“Plaintiff alleges a law firm formerly representing the plaintiff acted in bad faith and/or with malice in filing evidence of a claimed lien for attorney fees and costs into the record of an arbitral proceeding, which involved the plaintiff’s efforts to collect an alleged debt. Plaintiff further alleges the law firm was similarly motivated when refusing to disavow a lien, thereby damaging the plaintiff by blocking a settlement and subjecting plaintiff to further losses imposed by a successful counterclaim by the alleged debtor in the arbitration. A fair interpretation of these allegations is that the plaintiff invokes a cause of action under the civil law abuse of right doctrine. Without deciding whether the abuse of right doctrine is applicable in the specific context of efforts by a law firm to recover its costs and attorney fees, we find at this preliminary stage of this litigation that the defendant law firm has failed to carry its burden to show it does not.”

 

Dodson & Hooks v. Louisiana Community Development Capital Fund, 2020-1002 (La. 11/24/20), 304 So.3d 844.