Legal records destroyed by hurricane

Moderator: MOD_nyhetsgrupper

Svar
Steve Hayes

Legal records destroyed by hurricane

Legg inn av Steve Hayes » 04 sep 2005 11:14:33

The following news items also remind us of the vulnerability of genealogical
records:

back up, back up, back up!

New Orleans Times-Picayune - September 2, 2005
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/ ... tml#076454

Mortgage records may be drowned

Orleans documents are in basement

By Greg Thomas
Real Estate writer

Thousands of lawyers in the metropolitan area have lost their files, their
clients and their offices, but one of the biggest legal ramifications of
Hurricane Katrina's flooding waters is the probable loss of real estate
records dating back to the early 1800s.

The records, which include titles, mortgages, conveyances and liens, were
stored in the now-flooded basement of City Hall on Poydras Street.

In 2002, employees of Register of Conveyances Gasper Schiro began the
tedious process of entering the records into computers, a $700,000 process
that could have been contracted out and accomplished quickly but was
instead done slowly by his staff to save money.

It's unclear how much of the information has been digitized or whether the
computerized information is stored safely. If either the original records
or the digitalization is lost, it will be a major mess, said Southern
University Law Center Professor Winston Riddick, who teaches real estate
law.

While it will be a tedious process to fix, and it can be fixed, it will be
a major headache that could take years. The records involved date back to
1827, with the earliest recorded by hand in Spanish and French.

According to the American Center of Real Estate Lawyers, or ACREL, the
loss of the records could be devastating to the local real estate
industry.

The process of restoring the information could be incredibly tedious and
create havoc for homeowners who will be filing insurance claims, said
Professor Riddick. While he expects insurance companies to honor claims by
owners who have copies of their insurance policies, the potential for
delays and other hassles is very real.

New Orleans real estate attorney Marx Sterbcow of Marx Sterbcow Law Group
said Friday that the loss of the records, stored in the musty, moldy
basement of City Hall, may be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to
storm-related problems for Louisiana attorneys, citing a memo e-mailed to
Louisiana lawyers by Southern University Law Professor Michelle Ghetti.

"Many ACREL members have been in touch with us to express concerns for
colleagues in the region. Members have been generous with offers of office
space housing and other support," Ghetti said.

Real estate records aren't the only ones affected. Ghetti estimates that
as many as 6,000, or two-thirds of the state's attorneys, have lost
offices, files and other documents critical to civil and criminal legal
cases. Several court buildings were flooded by Hurricane Katrina,
including the basement in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and the
Louisiana Supreme Court building.

For City Hall records, Sterbcow said, "it's the mortgages that's going to
be ugly. To put it mildly, how are you going to be able to prove if you
own a piece of property if your records are gone? How are you going to be
able to prove you have a mortgage, or one is paid off?"

Records for the 24th Judicial District in Jefferson Parish are probably in
much better shape than the records in Orleans Parish, Sterbcow said.

"Jefferson Parish sounds like they're going to be ok for mortgages and
conveyances,'' he said.

***

New Orleans Times-Picayune - September 2, 2005
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp ... tml#076399

Storm ruins legal documents

By Greg Thomas
Real Estate writer

Thousands of lawyers in the metropolitan area have lost their files, their
clients and their offices, but one of the biggest legal ramifications of
Hurricane Katrinas flooding waters is the probable loss of real estate
records dating back to the early 1800s.

The records, which include titles, mortgages, conveyances and liens, were
stored in the now-flooded basement of City Hall on Poydras Street.

In 2002, employees of Register of Conveyances Gasper Schiro began the
tedious process of hand entering the records into computers, a $700,000
process that could have been contracted out and accomplished quickly but
was instead done slowly by his staff to save money.

Its unclear how much of the information has been digitized and or if the
computerized information is stored safely.

If either the original records or the digitalization process is lost, it
will be a major mess, said Southern University Law Center Professor
Winston Riddick, who teaches real estate law. While it will be a tedious
process to fix, and it can be fixed, it will be a major headache that
could potentially take years.
The records involved date back to 1827, with the earliest recorded by hand
in Spanish and French.

According to the American Center of Real Estate Lawyers, or ACREL, the
potential loss of the records could be devastating to the local real
estate industry.

The process of restoring the information could be incredibly tedious and
create havoc for homeowners who will be filing insurance claims, said
Professor Riddick. While he expects insurance companies to honor claims by
owners who have copies of their insurance policies, the potential for
delays and other hassles is very real.

New Orleans local real estate attorney Marx Sterbcow of Marx Sterbcow Law
Group said Friday the loss of the records, stored in the musty, moldy
basement of City Hall, may be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to
storm-related problems for Louisiana attorneys, citing a memo e-mailed to
Louisiana lawyers by Southern University Law Professor Michelle Ghetti.

Many ACREL members have been in touch with us to express concerns for
colleagues in the region. Members have been generous with offers of office
space housing and other support, Ghetti said.

Real estate records arent the only ones affected. Ghetti estimates that
as many as 6,000, or two-thirds of the states attorneys, have lost
offices, files and other documents critical to civil and criminal legal
cases.

Several court buildings were flooded by Hurricane Katrina, including the
basement in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and the Louisiana Supreme
Court building.

For City Hall records, Sterbcow said its the mortgages thats going to
be ugly. To put it mildly, how are you going to be able to prove if you
own a piece of property if your records are gone? How are you going to be
able to prove you have a mortgage, or one is paid off?

Records for the 24th Judicial District in Jefferson Parish are probably in
much better shape than the records in Orleans Parish, Sterbcow said.

Jefferson Parish sounds like theyre going to be ok for mortgages and
conveyances, he said.


--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

Svar

Gå tilbake til «alt.genealogy»