## How the limitation period applies

The controlling primary authority for sexual-assault is **La. C.C. art. 3496.2**.

> **La. C.C. art. 3496.2.** A delictual action against a person for any act of sexual assault, as defined in R.S. 46:2184, is subject to a liberative prescription of three years. This prescription commences to run from the day the injury or damage is sustained or the day the victim is notified of the identity of the offender by law enforcement or a judicial agency, whichever is later. This prescriptive period shall be subject to any exception of peremption provided by law.

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## Sources

- [La. C.C. art. 3496.2](https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=1015073)

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Statute of limitations for sexual assault in Louisiana — backed by real statute citations.

Statute of limitations for sexual assault in Louisiana

Act 423 (HB 315) of 2024 repealed arts. 3492 and 3493 eff. July 1, 2024, enacting arts. 3493.1 (delictual, 2 yr) and 3493.2 (damage to immovable property, 2 yr from knowledge). Prospective only. Medical malpractice (R.S. 9:5628), legal malpractice (R.S. 9:5605), and the 1-yr-from-death floor in wrongful death (art. 2315.2) retain their separate periods.

Art. 3499. Personal action Unless otherwise provided by legislation, a personal action is subject to a liberative prescription of ten years. Acts 1983, No. 173, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1984.

Delictual actions are subject to a liberative prescription of two years. This prescription commences to run from the day that injury or damage is sustained.

A. No action for damages against any attorney at law duly admitted to practice in this state, any partnership of such attorneys at law, or any professional corporation, company, organization, association, enterprise, or other commercial business or professional combination authorized by the laws of this state to engage in the practice of law, whether based upon tort, or breach of contract, or otherwise, arising out of an engagement to provide legal services shall be brought unless filed in a court of competent jurisdiction and proper venue within one year from the date of the alleged act, omission, or neglect, or within one year from the date that the alleged act, omission, or neglect is discovered or should have been discovered; however, even as to actions filed within one year from the date of such discovery, in all events such actions shall be filed at the latest within three years from the date of the alleged act, omission, or neglect.

A. No action for damages for injury or death against any physician, chiropractor, nurse, licensed midwife practitioner, dentist, psychologist, optometrist, hospital or nursing home duly licensed under the laws of this state, or community blood center or tissue bank as defined in R.S. 40:1231.1(A), whether based upon tort, or breach of contract, or otherwise, arising out of patient care shall be brought unless filed within one year from the date of the alleged act, omission, or neglect, or within one year from the date of discovery of the alleged act, omission, or neglect; however, even as to claims filed within one year from the date of such discovery, in all events such claims shall be filed at the latest within a period of three years from the date of the alleged act, omission, or neglect.

Art. 3493.1. Delictual actions Delictual actions are subject to a liberative prescription of two years. This prescription commences to run from the day that injury or damage is sustained. It does not run against minors or interdicts in actions involving permanent disability and brought pursuant to the Louisiana Products Liability Act or state law governing product liability actions in effect at the time of the injury or damage.

Art. 3493.2. Damage to immovable property; commencement and accrual of prescription When damage is caused to immovable property, the two-year prescription commences to run from the day that the owner of the immovable acquired, or should have acquired, knowledge of the damage. Acts 2024, No. 423, §1, eff. July 1, 2024.

(1) An action for breach of any contract for sale must be commenced within four years after the cause of action has accrued. By the original agreement the parties may reduce the period of limitation to not less than one year but may not extend it. (2) A cause of action accrues when the breach occurs, regardless of the lack of knowledge of the breach. A breach of warranty occurs when tender of delivery is made, except that where a warranty explicitly extends to future performance of the goods and discovery of the breach must await the time of such performance the cause of action accrues when the breach is or should have been discovered.

B. The right of action granted by this Article prescribes one year from the death of the deceased or two years from the day that injury or damage is sustained, whichever is longer. C. The right of action granted under this Article is heritable, but the inheritance of it neither interrupts nor prolongs the prescriptive period defined in this Article. D.(1) As used in this Article, the words "child", "brother", "sister", "father", "mother", "grandfather", and "grandmother" include a child, brother, sister, father, mother, grandfather, and grandmother by adoption, respectively. (2) As used in this Article, the words "child", "brother", and "sister" include a child, brother, or sister given in adoption, respectively. E. For purposes of this Article, a father or mother who has abandoned the deceased during his minority is deemed not to have survived him.

Art. 3496.2. Action against a person for sexual assault A delictual action against a person for any act of sexual assault, as defined in R.S. 46:2184, is subject to a liberative prescription of three years. This prescription commences to run from the day the injury or damage is sustained or the day the victim is notified of the identity of the offender by law enforcement or a judicial agency, whichever is later. This prescriptive period shall be subject to any exception of peremption provided by law.

Art. 3499. Personal action Unless otherwise provided by legislation, a personal action is subject to a liberative prescription of ten years. Acts 1983, No. 173, 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1984.

B.(1) The causes which are perempted within the time described above include any action: (a) For any deficiency in the performing or furnishing of land surveying services, as such term is defined in R.S. 37:682, including but not limited to those preparatory to construction or in the design, planning, inspection, or observation of construction, or in the construction of any improvement to immovable property, including but not limited to any services provided by a residential building contractor as defined in R.S. 37:2150.1(9). (b) For damage to property, movable or immovable, arising out of any such deficiency. (c) For injury to the person or for wrongful death arising out of any such deficiency. (d) Brought against a person for the action or failure to act of his employees.

Delictual actions are subject to a liberative prescription of two years. This prescription commences to run from the day that injury or damage is sustained. It does not run against minors or interdicts in actions involving permanent disability and brought pursuant to the Louisiana Products Liability Act or state law governing product liability actions in effect at the time of the injury or damage.

No action for damages for injury or death against any physician, chiropractor, nurse, licensed midwife practitioner, dentist, psychologist, optometrist, hospital or nursing home duly licensed under the laws of this state, or community blood center or tissue bank as defined in R.S. 40:1231.1(A), whether based upon tort, or breach of contract, or otherwise, arising out of patient care shall be brought unless filed within one year from the date of the alleged act, omission, or neglect, or within one year from the date of discovery of the alleged act, omission, or neglect; however, even as to claims filed within one year from the date of such discovery, in all events such claims shall be filed at the latest within a period of three years from the date of the alleged act, omission, or neglect.

An action for breach of any contract for sale must be commenced within four years after the cause of action has accrued. By the original agreement the parties may reduce the period of limitation to not less than one year but may not extend it.

Modern jurisprudence also recognizes a fourth type of situation where contra non valentem applies so that prescription does not run: Where the cause of action is not known or reasonably knowable by the plaintiff, even though his ignorance is not induced by the defendant. (This principle will not except the plaintiff's claim from the running of prescription if his ignorance is attributable to his own willfulness or neglect; that is, a plaintiff will be deemed to know what he could by reasonable diligence have learned.)

Under La. Civ. Code art. 3493.1 (effective July 1, 2024 via Acts 2024 No. 423), delictual actions are subject to a liberative prescription of two years, commencing on the day injury or damage is sustained. NOTE: Louisiana's prior one-year prescription under art. 3492 was REPEALED effective July 1, 2024. This is the controlling rule for general personal injury, negligence, premises liability, product liability, slip-and-fall, and dog-bite actions in Louisiana for causes of action accruing on or a

Statute of limitations for personal injury in US-LA is 2 years under La. Civ. Code art. 3493.1.

Statute of limitations for product liability in US-LA is 2 years under La. Civ. Code art. 3493.1.

Statute of limitations for premises liability in US-LA is 2 years under La. Civ. Code art. 3493.1.

Statute of limitations for fraud in US-LA is 2 years under La. Civ. Code art. 3493.1.

Statute of limitations for libel in US-LA is 2 years under La. Civ. Code art. 3493.1.

Statute of limitations for slander in US-LA is 2 years under La. Civ. Code art. 3493.1.

Statute of limitations for trespass in US-LA is 2 years under La. Civ. Code art. 3493.1.

Statute of limitations for wrongful death in US-LA is 1 year from death or 2 years from injury, whichever is longer under La. Civ. Code art. 2315.2.

Statute of limitations for medical malpractice in US-LA is 1 year (3-year repose) under La. R.S. 9:5628.

Statute of limitations for legal malpractice in US-LA is 1 year (3-year peremption) under La. R.S. 9:5605.

Statute of limitations for breach written contract in US-LA is 10 years under La. Civ. Code art. 3499.

Statute of limitations for breach oral contract in US-LA is 10 years under La. Civ. Code art. 3499.

Statute of limitations for UCC sale of goods in US-LA is 4 years under La. R.S. 10:2-725. Louisiana adopted UCC Article 2 in 1990; the prior incorrect citation to La. Civ. Code art. 3499 (general 10-year personal action prescription) was superseded by adoption of the UCC for sale-of-goods contracts.

A common-law whistleblower retaliation claim sounding in tort is governed by La. Civ. Code art. 3493.1, which sets a 2 years delictual limitations period.

Louisiana defamation (libel) is a delictual action subject to a 2-year liberative prescription running from the date injury is sustained.

Case law — no specific Louisiana statute suspending prescription solely for defendant absence from state. Louisiana applies contra non valentem Category 3 when the debtor has done some act effectually to prevent the creditor from availing himself of his cause of action. Note: La. Civ. Code art. 3468 confirms that prescription runs against 'absent persons' unless an exception is established by legislation, meaning absence alone does not toll prescription; tolling applies where the defendant's conduct (including effectual concealment) prevents suit.

Where the debtor himself has done some act effectually to prevent the creditor from availing himself of his cause of action. (Corsey v. State, 375 So.2d at 1321.) Louisiana has long recognized this as Category 3 of the contra non valentem doctrine, applying it to cases where the defendant concealed information or committed acts including concealment, fraud, misrepresentation, or other ill practices that hinder, impede, or prevent the plaintiff from asserting the cause of action.

Prescription is suspended as between: the spouses during marriage, parents and children during minority, tutors and minors during tutorship, and curators and interdicts during interdiction, and caretakers and minors during minority. A "caretaker" means a person legally obligated to provide or secure adequate care for a child, including a tutor, guardian, or legal custodian.

Statute of limitations for sexual assault in Louisiana

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