Louisiana Wrongful Death Settlement Calculator

Wrongful death claims in Louisiana benefit from the state’s pure comparative fault system, which never completely bars recovery based on fault. Your compensation is simply reduced by your share of responsibility. This approach means that even contested multi-vehicle accidents where fault is widely distributed can result in meaningful recovery for each injured party.

Louisiana Civil Code article 2315.2(B) gives 1 year from the death, or 2 years from the day the injury or damage was sustained, whichever is longer, to file a wrongful death lawsuit. Acts 2025, No. 176 added the 2-year alternative effective August 1, 2025, and states no rule for deaths before that date, when the period was 1 year. A wrongful death claim based on medical malpractice has 1 year from the death (article 2315.2(F)).

Louisiana's wrongful death statute generally allows specific family members — typically the surviving spouse, children, and sometimes parents — to recover damages on behalf of the decedent's estate or themselves. The exact hierarchy of eligible beneficiaries and whether damages flow through the estate or directly to survivors varies by state. Establishing standing as a proper claimant under Louisiana law is a threshold requirement before damages analysis begins.

Louisiana wrongful death damages cover both quantifiable economic losses — lost financial contributions, medical and funeral expenses, value of household services the decedent would have provided — and non-economic harms like loss of companionship and emotional support for surviving family members. The largest component in most Louisiana cases is the economic projection of the decedent's lifetime earnings, making expert economist testimony frequently decisive.