7.5.1 General Principles

If an appeal or a motion for new trial is not available, the only other post-trial remedy is a petition for nullity of judgment. This remedy presents most commonly when a default judgment has been rendered against a client who did not receive service of process, paid the rent before the eviction judgment, or was told by the landlord not to attend the trial.

A petition for nullity of judgment does not stay execution of the allegedly null judgment. Therefore, such petitions should be verified and include an application for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.1  A petition for nullity of judgment and injunctive relief should generally be brought in the trial court that rendered the eviction judgment.2  The petition for nullity of judgment may be filed in the eviction case.3

A preliminary injunction requires a prima facie showing of irreparable harm and likelihood of success on the merits.4  The verified petition for nullity of judgment and injunctive relief should include factual allegations showing that the tenant will suffer irreparable injury if a temporary restraining order is not granted. Irreparable injury is present in virtually all evictions involving indigent tenants.5

A judgment may be annulled for vice of form or of substance.6

• 1La. C.C.P. arts. 3601–3613.
• 2La. C.C.P. art. 2006.
• 3Gazebo, Inc. v. City of New Orleans, 97-2769 (La. App. 4 Cir. 3/23/98), 710 So. 2d 354, 358.
• 4Easterling v. Est. of Miller, 2014-1354 (La. App. 4 Cir. 12/23/15), 184 So. 3d 222, 229.
• 5See, e.g., Park Vill. Apartment Tenants Ass’n v. Mortimer Howard Tr., 636 F.3d 1150, 1159 (9th Cir. 2011).
• 6See La. C.C.P. arts. 2001­–2006.