If a party has filed separate suits in a city court and a district court which has territorial jurisdiction over the city court relating to the same cause of action but placing a claim for property damage in one court and a claim for personal injury in the other court, the city court upon contradictory motion, or upon the court's own motion, after contradictory hearing may transfer the suit in its court to the district court if the transfer serves the convenience of the parties and the witnesses and is in the interest of justice.
Art. 4852.Change of Venue; City Court; Forum Non Conveniens
Book VIII. Trial Courts of Limited Jurisdiction · Title I. General Dispositions · Chapter 2. Civil Jurisdiction · Enacted 1986 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 30, 2026
In one sentenceArticle 4852 lets a city court transfer to the district court a suit for property damage that a party has split off from a related personal injury suit already filed in that district court, when the transfer serves the parties' and witnesses' convenience and the interest of justice.
Full Text of Art. 4852
Amendment History
Acts 1986, No. 156, §1.
Plain-English Summary
Forum non conveniens is a familiar idea in Louisiana practice: a court that technically has jurisdiction and venue over a case can still decline to keep it when another forum plainly serves the parties and the interests of justice. Article 4852 applies that idea to one specific city-court scenario.
The scenario arises when a single underlying dispute, typically a single accident giving rise to both property damage and personal injury, has been split into two separate lawsuits: a property-damage claim filed in a city court, and a personal-injury claim filed in the district court that has territorial jurisdiction over that city court. Rather than litigate the same accident twice in two forums, Article 4852 lets the city court send its property-damage suit up to the district court, so one court handles both pieces together.
The transfer is not automatic. It requires a contradictory hearing, whether triggered by a party's contradictory motion or the city court's own motion, and the city court must find that the move serves the convenience of the parties and the witnesses and is in the interest of justice. Consolidating related claims this way avoids duplicated discovery, inconsistent findings on the same underlying facts, and witnesses having to testify about the same event in two different courtrooms.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a city court send a property damage case to district court if a related suit is already there?
Yes, under Article 4852, when the same cause of action has been split into a property-damage suit in city court and a personal-injury suit in the district court with territorial jurisdiction over that city court.
Is the transfer under Article 4852 automatic?
No. It requires a contradictory hearing and a finding that transfer serves the convenience of the parties and witnesses and the interest of justice, whether raised by a party's motion or the city court's own motion.
What is forum non conveniens in this context?
It is the principle letting a court decline to keep a case it technically has authority over because another forum is better suited to handle it, here applied to consolidate a split property-damage and personal-injury dispute in one district court.
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: forum non conveniens city court LouisianaArticle 4852 Louisianatransfer property damage suit to district courtchange of venue city court Louisianasplit property damage personal injury suits Louisiana