Art. 531.Actions Pending In Louisiana Court Or Courts

Lis pendens is Latin for a suit that is pending, and in many states that phrase refers to a notice recorded against real estate to warn buyers that a property is tied up in litigation. Louisiana's Article 531 uses the same phrase for something different: a rule against filing the same lawsuit twice.

When the same transaction or occurrence, between the same parties in the same capacities, is already the subject of one pending suit in a Louisiana court, and a second suit over that same matter turns up in another Louisiana court, or even in another division of the same court, the defendant can object. Raising the objection by exception lets the defendant have every suit but the first one dismissed, cutting off duplicate litigation before it wastes anyone's time.

The defendant doesn't have to raise the objection, and nothing forces the issue. If the defendant lets both suits proceed, the plaintiff may continue prosecuting either one. But only one of them controls: whichever suit reaches a final judgment first becomes conclusive of the others, closing out any parallel suit still pending on the same matter.