Art. 4911.Jurisdiction In Justice of the Peace Courts; Concurrent With District Court; Amount In Dispute

Justice of the peace courts sit at the bottom of Louisiana's judicial ladder, below even the parish and city courts covered elsewhere in this Book. They are informal, often part-time tribunals serving a single ward or similarly small territory, and Article 4911 sets the outer boundary of what they may hear: any civil case in which the amount in dispute does not exceed five thousand dollars. That jurisdiction is concurrent with the district court, so a plaintiff with a small claim can choose either forum rather than being funneled into the justice of the peace court by default.

Measuring the amount in dispute follows a familiar formula used elsewhere in this Book: it is the amount the plaintiff demands, or the value asserted in good faith, stripped of interest, court costs, attorney fees, and any penalty owed by agreement or by law. A claim padded with interest and fees to clear the five-thousand-dollar mark does not clear it that way; the court looks at the underlying demand alone.

Cases do not always stay within their original boundaries. If an amended or supplemental pleading, or an incidental demand such as a reconventional demand, pushes the claim's value past the justice of the peace court's ceiling, Article 4911 does not let the court proceed anyway. It requires the court to transfer the action to a court with proper jurisdiction, so long as the demand was asserted in good faith rather than as a tactic to force a transfer.