Personal Injury Lawyer New Orleans

Injured in a wreck, at work, on someone else’s property, or by a defective product in the New Orleans area? Louisiana’s 2024 tort reform extended the statute of limitations for personal-injury delictual actions to two years under La. C.C. art. 3493.1 — but Louisiana is still a pure comparative-fault state, and its unique civil-law framework (direct action, McDill Tender, La. R.S. 22:1892/1973 bad-faith penalties) shapes every case. Our New Orleans office handles the full range of Louisiana personal-injury work from initial insurance response through jury trial. Call 504-269-3870 for a free case review.

Our New Orleans office

What Louisiana personal-injury cases do we handle?

• Auto and truck wrecks — I-10, I-610, US 90, and the surrounding parish network. See our New Orleans car-wreck and truck-wreck pages for detail.
• Wrongful death and survival actions — La. C.C. arts. 2315.1 and 2315.2. See our New Orleans wrongful-death page.
• Nursing home abuse and neglect — Louisiana R.S. 40:2010.8 resident rights. See our New Orleans nursing-home page.
• Maritime and offshore — Jones Act, Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA), general maritime negligence. The Port of New Orleans, offshore rigs, and river-industry work generate a specialized case type.
• Premises liability — the “no shopper” standard under La. R.S. 9:2800.6, slip and falls, negligent security, French Quarter and tourist-corridor injuries.
• Insurance disputes and bad-faith cases — La. R.S. 22:1892 (property/first-party 30-day and 60-day rules with 50% penalty), La. R.S. 22:1973 (general bad-faith with 25% penalty for third-party carriers).
• Hurricane and named-storm property claims — first-party property claims under Louisiana Valued Policy Law and the bad-faith statutes.
• Catastrophic injury — TBI, spinal-cord injury, amputation, severe burn cases requiring life-care planning.

How long do I have to file a Louisiana personal-injury case?

Louisiana’s 2024 tort reform (Act 423) extended the prescriptive period for most delictual (tort) actions from one year to two years under La. C.C. art. 3493.1 for causes of action arising on or after July 1, 2024. For actions arising before that date, the previous one-year prescriptive period under art. 3492 still applies — the timing question is fact-specific.

Several subcategories carry their own rules:

• Wrongful death. La. C.C. art. 2315.2 — one year from date of death, unless the underlying cause of action arose after the July 2024 reform (where the two-year rule can apply). Survival actions under art. 2315.1 track the same timing.
• Medical malpractice. One year from discovery, with a three-year statute of repose (La. R.S. 9:5628). Governed separately from ordinary delictual claims.
• Minor plaintiffs. Prescription is generally suspended during minority (La. C.C. art. 3468).
• Claims against the state or a political subdivision. Governed by the Louisiana Governmental Claims Act, with specific notice requirements before suit.
• Contractual claims (including insurance) — ten-year liberative prescription under La. C.C. art. 3499, but with statutory shortcuts (La. R.S. 22:1892) for insurance bad-faith.

Louisiana’s pure comparative-fault rule

Louisiana is a pure comparative-fault jurisdiction under La. C.C. art. 2323. If you are 40% at fault, your recovery is reduced by 40%. If you are 90% at fault, you can still recover 10%. Fault is allocated among all responsible parties, whether or not they are named as defendants — including “phantom” tortfeasors and immune parties.

The rule benefits injured plaintiffs relative to Alabama’s pure contributory-negligence rule (which bars all recovery for any fault) and Georgia’s 50% modified rule (which bars recovery at 50% or more). It still rewards early case-building — insurers work hard to shift fault percentages to the injured party.

Louisiana’s direct-action statute — sue the insurer

Under La. R.S. 22:1269, plaintiffs in Louisiana can sue the at-fault party’s liability insurer directly — a right that exists in almost no other state. This changes the case’s mechanics: the insurer is a named defendant, jury instructions can address the insurer’s obligations, and the discovery scope reaches the insurer’s claims file more directly than in states requiring an assignment or judgment first.

The 2024 reform introduced some limitations on direct action, particularly for automobile cases; the underlying right remains a fixture of Louisiana practice.

McDill Tender and UM/UIM claims in Louisiana

Louisiana’s UM/UIM statute (La. R.S. 22:1295) requires insurers offering auto liability to also offer UM coverage in the same limits, or obtain a valid written waiver. Coverage arguments — including waiver validity — are a recurring battleground.

The McDill Tender doctrine (McDill v. Utica Mut. Ins. Co., 475 So. 2d 1085 (La. 1985)) requires a UM carrier to tender the undisputed portion of a UM claim within 30 days of receiving satisfactory proof of loss. Failure exposes the carrier to bad-faith penalties under La. R.S. 22:1973 — the greater of $5,000 or two times the damages sustained. See our detailed guide to McDill Tender.

Where do New Orleans personal-injury cases come from?

• I-10 corridor from downtown through Metairie to Kenner — the region’s busiest artery and the site of most inter-parish wrecks. The I-10 twin-span bridge into Slidell adds a St. Tammany overlay.
• I-610 bypass around the CBD — high-speed lane-change wrecks and merging cases.
• US 90 (Pontchartrain Expressway → Westbank Expressway) — trucks, container traffic, and industrial-corridor commuting.
• Claiborne Avenue, Elysian Fields, and Airline Highway (US 61) — high-volume surface arterials with frequent intersection collisions.
• Causeway (Lake Pontchartrain) — the world’s longest continuous over-water bridge, with a distinct crash profile.
• French Quarter and CBD tourist corridors — pedestrian and premises cases involving out-of-state visitors, rental vehicles, and hospitality-industry defendants.
• The Port of New Orleans, industrial river corridor, and the offshore-service industry — Jones Act, LHWCA, and general maritime cases from Chalmette, the Westbank, and up the river.
• Nursing homes and long-term care facilities across Orleans, Jefferson, and St. Bernard parishes — falls, pressure sores, wrongful-death cases from staffing and care-plan failures.

What damages can I recover under Louisiana law?

• Special (economic) damages. Past and future medical bills, lost wages, loss of earning capacity, property damage, out-of-pocket expenses. Louisiana law recognizes future-value calculations subject to standard evidentiary requirements.
• General (non-economic) damages. Pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, permanent disability. Louisiana does not cap general damages in ordinary negligence cases (medical malpractice is separately capped by La. R.S. 40:1231.2).
• Loss of consortium. Spouses, children, and parents of the injured party have separate loss-of-consortium claims under La. C.C. art. 2315.
• Punitive damages. Sharply restricted in Louisiana. Available under La. C.C. art. 2315.4 (drunk-driving cases) and a few narrow statutes. Not available in most ordinary negligence cases.
• Bad-faith penalties. La. R.S. 22:1892 permits a 50% penalty plus attorney’s fees for first-party (property) bad faith; 22:1973 provides for the greater of $5,000 or two times damages against auto and other third-party insurers.

Frequently asked questions

Does Louisiana’s 2024 tort reform apply to my case?

Depends on the date the cause of action arose. Cases arising on or after July 1, 2024 fall under the new two-year prescription. Older cases remain governed by the one-year rule. If you are close to either edge, treat the deadline as short and consult an attorney immediately.

Should I take the insurance company’s first offer?

Almost never. Louisiana’s direct-action statute and bad-faith framework often produce recoveries multiples larger than a first offer — but only when the case is developed properly, and only when the insurer knows the plaintiff is prepared to file suit.

What if my case involves both workers’ comp and a third-party claim?

Louisiana workers’ compensation is usually the exclusive remedy against a direct employer. Third-party claims against a negligent contractor, property owner, equipment manufacturer, or another driver proceed separately and preserve their own value. Coordinating the workers’ comp lien against the third-party recovery is a specialized undertaking.

What if the at-fault driver is uninsured or underinsured?

Louisiana UM/UIM law under La. R.S. 22:1295 and the McDill Tender doctrine often make the injured party’s own UM policy the highest-value avenue of recovery. Waiver validity, stacking arguments, and household-member coverage are recurring issues.

How much does it cost to hire a Louisiana injury lawyer?

We handle personal-injury cases on a contingency-fee basis. No upfront cost. No hourly billing. No fee unless we recover.

What if my injuries are “minor”?

Louisiana insurers routinely lean on minor property damage to argue for a minimized injury settlement, but medical records and treating-provider testimony drive value. Soft-tissue and low-property-damage cases regularly resolve for meaningful sums when the medical evidence supports the diagnosis.

Can I bring a case if I was hit as a pedestrian, cyclist, or scooter rider in the French Quarter or CBD?

Yes. Pedestrian and non-vehicular cases proceed under the same negligence framework. Your own auto UM coverage typically applies even if you weren’t in a vehicle at the time. Business-owner and premises liability may also be in play depending on the location.

How long does a New Orleans injury case take?

Straightforward cases with clear liability often resolve within 6 to 12 months after treatment concludes. Contested cases and cases against corporate defendants typically take 12 to 24 months. Louisiana’s civil-law procedure and direct-action statute can accelerate discovery relative to other states.

Talk to a New Orleans personal-injury lawyer

Louisiana’s civil-law framework, direct-action statute, and bad-faith penalties reward attorneys who move quickly and know the local courts. Our New Orleans office handles cases from initial insurance response through Orleans, Jefferson, and St. Bernard parish trials. Call 504-269-3870 or use our free case review form. No fee unless we recover.

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