Louisiana Eviction Courts Generate Millions in Judicial Fees

Thousands of Louisiana renters face eviction each year through a little-known court system that allows part-time judges to collect fees directly from cases they handle. A nine-month investigation by The Guardian found that the arrangement raises concerns about financial conflicts of interest, procedural fairness and tenants' ability to defend their homes.

Louisiana has 390 justices of the peace who handle evictions, small claims and wage garnishments. According to The Guardian, these officials need only a high school diploma, and their courts are not required to maintain detailed records or follow standard rules of evidence.

Court costs in eviction cases can reach $150 or more, with judges receiving compensation from the fees their courts collect. One part-time justice of the peace earned more than $400,000 in compensation last year, exceeding the salary of the chief justice of the US Supreme Court, according to the investigation.

Four other justices of the peace also earned more than $220,000 in a single year from filing fees, much of the revenue coming from eviction cases. Lease agreements frequently require renters to reimburse landlords for court costs after an eviction.

The Guardian based its findings on more than 11,000 pages of eviction records, 3,400 financial disclosure forms, deposition testimony, investigative evidence and documents obtained through public records requests. Reporters also interviewed justices, tenants and housing attorneys and observed hearings at five courts in the Baton Rouge and New Orleans metropolitan areas and St. Tammany Parish.

Marchana Watts, an insurance analyst who earned $20 an hour, said she brought rent receipts to a hearing before Justice Tracy Batieste to contest her eviction from a trailer home outside Baton Rouge. Watts said the receipts showed she had paid her $950 monthly rent for the preceding year and a half.

In a complaint to the state judiciary commission, Watts alleged that the judge failed to consider her evidence.

“COMPLETELY IGNORED by the ‘judge’. She did not print out all of my documents and didn’t allow me to properly present them.”

Watts said she later recalled that Batieste turned to a court fee and instructed the trailer park manager to pay it. According to Watts, the manager handed the judge a folded bundle of cash with a $100 bill on top.

Watts described what happened next in an interview.

“She stuck it in her robe … And then she was like: ‘You have 24 hours to move.’”

Former legal aid attorney Bradley Benton, who has represented Louisiana tenants in eviction cases, said the courts can offer landlords a faster and less expensive route to removing renters. He identified the system's relative speed and ease as reasons landlords may prefer these proceedings.

“Why would landlords prefer to go to a justice of the peace court?”

Benton described the advantages landlords see in the process.

“It’s faster. It’s cheaper. And it’s easier to evict.”

The investigation also documented concerns about the financial incentives built into the courts. One longtime justice of the peace characterized some proceedings as “big business,” while a clerk working for another justice described the institution as a “for-profit court.” A legal expert called a justice of the peace court in a New Orleans suburb an “eviction mill.”

Lisa Foster, a retired California appeals judge and former director of the Office for Access to Justice at the US Department of Justice, questioned whether the system complies with constitutional protections. She cited a US Supreme Court precedent established more than a century ago concerning defendants whose cases are heard by judges with direct financial interests in the outcomes.

“I believe this system is blatantly unconstitutional,” Foster said.

Foster argued that the financial structure and oversight failures require attention from state authorities.

“Without question, the Louisiana justice of the peace system has failed its citizens, yet no one seems to be taking action.”

The scrutiny comes as Louisiana lawmakers have expanded the authority of justices of the peace while also passing a law that allows possible jail sentences for homeless people. The state is among the poorest in the country and provides renters with some of the weakest legal protections nationally, according to The Guardian.

Across the United States, rising living costs, higher rents and additional housing fees have intensified pressure on tenants amid shortages of affordable homes. Research from Princeton University's Eviction Lab found that approximately one in 13 renter households in the 10 states and dozens of metropolitan areas it studied faced an eviction filing in 2025.

National studies cited by The Guardian indicate that fewer than 5% of tenants have lawyers in eviction cases, while more than 80% of landlords typically have legal representation. Unequal access to legal assistance can leave renters facing court fees, moving expenses and other costs, with research linking eviction-related pressures to harm to families' mental and physical health.

The Guardian's data analysis found that the eviction filing rate within the jurisdiction of Louisiana's busiest justice of the peace court was nearly three times the national average. The investigation also examined tenant legal representation in that court, although the published source text provided for this report ends before specifying the rate.