Louisiana Professional Malpractice Claim Notice and Settlement Demand

LOUISIANA PROFESSIONAL MALPRACTICE CLAIM NOTICE

AND SETTLEMENT DEMAND

COUNSEL'S CLAIM AND DEADLINE GATE

Claimant: [________________________________]

Professional or firm: [________________________________]

Profession and license: [________________________________]

Engagement: [________________________________]

Alleged act, omission, or neglect: [________________________________]

Date(s) of conduct: [________________________________]

Date injury or damage was sustained: [________________________________]

Date and facts of actual or constructive discovery: [________________________________]

Select the claim module supported by current official authority:

☐ Legal services — La. R.S. 9:5605. Counsel calculated both the one-year period from the act/omission/neglect or discovery and the outside three-year period from the act/omission/neglect. The periods are peremptive and may not be renounced, interrupted, or suspended; subsection E excludes fraud, as defined in La. C.C. art. 1953, from the three-year peremptive period.

☐ Enumerated surveying, design, supervision, inspection, observation, or construction work — La. R.S. 9:2772. Counsel confirmed that the defendant, work, property, claim, trigger, extension, exception, and effective version fall within the statute.

☐ Other professional claim. The governing claim-specific statute, regulation, contract, and controlling authority are: [________________________________].

☐ General delictual fallback considered — La. C.C. art. 3493.1. The current article states a two-year liberative prescription running from the day injury or damage is sustained, but counsel confirmed that no shorter or otherwise controlling special rule displaces it.

Earliest possible filing or proceeding deadline: [DATE / TIME]

Controlling trigger and authority: [________________________________]

Independent deadline check by: [________________________________] on [__/__/____]

Suit or required proceeding filing plan: [________________________________]

Do not wait for the private response date in this letter. No tolling or preservation effect is represented.

LAW FIRM AND DELIVERY INFORMATION

[FIRM NAME]

[STREET ADDRESS]

[CITY, LOUISIANA ZIP]

[PHONE] | [EMAIL]

Date: [__/__/____]

Delivery method and tracking: [________________________________]

To:

[PROFESSIONAL / FIRM / AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE]

[ADDRESS]

[CITY, STATE ZIP]

Copy to known professional-liability carrier or administrator, if appropriate: [________________________________]

Re: Professional-services claim of [CLAIMANT]

Engagement or matter: [________________________________]

Claim number, if assigned: [________________________________]

Dear [RECIPIENT]:

Our firm represents [CLAIMANT] concerning professional services provided by [PROFESSIONAL / FIRM] in [ENGAGEMENT OR MATTER]. This letter gives notice of the claim summarized below, requests preservation of relevant information, and presents a settlement proposal. It is not a petition, complaint, or substitute for any filing required to preserve the claim.

1. PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIP AND SCOPE

Engagement date and document: [________________________________]

Client or intended recipient of services: [________________________________]

Services undertaken: [________________________________]

Material limits, assumptions, or exclusions: [________________________________]

Fees paid or charged: $[________________________________]

Key professionals and roles:

2. FACTUAL CHRONOLOGY

Date and manner claimant learned of the problem: [________________________________]

Subsequent investigation and mitigation: [________________________________]

3. CLAIM-SPECIFIC DUTY AND BREACH

The applicable professional standard, elements, expert requirement, and any exception must be supplied by Louisiana counsel for the selected profession and facts.

Current authority defining the duty or standard: [________________________________]

Professional or licensing rule: [________________________________]

Contractual undertaking: [________________________________]

Expert consulted, if required or advisable: [NAME / QUALIFICATIONS / DATE]

Opinion or analysis relied upon: [________________________________]

The claimant contends that [PROFESSIONAL / FIRM] departed from the applicable duty or undertaking by:

1. [SPECIFIC ACT OR OMISSION]
2. [SPECIFIC ACT OR OMISSION]
3. [SPECIFIC ACT OR OMISSION]

Documents and facts supporting each asserted departure: [________________________________]

No statement in this letter is intended to replace testimony, certification, affidavit, review-panel submission, or other proof required by the selected claim and forum.

4. CAUSATION AND COMPARATIVE-FAULT SCREEN

How each asserted breach caused the identified loss: [________________________________]

Alternative causes evaluated: [________________________________]

Mitigation steps and results: [________________________________]

Fault allegations expected against claimant or others: [________________________________]

Current La. C.C. art. 2323 provides that, when the claimant's degree or percentage of fault causing the injury, death, or loss is fifty-one percent or greater, the claimant may not recover; below fifty-one percent, recoverable damages are reduced in proportion to fault. The 2025 Act 15 amendment became effective January 1, 2026. Counsel must determine which version governs this claim and must not assume that the filing date alone answers that question.

Applicable Art. 2323 version and counsel's basis: [________________________________]

5. DAMAGES AND SUPPORT

Do not use a generic “no cap” statement. Identify each damage category, causation theory, proof, mitigation, contractual limit, insurance issue, and any profession-specific restriction.

Damage authority and any limitation or exclusion: [________________________________]

Insurance, collateral-source, tax, assignment, subrogation, or bankruptcy issue: [________________________________]

6. PRESERVATION REQUEST

Please preserve potentially relevant paper and electronic information within your possession, custody, or control, including:

• Engagement letters, amendments, conflict records, and scope communications;
• Complete working files, drafts, notes, calculations, research, and source materials;
• Email, messages, call records, calendar entries, and collaboration-platform data;
• Billing, time, payment, trust, expense, and accounting records relevant to the matter;
• Version history, metadata, audit logs, backups, and document-management records;
• Policies, manuals, checklists, supervision records, and quality-control materials relevant to the work;
• Communications with insurers, consultants, contractors, experts, and other involved persons; and
• Information concerning deletion, retention, device replacement, account closure, or system migration.

People, systems, devices, date range, and search terms specifically identified: [________________________________]

Please suspend routine destruction for the identified sources and confirm the preservation contact below. This request does not state that every listed item is discoverable or admissible, or that any particular sanction is available; those questions depend on the governing duties, forum, and facts.

Preservation contact: [________________________________]

7. REQUEST FOR RESPONSE AND INSURANCE ROUTING

Please provide the following voluntary response by [DATE]:

1. The name and contact information of the person handling the claim;
2. The claim number and insurer or administrator, if the claim has been tendered;
3. Confirmation that this letter was forwarded to any applicable carrier;
4. Identification of material facts or documents you contend are inaccurate or missing; and
5. Your position concerning early resolution or a meeting of counsel.

If current law, a policy, contract, or professional rule creates a specific insurance-disclosure duty, counsel should cite it here: [________________________________]. This template does not assert a universal ten-day disclosure obligation.

8. SETTLEMENT PROPOSAL

For settlement purposes only, the claimant offers to resolve the identified claim for:

$[DEMAND AMOUNT]

Proposed payment terms: [________________________________]

Release scope and excluded claims or parties: [________________________________]

Confidentiality or non-disparagement, if lawful and desired: [________________________________]

Lien, subrogation, tax, reporting, and approval conditions: [________________________________]

This private offer expires on [DATE] at [TIME] Central Time unless extended in a signed writing. The offer deadline does not alter any prescriptive, peremptive, filing, service, or procedural deadline.

9. ENCLOSURES

Please direct communications concerning this matter to [COUNSEL NAME] at [CONTACT INFORMATION].

Sincerely,

[ATTORNEY NAME]

Louisiana Bar No. [________________________________]

[FIRM NAME]

ATTORNEY FINAL CHECK — NOT PART OF LETTER

☐ Correct profession, defendant, engagement, claimant, and standing confirmed.

☐ Every prescriptive and peremptive trigger independently calculated.

☐ Filing will occur before the earliest possible deadline without relying on this demand.

☐ Current official claim-specific statute and any required administrative or review procedure checked.

☐ Standard, elements, causation, expert proof, damages, and defenses supported by current authority.

☐ Art. 2323 version and effective-date analysis completed.

☐ Factual assertions supported and privileged material excluded.

☐ Preservation scope is proportionate and technically usable.

☐ Insurance request does not imply an unsupported disclosure deadline.

☐ Settlement authority, liens, taxes, releases, confidentiality, and approvals reviewed.

SOURCES AND REFERENCES

• La. C.C. art. 3493.1: https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=1386443
• La. R.S. 9:5605: https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=108277
• La. R.S. 9:2772: https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=107197
• La. C.C. art. 2323: https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=109387
• 2025 La. Act 15: https://legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1419039

The current official sections and Act 15 were fetched directly on 2026-08-02. Current-bill citation searches found no later 2025-2026 amendment hit for art. 3493.1, R.S. 9:5605, R.S. 9:2772, or art. 2323. The four case citations in the former file resolved in bulk screening but were removed because the revised demand requires claim-specific current authority instead of a generic case-law survey.

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