Opelousas Challenges Desegregation Lawsuit Fees

A request for nearly $10 million in legal fees for a 46-year-old school desegregation lawsuit is being challenged.

Opelousas attorney Marion Overton White filed the request for legal fees in May after the case he filed in 1965 came to an end earlier this year. St. Landry Parish School Board attorney Gerard Caswell wants a federal judge to throw out the request. He argues that White lacks adequate documentation to justify the hours, that the fee is unreasonable and that thousands of the hours that White has billed "are excessive and are completely unrelated to this case."