CHAPTER 4. ABANDONMENT OF ACTION

Art. 561. Abandonment in trial and appellate court

            A.(1) An action is abandoned when the parties fail to take any step in its prosecution or defense in the trial court for a period of three years.

            (2) This Article shall be operative without formal order. A step in the prosecution or defense in the trial court shall interrupt the abandonment period. After the three-year abandonment period has expired, the defendant may renounce the defense of abandonment.

            (3) Any formal discovery authorized by this Code, whether or not filed of record, including the taking of a deposition with or without formal notice, constitutes a step in the prosecution or defense of an action against all parties on whom the discovery was served or who were in attendance or represented at the deposition.

            B.(1) Any party or other interested person may file an ex parte motion to dismiss based on abandonment and shall attach to the motion to dismiss an affidavit of the mover or the mover's attorney of record certifying all of the following:

            (a) The three-year abandonment period has expired.

            (b) No timely step in the prosecution or defense of the action has been taken pursuant to Subparagraph (A)(2) or (3) of this Article.

            (c) No renunciation has occurred pursuant to Subparagraph (A)(2) of this Article.            (2) The affidavit shall also include a list of all pleadings, documents, or judgments that have been filed in the record during the three years preceding the date on which the mover claims that the abandonment period expired. The mover shall also list and attach all written communication pertaining to the action between the mover and any adverse party or their attorneys of record in the one year preceding the date on which the mover claims that the abandonment period expired.

            C. The court shall enter an ex parte judgment of dismissal without prejudice as of the date of the abandonment of the action if the record confirms and the mover's accompanying affidavit attests to all of the following:

            (1) The three-year abandonment period has expired.

            (2) No timely step in the prosecution or defense of an action has been taken pursuant to Subparagraph (A)(2) or (3) of this Article.

            (3) The defendant has not renounced the defense of abandonment pursuant to Subparagraph (A)(2) of this Article.

            (4) No pleadings, documents, or judgments have been filed in the record during the three years immediately preceding the expiration of the abandonment period.

            (5) There has been no written communication pertaining to the action between the mover and any adverse party or their attorneys of record during the last year of the abandonment period.

            D. If the mover's affidavit certifies that any pleadings, documents, or judgments have been filed in the record during the three years preceding the expiration of the abandonment period or that there has been written communication pertaining to the action between the mover and any adverse party or their attorneys of record during the one year preceding the expiration of the abandonment period, the court shall either sign the judgment of dismissal ex parte or set the motion to dismiss for a contradictory hearing.

            E. The sheriff shall serve the ex parte judgment of dismissal in accordance with Article 1314 and shall execute a return pursuant to Article 1292.

            F. If an ex parte judgment of dismissal is granted, a motion to set aside the dismissal may be filed within thirty days after the date of the sheriff's service of the judgment of dismissal. At the hearing to set aside the dismissal, the burden of proof rests with the mover of the original motion to dismiss based on abandonment. If the trial court denies a timely motion to set aside the dismissal, the clerk of court shall send notice of the order of denial pursuant to Article 1913(A) and shall file a certificate pursuant to Article 1913(D).

            G.(1) An appeal of a judgment of dismissal rendered ex parte may be taken within sixty days after the date of the sheriff's service of the judgment of dismissal pursuant to Paragraph E of this Article.

            (2) An appeal of a judgment of dismissal rendered after a contradictory hearing may be taken within sixty days after the clerk's transmission of that judgment.

            (3) An appeal of a denial of the motion to set aside a dismissal filed pursuant to Paragraph F of this Article may be taken within sixty days after the clerk's transmission of the order of denial.

            H. An appeal is abandoned when the parties fail to take any step in its prosecution or disposition for the period provided in the rules of the appellate court.

            I. The granting of a motion to set aside a judgment of dismissal based on abandonment and the reversal of a judgment of dismissal on appeal shall each constitute a step in the prosecution or defense of an action.

            J. For the purposes of this Article, "transmission" means the sending of notice via the United States Postal Service, a commercial courier, or electronic mail.

            K. This Article does not apply to succession proceedings.

            L. If an action brought under this Article to enforce a conventional obligation is dismissed pursuant to this Article, such dismissal, notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, shall operate to interrupt any applicable liberative prescriptive period as though the dismissal of the action had not occurred.

            Amended by Acts 1966, No. 36, §1; Acts 1982, No. 186, §1; Acts 1983, No. 670, §1; Acts 1987, No. 149, §1; Acts 1997, No. 1221, §1, eff. July 1, 1998; Acts 2003, No. 545, §1; Acts 2007, No. 361, §1, eff. July 9, 2007; Acts 2023, No. 5, §1; Acts 2026, No. 127, §1.