Published: January 20, 2012

The Law Offices of Leslie A. Bonin, LLC & Richard G. Perque, LLC congratulate Federal Judge Jane Triche Milazzo on her recent investiture as Section "H" Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Published: January 2, 2012

By: Jeff Duncan, The Times-Picayune

So far, 2012 has been a very good year for the New Orleans Saints. Twelve hours after New Orleans celebrated the New Year, the city's beloved football team celebrated the culmination of one of the best seasons in club history with a 45-17 rout of the Carolina Panthers.

The fireworks show at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Sunday rivaled anything that took place over the Mississippi River the previous night. The "oohs" and "ahs" reverberated through the French Quarter as the Saints rang up their third consecutive double-digit blowout in stunning fashion.

Thankfully, there were no reports of falling bullets around town Saturday night but records rained out of the sky after the Saints kicked off Sunday.

The Saints set so many league and team marks the official stats crew couldn't calculate them all. Some officials joked the club set a record for setting records. The working number of league and club marks tied or broken was 15, but it's believed to be higher.

The Saints shattered so many marks they almost ran out of game balls to give to the record-setters afterward. Darren Sproles received a game ball for setting the NFL record for most all-purpose yards in a season. Roman Harper got one for setting a club record for sacks by a defensive back. The team received one for eclipsing the 2000 St. Louis Rams' NFL record for total yards in a season. And Jimmy Graham received one for setting the NFL mark for receiving yards by a tight end, even though it was subsequently broken by New England tight end Rob Gronkowski.

"It was crazy," guard Carl Nicks said. "It was a great year. We made history."

The record-setting rout cemented the first unbeaten home record in club history and a tie with the vaunted 2009 Super Bowl champs for the best overall record at 13-3. It also validated Coach Sean Payton's decision to play his regulars even though the chances of improving their playoff position were remote, at best.

The idea was to continue the club's late-season momentum by playing full-speed ahead in the finale. The Saints didn't just continue their momentum. They actually accelerated it.

The Saints were like a pack of honey badgers on offense, taking what they wanted to from the Panthers' defense. Their 617 total yards set a club record. Drew Brees completed 80 percent of his passes including his final 17 in a row. Chris Ivory became the first Saints back to rush for 100 yards in a game this season and the Saints amassed a season-high 208 yards on the ground.

"There obviously at the end of the season like this are some distractions," Payton said. "I thought our approach was the right one. I was pleased with how we play and how we finished."

The Saints went into the regular-season finale as the hottest team in the NFL and exited it even hotter. They might want to replace the fleur de lis on their helmets with bullet decals. The Saints will surge into the playoffs on an NFL best eight-game winning streak, the second longest of the Payton-Brees era.

"It was everything that we hoped for today," said Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who added to his NFL record with 389 passing yards along with five touchdowns. "... There's a ton of records. It was pretty significant. You just look around and say, 'I don't know if any of us will be a part of something like that again."

You have to feel for the Detroit Lions (10-6). They finally end a 12-year playoff drought and their reward is a first-round trip to the Superdome, where the Saints are unbeaten and virtually unchallenged this season. The Saints averaged 41.1 points in eight home games this season, setting an NFL record with 329 points.

The Panthers can attest to the test the Lions will face. They came into Sunday's game as winners of four of their previous five games. They were playing their best ball. And the Saints rendered them road kill, just as they did everyone else who dared venture into the Superdome this season.

"We caught a football team that is on a roll right now," said Panthers Coach Ron Rivera, who deserves points for rare post-game candor.

The Saints will enter the postseason on a vastly different trajectory than they did a year ago. They limped into the playoffs last season after an ugly 23-13 home loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The dismal performance carried over to an embarrassing setback in Seattle in the wild-card round of the playoffs.

That 41-36 loss motivated the Saints throughout the offseason and was still on their minds Sunday as they pounded the Panthers.

"We remembered last year all too well, that last game of the season, just feeling like we didn't make progress in that last game," Brees said. "As we looked at this time around, we said, you know what, this game is pedal to the metal. Let's continue to progress. Let's finish strong."

Not everything went perfectly. Jon Casillas, Robert Meachem, Will Herring and Ramon Humber suffered unspecified injuries and did not finish the game. Their status for Saturday's game against the Lions remains in question but early indications are the wounds were not serious.

Otherwise, there wasn't much to complain about for the Saints. They'll enter the playoffs as the most feared team in the league.

"We're playing with such confidence in every phase of the game," linebacker Scott Shanle said. "It was good that that continued. We kept on a roll just like we have been, and we didn't have any big injuries. You couldn't ask for anything more."

Added Nicks: "We cannot help but be confident with winning eight games in a row and the way we are dominating teams."

After a painfully long offseason and a record-breaking regular season, the postseason is finally here. Like the previous two years, they Saints once again are coming. This time, though, they're coming with a bullet and a chip on their shoulders.



Published: November 23, 2011

The Law Offices of Richard G. Perque, LLC welcomes Tina K. Motwani as Associate Attorney.  Tina practices in the areas of family law, wills and estates, personal injury, and corporate and general civil litigation.

Published: October 22, 2011

The Law Offices of Leslie A. Bonin, LLC and Richard G. Perque, LLC congratulate Marty Triche on his re-election to the Police Jury in Assumption Parish.

Published: October 19, 2011

One of the largest distributers of Mardi Gras merchandise in the New Orleans area, Mardi Gras Creations, LLC is pleased to announce its new online store specializing in wholesale distribution and direct consumer purchasing of New Orleans and Mardi Gras merchandise worldwide. 

Published: Tuesday, October 11, 2011, 9:00 PM

The U.S. Senate voted 98-0 Tuesday to confirm Louisiana District Court Judge Jane Margaret Triche-Milazzo of Napoleonville as a federal judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana. "I am truly honored by the trust President (Barack) Obama and the Senate have placed in me through my nomination and confirmation. As I undertake these new responsibilities, I look forward to continuing to serve the people of Louisiana," Triche-Milazzo said. "I greatly appreciate Sen. (Mary) Landrieu shepherding me through this process and her unwavering support."

Triche-Milazzo was recommended by Landrieu, D-La., and Sen. David Vitter, R-La., agreed to go along while giving his enthusiastic endorsement to Landrieu's recommendation of Stephen Higginson, who heads the appeals section in the U.S. attorney's office in New Orleans, for a seat on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Higginson is still awaiting a Senate vote.

"I'm confident that Judge Triche-Milazzo will serve with distinction on the federal bench in the U.S. Eastern District Court of Louisiana," Landrieu said Tuesday. "She is well-regarded in the legal community and will bring a valuable perspective to cases before the court having practiced law and served as a judge in one of the smaller parishes in the region. I was proud to recommend Judge Triche-Milazzo to the president for his consideration and very proud and happy that the Senate has confirmed that nomination today."

Triche-Milazzo was the first woman elected to the bench from the 23rd Judicial District, a position she has held since 2008.

Her confirmation follows by a week the Senate approval, by unanimous consent, of New Orleans City Attorney Nannette Jolivette-Brown to another seat on the federal court for the Eastern District.

While Triche-Milazzo's nomination was not controversial, it did draw a roll call vote, though Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, said that once Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, signaled his approval, the unanimous vote was a fait accompli.

It was also, for the Senate, a bipartisan palate cleanser before proceeding to consideration of President Barack Obama's job bill, on which there is a deep partisan divide.

Published: May 6, 2011

On May 5, 2011, Anne Perque Schmidt was sworn in as a member of the Louisiana Bar Association.  Anne is the daugther of Kurt J. Perque, Sr. and Jane Triche-Milazzo of Napoleonville, Louisiana.  She will commence the practice of law as a law clerk to Judge Thomas J. Kliebert Jr. of the 23rd Judicial District Court. 

Anne is married to Walter Schmidt of Shreveport and has two daughters, Madelyn and Eloise.

Published: October 4, 2008

On October 4, 2008, Brett A. Bonin was elected by the constituents of District 4 to represent them on the Orleans Parish School Board. 

The Law Offices of Leslie A. Bonin, LLC and Richard G. Perque, LLC congratulate Brett on his election to the Orleans Parish School Board, District 4.

Published: Friday, March 28, 2008, 7:48 PM     Updated: Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 8:18 PM

Dividing the Jefferson Parish public school system in half, with the Mississippi River as an impenetrable boundary, is unfair and potentially repressive, unless attorneys can prove that identical educational opportunities exist on both sides of the river, according to a transcript of a federal judge's ruling released this week.

The 25-page transcript, which attorneys have been anxiously awaiting since the March 14 hearing, offers a more detailed account of U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt's decision to reject the proposed consent decree, meant to correct racial imbalances and promote desegregation efforts in the school system. It also provides additional insight into the judge's controversial refusal to accept the district as a dual system.

School Board attorney Jack Grant declined to comment on any specifics of the transcript. He said he hopes to have his remaining concerns addressed after meeting with the judge and other attorneys Monday.

"There are still some things that need to be clarified," Grant said. "We're taking steps to try to meet with the judge to do that."

But New Orleans attorney Richard Perque, who has represented some magnet school parents in the matter, said the document merely confirms what those parents have been saying all along regarding the cross-river division.

"From the beginning, we stated all students in Jefferson Parish are entitled to the same educational opportunities," Perque said in an e-mail message. "To divide the parish into two separate and distinct parts will not only restrict a child's educational opportunity, but flies in the face of desegregation and the purpose of this original action."

Dual system

Overall, the transcript did little to quell some of the School Board's worst fears, as the district enters the next phase of the desegregation process. In a worst-case scenario, the judge's ruling could mean significant changes to student attendance boundaries or the possibility of cross-river busing.

But by challenging the creation of a binary system, the judge identified a critical fallacy inherent in the proposed decree, which essentially reinforced existing racial divisions in Jefferson Parish, said John Pierre, vice chancellor for the evening division at Southern University Law Center who has worked on desegregation cases in Louisiana and Texas.

"If you've created a dual system, you are, in fact, instituting what you're trying to eliminate," he said. "The only difference now is that you're not, by law, using race. You're using the river and housing patterns."

Still, the district doesn't necessarily have to resort to forced busing to address the judge's concerns, said Pierre, co-counsel in a recently resolved desegregation case in East Baton Rouge Parish.

"You have to remedy the situation by overcompensating one side, to the detriment of the other, because you've done that in the past," Pierre said. "There has to be a focus on making West Bank schools better."

The system could commit to building several specialized, parishwide magnet schools on the West Bank, which would naturally advance its overall desegregation efforts, he said. It might also initiate an extensive capital plan to build a string of newer, more attractive schools on the West Bank.

But such sweeping changes could come at a considerable cost, Pierre said.

"Unless there's a significant investment by the Jefferson Parish school system," he said, "it's going to be very difficult to get to unitary status."

River is easily crossed

In his ruling, Engelhardt took issue with 10 out of 41 sections contained in the proposed consent decree, although his concerns ranged in severity. In one instance, he cited a paragraph that addresses remedial education courses that could be remedied simply by clarifying the wording.

But his most serious concerns centered on paragraph 5, which requires that the district divide itself along the Mississippi River, forcing students to attend schools on the side where they live.

While Engelhardt referenced the desegregation plan in St. John the Baptist Parish, where courts found it acceptable to split the district along the river, he pointed out that there was no bridge in St. John in 1969, when that plan was accepted.

"Here there is a bridge and ferry service located within Jefferson Parish," he said. "And moreover, Jefferson Parish is part of metropolitan New Orleans, which includes two spans of the river -- two other spans of the river if you consider the Hale Boggs Bridge -- and several ferries."

He faulted both parties for not providing evidence showing that equal conditions exist throughout the system. He also pointed out that some have disputed the idea that identical educational opportunities are being offered on both sides of the river.

If inequalities exist, the proposed decree could have deprived a black child living on the West Bank of opportunities that are available only at a magnet school in East Jefferson, Engelhardt said.

Magnet school parents have reported significant differences in curriculum, facilities, elective offerings and staffing when comparing the east bank schools with their newer West Bank counterparts.

While Engelhardt admitted that it is "inadvisable" to force students on one side of the river to travel to the other, he stressed that the consent decree must be assessed parishwide, not separately as East and West Jefferson factions.

"Indeed, the very definition of a unitary school system, in terms of desegregation, would seem to preclude the suggested establishment of a binary school system," he said.

Thus, any blanket rule prohibiting cross-river enrollment would be "unfair" unless the district can prove that "for each educational offering, including teachers and curriculum on one side of the river, a substantially identical counterpart exists, in fact, on the other," he said.

Benchmark percentage

Addressing other aspects of the decree, Engelhardt challenged the fairness of paragraph 14, which limits transfer request appeals only to the School Board and plaintiff's counsel, denying recourse to parents or guardians.

And he disputed the decision to institute a benchmark percentage that could affect disciplinary action, as required in paragraph 17. The decree stated that if disciplinary figures at an individual school exceed the racial balance of that school by more than 15 percent, officials would take action to address the imbalance.

Engelhardt also questioned the need to involve the court in School Board affairs on an indefinite basis and asked that attorneys specify a termination date.

If the parties are unable to forge a new agreement in the 90-day time period, the court will establish a schedule to try the case, he said.

But Grant, the board attorney, said he expects to present a revised version of the consent order to the board by the April 16 meeting.

"That's my optimistic goal," he said.