Could a Louisiana district court clerk hire an outside collector for unpaid court costs, including on a contingency fee?

Plain-English summary

Acadia Parish's clerk of court asked whether he could hire an outside firm or individual to collect accumulated unpaid court costs, with payment by contingency fee, hourly rate, or another negotiated method. In 2006, the Attorney General said a clerk could contract for collection assistance. R.S. 13:781 required clerks to collect fees and charges owed to their offices, and R.S. 13:843 supplied a procedure for pursuing unpaid court costs. The opinion found no state law barring a third-party collection contract.

Contract compensation remained a separate question. The AG applied the state constitution's prohibition on donating public funds and said a permissible arrangement needed a public purpose, a legal duty supporting the spending, and costs commensurate with the benefits received. It found the first two requirements met by collection work but left the proportionality determination to the clerk on the facts. It identified no statute expressly authorizing or prohibiting a contingency fee in this setting. Because such a fee's total cost could be unknown at signing, the AG suggested considering a maximum fee to avoid disproportionate payment.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2006. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Could the clerk outsource collection of overdue court costs?

The AG said yes. It found collection assistance consistent with the clerk's statutory duty and identified no state law prohibiting a contract with a third party for that work.

Did the opinion automatically approve a contingency fee of any size?

No. It found no state law expressly allowing or forbidding that payment method, but said the contract's cost had to be proportionate to the benefits. The clerk had to make that factual determination.

Why did the AG mention a maximum fee?

Contingency compensation could produce an unknown total cost when the contract was signed. The AG suggested a ceiling to avoid paying substantially more than the value of the services or benefits received.

What legal tools did the clerk have for unpaid court costs?

The opinion cited R.S. 13:843's demand-and-summary-judgment procedure and its authorization for hiring attorneys to assist with those proceedings. It used those tools and R.S. 13:781's collection duty as background for allowing collection assistance.

Background and statutory framework

The clerk said ordinary staff duties left little capacity to recover court-ordered costs owed by litigants. The AG read R.S. 13:781 as a collection duty and R.S. 13:843 as a route to judgment when costs remained unpaid after demand. It then considered the public-funds limit in Art. VII, Sec.14 of the La. Const. A private collection contract could serve the public purpose and statutory duty, but compensation still had to be commensurate with the benefit. The opinion did not decide what a reasonable rate or percentage would be for Acadia's proposed contract.

Citations

• R.S. 13:781 (clerk's duty to collect fees and charges).
• R.S. 13:843 (procedure for unpaid court costs).
• Art. VII, Sec.14 of the La. Const. (public-funds restriction applied to contract compensation).

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/05-0300

Original opinion text

May 25, 2006
Opinion Number 05-0300
90-A-1 Public Funds & Contracts
90-A-2 Public Funds- Loan, Pledge, or Grant 10 Clerks of Court - Compensation & Fees, Powers and
Mr. Robert T. “Robby” Barousse
Duties, General
R.S. 13:781
Acadia Parish Clerk of Court, 15th JDC
R.S. 13:843
P.O. Box 922
Art. VII, Sec.14 of the La. Const.
Crowley, LA 70527-0922
Summary: Clerks of the district courts may contract with third parties to assist in the collection of unpaid court costs.
Dear Mr. Barousse,

As Clerk of Court of Acadia Parish, you have requested an Attorney General’s opinion as to whether you may hire an outside firm or individual to collect unpaid court costs owed to your office. These costs are court ordered and owed by various parties to litigation in Acadia Parish. Over the years a substantial amount of unpaid court costs has accumulated, and you would like to collect it. Your staff is overworked with its normal duties, and you are asking if you can retain an outside firm or individual to collect these unpaid court costs on a contingency basis, an hourly rate, or some other negotiated basis.

In answering your question, we refer you to R.S. 13:781, which requires clerks to collect all fees and charges due their offices, and R.S. 13:843, which provides a summary procedure whereby clerks may proceed against parties who refuse to pay court costs. Pursuant to R.S. 13:843, if court costs are not paid within 10 days of demand for payment, judgment may be rendered by rule returnable two days after service on the party owing the costs. The clerk then becomes a judgment creditor, and as such has at his disposal all the resources of any judgment creditor.1 R. S. 13:843 also provides for the awarding of attorneys fees and authorizes clerks to hire attorneys to assist in the filing and trying of these rules. In Louisiana, attorney’s fees are not allowed as costs except where authorized by statute, as in this instance.2

In light of the above, it is apparent that the Legislature expects clerks to use the means available to collect court fees owed to them, and that clerks must exercise reasonable means to recover court costs from judgment debtors. In fact, the failure to do so may violate the prohibition against donating public funds found in Art. VII, Sec.14 of the La. Const.3 Thus it seems reasonable to assume that clerks can contract with third parties to assist in the collection of unpaid court costs. We are not aware of any state law that would prohibit clerks from contracting with a third party to assist in these collections.

1
nd
State of La. v. Holloway, 649 So.2d 114 (La. App. 2 Cir. 1995). 2 Huddleston v. Bossier Bank and Trust Co., 475 So.2d 1082 (La. 1985); Quealy v. Paine, Webber, Jackson & Curtis, Inc., 475 So.2d 756 (La. 1985). 3 La. Const. Art. VII, Sec.14 prohibits the state or any of its political subdivisions from loaning, pledging or donating funds or anything of value, when it is under no obligation to do so.

Page 2

Opinion Number 05-0300
Mr. Robert T. “Robby” Barousse
Acadia Parish Clerk of Court
th
15 Judicial District Court
Page -2-

To aid you in your determination as to how these third parties will be compensated, we direct you to Article VII, Section 14 of the La. Constitution. Section 14(A) prohibits the donation of public funds or things of value by the state or any of its political subdivisions. Section 14(C) authorizes political subdivisions to enter into cooperative endeavors with private parties for public purposes. (Note: The prohibition against donating public funds is not waived by the authorization in Paragraph (C) to enter into cooperative endeavors.) Our office has consistently opined that a constitutionally-sanctioned cooperative endeavor must meet the following three requirements: 1) the agreement must be for a public purpose; 2) the entity, the clerk in this case, must have a legal duty or obligation to spend the funds for this purpose, and 3) the costs must be commensurate with the benefits received.4

It is clear that a contract between a clerk and a private party for assistance in collecting outstanding court costs is one with a public purpose, and as clerks have a statutory duty to collect fees owned to their offices, the first two requirements are met. The determination as to whether the costs of the contract are proportionate to the benefits received is a factual one that must be made by you after proper consideration of all issues involved.

Please note that while we are not aware of any state law that either prohibits or authorizes contingency fee contracts in this instance, we caution you regarding the uncertainty of the actual costs involved in contingency fee agreements. Typically, total costs are unknown when a contingency contract is negotiated, and thus you risk paying costs that could be substantially greater than the value of the services you receive. If you choose to use a contingency fee contract, you may want to consider establishing a maximum fee in order to avoid a situation where the costs to your office are vastly disproportionate to the services provided or the benefits received.

We trust this adequately addresses your concerns. If you have any further questions, please contact our office.

Yours very truly,

CHARLES C. FOTI, JR.
Attorney General

BY: _________
DENISE BROU FITZGERALD
Assistant Attorney General

CCF, jr./DBF/dam

4
Atty. Gen. Op. No. 05-122, 93-787, 93-164, 92-722.

Page 3

Opinion Number 05-0300
Syllabus

90-A-1 Public Funds & Contracts
90-A-2 Public Funds- Loan, Pledge, or Grant
10 Clerks of Court - Compensation & Fees, Powers and Duties, General R.S. 13:781 R.S. 13:843 Art. VII, Sec.14 of the La. Const.

Summary: Clerks of the district courts may contract with third parties to assist in the collection of unpaid court costs.

Mr. Robert T. “Robby” Barousse
Acadia Parish Clerk of Court
15th Judicial District Court
P.O. Box 922
Crowley, LA 70527-0922

Date Received:

Date Released: May 25, 2006

Denise Brou Fitzgerald
Assistant Attorney General