Terms Used In Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure 5091

  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
  • Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
  • Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.

A.  The court shall appoint an attorney at law to represent the defendant, on the petition or ex parte written motion of the plaintiff, when:

(1)  It has jurisdiction over the person or property of the defendant, or over the status involved, and the defendant is:

(a)  A nonresident or absentee who has not been served with process, either personally or through an agent for the service of process, and who has not waived objection to jurisdiction.

(b)  An unemancipated minor or mental incompetent who has no legal representative, and who may be sued through an attorney at law appointed by the court to represent him.

(c)  Deceased and no succession representative has been appointed.

(2)  The action of proceeding is in rem and:

(a)  The defendant is dead, no succession representative has been appointed, and his heirs and legatees have not been sent into possession judicially.

(b)  The defendant is a corporation, a limited liability company, or partnership on which process cannot be served for any reason.

(c)  The defendant’s property is under the administration of a legal representative, but the latter has died, resigned, or been removed from office and no successor thereof has qualified, or has left the state permanently without appointing someone to represent him.

B.  All proceedings against such a defendant shall be conducted contradictorily against the attorney at law appointed by the court to represent him.  For the limited purpose of any such action or proceeding, the appointed attorney at law shall be the proper representative of the succession of any such decedent to the same extent as if he were the regularly appointed and duly qualified administrator or executor in such decedent’s succession.

C.  The improper designation of the attorney appointed by the court to represent such a defendant as curator ad hoc, tutor ad hoc, special tutor, or any other title, does not affect the validity of the proceeding.

D.  The improper designation of a defendant for whom an attorney has been appointed by the court in an action or proceeding in rem under Paragraph (A)(2) of this Article shall not affect the validity of the proceedings and any judgment rendered therein shall be binding upon the parties and property involved in the action or proceeding in rem.  Therefore, naming an attorney to represent the unopened succession of the defendant, the succession of the defendant, the estate of the defendant, the deceased defendant, or any other similar designation or appellation shall satisfy the requirements of Paragraph (A)(2)(a).  The designation of a corporation or a partnership by a name sufficient to identify the same to a reasonably prudent man, regardless of any errors which it might contain, shall satisfy the requirements of Paragraph (A)(2)(b).

Amended by Acts 1964, No. 4, §1; Acts 1991, No. 366, §1, eff. July 6, 1991; Acts 1992, No. 584, §2; Acts 1997, No. 578, §1; Acts 1999, No. 145, §2.

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