Art. 2541.Execution of Foreign Judgments

"Foreign" in this article does not mean international only. Under Article 2541, a foreign judgment is any judgment or decree rendered outside Louisiana's own court system -- from a federal court or territory, from any other state, or from a court of another country. A judgment from a Texas or Mississippi court is just as foreign to Louisiana as one from Canada or France for purposes of this article.

Louisiana does not automatically treat an out-of-state or foreign judgment as its own, ready to enforce through a Louisiana sheriff. Article 2541 requires the party holding that judgment to bring an ordinary proceeding -- a full civil action, with a petition and service on the judgment debtor -- asking a Louisiana court to recognize the judgment and make it a judgment of that Louisiana court. A duly authenticated copy of the judgment or decree has to be attached to the petition, so the court has proof of exactly what it is being asked to recognize.

Once a Louisiana court renders that recognition judgment, the judgment behaves like any other Louisiana judgment for execution purposes, opening the door to the seizure, garnishment, and other enforcement tools available under the rest of Book IV.

Paragraph C notes that this ordinary-proceeding route is not the only path for every out-of-state judgment. A judgment entitled to full faith and credit in Louisiana -- the constitutional guarantee that applies to sister-state and federal judgments, though not to judgments from other countries -- can also be enforced through the separate, more streamlined registration procedure in R.S. 13:4241. Article 2541's ordinary proceeding remains available regardless, and it is the route required for judgments from foreign countries, which fall outside full faith and credit and depend instead on Louisiana's own recognition procedure.