Louisiana Administrative Code
Title 58 - RETIREMENT
Part V - Firefighters' Pension and Relief Fund for the City of New Orleans and Vicinity
Chapter 3 - Procedural Rules and Regulations of the Board of Trustees
Section V-307 - Hearing Procedures, Appeal, Oath, Testimony, Production of Records and Depositions

1. The Pension and Relief Committee shall conduct a hearing in accordance with R.S. 49:956 et seq. and these rules. The applicant may represent himself or may be represented by an attorney or any other person he may designate.

2. Depositions may be used at the hearing conducted by the Pension and Relief Committee, in accordance with R.S. 49:956(6).

3. The Pension and Relief Committee, after hearing all of the evidence and considering all of the facts presented, shall then prepare a recommended decision which shall be submitted to the Board of Trustees of the Firefighters' Pension and Relief Fund of the City of New Orleans.

4. The recommended decision of the Pension and Relief Committee shall be submitted to the board within 60 days after the close of the hearing, unless, in the committee's determination, intervening circumstances preclude such prompt determination. The board of trustees shall meet to consider said recommendation, and all facts and evidence offered in support thereof, and shall either adopt said recommendation as its own or shall take such other action as it shall determine. Said decision shall be decided within 30 days after the Pension and Relief Committee submits its report, except where further documentation or evidence is required by the board to enable it to reach a decision, or due to any other unforeseeable circumstances. The applicant shall be notified of the decision of the board of trustees by certified mail, return receipt requested.

1. The Pension and Relief Committee and each member thereof may administer oaths, subpoena witnesses, and compel production of books and papers pertinent to any investigation or hearing authorized by the board, pursuant to R.S. 49:956. All applications by the claimant for the issuance of subpoenas must be in the hands of the secretary-treasurer of the board of trustees in sufficient time to permit service prior to the date established for the hearing.

2. Whenever a party to a hearing now or hereafter pending before the board desires to take the testimony of a witness who resides outside of the state or who resides within the state but outside the parish of Orleans, or who is unable to attend the hearing, the testimony of the witness, after due notice in writing to the opposing counsel or his party, a copy of which said notice shall be furnished to the Pension and Relief Committee, may be taken in a manner and form as clearly consonant as possible with the provisions of the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure.