RS 13:4521 State and its subdivisions, boards, and commissions not required to pay court costs; exceptions
CHAPTER 28. COSTS
§4521. State and its subdivisions, boards, and commissions not required to pay court costs; exceptions
A.(1) Except as provided in R.S. 13:5112, R.S. 19:15 and 116, and R.S. 48:451.3, and as hereinafter provided, neither the state, nor any parish, municipality, nor other political subdivision, public board, or commission, nor any officer or employee of any such governmental entity when acting within the scope and authority of such employment or when discharging his official duties shall be required to pay court costs in any judicial proceeding instituted or prosecuted by or against the state, or any such parish, municipality, or other political subdivision, board, or commission, in any court of this state or any municipality of this state, including particularly but not exclusively those courts in the parish of Orleans and the city of New Orleans. This Section shall also apply to the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association and the Louisiana Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association in any judicial proceeding instituted by or against them. This Section shall also apply to the policyholder or other insured of an insolvent insurer in any judicial proceeding instituted by or against the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association and the Louisiana Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association. This Section shall also apply to employees or agents of the state if they are named as defendants in a suit arising out of the course and scope of their employment or agency. Costs which are temporarily deferred pursuant to this Section cannot be shifted to opposing parties during the pendency of such deferment.
(2) This Section shall not apply to the policyholder or other insured of an insolvent insurer in the event of a judicial determination that the claim or policy submitted by the policyholder or other insured is not a covered claim or covered policy as defined by R.S. 22:2055(3) or 2084(5). An account shall be kept of all costs incurred by the policyholder or other insured by the public officers to whom these costs would be payable. If judgment is rendered against the policyholder or other insured, he shall be condemned to pay the costs incurred by him and those recoverable by the adverse party.
(3) This Section shall not apply to the Department of Children and Family Services for any proceedings brought by the Department of Children and Family Services or any district attorney, on behalf of the Department of Children and Family Services, to establish filiation or enforce support, when such proceedings are subject to a cooperative agreement between the agency and the clerk of court of the appropriate jurisdiction. Any cooperative agreement entered into between the clerk of court and the agency shall include reimbursement for sheriff's costs.
(4) The provisions of Paragraph (3) of this Subsection shall not apply if federal funds are not available to cover the cost of the agreement.
(5) As the term is used in this Section, "political subdivision" means any parish, municipality, special district, school board, sheriff, public board, institution, department, commission, district, agency, authority, or an agency or subdivision of any of these, and any other public or governmental body of any kind which is not a state agency.
B. It shall be the duty of the exempted entities set forth above to assist in the collection of court costs due by the opposing litigants by requesting the court in question to tax costs in accordance with the provisions of Article 1920 of the Code of Civil Procedure. In this regard the entities are authorized to and shall withhold any court costs due by the opposing litigants, from any settlement payment to the said parties, and shall forward said costs to the clerk of court.
C. This Section shall have no application to stenographers' costs for taking testimony.
Acts 1964, No. 509, §1; Acts 1978, No. 467, §2; Acts 1980, No. 113, §1; Acts 1990, No. 133, §1; Acts 1991, No. 24, §1; Acts 1992, No. 414, §1; Acts 1993, No. 651, §1; Acts 1993, No. 958, §1, eff. June 25, 1993; Acts 1995, No. 777, §1; Acts 1997, No. 201, §1; Acts 2001, No. 1153, §1, eff. June 29, 2001; Acts 2008, No. 415, §2, eff. Jan. 1, 2009.