NOLA Defender | Orleans Parish Civil District Court
With The Times-Picayune planning to stop printing daily on Oct. 1, the clerk of civil district court for Orleans Parish has named Gambit, the weekly newspaper, its official publication for notices related to its proceedings. The change is effective Aug. 1. The Picayune’s shift to publishing three times a week necessitated a change in state law requiring certain legal notices to be published in a daily paper. The new law states that the publication carrying such notices must be printed at least weekly, and it must have had a circulation of at least 30,000 for the previous five years.
The clerk’s decision applies only to notices related to proceedings in civil court, such as matters related to estates.
The Lens’ Tom Gogola reported in June that the new law could affect up to $7 million in revenue from state and local governments:
Orleans Parish remains the only parish in Louisiana that requires public notices to run in daily newspapers. The amended law was “condoned by everyone except The Times-Picayune,” State Sen. J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans, said Monday.
Morrell said the lion’s share of the money generated by public notices is spent in New Orleans by the city and the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office – up to $6 million a year in advertising revenue, he said. The rest, between $500,000 and $1 million a year, is the state’s typical share of public-notice ad buys.
Earlier: Newspapers’ legal ad revenue jeopardized by cash-strapped states, online competitors (Poynter) || Related: Advance’s Alabama Media Group names leadership team (AL.com); front-page news for The Birmingham News and The Huntsville Times (Newseum).
Comments