The long-threatened legal action was filed in Calcasieu Parish, where public defenders represent 400 defendants apiece and, the lawsuit claims, can't possibly do an adequate job for those clients.

The lawsuit is just the opening shot of a war, backed by powerful legal interests, against the state's public-defender system.

Lawsuits in other parishes are expected.

"We're seeking a declaration that the system is broken and an order requiring it to be fixed," said attorney William Jeffress of Washington, D.C., part of the legal team handling the lawsuit.

The Calcasieu Parish lawsuit seeks no specific remedies, and no action is expected for some time.

More public defenders, paid higher salaries, has been cited as one solution.

The state board that hands out state money for public defenders got only $7.8 million this year, a third of what the state Supreme Court recommended. Critics say the system also relies too much on unreliable local revenue.

Jeffress said he could not comment on whether, or how much, the lawsuit could increase costs to Louisiana taxpayers to defend poor people accused of crimes.

He said, under the current funding, "You can't possibly provide what we think the Constitution requires."

The state and federal constitutions guarantee legal representation to poor defendants.

For years interests as notable as the American Bar Association have been alarmed by the lack of resources they say could effectively deny that constitutional right to poor people in Louisiana.

The lawsuits could produce the kind of court supervision that has frequently governed public-school systems accused of racial segregation.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco, the Legislature and state government in general are the defendants in the lawsuit.

Blanco said she had not yet seen the lawsuit but recognizes the problem.

"We're going to have to just tackle it," she said.

Her chief attorney, executive counsel Terry Ryder, said Blanco has taken two steps to improve the indigent defense system during her first months in office:

· Adding $1.5 million in state funds, in a tight budget year, to the public-defender system.

· Appointing a study group to come up with possible solutions.

"I can't yet comment on the lawsuit. But we take the issue seriously," Ryder said.

All nine plaintiffs are in the Calcasieu Correctional Center, the parish prison, awaiting trials on charges not specified in the lawsuit.

The lead plaintiff is identified as John Anderson, who has no criminal convictions. He has been awaiting trial since his arrest in September 2002.

Trials have been postponed twice.

The other plaintiffs have been in jail anywhere from a year to more than two years.

Some do not even know if they have a lawyer representing them, the lawsuit says.

Jeffress and Ryder agreed the Calcasieu Parish lawsuit will lead to some sort of statewide resolution of the issue.

For now, the plaintiff attorneys seek to declare the lawsuit a class action that would apply to anyone now served by the Public Defender's Office in Calcasieu Parish or anyone who will be part of the system in the future.

In Calcasieu Parish, 90 percent of people accused of crimes are poor enough to be declared indigent and entitled to a public defender, according to the lawsuit.

The $1.4 million budget for the office does not allow it to employ enough lawyers, at high enough salaries, to adequately represent clients, the lawsuit alleges.

For instance, throughout the nation about 5 percent of people charged with crimes end up with a trial. In Calcasieu Parish, only one quarter of 1 percent of defendants have trials, the lawsuit alleges.

"When you delay and delay, and you let somebody sit in jail long enough, he is going to feel enormous pressure to plead (guilty) just to get out of jail -- even if he is not guilty," Jeffress said.