Opinion ID: 1114341
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Jurisdiction to Review Other Issues

Text: When one part of a judgment declares a statute or ordinance unconstitutional, this court has appellate jurisdiction to review the entire judgment. After reviewing and deciding that portion of the judgment relating to the declaration of unconstitutionality, this court generally remands the case to the district court or to the court of appeal to decide the issues which one or both of the lower courts did not reach. See, e.g., New Orleans Firefighters Ass'n. Local 632, AFL-CIO v. City of New Orleans, 590 So.2d 1172 (La.1991); Ly v. State of La., 633 So.2d 1223 (La.1994). This court in the present case, having adjudicated the constitutional issue which is the sole basis for appellate jurisdiction, normally would remand the case to the court of appeal to review the remaining issues decided by the district court, over which the court of appeal would have had appellate jurisdiction but for the part of the judgment declaring the statute unconstitutional. However, this court has the jurisdictional power to review these issues and opts to exercise that jurisdictional power in this case, since most of the principal issues on the merits are so intertwined with the constitutional problem that one-step disposition is warranted. [7] Moreover, very significant amounts of money are being held awaiting final outcome, and expedition of the final disposition will allow the Parish to receive its taxes and BP to recover its refund in the amounts due to each.