Provides relative to fees for service of process. (8/1/26)

Senate Bill 167 amends the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure to impose a new financial requirement on plaintiffs initiating civil actions. The bill adds Article 1201(E), which mandates that service of citation shall not issue until the party requesting service deposits with the clerk of court a sum of money sufficient to cover all anticipated fees for service of citation within the ninety-day period established by existing law. The bill also amends Article 1672(C) to expand the grounds for involuntary dismissal without prejudice to include not only the failure to request timely service but also the failure to pay all required fees within the prescribed timeframe. These amendments operate within the existing framework that makes citation and service essential to the validity of civil proceedings, except in certain excepted matters such as summary proceedings, executory proceedings, and divorce actions under Civil Code Article 102.

The practical effect of this legislation falls primarily on plaintiffs and their attorneys, who must now advance the estimated costs of service before the clerk will authorize service upon defendants. Defendants gain an additional procedural protection, as the failure to deposit fees constitutes a basis for challenging the action through a declinatory exception or contradictory motion, potentially resulting in dismissal without prejudice. This creates a financial hurdle at the inception of litigation that did not previously exist. Courts retain discretion to allow additional time for both service and fee payment upon a showing of good cause, which provides a safety valve for cases where legitimate obstacles prevent timely compliance with these dual requirements.

The legislation integrates with the existing procedural structure governing service of process and the waiver of insufficiency of service defenses under Articles 928 and 1201 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The amendment to Article 1672 parallels the existing involuntary dismissal provision but expands it to encompass fee payment alongside request for service, creating parity between these two prerequisites for valid service. The bill applies prospectively only, meaning it does not affect actions commenced before its effective date of August 1, 2026, thereby avoiding retroactive application problems. The measure operates within Louisiana's civil procedure framework without apparent federal constitutional concerns, as access to courts is not absolutely impaired but rather conditioned upon reasonable payment of legitimate court administrative costs.