The Descendants Project v. St. John the Baptist Parish
At a Glance
Date Filed:
November 9, 2021
Current Status
On August 4, 2023, the court struck down the zoning ordinance, declaring it null and void. On January 9, 2024, the court denied the defendants' motions for a new trial, and instead maintained its earlier ruling that the ordinance was null and void. On August 6, 2024, the company announced it was cancelling its plans for the project, though it has continued to pursue an appeal of the district court’s ruling. On April 2, 2025, the Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s ruling in favor of The Descendants Project. We continue to represent The Descendants Project in their ongoing fight to protect the community against the industrial zoning.
On November 9, 2021, on behalf of The Descendants Project, an organization founded to advocate for descendants of people once enslaved in Louisiana’s river parishes, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a writ of mandamus to declare a decades-old rezoning ordinance null and void and order St. John the Baptist Parish to remove it from all of its maps and records.
Their suit stems from the 1990 corrupt rezoning of a large tract of rural land to industrial use in Wallace, La. In 1996, Lester Millet Jr., former council president of St. John the Baptist Parish, was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for his role in trying to aid Formosa, a Taiwanese corporation, build a rayon pulp factory next to Wallace. Millet engaged in money laundering and extortion and issued threats of expropriation to residents to coerce them into selling their land to Formosa. Millet abused his official position to push through the new zoning ordinance.
The Banners grew up in Wallace, and now own and operate a cafe that sells goods made from the recipes of their ancestors and presents the Afro-Creole history of the region through the lens of their own family oral histories. Now, they are fighting to save their community from a proposed grain terminal that would bring more grain, dust, and pollution to their neighborhood. The residents of Wallace, a small town 40 miles west of New Orleans, point to the illegality of the corruption and scandal that surrounded the rezoning in urging the court to nullify the ordinance and thus prohibit heavy industrial development.
The Descendants Project's Opposition to Motion to Consolidate
December 6, 2023
The Descendants Project's Opposition to Motion to Consolidate
The Descendants Project files motion opposing Defendants' efforts to consolidate this matter with a new case brought to address procedural improprieties in Parish's current efforts to rezone the property.
Greenfield joins Parish's motion to consolidate this matter with new case filed by The Descendants Project to address procedural improprieties in Parish's current attempt to rezone the property.
Parish moves to consolidate this case with a new case filed by The Descendants Project that addresses concerns about procedural irregularities in Parish's current attempts to rezone the property.
The Descendants Project cross-moves for summary judgment
March 6, 2023
The Descendants Project cross-moves for summary judgment
The Descendants Project cross-moves for summary judgment showing that the Parish illegally passed an ordinance in 1990 and asking the court to declare it null and void.
Court of Appeal rules in favor of The Descendants Project, sends case back to trial court
08/15/2022
Court of Appeal rules in favor of The Descendants Project, sends case back to trial court
The appellate court notifies parties that it denied Greenfield's application for appellate review and issues a written ruling approving of the trial court's decision. The case goes back to trial court.
CCR files motion to supplement Motion for Temporary Restraining Order
May 20, 2022
CCR files motion to supplement Motion for Temporary Restraining Order
After revelations about whistleblower concerns for sacred Black history, CCR files a motion to supplement its motion for a temporary restraining order with the newly reported information on behalf of the Descendants Project.
Emergency request for temporary restraining order filed
May 18, 2022
Emergency request for temporary restraining order filed
Center for Constitutional Rights files an emergency request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) on behalf of the Descendant's Project to prevent the grain elevator company from conducting ground-disturbing construction activity on the project site in order to protect burial grounds of people once enslaved there. Attached are the Motion for TRO, Memorandum of Law, and relevant declarations and exhibits.
CCR files opposition to the Exceptions filed by Defendants seeking to have the case dismissed.
April 20, 2022
CCR files opposition to the Exceptions filed by Defendants seeking to have the case dismissed.
On behalf of Descendants Project and Petitioners Jo and Joy Banner, CCR files their opposition to the Exceptions filed by Defendants seeking to have the case dismissed.
Greenfield Louisiana files motion seeking to have Descendant's Project's claims dismissed
February 28, 2022
Greenfield Louisiana files motion seeking to have Descendant's Project's claims dismissed
Defendant Greenfield Louisiana, a grain elevator company, files motions seeking to have Descendants Project claims dismissed. The Parish defendants joined in the motions
Descendants Project files Second Amended Petition after finding maps which show that in 2006, Formosa sold the land with a residential zoning designation - the same land that had been purportedly rezoned to I-3 industrial in 1990 amid scandal and controversy. This comes on the heels of discovering that an official map of the land that accompanied the 1990 rezoning ordinance had been torn from the official records in the clerk's office.
Center for Constitutional Rights and The Descendant's Project file writ of mandamus
November 9, 2021
Center for Constitutional Rights and The Descendant's Project file writ of mandamus
The following documents are filed in court. Read the affidavits of Harriet Banner, Jo Banner, and Joy Banner to learn how industrial industries have affected the Banner family.
