Summary
The Louisiana Court of Appeal, First Circuit, granted supervisory writs and reversed the district court’s ruling concerning the amount of a suspensive appeal bond. The court held that the bond must include attorneys’ fees awarded in the judgment, because attorneys’ fees are not excluded as costs under Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure article 2124(B)(1), and remanded for recalculation.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether attorneys' fees awarded in a money judgment must be included when calculating the security required for a suspensive appeal under Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure article 2124(B)(1).
Holdings
- When a judgment is for a sum of money, the suspensive appeal security must equal the amount of the judgment, including interest allowed by the judgment through the date the security is furnished, exclusive of costs; because attorneys' fees are not costs, awarded attorneys' fees must be included in the bond calculation.
Key quotations
“When the judgment is for a sum of money, the amount of the security for a suspensive appeal shall be equal to the amount of the judgment, including the interest allowed by the judgment to the date the security is furnished, exclusive of the costs.”
“The long standing rule of law is that attorneys’ fees are not included in costs.”
Factual background
The underlying judgment awarded a principal sum, interest, and attorneys' fees equal to 33 1/3% of the principal sum. In setting the suspensive appeal bond, the district court excluded the attorneys' fees, and Maximized Marketing objected to the resulting amount.
Procedural history
The Twenty-Second Judicial District Court for St. Tammany Parish overruled Maximized Marketing's objection to the amount of the suspensive appeal bond on July 31, 2025. The Louisiana Court of Appeal, First Circuit, granted the supervisory writ, reversed the ruling, and remanded for recalculation of the bond.
Remand instructions
The district court must increase the suspensive appeal bond to include a calculation of the attorneys' fees awarded in the judgment at issue.