A federal judge has blocked the Federal Emergency Management Agency from pulling rental aid from hurricane victims before they have a chance to appeal, and harshly chastised the agency for its "cavalier" attitude toward evacuees.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Helen "Ginger" Berrigan, issued late Wednesday, comes in a lawsuit filed in April against FEMA. The agency is trying to phase out housing assistance programs for victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita and move them out of trailers and apartments it has been paying for.

Since 2005, when Katrina and Rita hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast and displaced hundreds of thousands of people, FEMA has been swamped by the volume of people in need.

Berrigan's ruling stops FEMA from halting rental assistance until an appeal can be filed in individual cases. Currently, aid ceases when FEMA determines someone is not eligible for aid.

In court filings, the agency said the injunction would "overwhelm FEMA and prevent it from carrying out" its duty of "responding promptly to disasters as they occur."

Aaron Walker, a FEMA spokesman, said the agency is reviewing Berrigan's decision. "Once the review is complete," Walker said, "FEMA will work with its federal partners on the best course of action."

Andrew Ames, a Justice Department spokesman, declined to comment on the ruling.

Also Wednesday, Berrigan certified the lawsuit, filed by four Katrina victims whose rental assistance was discontinued, as a class covering about 31,000 households across the nation that rely on FEMA to pay rent.

Berrigan criticized FEMA's procedures, noting that letters announcing a halt in aid are replete with "incomprehensible hieroglyphic abbreviations."

The judge questioned the agency's handling of the housing crisis.

"The plaintiffs have provided a litany of 'horror stories' of individuals who have already suffered grievous loss and trauma, trying to navigate through a bureaucracy that responds, at best, erratically and often in cross purposes with itself," she said.

"Instead of confronting these allegations," Berrigan wrote, "the defendants suggest, in a cavalier fashion, that if the plaintiffs do not understand FEMA's codes and procedures, they can appeal."

Adam Strochak, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said there is evidence FEMA has been cutting off aid to thousands of households without proper justification.

"All we know is that there is a problem here. The clients coming into centers are asking for help. They don't know why the agency is finding them ineligible, they think they are eligible," Strochak said.

The ruling will allow people who recently lost subsidies to continue receiving help until they have a chance to appeal, Strochak said.

To get aid, victims must prove their former homes are inhabitable and they do not have the means to pay rent. The rental program has been plagued by fraud and FEMA has tried to ferret out people who have improperly received assistance.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)