Fine Food & Entertainment,
Ask an Attorney
"How long will my lawsuit last?"
By PARKER LAYRISSON
Times Legal Columnist
Predicting the length of litigation is difficult. Each case is
unique. A host of factors outside your control could expedite or de-
lay the process. Some cases settle quickly while others last years
awaiting trial and appeals.
For example, in my law prac-
tice I have handled matters de-
cided by trials within a week
of the initial disputes. On the
other hand, I have tried cases
so old they were filed by other
lawyers before I even began law
school over ten years ago! How-
ever, most lawsuits fall some-
where between those stark ex-
tremes.
The type of litigation, crimi-
nal or civil, plays into its length.
As a general rule, criminal cas-
es move faster than civil. If you
have been charged with a crime,
you can usually expect to go to
trial within a year. Moreover,
prosecutor
impson
up on
ation case
Dear Editor:
Chastened school board members, including four new members,
were informed by the federal judge that if there was no tax on the
ballot in April he would either order the board to call an election
on the tax, or busing.
The judge quoted two cases
upholding his position, which
can be visited on the internet.
The first case, Palmer v. Thomp-
son, 403 U.S. 317 (1971), cov-
ered the closure of swimming
pools in Jackson, MS: it has
nothing to do with powers of a
federal judge to impose a tax.
The second case is Missouri
v. Jenkins, 515 U.S. 70 & 495
U.S. 33 (the famous Kansas
City case).
A policy analysis by Paul
Ciotti in 1998 (Cato Policy
Analysis No. 298, March 16,
1998, Money and School Perfor-
mance: Lessons from the Kan-
sas City Desegregation Experi-
ment) stated as follows:
lions with simultaneous trans-
lation capability, and field trips
to Mexico and Senegal. The
student-teacher ratio was 12 or
13 to 1, the lowest of any major
schooi district in the country.
The results were dismal. Test
scores did not rise; the black-
white gap did not diminish; and
there was less, not greater, in-
tegration.
The Kansas City experiment
suggests that, indeed, educa-
tional problems can't be solved
by throwing money at them,
that the structural problems of
our current educational system
are far more important than a
lack of material resources, and
that the focus on desegregation
THE PONCHATOULA TIMES, DECEMBER 16,2010 PAGE A-3~
hadn't worked. Even so, some
advocates of increased spend-
ing on public schools were still
arguing that Kansas City's only
problem was that it never got
enough money or had enough
time. But money was never the
issue in Kansas City. The KC-
MSD got more money per pupil
than any of 280 other major
schools districts in the coun-
try, and it got it for more than
a decade. The real issues were
way beyond mere funding. Un-
fortunately, given the current
structure of public education in
America, they were a lot more
intractable, too.
Anyone wanting to read
these cases and the policy anal-
ysis can produce them from the
internet.
Every school board member
and newly elected board mem-
ber should read them. Also,
every citizen interested in the
public schools should read Clot-
ti's review.
The proposed 30 mill tax and
one percent sales tax will be
onerous on home owners, rent-
ers and small businesses.
Joseph H. Simpson
Enjoying the Chamber
Christmas Parade in
Ponchatoula
misdemeanors mature quicker For decades critics of the diverted attention from the real ..................................................
than felonies, public schools have been say- problem, low achievement. I
The constitution guarantees ing, "You can't solve educa-The. situation in Kansas
criminal defendants a right to Parker Layrisson tional problems by throwing City warranted some action,
a speedy trial. Civil actions, on . money at them.' The education as teachers were quitting. The NOW Tile0
the other hand, often take many the sizeofthecourtsdocket, establishment and its support- buildings were in terrible shape,Ii Featu ng"
years to resolve. Of course, in both criminal ers have replied, "No one's ever the textbooks were out of date, '!
Usually your attorney willand civil matters, trial is not tried." In Kansas City they did etc. Over two billion dollars pro- I§,PITII[ 9: !i-:}0'- "0:
spend months attempting to necessarily the end of litigation, try. To improve the education of duced by the tax was spent to
settle your case before filing a Parties have the right to up-black students and encourage build fifteen new schools, fifty- I[ IJIItL ll-lg
lawsuit. Once litigation is filed, peal the trial verdict. Appeals desegregation, a federal judge four were renovated, five char- l] ,:ilu:,m, lu.
