USA – LOUISIANA Law and Practice Contributed by: Allan Kanner, Conlee Whiteley and Cynthia St. Amant, Kanner & Whiteley, LLC
recently Louisiana courts have been applying a rig- ourous analysis in class certification decisions. The state’s high court has made it clear that trial courts must carefully ensure every requirement of Article 591 is satisfied before a class is certified, often necessitat- ing examination of the merits insofar as they overlap with certification issues. For example, in a recent class action seeking tuition refunds after universities shifted to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Louisiana appellate court reversed a trial court’s class certification, reasoning that a multitude of indi- vidualised inquiries would be needed to determine the defendant’s liability as to each student plaintiff. The outcome in the case suggests a jurisprudential policy not to permit class actions to proceed unless the class is clearly cohesive and the statutory criteria are satis- fied after rigourous judicial scrutiny. Significant federal developments, including CAFA, which continues to funnel many large multi-state class suits into federal court, and recent US Supreme Court decisions (such as those enforcing arbitration clauses to bar class claims and tightening standing for class members) inevitably influence Louisiana practitioners. 4.2 Legislative Reform Louisiana has seen recent legislative efforts to reshape class action practice. In 2024, the legislature approved a new litigation financing disclosure law to curb undisclosed third-party funding of lawsuits. This law imposes additional transparency in all civil cases, including class actions, by requiring that any third- party litigation financing agreements be disclosed. It bars foreign or outside funders from controlling liti- gation, a safeguard ostensibly aimed at preventing manipulation of class suits. In 2021, the Louisiana legislature overhauled the Code of Civil Procedure’s class-certification provisions, with input from the Louisiana State Law Institute. Under the updated Article 592, a plaintiff seeking class treatment must move for certification within a fixed time, gen- erally within 90 days of the responsive pleadings, or else the court may strike the class allegations absent
a showing of good cause. Courts are prohibited from certifying a class action until all named defendants have been served and parties have had a reasona- ble opportunity to conduct discovery on certification issues. The law further codified that the proponent of the class bears the burden of proving all the pre- requisites of Louisiana’s class action rule; and it now requires courts to issue written findings of fact and reasons when ruling on class certification, if requested in a timely manner. A party can take an immediate appeal as of right from an order granting or denying class certification, ensuring prompt appellate scrutiny of such decisions. More recently, in 2025 the legislature passed House Bill 416, which would prohibit class action lawsuits against the Louisiana Department of Revenue and its Office of Debt Recovery in matters related to tax administration. This measure forecloses tax refund or tax policy challenges from being pursued as class actions against the state’s revenue agency, reflecting a policy choice to channel such disputes into indi- vidual claims or other procedures.
5. Key Trends 5.1 Impact of Key Trends
The prevailing trend within Louisiana is a state-driven calibration of class action policy. Through amend- ments to its class certification provisions, targeted legislation such as new funding disclosure require- ments, limits on certain public-sector class suits and recent state-court jurisprudence, Louisiana is actively shaping how and when class actions can be utilised while attempting to balance efficient collective redress with the need to prevent over-broad class litigation.
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