Judge Valerie Gotch Garrett
Division B
Secretary - Carlita Babineaux
CBabineaux@15thjdc.org
Office: (337) 269-5708
Fax: (337) 269-5726
Law Clerk - Brittany Vice LawClerkDivB@15thjdc.org Office: (337) 269-5718
Court Reporter - Stephanie Hill Email: hillcourtreporting@gmail.com
MAILING ADDRESS
P.O. Box Drawer 3568
Lafayette, La. 70502
Defense counsel must serve the State with notice on all filings. Continuances made due to a lack of notice on the state will be considered a defense continuance.
*** ALL COUNSEL !!! ***
Please hand deliver courtesy copies of documents exceeding 10 pages via fax. Do NOT fax large documents!
CIVIL TRIAL FIXING
Judge Garrett does not set conferences to set matters for trial. All trial dates are available on the 15th JDC court calendar listed under court information. Counsel can review and select an agreed upon date and file a motion requesting that date. Once the date is set, the clerk will issue the scheduling order form setting all deadlines.
***ATTENTION ALL ATTORNEYS***
Effective January 1, 2022, Louisiana law no longer recognizes preliminary default judgments. La. CCP Art. 1701 has been repealed, and LA. CCP Art. 1702 is now the authoritative statute for default judgments. Any schedule conflicts with matters in other parishes shall be resolved through resets and/or continuances unless written notice is provided to the Court at least 10 days in advance. Judge Garrett will no longer permit attorneys to be several hours late for court absent emergency circumstances.
Judge Valerie Gotch Garrett was born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana. She was elected District Judge for Division B in 2020 with her term beginning on January 1, 2021, serving Lafayette, Acadia, and Vermilion Parishes on a rotating basis.
Judge Garrett has served Acadiana and the State as a leader and member of several civic and community boards. In addition to being the 1st African American Female to be elected to the 15'" JDC, she has many other 1st including but not limited to being the 1st African American female Chair for the Lafayette Airport Commission and 1st African American female appointed to the Lafayette Housing Authority. Judge Garrett has practiced law in the Acadiana community for more than 27 years practicing criminal defense, family, personal injury law as well as general practice areas. Judge Garrett has experience as a 15'" Judicial District Public Defender and Federal Public Defender handling Capital, Felony, Juvenile, and Misdemeanor cases.
Judge Garrett is a graduate of Holy Rosary Institute and the University of Southwest Louisiana, (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette). She received her Juris Doctorate from Southern University Law Center.
She has been a champion of service to the community and has made a significant impact on the community priding herself on having a "Passion for Justice". She believes every person must be treated with respect and dignity. She maintained a reputation of "Service to the people" and provided extensive amounts of pro bono work. She uses her influence and life experience to encourage and inspire others to become everything they are capable of being.