Opinion ID: 1092897
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Liberal Construction Standard.

Text: The jurisprudence has uniformly held that La. C. Civ. Pro. art. 561 is to be liberally construed in favor of maintaining a plaintiff's suit. The jurisprudence has echoed some general policy considerations that dictate this result. Oft-quoted is the following statement by Justice (then Judge) Lemmon in Kanuk v. Pohlmann, 338 So.2d 757, 758 (La.App. 4th Cir.1976), writ denied, 341 So.2d 420 (La.1977): The purpose of the C.C.P. art. 561 is to dismiss actions which have been abandoned, and the article provides for dismissal of those cases in which a plaintiffs inaction during a legislatively ordained period has clearly demonstrated his abandonment of the case. The article was not intended, however, to dismiss those cases in which a plaintiff has clearly demonstrated before the court during the prescribed period that he does not intend to abandon the action. [11] Quoting the above language from Kanuk, the appellate courts have declined to allow form to prevail over substance in determining whether an action has been abandoned. [12] This court has likewise declined to allow suits to be dismissed as abandoned based on technical formalities. [13] In sum, abandonment is not meant to dismiss actions on mere technicalities, but to dismiss actions which in fact clearly have been abandoned.