Background
The underlying action is captioned as Sharon Lewis’s suit against Louisiana State University, the LSU Board of Supervisors, numerous current or former officials in their individual and official capacities, the law firm Taylor Porter Brooks & Phillips LLP, several individually named defendants, and unidentified John and Jane Doe defendants.
Larry English applied for supervisory writs arising from proceeding No. 708082 in Louisiana’s 19th Judicial District Court for East Baton Rouge Parish. His application concerned a motion for suspensive appeal on which the district court had not yet acted, according to the conditional wording of the appellate court’s order.
The Court’s Holding
The Louisiana Court of Appeal, First Circuit granted the writ for one limited purpose: to instruct the district court to act on English’s motion for suspensive appeal on or before September 25, 2026, if the district court had not already done so.
The appellate court did not decide whether the motion should be granted, address the merits of the underlying litigation, or otherwise expand the relief beyond requiring timely district-court action.
Key Takeaways
- The writ was granted solely to compel action on a pending motion for suspensive appeal.
- The district court was directed to act by September 25, 2026, unless it had already ruled.
- The order did not dictate the outcome of the motion or resolve any underlying claim.
Why It Matters
The order shows how supervisory review may be used to obtain a prompt ruling when inaction on a motion could impede the appellate process. Its significance is procedural and narrow: it imposes a deadline for action without expressing a view on the proper disposition of the motion or the merits of the case.