Louisiana car accident law: deadlines, fault and your claim

Filing deadlines in Louisiana#

Louisiana calls its statute of limitations liberative prescriptionLiberative prescription. Louisiana's name for a statute of limitations: the period after which a claim can no longer be brought because it was not pursued in time. Glossary. A 2024 law, Act 423, lengthened the period for injury and damage claims from 1 year to 2 years. It applies only to claims arising after July 1, 2024, and the clock starts on the day the injury or damage happens.

Injured children. Under Civil Code article 3468, the deadline generally keeps running against minors unless a law makes an exception. The new two-year article pauses only in certain product liability cases involving permanent disability, so in an ordinary car-crash claim the period generally runs while the child is a minor. Families may want to ask a lawyer about the deadline early.

Claims against government. In suits against the state, its agencies or local governments, damages for one person's injuries are capped at $500,000, however many suits are filed. Property damage, medical care and lost earnings are outside that cap, and the same limit applies to wrongful death claims.

How fault is shared in Louisiana#

Louisiana switched to modified comparative faultModified comparative fault. Comparative negligence with a cut-off: once your share of blame reaches the state's bar (50% or 51%), you recover nothing. Glossary on January 1, 2026. Under Civil Code article 2323, if your share of fault is 51% or more, you recover nothing; below 51%, your damages are reduced by your share. Fault is assigned to everyone who caused the crash, even people who are not part of the lawsuit or cannot be identified.

Before 2026, Louisiana used pure comparative faultPure comparative fault. The version of comparative negligence that lets you recover something even if you were mostly at fault, reduced by your share. Glossary. The 2025 law that made the change does not say whether it reaches crashes that happened earlier, so for a crash before January 1, 2026, a lawyer can tell you which rule applies. Your damages are not reduced at all if the other person caused the harm on purpose. Try the fault-rule explainer to compare Louisiana with other states.

Insurance in Louisiana#

Louisiana is an at-fault state: the driver who caused the crash, through their liability insurer, pays for the losses.

The Insurance Information Institute estimates that 11.7% of Louisiana drivers were uninsured in 2023, compared with 15.4% nationally. If you were hit by an uninsured driver, the guide to uninsured driver accidents explains how uninsured motorist coverageUninsured motorist coverage. Coverage under your own policy that pays when the at-fault driver has no insurance, or too little. Glossary works. The Louisiana Department of Insurance takes consumer calls at 1-800-259-5300 (toll-free); (225) 342-5900.

After a crash in Louisiana#

R.S. 32:398 sets three duties for drivers in a crash that must be reported:

1. Call the police. You must immediately notify the local police department (inside a city or town) or the nearest sheriff's office or state police station (outside one) after a crash that causes injury, death or property damage over $500.
2. Give your details. Give your name, address and vehicle registration number, and show your license on request if you have it.
3. Cooperate with officers. Give the same information to any officer at the scene or investigating the crash.

Louisiana crash reports are confidential. Copies go only to the people involved, parents of a minor involved, their lawyers and insurers, health care providers and a few others named in the law. A Louisiana State Police report can be requested online through the Louisiana State Police crash report site, linked from the LSP home page. For reports from a local police department or sheriff's office, the law caps the fee at no more than $5 for a report of two pages or less, and no more than $20 for a longer report. The guide to the police report explains what to check in it.

Special rules in Louisiana#

No pay, no play

Under R.S. 32:866, an owner or driver who did not carry the required liability insurance cannot recover the first $100,000 of bodily injury damages or the first $100,000 of property damage from the other driver. A 2025 law raised these amounts, effective August 1, 2025.

The rule does not apply if the other driver is convicted of (or pleads no contest to) drunk driving, caused the crash on purpose, fled the scene, or was committing a felony. Passengers can still claim for their own injuries.

Recent changes at a glance

Crashes on Louisiana roads#

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 752 people died in Louisiana crashes in 2024. That is 16.4 per 100,000 people, above the national rate of 11.5 per 100,000 people.

• 28% of the deaths were speeding-related.
• 45% happened on rural roads.
• An estimated 30% of passenger vehicle drivers killed had a blood alcohol level of 0.08% or higher.

Finding a lawyer in Louisiana#

The Louisiana State Bar Association's Lawyer Referral and Information page points the public to the Lafayette Bar Association's online directory and gives the bar's main numbers: (800) 421-5722 or (504) 566-1600. The guide on lawyer referral services explains how bar referral panels work.

Before you hire anyone, search the LSBA's membership directory to check that the lawyer is listed. Because the deadline and fault rules changed recently, many people ask a lawyer which version applies to their crash date.