Louisiana legal deadlines, known in the state’s civil-law system as “prescription,” range from six months for the smallest misdemeanors to thirty years for certain property claims, and the clock usually starts on the day of the harm or offense, not the day you decide to act. Most personal injury suits now must be filed within two years, a change that took effect July 1, 2024. Miss the window and the case is almost always gone for good.
Civil Filing Deadlines
The deadline for a civil case depends entirely on the type of claim. Some of the most common ones:
Personal Injury: Two Years
If someone else’s fault caused your injury, whether in a car crash, a fall, or another incident, you have two years from the date of the injury to sue. The legislature repealed the old one-year rule and enacted Civil Code Article 3493.1 effective July 1, 2024.1Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Civil Code Art 3493.1 – Delictual Actions Older guides still cite one year; that figure is outdated for injuries occurring after the change.
Medical Malpractice: One Year, Capped at Three
Malpractice claims must be filed within one year of the alleged malpractice or within one year of discovering it, whichever comes later. An absolute three-year ceiling applies regardless of discovery.2FindLaw. Louisiana Revised Statutes Tit 9 5628 – Malpractice Prescription That three-year outer limit is a statute of repose, and the discovery rule cannot extend it. A surgical error that surfaces in year four is time-barred even if no reasonable patient could have caught it sooner.
Contracts: Ten Years
Any personal action on a contract, written or oral, is generally subject to a ten-year prescriptive period under Civil Code Article 3499.3Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Civil Code Art 3499 – Personal Action Some contract-related claims carry shorter periods under specific statutes, so identify the type of obligation before relying on the ten-year figure.
Defective Goods (Redhibition)
When you buy something with a hidden defect, the redhibition deadline turns on what the seller knew:
- Seller did not know: two years from delivery, or one year from discovering the defect, whichever comes first.
- Seller knew or should have known: one year from discovery, or ten years from the date of sale, whichever comes first.
Both rules come from Civil Code Article 2534.4Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Civil Code Art 2534 – Prescription
Property Disputes
Real estate claims sit at the long end of the scale. Under Civil Code Article 3486, ownership can be acquired through thirty years of open, continuous possession, even without a deed or good faith.5Justia. Louisiana Civil Code Art 3486 – Immovables Prescription of Thirty Years A shorter ten-year route exists under Article 3475 for a possessor in good faith holding under a valid title such as a recorded deed.6Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Civil Code Art 3475 – Requisites
Construction Defects
The Louisiana New Home Warranty Act uses tiered periods running from the warranty start date:
- General defects in workmanship or materials: one year.
- Plumbing, electrical, heating, cooling, and ventilating systems: two years.
- Major structural defects: five years.
The tiers come from La. R.S. 9:3144, and defects must be reported to the builder in writing by certified mail within the applicable period plus thirty days or the warranty is lost.7Justia. Louisiana Revised Statutes 9-3144 – Warranties Exclusions
Criminal Prosecution Deadlines
Louisiana caps how long the state has to bring charges. Crimes punishable by death or life imprisonment, including murder, have no time limit.8FindLaw. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Art 571 – Time Limitation for Certain Offenses For everything else, Article 572 measures the window from the date of the offense:
- Six years for felonies necessarily punishable by hard labor.
- Four years for felonies not necessarily punishable by hard labor.
- Two years for misdemeanors punishable by a fine, imprisonment, or both.
- Six months for misdemeanors punishable only by a fine or forfeiture.
Whether a felony “necessarily” carries hard labor comes from the criminal statute defining the offense, not the sentence a judge eventually imposes.9Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Art 572 – Limitation of Prosecution of Noncapital Offenses
Charging Deadlines After Arrest
Once a person is arrested and held, Article 701 requires the prosecution to file formal charges within thirty days for a misdemeanor and sixty days for a felony. Missing that window means the court must release the defendant from custody, though the prosecution itself can still proceed if the overall statute of limitations has not expired.10Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Art 701 – Right to a Speedy Trial
Speedy Trial
Once the defense files a formal speedy trial motion, Article 701(D) sets separate deadlines for trial itself:
- Felony, in custody: 120 days.
- Felony, not in custody: 180 days.
- Misdemeanor, in custody: 30 days.
- Misdemeanor, not in custody: 60 days.
These clocks start only when the motion is filed, and a state failure to bring the case within them lets the defendant move to dismiss.10Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Art 701 – Right to a Speedy Trial
Appeal and Post-Conviction Deadlines
Civil Appeals
Louisiana treats civil appeals in two tracks. A suspensive appeal, which halts enforcement of the judgment while the appeal is pending, must be filed within thirty days.11Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Art 2123 – Delay for Taking Suspensive Appeal A devolutive appeal, which does not stop enforcement, allows sixty days.12Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Art 2087 – Delay for Taking Devolutive Appeal Miss the thirty-day mark and the other side can start collecting even while you still have time to appeal. Miss both and the ruling stands.
Post-Conviction Relief
A defendant who wants to challenge a conviction or sentence after the direct appeal must file an application for post-conviction relief within two years of the judgment becoming final. The two-year rule also applies to applications seeking an out-of-time appeal. Narrow exceptions exist, such as newly discovered DNA evidence, but the window is otherwise firm.13Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Art 930.8 – Time Limitations Exceptions Prejudicial Delay
Federal Habeas Corpus
A state prisoner who exhausts Louisiana remedies and wants to move to federal court has one year under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. That clock runs from the date the state conviction becomes final and pauses while a properly filed state post-conviction application is pending.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 US Code 2244 – Finality of Determination The interaction of the two-year state deadline and the one-year federal deadline catches many defendants off guard. Filing the state application early is the safer path, because equitable tolling of the federal clock is extremely difficult to obtain.
When the Clock Can Be Paused
A few situations stop or restart prescription, but each turns on specific facts rather than good intentions.
Filing suit. Under Civil Code Article 3462, filing a lawsuit against the defendant in a court with proper jurisdiction and venue interrupts prescription entirely, effectively resetting the clock.15Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Civil Code Art 3462 – Interruption of Prescription Filing in the wrong court can still interrupt prescription, but only if the defendant is actually served within the prescriptive period. A last-day petition means little if service does not follow.
Contra non valentem. Louisiana courts recognize a judge-made doctrine that pauses prescription when the plaintiff could not reasonably act, most often where the defendant concealed the wrongdoing or where the cause of action was not reasonably knowable. Because it is fact-intensive and unpredictable, it is a poor substitute for filing on time.
Military service. Under the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, time on active duty does not count toward any prescriptive period, whether the servicemember is bringing or defending the claim. The tolling is automatic and does not require proof that military duties interfered with the case.
What Happens If You Miss a Deadline
If prescription runs on a civil claim, the defendant can raise it as a defense and the court will dismiss. Article 1672(C) covers a related trap: if a plaintiff fails to request service on a named defendant within the time allowed, the court can dismiss without prejudice.16Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Art 1672 – Involuntary Dismissal “Without prejudice” sounds forgiving, but once prescription has already run, there is nothing left to refile.
On the criminal side, if the Article 572 window closes before charges are filed, the case cannot proceed at all. If Article 701’s charging or trial deadlines are missed, the remedies are release from custody or, after a proper motion, dismissal. And if the two-year post-conviction window or the one-year federal habeas window runs out, further review is generally unavailable.
The pattern across all of these deadlines is the same: the clock runs from an event, not from your awareness of it, and the courts have limited tools to save a case that arrives late. If a Louisiana deadline is anywhere close, treat that fact as the emergency it is and get the filing in.