Art. 595.Award of Expenses of Litigation; Security For Costs

Article 595's first paragraph codifies what is sometimes called the common-fund principle: when a class action results in a fund being made available to the class, or in a recovery or compromise that benefits the class, the court may award the representative parties their reasonable litigation expenses, including attorney's fees, out of that benefit. The idea is that a class representative and class counsel who create a recovery for a group of people who never had to lift a finger should be compensated from the value they created, rather than absorbing the cost of representing everyone else for free.

Paragraph B addresses a different concern: protecting the defendant's ability to recover its own costs if the class loses. On a contradictory motion — one filed and argued with notice to the other side — the court can require the plaintiff in a class action to post security for the court costs a defendant may be compelled to pay. That security amount is not fixed once set; either side can come back on a further contradictory motion showing that the security furnished has become inadequate or excessive, and the court can adjust it up or down accordingly.