4.5 Durability of IFP Status

Once IFP status has been granted, a litigant maintains that status unless it is revoked by the court at a contradictory hearing.1  One slight exception to this general rule arises if an IFP litigant dies while the litigation is pending. As a personal privilege, IFP status can be extended to a testamentary representative maintaining a suit on behalf of the decedent, but only after the representative “establish[es] that the estate of the deceased is indigent.”2

However, some courts make the status time-limited by local rule. For instance, in the Twenty-Second Judicial District Court (comprising St. Tammany and Washington Parishes), a litigant must renew IFP status annually.3  Although not expressly stated in the Code of Civil Procedure, a court’s setting an expiration date for IFP status is envisioned as a possibility.4  Ignoring the local rule has significant consequences: “Failure to submit a timely new application shall result in the litigant’s right to proceed in forma pauperis to be rescinded and the Clerk of Court shall take steps necessary to recover the court costs which have accrued.”5

However, because IFP status generally persists, an IFP litigant need not reapply for IFP status on appeal.6  As a result, an adverse party who challenges IFP status solely on account of the case’s movement to appeal may be accused of making the argument in bad faith.7

• 1See La. C.C.P. art. 5185(A)(5) (“When an order of court permits a party to litigate without the payment of costs until this order is rescinded or expires, the party is entitled to . . . [t]he right to a devolutive appeal, and to apply for supervisory writs.” (emphasis added)).
• 2Bates v. Dep’t of Culture, Recreation & Tourism, Off. of State Museum, 94-2265, p. 2 (La. App. 1 Cir. 2/23/96), 694 So. 2d 294, 295.
• 3La. Dist. Ct. Rules, 22nd Jud. Dist. Ct., Appendix 3.1, (hereinafter, 22nd JDC Rules).
• 4La. C.C.P. art. 5185(A)(5) (“When an order of court permits a party to litigate without the payment of costs until this order . . . expires . . . .” (emphasis added)).
• 522nd JDC Rules, Appendix 3.1, supra.
• 6See Dowden v. Miller, 404 So. 2d 1270, 1271 (La. App. 1 Cir. 1981) (“Thus once the trial court allowed plaintiff to proceed in forma pauperis and did not rescind the order, the second forma pauperis order was not necessary, and plaintiff could perfect a devolutive appeal ‘without paying the costs in advance, or as they accrue, or furnishing security therefor.’”). On the types of appeals available to IFP litigants, see Section X.
• 7See Chimento v. KDM Elec. of Alexandria, 2017-146, p. 2 (La. App. 3 Cir. 5/10/17), 2017 WL 1951364 (denying adverse party’s motion to traverse IFP status on appeal and mentioning, without deciding, plaintiff’s argument “that Defendants have ‘offered this Court nothing to suggest that the motion to traverse was filed in good faith’”).