Filing a Personal Injury Claim in Louisiana 

Yes, there are some instances in which you may have more or less time to sue for damages. If you did not discover your injury right away, the statute of limitations may be tolled until the date of discovery, meaning you would have two years from the date on which you discovered the injury (or could have discovered it) to file your lawsuit.

With medical malpractice cases, you typically have one year from the date of the alleged malpractice or the date on which it was discovered to sue for damages, and you cannot file a lawsuit for medical malpractice if more than three years have passed (with some exceptions).

Other exceptions include cases involving minors, cases against government entities, and cases involving “crimes of violence,” such as aggravated assault.

You could have a claim if you can prove each of the following elements:

• The defendant owed you a “duty of care,” meaning they had a legal obligation to take and/or avoid certain actions in order to prevent foreseeable harm
• The defendant failed to uphold or “breached” this duty of care, typically through an act of negligence or recklessness
• You were injured and suffered damages for which you can be compensated
• The defendant’s breach of the duty of care was the cause of your injury

Our attorneys can evaluate your case at no cost and determine whether you may have grounds for a claim. If you think you might have a case, we encourage you to contact us right away to schedule a free initial consultation.

In most cases, you can still file a claim if you were partly at fault for the incident that caused your injury. Under Louisiana’s comparative negligence rule, your recovery would be reduced by your percentage of fault, but you are not barred from filing a claim if you can prove that the defendant is at least partly at fault.

The exact value of your personal injury case depends on many factors, including how severe your injury is, how much your medical care cost/continues to cost, and how much your future care, including things like rehabilitation and physical therapy, is projected to cost. Other factors influencing the value of your case may include whether you had to take time off work due to your injuries, whether your injuries affected your ability to return to work at all, and whether you were partly at fault for the incident.

Additionally, the calculated value of your pain and suffering, as well as any other non-economic damages you have endured, also plays a role in the overall value of your personal injury case. Determining your case’s true worth is complex and requires a careful review by a knowledgeable attorney.