Appeal from a justice of the peace court is to the parish court or, if there is no parish court, to the district court of the parish where the justice of the peace is situated.1 Appeals from justice of the peace court are tried de novo in parish or district court, and no further appeal is allowed.2 Once the appeal order is signed and bond paid, if there is a bond, the justice of the peace is divested of jurisdiction but for limited matters.3
Because a trial de novo does not allow for an appeal, it is always best practice to formulate defenses as exceptions where possible. There is no prohibition against taking a writ when an exception is improperly denied.4
At a trial de novo in parish or district court, the whole case is open for decision and is retried as if there had been no prior trial whatsoever.5 Because the case is tried de novo, the record below (if there is one) is immaterial. A tenant may raise new defenses and present new evidence in the trial de novo.6 Again, although no further appeals are allowed in justice of the peace evictions, the court of appeal still has supervisory jurisdiction over the parish or district court’s appellate jurisdiction and may reverse the eviction.7 A writ application to reverse a trial de novo decision by a parish or district court should be accompanied by a request for a stay of the eviction judgment.
- 1La. C.C.P. art. 4924(A).
- 2La. C.C.P. art. 4924(B)–(C).
- 3La. C.C.P. art. 2088.
- 4La. C.C.P. art. 4924.
- 5Some trial de novo courts treat the eviction as a review. Should this occur, it is the advocate’s responsibility to appear in court prepared to make the appropriate objections on the record, as this may give rise to a supervisory writ.
- 6See, e.g., The Home Depot v. State Workers’ Comp. Second Injury Bd., 2005 CA 0674 (La. App. 1 Cir. 03/29/06), 934 So. 2d 125, 127 (defining “de novo” in different statutory context); Nat’l Union Fire Ins. Co. v. La. Workers’ Comp. Second Injury Bd., 2014-0033 (La. App. 1 Cir. 09/19/14), 2014 WL 4667601 (same).
- 7La. C.C.P. art. 4924.