Katrina breaks new legal ground

The Dallas Morning News has an interesting story on how Katrina is going to make legal history:

The Louisiana Supreme Court building was flooded, and many critical files and evidence boxes are presumably destroyed. City and district court buildings in neighboring parishes have been similarly hit.

Lawyers and judges alike are scrambling to answer previously unimaginable questions: What will happen to pending cases? What about the out-on-bail defendants, witnesses and even law enforcement officials who are among the several hundred thousand evacuees sprinkled throughout the country, many in Texas?

How this story plays out is anyone's guess.