La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 5095

This is the official text of La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 5095, part of Louisiana’s Code of Civil Procedure — sets the procedural rules for civil lawsuits in Louisiana courts.

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Same; defense of action

Official statutory text

A. The attorney at law appointed by the court to represent a defendant shall use reasonable diligence to inquire of the defendant, and to determine from other available sources, what defense, if any, the defendant may have, and what evidence is available in support thereof.

B. Except in an executory proceeding, the attorney may except to the petition, shall file an answer or other pleading in time to prevent a default judgment from being rendered, may plead therein any affirmative defense available, may prosecute an appeal from an adverse judgment, and generally has the same duty, responsibility, and authority in defending the action or proceeding as if he had been retained as counsel for the defendant.

Acts 2017, No. 419, §1; Acts 2021, No. 174, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2022.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.