BAKER — An East Baton Rouge Parish justice of the peace was removed from her post temporarily after complaints related to how her office handled evictions, according to documents from the Louisiana Supreme Court.

According to an affidavit filed by the Judiciary Commission of Louisiana, two landlords alleged that Justice of the Peace Tracy Batieste charged fees that were not authorized, often opened her courtroom late and ignored their requests for documentation. Separately, an evicted tenant said Batieste was hours late for a hearing.

The investigators who looked into Batieste's performance told the Supreme Court that they, too, had been subjected to "sporadic communications." They said they gave the justice of the peace an extension of time to respond to their inquiries but that she never submitted responses.

Only after receiving a subpoena did she react, and the documents she submitted confirmed she was charging unauthorized fees, they said.

The commission recommended a suspension in a request delivered by hand on June 6. Justices later agreed to remove Batieste from her duties but left her salary in place.

While justices of the peace are allowed to charge fees for their basic services, Batieste was charging a $10 "COVID" fee and also a $2 service fee for every other fee charged, the investigators said. For a two-person eviction, justices are allowed to charge $175, but Batieste was charging $240, they said.

The paperwork they filed with the court said Batieste was also charging four times the approved $1 fee for certified copies. One complainant said, "It's like it's $20 here, $30 here and it's — it's just like she's adding on. It just kept going higher and higher and higher, and I just — I didn't know what was right and what was wrong."

The Judiciary Commission sought Batieste's temporary removal "to protect the administration of justice and the public's confidence" in the judiciary. The court agreed with it on June 25.