Prejudgment Interest Rules in Louisiana

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law

Civil Code art. 2000 governs a contract claim: when the object of an obligation is a sum of money, delay in paying it generates interest as damages, from the time the payment was due. A tort claim is governed instead by La. R.S. 13:4203, a short statute providing that legal interest attaches from the date of judicial demand on judgments sounding in damages, “ex delicto.” Both cross-reference the same rate-setting machinery in R.S. 13:4202 and R.S. 9:3500.

Interest rate

The rate is the same for contract and tort claims alike: Louisiana's "judicial interest" rate, recalculated every year by the Commissioner of Financial Institutions at 3.25 percentage points above the Federal Reserve Board's published discount rate as of the first business day of October, effective for the following calendar year. That produces 7.5% for calendar year 2026 (it was 8.25% for 2025 and 8.75% for 2024). A written contract can set its own rate instead, and that contractual rate controls.

When interest starts running

This is where contract and tort genuinely diverge. A contract claim's interest starts on the day the money was due, exactly as Civil Code art. 2000 states. A tort claim's interest starts on the date of "judicial demand", the date the lawsuit was filed, never on the date of the injury itself, however long the gap between the two. The Louisiana Supreme Court reaffirmed this in December 2025: even a signed judgment that mistakenly recites the jury-verdict date instead of the filing date doesn't deprive the plaintiff of interest running from the true judicial-demand date, because the interest attaches by operation of the statute, not by what the judgment happens to say.

Contract vs. tort claims

Louisiana pairs these differently than most states in this survey: the RATE is identical for both claim types, but the accrual TRIGGER is not. A contract claim starts earning interest as soon as payment is overdue; a tort claim can't start earning interest before suit is filed, even if years passed between the injury and the lawsuit. Get the trigger date wrong and the interest calculation is wrong regardless of the correct rate.

Mandatory or discretionary

Mandatory, not discretionary, on both sides once a claim qualifies. Civil Code art. 2000 lets a creditor recover contract delay-damages "without having to prove any loss." For tort claims, the Louisiana Supreme Court has been explicit that judicial interest "attaches... as a matter of law" from the date of judicial demand, regardless of whether a party or a judgment specifically asks for it that way.

Simple or compound

Simple interest. Nothing in Civil Code art. 2000, R.S. 13:4202, or R.S. 13:4203 describes compounding; each provision simply fixes an annual rate applied against the principal for the relevant period.

Claims against the government

Act 13 of 2026 changed R.S. 13:5112(C) effective August 1, 2026. For personal-injury and wrongful-death claims against the state or a political subdivision, prejudgment interest now accrues at the lesser of 6% a year or the judicial-interest rate. Because the published judicial rate for 2026 is 7.5%, the rate for these claims is 6% this year. If the annual judicial rate falls below 6%, the lower rate controls. The clock starts when service is requested following judicial demand and stops when the trial judge signs the judgment. The statute separately directs later interest to the rates fixed by R.S. 9:3500 and R.S. 13:4202.

Other exceptions

A contract's agreed rate displaces the statutory default. Construction payment claims have a separate late-payment penalty under R.S. 9:2784(D)(1): 1.5% of the unpaid amount per month, beginning the day after payment is due. This is a penalty rather than the general judicial interest rate. The current provision reflects a 2026 amendment.

What trips people up

Assuming a tort claim's interest runs from the date of the injury is the most common mistake, it doesn't. Under Louisiana law, tort interest can never start before the lawsuit was actually filed, so a long delay between an accident and filing suit shortens, not lengthens, the interest period compared to what an injured person might expect.

The judicial interest rate changes every calendar year, so a case that spans several years accrues interest at a DIFFERENT rate for each year rather than one flat rate for the whole period, using a single year's rate for a multi-year case understates or overstates the true total.

A judgment that recites the wrong accrual date doesn't fix the actual interest owed, as the Louisiana Supreme Court confirmed in Bilalis v. Drennan, the statutory date controls regardless of a drafting error in the judgment itself.

Common questions

What's Louisiana's current legal (prejudgment) interest rate? 7.5% per year for calendar year 2026, recalculated annually from the Federal Reserve discount rate plus 3.25 points. This is the same rate for both contract and tort claims.

When does interest start on a Louisiana personal injury claim? From the date the lawsuit was filed (judicial demand), not the date of the accident or injury.

Does Louisiana prejudgment interest compound? No. It's simple interest, calculated at the applicable year's fixed rate against the principal owed.

Can I get prejudgment interest against the State of Louisiana or a parish? For a personal-injury or wrongful-death claim, the 2026 prejudgment rate is 6% because it is lower than the published 7.5% judicial rate. The rate is recalculated as the lesser of those two figures each year; the special period runs from the service-request date until the trial judge signs judgment.

Statutes and sources

• La. Civ. Code art. 2000, "When the object of the performance is a sum of money, damages for delay in performance are measured by the interest on that sum from the time it is due, at the rate agreed by the parties or, in the absence of agreement, at the rate of legal interest as fixed by R.S. 9:3500." Accessed 2026-10-06: https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=109256
• La. R.S. 13:4203, Legal interest shall attach from date of judicial demand, on all judgments sounding in damages, “ex delicto,” which may be rendered by any of the courts. Accessed 2026-10-06: https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=77703
• La. R.S. 13:4202(B)(1), sets the annual judicial-interest-rate formula (discount rate + 3.25 points). Accessed 2026-10-06: https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=77702
• La. R.S. 9:3500(B), defines "legal interest," including "judicial interest" on sums subject to judicial demand. Accessed 2026-10-06: https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=285199
• La. R.S. 13:5112(C), "Legal interest on any claim for personal injury or wrongful death shall accrue at the lesser of six percent per annum or the rate of judicial interest in accordance with R.S. 13:4202." Accessed 2026-10-06: https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=77944
• 2026 Act 13 (SB 139), amended R.S. 13:5112(C), effective August 1, 2026. Accessed 2026-10-06: https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1467975
• Louisiana Office of Financial Institutions, 2026 judicial-interest rate: 7.50%. Accessed 2026-10-06: https://ofi.la.gov/legal/statutes-rules-policies-opinions/judicial-interest-rates/
• La. R.S. 9:2784(D)(1), "An unpaid amount as described in this Section shall incur a penalty at the rate of one and one-half percent of the unpaid amount per month." Accessed 2026-10-06: https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=107211
• Bilalis v. Drennan, No. 2025-C-00453 (La. Dec. 18, 2025), holds tort judicial interest attaches automatically from the date of judicial demand regardless of a judgment's own recited date. Accessed 2026-07-05: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10761052/