A party, upon reasonable notice to other parties and all persons affected thereby, may apply for an order compelling discovery as follows:
Art. 1469.Motion For Order Compelling Discovery
Book II. Ordinary Proceedings · Title III. Production of Evidence · Chapter 3. Discovery · Last amended 2012 · Last verified July 30, 2026
In one sentenceArticle 1469 is Louisiana's motion-to-compel provision -- it lets a party ask the court to force answers, designations, or document inspection when discovery has stalled, and it shifts attorney's fees and expenses to whichever side loses the motion unless that side's position was substantially justified.
Full Text of Art. 1469
(1) An application for an order to a party or a deponent who is not a party may be made to the court in which the action is pending.
(2) If a deponent fails to answer a question propounded or submitted under Articles 1437 or 1448, or a corporation or other entity fails to make a designation under Articles 1442 or 1448, or a party fails to answer an interrogatory submitted under Article 1457, or if a party, in response to a request for inspection submitted under Article 1461, fails to respond that inspection will be permitted as requested or fails to permit inspection as requested, the discovering party may move for an order compelling an answer, or a designation, or an order compelling inspection in accordance with the request. When taking a deposition on oral examination, the proponent of the question may complete or adjourn the examination before he applies for an order.
If the court denies the motion in whole or in part, it may make such protective order as it would have been empowered to make on a motion made pursuant to Article 1426.
(3) For purposes of this Subdivision an evasive or incomplete answer is to be treated as a failure to answer.
(4) If the motion is granted, the court shall, after opportunity for hearing, require the party or deponent whose conduct necessitated the motion or the party or attorney advising such conduct or both of them to pay to the moving party the reasonable expenses incurred in obtaining the order, including attorney's fees, unless the court finds that the opposition to the motion was substantially justified or that other circumstances make an award of expenses unjust.
If the motion is denied, the court shall, after opportunity for hearing, require the moving party or the attorney advising the motion or both of them to pay to the party or deponent who opposed the motion the reasonable expenses incurred in opposing the motion, including attorney's fees, unless the court finds that the making of the motion was substantially justified or that other circumstances make an award of expenses unjust. If the motion is granted in part and denied in part, the court may apportion the reasonable expenses incurred in relation to the motion among the parties and persons in a just manner.
(5) An application for an order compelling discovery to a member or former member of the legislature in his capacity as a state lawmaker, or a legislative employee in his official capacity, when the legislature or either body thereof is not a party to the proceeding may be made to the court in which the action is pending, but no order compelling discovery shall issue except in strict conformity with the provisions of R.S.13:3667.3(C). For purposes of this Article "legislative employee" means the clerk of the House of Representatives, the secretary of the Senate, or an employee of the House of Representatives, the Senate, or the Legislative Bureau.
Amendment History
Acts 1976, No. 574, §1; Acts 2006, No. 690, §1, eff. 6/29/2006; Acts 2008, No. 374, §1, eff. 6/21/2008; Acts 2012, No. 519, §1.
Plain-English Summary
Discovery doesn't always go smoothly, and Article 1469 is the tool for getting it moving again. On reasonable notice, a party can move to compel when a deponent refuses to answer a question, when an entity fails to designate a witness to testify on its behalf, when a party fails to answer an interrogatory, or when a party refuses to permit inspection it was asked to allow. An evasive or incomplete answer counts the same as no answer at all -- a party can't satisfy its discovery obligations by giving a technically responsive but useless answer.
If the court denies the motion, it can instead issue a protective order shielding the responding party from discovery it shouldn't have to provide. But when the court grants the motion, the consequences go beyond compelling a response: after a chance to be heard, the court must order the losing party or deponent, or the attorney who advised the resistance, or both, to pay the moving party's reasonable expenses, including attorney's fees -- unless the opposition was substantially justified or an award would otherwise be unjust. The same fee-shifting runs the other way if the motion is denied, and the court can apportion expenses between the parties when the ruling is mixed.
That expense-shifting is what gives the article teeth: it discourages both groundless discovery demands and groundless discovery resistance, because losing a motion to compel can mean paying the other side's legal bill for bringing or fighting it. When a party ignores the resulting order altogether, Articles 1470 and 1471 provide the further consequences -- contempt and additional sanctions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a motion to compel discovery?
A request that the court force the other side to answer a question, designate a witness, or allow an inspection it has refused, after informal efforts to resolve the dispute have failed.
Does an evasive answer count as a failure to answer?
Yes. Article 1469 expressly treats an evasive or incomplete answer as a failure to answer for purposes of a motion to compel.
Who pays for a motion to compel?
Generally the losing side pays the winner's reasonable expenses and attorney's fees, unless the losing position was substantially justified or an award would be unjust; expenses can be split when the ruling is mixed.
What happens if the other side still won't comply after the court grants my motion?
Articles 1470 and 1471 provide contempt and further sanctions for disobeying an order compelling discovery.
Source & verification. Article text is reproduced verbatim from
the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure (legis.la.gov). Enacted by the Louisiana Legislature.
Last verified July 30, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: motion to compelMTCcompel discoverycompel interrogatory answers