ENROLLED
ACT No. 469
2022 Regular Session
HOUSE BILL NO. 389
BY REPRESENTATIVE PRESSLY
1 AN ACT
2 To amend and reenact Civil Code Articles 3461 and 3472.1, to enact Code of Civil
3 Procedure Article 196.2, and to repeal Code of Civil Procedure Article 562, relative
4 to prescription and peremption; to provide for emergency suspension of certain
5 prescription and peremption periods; to provide for the emergency suspension of
6 abandonment periods; to provide relative to the Louisiana Supreme Court; to provide
7 for emergency extension of certain deadlines; and to provide for related matters.
8 Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
9 Section 1. Civil Code Articles 3461 and 3472.1 are hereby amended and reenacted
10 to read as follows:
11 Art. 3461. Renunciation, interruption, or suspension ineffective
12 Peremption Except as otherwise provided by law, peremption may not be
13 renounced, interrupted, or suspended.
14 * * *
15 Art. 3472.1. Emergency suspension of prescription and peremption
16 A. Notwithstanding any other provisions provision of the law or any
17 provision of an executive order or proclamation, in the event the governor, in
18 response to declares a state of emergency or disaster, issues an executive order or
19 proclamation pursuant to R.S. 29:721 through 772, the Supreme Court of Louisiana
20 may enter an order or series of orders as deemed necessary and appropriate to
21 suspend all prescriptive and peremptive periods for a period of time not to exceed
22 ninety days. Thereafter, should the need for continuing suspension be necessary to
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1 preserve access to the courts, the governor may issue executive orders as deemed
2 appropriate. The period of suspension authorized by the provisions of this Article
3 shall terminate upon the earlier of an order of the Supreme Court of Louisiana or
4 upon termination of the declared state of disaster or emergency. Nothing in this
5 Article limits the authority of the governor or the legislature to act in accordance
6 with its authority 775 that purports to suspend or extend liberative prescriptive or
7 peremptive periods in all or part of the state, the executive order or proclamation
8 shall have the effect of suspending only those liberative prescriptive or peremptive
9 periods that would have otherwise accrued during the period of time specified in the
10 order or proclamation or, if no period of time is specified, during the duration of the
11 effectiveness of the executive order or proclamation. Upon the termination of the
12 period of suspension, liberative prescription or peremption commences to run again
13 and accrues upon the earlier of thirty days after the expiration of the period of
14 suspension or in accordance with the period of time as calculated pursuant to Article
15 3472.
16 B. The right to file any pleading subject to the suspension as provided by
17 Paragraph A of this Article shall terminate sixty days after the termination of the
18 suspension as provided by Paragraph A of this Article.
19 Section 2. Code of Civil Procedure Article 196.2 is hereby enacted to read as
20 follows:
21 Art. 196.2. Power of Supreme Court to extend deadlines during emergencies
22 In the event that the governor declares a state of emergency or disaster
23 pursuant to R.S. 29:721 through 775, the Supreme Court of Louisiana, rather than
24 the governor, may issue orders suspending or extending deadlines applicable to legal
25 proceedings in courts, including periods of time applicable for abandonment of
26 actions, in all or part of the state of Louisiana. A court order suspending or
27 extending deadlines applicable to legal proceedings in courts shall have the effect of
28 extending only those deadlines that would have otherwise accrued during the period
29 of time specified in the order. After the period of suspension or extension has
30 expired, a party shall have an amount of time as specified in the court order to file
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1 any pleading affected by the suspension or extension. If no amount of time is
2 specified, a party shall have thirty days after the period of suspension or extension
3 has expired.
4 Section 3. Code of Civil Procedure Article 562 is hereby repealed in its entirety.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA
APPROVED:
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