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Louisiana lawmakers propose 'loser pays' law to prevent frivolous suits
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BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — A bill was prefiled to prevent lawsuits from giving the defendants of lawsuits the financial burden even after trial.
Sen. Blake Miguez (R-New Iberia) and State Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Pineville) are the authors of SB148, referred to as the "loser pays legislation."
The bill states that if a defendant wins a pretrial dismissal, they can recover attorney fees from the plaintiff. If a defendant wins at a trial, resulting in the dismissal of all claims, they are also entitled to attorney fees and costs from the plaintiff.
Current Louisiana law states that each party takes care of their own attorney fees unless ruled otherwise or if there's a finding of frivolous litigation.
Miguez mentioned on X, formerly known as Twitter, that "reducing the number of frivolous lawsuits filed will lower insurance costs."
If the legislation were to pass, it would go into effect on Aug. 1.
The 2025 Regular Legislative Session will convene, starting at noon on Monday, April 14.