Reworking Louisiana's Private Works Act
Author | L. David Cromwell - Mallory Waller |
Position | Member, Louisiana Bar, and Vice President and Member of the Council of the Louisiana State Law Institute, as well as Reporter of its Security Devices Committee, which prepared the projet of the 2019 revision of the Private Works Act. Tulane University of Louisiana, J.D. (1983) - Member, Louisiana Bar, and Coordinator of Research and Revisor of ... |
Pages | 993-1119 |
Louisiana Law Review Louisiana Law Review
Volume 80
Number 4
Summer 2020
Article 6
11-11-2020
Reworking Louisiana’s Private Works Act Reworking Louisiana’s Private Works Act
L. David Cromwell
Mallory Waller
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev
Part of the Construction Law Commons
Repository Citation Repository Citation
L. David Cromwell and Mallory Waller,
Reworking Louisiana’s Private Works Act
, 80 La. L. Rev. (2020)
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev/vol80/iss4/6
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at LSU Law Digital
Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Louisiana Law Review by an authorized editor of LSU Law Digital
Commons. For more information, please contact kreed25@lsu.edu.
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Reworking Louisiana’s Private Works Act
L. David Cromwell
Mallory C. Waller
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction .................................................................................. 995
I. Historical Development................................................................ 997
A. The Code Napoleon ............................................................... 997
B. The Digest of 1808 and the Civil Code of 1825 .................. 1000
C. Subsequent Amendments and the
Civil Code of 1870............................................................... 1003
D. Genesis of the Private Works Act........................................ 1004
E. The 1981 Revision ...............................................................1007
F. The 2019 Revision............................................................... 1010
II. Basic Protections Afforded by the Act....................................... 1015
A. General Observations........................................................... 1015
B. Privileges Granted by Louisiana Revised
Statutes Section 9:4801........................................................ 1016
C. Claims Against the Owner and Privileges Granted
by Louisiana Revised Statutes Section 9:4802 .................... 1017
D. Claims Against the Contractor Granted by
Louisiana Revised Statutes Section 9:4802......................... 1021
Copyright 2020, by L. DAVID CROMWELL AND MALLORY C. WALLER.
The authors express appreciation to the members and special advisors of the
Security Devices Committee of the Louisiana State Law Institute, whose names are
given in notes 75 and 76, infra. The authors also acknowledge an immense debt of
gratitude to the late Professor Thomas A. Harrell, who, as the Reporter of the
Security Devices Committee, was the guiding force behind the revision of the
Private Works Act in 1981.
Member, Louisiana Bar, and Vice President and Member of the Council of
the Louisiana State Law Institute, as well as Reporter of its Security Devices
Committee, which prepared the projet of the 2019 revision of the Private Works
Act. Tulane University of Louisiana, J.D. (1983).
Member, Louisiana Bar, and Coordinator of Research and Revisor of
Statutes of the Louisiana State Law Institute, as well as staff attorney of its Security
Devices Committee. Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center, J.D.
(2015).
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994 LOUISIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 80
III. Definitions.................................................................................. 1022
A. Owner ................................................................................ 1022
B. Contractors and Subcontractors........................................... 1024
C. Work ................................................................................ 1026
D. Commencement of Work..................................................... 1029
E. Substantial Completion and Abandonment of Work ...........1031
F. Residential Work ................................................................. 1034
G Immovables.......................................................................... 1036
H. Complete Property Description ........................................... 1039
I. Professional Consultants and Professional
Subconsultants ..................................................................... 1042
IV. Filing Requirements ................................................................... 1044
A. Notice of Contract................................................................ 1045
B. No-Work Affidavits............................................................. 1050
C. Notice of Termination.......................................................... 1054
D. Statement of Claim or Privilege........................................... 1058
1. Purposes ........................................................................ 1058
2. Formal and Substantive Requirements.......................... 1058
3. Filing Periods Under the 1981 Act................................ 1062
4. Filing Periods Under the 2019 Revision ....................... 1066
5. Necessity of Filing ........................................................ 1068
6. Request for Notice of Commencement of
Filing Periods ................................................................ 1069
E. Notice of Pendency of Action.............................................. 1070
F. Cancellation of Filings......................................................... 1072
V. Notice Requirements.................................................................. 1075
A. Lessors................................................................................. 1075
B. Professional Consultants and Professional
Subconsultants ..................................................................... 1078
C. Sub-Subcontractors.............................................................. 1079
D. Residential Claimants .......................................................... 1080
E. Section 4802 Claimants on Works for Which
Notice of Contract Was Filed .............................................. 1081
F. Mechanisms of Notice ......................................................... 1082
VI. Enforcement ............................................................................... 1087
A. Suit ................................................................................ 1087
B. Concursus ............................................................................ 1089
C. Liability of the Surety ..........................................................1091
D. Attorney Fees....................................................................... 1094
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