[rogue yam]

But, does the city have a CHOICE? Ordinarily when a judgment against a municipality (including its departments, like the PD) is final, the city fathers have to cough up the money from somewhere...

I am not an attorney (nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night) but my understanding is that Eddie Jordan is the Orleans Parish District Attorney. (A Parish in Louisiana is equivalent to a County in other States.) Thus Mr. Jordan's office is not part of the City of New Orleans. For this reason Mayor Nagin is saying the City of New Orleans did not control Mr. Jordan's actions and is not responsible for them and therefore should not pay the judgement.

[americanflyer1234]

$3.7 Million is just one week’s worth of graft in New Orleans. My suggestion is to just add it to the Hurricane Wilma bill, and have the federal government pay it.

One way or the other, the American taxpayer will be stuck with the bill.

[CholeraJoe]

Louisiana has created several City/Parishes under state law. The City government and the Parish government are one and the same. New Orleans and Baton Rouge are in this category.

[NEMDF]

...then you MUST have saved a bundle by switching your car insurance to GEICO....

[scrabblehack]

Orleans Parish is coextensive with the city of New Orleans. I don't think that's the argument. On another thread I saw the point raised that the DA's office accepts state and local tax money. The thread seemed to be saying the state could take it over...I am not sure in so doing, would the state inherit the debt?

Mayor Ray Nagin on Tuesday reiterated that the city would not pay the judgment, saying it could not afford it and that it would set a bad precedent.