Truck accident statute of limitations in Louisiana

Q: How long do I have to file a wrongful death claim in Louisiana?

Louisiana sets the wrongful death period at 2 years, measured from the date of death, under La. Civ. Code art. 2315.2. This matches the personal injury period in this state.

Q: How long does the trucking company have to keep the driver logs?

Six months, under 49 C.F.R. § 395.8(k)(1). That is federal and does not vary by state, so it is the same in Louisiana as everywhere else. Camera footage is usually on a shorter cycle still — often thirty days or less — and engine module data has no retention requirement at all.

You generally have 2 years from the date of the crash to file. The trucking company only has to keep the driver's logs for six months. Both clocks started the day of the collision.

Your Louisiana deadlines

Already set to Louisiana. Add your crash date and four answers.

The calculator needs JavaScript. The filing deadlines are in the reference table further down this page, which does not.

In Louisiana, the deadline to file a truck accident personal injury lawsuit is generally 2 years from the date of the crash (La. Civ. Code art. 3493.1 (Act 423 of 2024); formerly art. 3492). Wrongful death is 2 years from the date of death (La. Civ. Code art. 2315.2). If a government vehicle was involved, written notice is generally required within 1 year.

What makes Louisiana different

Louisiana doubled its filing deadline in 2024 — and the old number is still correct for older crashes. The date of your collision decides which rule you are under.

Louisiana was for decades the state with the shortest deadline in the country at one year. An enormous amount of published material still says one year, because for crashes before 1 July 2024 it generally still is.

Where truck crashes happen in Louisiana

I-10 across the south including the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge, I-12, I-20 through Shreveport and Monroe, and dense petrochemical and port haulage along the Mississippi River industrial corridor.

Watch out for this one: Hazardous and petrochemical cargo. Those hauls generate additional federal paperwork — shipping papers, placarding, driver training records — that is worth demanding early precisely because it exists.

The Louisiana rules, with citations

Filing deadlines by jurisdiction. The last column is federal and does not vary by state — it is the minimum period a motor carrier must keep the driver's logs (49 C.F.R. § 395.8(k)(1); supporting documents 49 C.F.R. § 395.11(f)). Every figure here is awaiting attorney verification.
Jurisdiction	Injury claim	Wrongful death	Government notice	Driver logs kept
Louisiana	2 years	2 years	1 year	180 days

Personal injury — 2 years

Runs from the date of the crash. Cited: La. Civ. Code art. 3493.1 (Act 423 of 2024); formerly art. 3492 (Louisiana Civil Code).

CRITICAL AND RECENT: Louisiana's prescriptive period for delictual actions was historically ONE year. It was extended to TWO years for delictual actions arising on or after 1 July 2024. A crash before that date is likely still on the one-year rule. The date of the crash decides. Verify this one first.

Wrongful death — 2 years

Runs from the date of death. Cited: La. Civ. Code art. 2315.2.

Subject to the same one-year to two-year transition described above.

Government vehicles — notice within 1 year

Louisiana does not generally impose the short pre-suit notice common elsewhere; the prescriptive period does the work. Cited: La. R.S. § 13:5106 et seq..

Louisiana's civil law system uses prescription rather than a statute of limitations. The practical effect is similar but the doctrines around interruption and suspension are different.

A federal vehicle is not on this clock at all. A USPS truck, a VA vehicle or another federal agency vehicle runs under the Federal Tort Claims Act — an administrative claim on Standard Form 95 within two years of the crash, then six months to sue after it is denied (28 U.S.C. § 2401(b); 28 C.F.R. § 14.2).

If the injured person was under 18

The limitation period generally does not begin to run until the injured person turns 18. The full period then runs from the 18th birthday. Cited: La. Civ. Code art. 3468 (suspension).

Prescription is generally suspended during minority under the doctrine of contra non valentem and related provisions.

Discovery rule

Louisiana applies contra non valentem, which can suspend prescription where the claimant could not have known of the claim.

Why the evidence deadline is shorter than you think

Almost everything that proves what a truck driver was doing before a crash is held by the trucking company, and almost all of it is on a clock that has nothing to do with your right to sue.

Driver logs. Federal law requires a motor carrier to keep a driver's record of duty status — the hours-of-service record — for 6 months. After that, destroying it is lawful. That record is how you find out whether the driver had been at the wheel for eleven hours or for sixteen.

Camera footage. Forward-facing and driver-facing video usually sits on a rolling loop. Thirty days is common. Some fleets keep a week. Unless somebody asks for it, the file that shows the truck drifting across the line is overwritten by ordinary operation.

Engine data. The engine control module records speed, throttle and braking in the seconds before impact. There is no retention rule at all. It goes when the tractor is repaired, when the module is re-flashed, when the truck is sold, or when it simply goes back into service.

None of this is a conspiracy. It is a filing cabinet being emptied on schedule. But it produces a situation that almost nobody warns people about: in a state that gives you three years to file, you can be two years and nine months inside your legal deadline and have nothing left to prove your case with.

There is one thing that stops it. A preservation letter — a spoliation letter — sent to the carrier and its insurer puts them on notice that specific categories of evidence are relevant to a claim. Once that letter lands, destroying the material stops being routine and starts being a problem for them. Until it lands, the clocks keep running.

What to do in the next seven days

In order. The first two matter most, and the second one is the one almost nobody does in time.

Do not give a recorded statement to the trucking company’s insurer
You are not required to. What you say while you are still in pain and still learning the extent of your injuries can be used later to reduce or defeat the claim.
Ask, in writing, that the evidence be preserved
A preservation letter to the carrier and its insurer stops the retention clocks from mattering. This is the most time-sensitive step on the list.
Do not let the truck be repaired or sold before it is inspected
Once the tractor is repaired or returned to service, the engine module data and the physical condition of the brakes and tyres are generally gone.
Get the police report
It carries the carrier name, the USDOT number and the insurer — the details a preservation letter needs in order to reach the right company.
Photograph the injuries now, and keep photographing them
Bruising, swelling and surgical sites change within days. That progression cannot be recreated later.
Write down what you remember today
Weather, the position of the truck, what you heard, who stopped, what was said. A contemporaneous note carries weight a later recollection does not.
Keep every medical record and every bill
Including the ones that seem trivial. Gaps in treatment are the most common argument used to reduce a claim.

Nearby states

A crash near a state line can raise a genuine question about which state's deadline applies — the rules can differ by years.

See all 50 states and D.C. →

Questions people ask

What is the statute of limitations for truck accidents in Louisiana?

In Louisiana the deadline to file a truck accident personal injury lawsuit is generally 2 years from the date of the crash, under La. Civ. Code art. 3493.1 (Act 423 of 2024); formerly art. 3492. A claim filed after that is normally barred, however strong it is.

That is the legal deadline only. The evidence held by the trucking company runs on a separate federal clock — six months for driver logs, often thirty days or less for camera footage.

How long do I have to file a wrongful death claim in Louisiana?

Louisiana sets the wrongful death period at 2 years, measured from the date of death, under La. Civ. Code art. 2315.2.

That matches the personal injury period in this state, but the starting point can still differ.

Subject to the same one-year to two-year transition described above.

What if a city, county or state truck was involved in Louisiana?

A much shorter deadline usually applies. In Louisiana the shortest government notice window is 1 year from the crash.

Louisiana does not generally impose the short pre-suit notice common elsewhere; the prescriptive period does the work.

Louisiana's civil law system uses prescription rather than a statute of limitations. The practical effect is similar but the doctrines around interruption and suspension are different.

A federal vehicle — a USPS truck, a VA vehicle — is different again. Those run under the Federal Tort Claims Act: an administrative claim on Standard Form 95 within two years, then six months to sue after denial.

Does a child injured in a truck crash get longer to file in Louisiana?

The limitation period generally does not begin to run until the injured person turns 18. The full period then runs from the 18th birthday. In Louisiana this is governed by La. Civ. Code art. 3468 (suspension).

Prescription is generally suspended during minority under the doctrine of contra non valentem and related provisions.

Tolling extends the legal deadline and does nothing for the evidence. The driver logs are destroyed on the ordinary six-month federal schedule whether the injured person is eight or eighty.

How long does the trucking company have to keep the driver logs?

Six months, under 49 C.F.R. § 395.8(k)(1). That is federal and does not vary by state, so it is the same in Louisiana as anywhere else.

Camera footage is usually on a shorter cycle still — often thirty days or less. Engine module data has no retention requirement at all and is commonly lost when the tractor is repaired or returned to service.

Have someone confirm these dates

The figures on this page are the general rule in Louisiana. They are not advice, and they do not know the facts of your case — who owned the trailer, whether a broker was involved, whether the driver was an employee or an owner-operator, whether any of that changes which deadline applies to which party.

A free case review answers that, and it starts the preservation letter, which is the only thing on this page that actually stops a clock.

Start a free case review

Free, and no fee unless you win. You can send this at any hour; a callback goes out within permitted calling hours. Using this page does not create an attorney-client relationship.