How long do I have to file a lawsuit and what exactly does it mean if I don't file it in time?
Hey, I'm personal injury attorney Loyd Bourgeois, with offices in Luling and Metairie, Louisiana.
How long you have to file a lawsuit is a very important factor that you need to know about in your case.
Typically, to file a lawsuit against the person who caused you harm, in Louisiana, it's called a tort.
In Louisiana, you have one year, one year from the date of the crash or the date of the incident to bring your lawsuit.
So it's one year to kind of figure out whether or not your case is appropriate to bring a lawsuit, one year to figure out whether it can be resolved.
But if you don't file an actual lawsuit in the proper venue within one year, you have no more claim. Now, there are some exceptions to this, particularly with UM insurance or underinsured motorist, underinsured motorist insurance, but if you have that, please reach out to an attorney. Talk to your attorney about that and discuss it.
But in most cases, one year is the length of time that you have to file your lawsuit.
Why is that important? Once that year passes, if you have not filed the lawsuit, your claim goes away. You can never recover for that claim again unless there are some very specific exceptions.
If you believe you have some exceptions, please talk to an attorney because they're going to be case-by-case and very specific and it's very difficult to give any kind of general guidance through a medium such as video.
All I can say is if you believe that to be the case, you should probably sit down and talk with an attorney to figure that out.
If you have any questions, give us a call at 985-240-9773.
