Okla Jones, Judge In Tu Case, Tobacco Suit, Dies Of Leukemia Times Picayune 01-10-1996 ************************************************* Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ U.S. District Judge Okla Jones II, New Orleans' first black city attorney andthe judge who ruled that records of Tulane University legislative scholarships should be made public, died Monday of leukemia at Ochsner Foundation Hospital. Judge Jones, who was to be the trial judge in a massive class-action suit filed in New Orleans against seven U.S. tobacco companies, was 50. "His untimely death represents a great loss to our justice system and our community," said U.S. Rep. Bill Jefferson, D-New Orleans. Former City Councilman Lambert Boissiere, a friend since the 1970s, said Judge Jones will "be remembered as one of the finest city attorneys New Orleans has ever had. I never heard anyone ever say anything negative about him. He always gave you his best and honest opinion." Judge Jones was appointed city attorney by former Mayor Sidney Barthelemy for Barthelemy's first term in office, from 1986 until 1990. He left that job to run for a Civil District Court seat, which he won in 1991 and held until his appointment to the federal bench by President Clinton in 1994. On the civil court, Judge Jones ruled in a suit by The Times-Picayune that records of Tulane scholarships given out by Louisiana lawmakers are public. Some legislators had tried to shield from public view the records of the valuable tuition waivers, which many had given to the children of politicians or to their own relatives. Portions of Judge Jones' ruling later were overturned, but the newspaper eventually prevailed in its legal fight to obtain and publish the records. On the federal district court, where he had served since October 1994, Judge Jones ruled that the civil suit against the major cigarette makers qualifies as a class action, meaning that almost anyone who has ever smoked cigarettes - as well as survivors of dead smokers - conceivably could be plaintiffs in the suit. An appeal of Judge Jones' ruling by the tobacco companies is pending. U.S. Judge Morey Sear, the chief judge for the U.S. District Court in New Orleans, said he was "delighted and proud to have had him on the court." "Judge Jones was as fine a judge as we could have," Sear said. "He was very diligent, always prepared and very congenial." Judge Jones' death prompted speculation over whether his replacement on the case will be as tough on the tobacco companies as Judge Jones was perceived to have been. But Sear said it is too early to worry about who will replace him on the tobacco litigation, which could cost the industry billions of dollars if the plaintiffs win. "Judge Jones died last night," Sear said Tuesday. "I haven't felt it was appropriate for me to barge into his chambers and look through his records." Sear said he will call a meeting of the federal judges in New Orleans and seek their counsel on how to replace Judge Jones on the tobacco case. "Nothing's going to happen to delay the case," he said. A native of Natchitoches, Judge Jones attended Central High School there. He graduated from Southern University in Baton Rouge with a political science degree in 1968. He received his law degree from Boston College in 1971. He was a former partner in the firm of Jones, Nabonne & Wilkerson. He also was an attorney for the Orleans Indigent Defender Program, director of Tulane University Law School's employment discrimination clinic and project director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. In 1983, he was appointed special counsel to the City Council, then embroiled in a disagreement with Mayor Ernest "Dutch" Morial. Council members, including Barthelemy and Boissiere, said they could not trust Morial's city attorney, Sal Anzelmo, to give impartial opinions when the interests of the council and the Morial administration conflicted. Led by Barthelemy, the council took the extraordinary step of hiring Jones as its own attorney. When Barthelemy replaced Morial as mayor in May 1986, Jones replaced Anzelmo. Jefferson said the community "will continue to be inspired by the spirit of (Judge Jones') life and his service." He said the judge's appointment to the federal bench was "the capstone of a legal career of selfless public service committed to justice for all." U.S. Sen. John Breaux, D-La., who recommended Judge Jones' appointment to President Clinton, said that in his brief time on the federal bench, "he proved to be one of the brightest and hardest-working judges in our nation's judiciary." Judge Jones was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, the American Bar Association, the American Judicature Society, the National Bar Association, the National Conference of Black Lawyers and the Louis A. Martinet Society. Survivors include his wife, Carolyn Jones; a son, Okla Jarred Jones III; his father, Henry Jones Sr.; a brother, Henry Jones Jr.; two sisters, Yvonne Jones Donaway and Shirley Jones Sneed; and his grandparents, Okla and Pearl Jones and Indiana Gray. A funeral will be held Thursday at 11 a.m. at Tulane Memorial Baptist Church, 3601 Paris Ave. Visitation will begin at 8 a.m. Burial will be in St. Roch Cemetery No. 2. D.W. Rhodes Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.