vacate Preliminary Injunction of District Court, Remands for Further Proceedings

Council of the City of New Orleans v. Washington, 9 So.3d 854 (La. 2009)

In this case, attorney Tracie Washington and others appealed a preliminary injunction from the District Court preventing the dissemination of emails received in response to a public records request. The injunction was issued in light of the City’s failure to properly review the documents for privileged information before production. Upon Washington’s appeal, the court of appeal determined the injunction violated the First Amendment and thus vacated the order of the District Court. The City Council of the City of New Orleans appealed.

On appeal, the Supreme Court of Louisiana vacated the judgment of the court of appeal upon finding that the First Amendment arguments upon which the court relied were presented for the first time on appeal and were therefore improperly considered. Accordingly, the matter was remanded for further proceeding.

A summary of the court of appeal’s opinion is available here.