11 Abbeville police officers win first round of lawsuit against city of Abbeville

Eleven members of the Abbeville Police Department won the first round of a lawsuit filed just over a year ago over a disagreement over police officers’ pay.
Lafayette Attorney Chris Landry, who is representing the officers, reported that a motion for a Partial Summary Judgment reaffirms that Abbeville police officers should be compensated for their work.
The Abbeville Meridional reached out to Chris Landry on Friday morning, but as of press time,  Landry had not returned the phone call. 
Landry previously released a statement to KATC TV 3 about the judge’s ruling this past week.
Landry said, “We recently argued a Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on the issue of whether or not the current pay schedule for senior Abbeville Police Officers violates state law. After an argument between counsel for the Officers and the City of Abbeville, the Court found in favor of the Officers, ruling that the current pay schedule violates La. R.S. 33:2212(F). We are pleased with this recent ruling; however, the City of Abbeville still has the right to appeal the Court’s ruling. We believe that should this matter proceed to an appeal, that we again will prevail. We look forward to moving the case forward and obtaining a just resolution on behalf of the Abbeville Police Officers.”
The lawsuit, filed in December 2023, was originally started by 11 Abbeville senior police officers who sued the city, stating that the new pay scale violated state law.
The police officers said in the lawsuit that the city’s new pay raise for starting officers of $40,000 a year did not adjust to the pay of the 11 senior officers who filed the lawsuit. 
In an interview on KATC TV 3, Landry said, “They (senior police officers) just want to be paid according to their pay scales,” Landry said back in January 2024. “They always thought that if the starting salary was going to change, their starting salary would change. They just want what’s right. They just want to follow the law.”
The city has 30 days to appeal the judge’s ruling. If the city chooses to appeal, a court date will be set.