Louisiana Small Claims Court Statute of Limitations (Prescription Deadlines)

Louisiana Calls Them "Prescription" Deadlines

If you've searched for the statute of limitations on a Louisiana claim, you'll notice the state uses different language. In Louisiana's civil-law system, the concept is called liberative prescription — it extinguishes your right to sue if you wait too long. The mechanics are the same as a statute of limitations, but the terminology matters when you're reading statutes or talking to a clerk.

Prescription Periods by Claim Type

Your deadline depends on what kind of dispute you're filing:

Tort and property damage (post-July 1, 2024): 2 years. The Louisiana Legislature expanded the prescription period for delictual actions from one year to two years under La. C.C. art. 3493.1 (Act 423 of 2024). The clock starts on the day the injury or damage occurred.

This change applies strictly prospectively. If the damage happened on or before June 30, 2024, the old one-year deadline under the now-repealed La. C.C. art. 3492 still applies. If it happened on or after July 1, 2024, you have two years.

Open accounts and unpaid invoices: 3 years. Under La. C.C. art. 3494(4), claims for unpaid trade invoices, professional fees, or open accounts prescribe in three years from when payment became due. This also covers unpaid rent (art. 3494(2)), services and wage claims (art. 3494(1)), and money lent without a written note (art. 3494(3)).

Written contracts: 10 years. Under La. C.C. art. 3499, claims for breach of a written contract have a ten-year prescriptive period from the date of breach or non-performance.

Security deposit disputes: 10 years. These fall under the personal action prescription of La. C.C. art. 3499, giving you a decade — though practically, act promptly: the deposit return deadline is one month after lease termination, and an itemized statement for a retained amount may be sent up to 15 days later under Act 63 of 2026 (effective August 1, 2026).

How Prescription Is Calculated

Louisiana's computation rules under CCP art. 5059 work like this: the day of the triggering event is excluded (Day 0). All subsequent calendar days count, including weekends and holidays. If the final day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the deadline extends to the next business day.

So if a contractor breached a written agreement on January 5, 2015, your 10-year prescription reaches January 5, 2025. Because that date falls on a Sunday, the deadline extends to Monday, January 6, 2025.

What Interrupts Prescription

Filing a lawsuit in a court with proper jurisdiction and venue interrupts prescription under La. C.C. art. 3462. When prescription is interrupted, the time already elapsed is wiped out — the clock resets and starts from scratch.

What does not interrupt prescription:

• Sending a demand letter (even by certified mail)
• Private settlement negotiations
• Calling the court clerk
• Filing in a court that lacks jurisdiction or venue (unless the defendant is actually served within the prescriptive window)

This means you cannot pause the clock by sending a letter. If your deadline is approaching, file the petition first and worry about the demand letter formalities afterward — though for security deposits and open accounts, the demand letter is a separate statutory prerequisite that affects your entitlement to penalties and fees, not just the prescription clock.

The 2024 Tort Reform: What Changed

Before July 1, 2024, Louisiana had one of the shortest personal injury deadlines in the country — just one year. Act 423 of 2024 doubled it to two years by enacting La. C.C. art. 3493.1 and repealing art. 3492.

The practical impact for small claims filers: if a neighbor damaged your property, someone rear-ended you in a parking lot, or a product caused minor injury — all after July 1, 2024 — you now have two years instead of one.

But the old one-year deadline still applies to anything that happened before the effective date. Don't assume the longer period covers an older incident.

When in Doubt, File Early

Prescription questions can be tricky, especially when you're not sure if a claim sounds in tort (delictual) or contract (conventional). A $2,000 claim arising from a contractor who damaged your property while working under contract could arguably fit either category — and the prescriptive periods are very different (2 years vs. 10 years).

The safe move is to file sooner rather than later. Our Louisiana small claims filing guide includes a prescription calculator worksheet that walks you through identifying the correct deadline for your specific claim type.

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