Article by Paul Barron
On August 30, 1983, Louisiana joined seventeen other states in regulating timesharing. The passage of the Louisiana Timesharing Act (Timesharing Act), a comprehensive statute, was supported by both timeshare developers and consumer advocates. The form of the Timesharing Act as passed is substantially different from the various bills introduced in both the Louisiana House of Representatives and Senate. Thus, the Timesharing Act represents a compromise among the various interests between the parties directly affected, and reflects as well the insights into the operation of the timeshare industry gained by the drafters during the legislative process.
The general structure and content of the bill that ultimately represented the majority of provisions of the Timesharing Act did not magically emerge from the drafters' minds. Rather, many of the approaches and much of the language were suggested by the timeshare statutes of other states, the Louisiana Condominium Act (Condominium Act) and two model timeshare statutes. These model statutes—the Uniform Law Commissioners' Model Real Estate Time-Share Act (Uniform Law Commissioners' Model Act) and the Model Timeshare Act (National TimeSharing Council Model Act)—are particularly useful in understanding the Timesharing Act.
The purpose of this article is to explore the meaning and application of the Timesharing Act in light of its legislative history and the various sources from which statutory language was drawn. The deficiencies in the Timesharing Act will be discussed throughout, and, where appropriate, solutions will be proposed. However, before one can deal with these issues, one must examine the nature and economic basis of timeshares, as well as methods of legally creating timeshare interest, and the Louisiana legislation that arguably regulated timeshares prior to the passage of the Timesharing Act. These matters are the focus of the next section.
About the Author
Paul Barron. Associate Professor, Tulane Law School.
Citation
58 Tul. L. Rev. 863 (1984)