Shreveport riders go down on I-20 where the lanes pinch near the Texas Street and Market Street exits, on I-49 in the deceleration zone at Bert Kouns, on Youree Drive with its short signal cycles, and on the rough pavement along Line Avenue and Jewella Avenue. The ambulance goes to the Level I trauma center at Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport on Kings Highway, to Willis-Knighton, or to CHRISTUS Highland. The Shreveport Police Department or the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office writes the report, and on I-20 or I-49 it is usually the Louisiana State Police. Caddo Parish suits are filed and tried in the First Judicial District Court at 501 Texas Street. Trey Morris Injury Lawyers is at 509 Milam Street, across the street from the Caddo Parish Courthouse, and in the first week we pull the crash report, send preservation letters to the businesses along Youree and Bert Kouns before their footage rolls over, and tell the tow yard in writing to hold your bike.
The law that governs the claim is Louisiana law and it is the same in every parish. Your crash is a negligence claim under La. C.C. Art. 2315. For a wreck on or after January 1, 2026, Act 15 of 2025 rewrote La. C.C. Art. 2323 so that a rider assigned 51% or more of the fault collects nothing. We build the file from scene evidence before rider bias gets used to push a catastrophic injury past that bar.
Results for Louisiana Clients
- $49 MillionMotor Vehicle Accident
An impaired driver of a stolen vehicle driving the wrong way collided with our client head-on, resulting in brain injury and multiple broken bones.
- $12.1 MillionMotor Vehicle Accident
A commercial vehicle failed to stop at a red light subsequently crashing into our client causing serious brain injury and permanent loss of function.
- $7 MillionMotor Vehicle Accident
When the other vehicle struck our client, the result was a major hemorrhage and a stroke.
- $6.2 MillionMotor Vehicle Accident
A fatigued commercial-vehicle driver fell asleep at the wheel and rear-ended our client, leaving our client with severe neck and back injuries.
- $3 MillionMotor Vehicle Accident
Out on the highway, the at-fault driver hit our client.
- $2.9 MillionMotor Vehicle Accident
Our client was rear-ended by the other driver and seriously injured.
Past results do not guarantee future outcomes; each case is decided on its own facts.
Louisiana Negligence Law and Motorcycle Accidents in Caddo Parish
c motorcycle case in Caddo Parish gets built the same way any negligence case does. La. C.C. Art. 2315 says the person who caused the harm has to repair it, and you prove four things to get there: the driver owed you a duty of care, broke it, the breaking of it caused your injuries, and you have documented losses. Miss one of the four and the claim fails.
Title 32 of the Louisiana statutes spells out what drivers owe each other on Youree Drive, on Mansfield Road, and on every other street in the parish. c car driver owes you the same care he owes a pickup. Your smaller profile does not shrink that obligation by an inch.
When a driver breaks one of those traffic statutes, you get a head start. Failure to yield, an illegal lane change, following too closely, running a red light: the violation establishes duty and breach by itself, with no separate argument that the driver behaved unreasonably. The fight narrows to causation and the size of your damages. The wreck we see most often is the left turn, where a car cuts across an oncoming bike and the driver says he never saw the motorcycle. That sentence is an admission, not a defense. The duty to look covers motorcycles.
Causation is where the ground shifted. Healthy before the wreck and hurting after it no longer carries the point on its own. You generally need a treating doctor or an expert to draw the line from the collision to the injury, which makes your medical file the spine of the claim.
This week: write down the exact date, time, and intersection, plus the name of every person who stopped, and put it somewhere you will not lose it.
Local Office. Statewide Record.
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From the 1st JDC
Our 509 Milam St office sits across the street from the First Judicial District Court, where Shreveport injury suits are filed and tried.
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Trial attorneys, one team
Your case is handled by the firm's own trial attorneys, and we respond in minutes, 24/7.
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Hospital, home, or the office at 509 Milam St. Free case review, and no fee unless we win.
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Cases resolved over $1 million
Verdicts and settlements of $1 million or more, won by the same trial team that handles Shreveport cases.
Common Causes of Shreveport Motorcycle Accidents
The corridor you went down on tells us a lot about the case.
Youree Drive from South Shreveport toward Pierremont is one shopping center and medical office after another, with short signal cycles and cars crossing lanes to turn all day. That mix produces the left-turn and T-bone conflicts that leave a rider the least room to brake or swerve.
I-20 carries east-west traffic straight through downtown, and the lane merges near the Texas Street and Market Street exits pinch it into a knot. I-49 runs north and south at highway speed, and the deceleration zone near the Bert Kouns exit is a documented cluster point for high-speed rear-end crashes. Bert Kouns Industrial Loop works like a highway connecting I-49 to I-20, except its intersections sit at grade with signals, so a driver at highway speed meets a red light with little warning. Take a rear-end hit at that speed difference, or a merge where a driver never registered a smaller vehicle, and it becomes catastrophic injury rather than bent metal.
Pavement matters more on two wheels. Loose aggregate, expansion-joint gaps, uneven surface, and road-edge drop-offs on Line Avenue, Jewella Avenue, and older stretches around town barely register in a car and will put a bike down. On Jewella between Greenwood Road and I-20, inconsistent lighting adds to it after dark. Where deferred maintenance by a public body created the hazard, there is a claim against that body, but those claims carry their own notice requirements and shorter deadlines, so they have to be spotted early. Casino traffic along the Red River puts impaired drivers on the road late, and an impaired driver who hits a rider brings conduct into the case that raises what it is worth.
This week: go back to the spot in daylight and photograph the pavement, the sight lines, and whatever blocked the other driver’s view of you.
Comparative Fault and Rider Bias in Caddo Parish
La. C.C. Art. 2323 tells the judge or the jury to hand out fault in percentages among everyone involved, and each side’s damages come down by its own share. In Caddo Parish motorcycle cases the defense starts from a story: you were speeding, splitting lanes, weaving, not paying attention. Often there is nothing behind the story but the assumption that a man on a bike must have been doing something risky. The point of it is to move your percentage up and the defendant’s exposure down.
Act 15 of 2025 turned that story into a weapon. Effective January 1, 2026, Art. 2323 carries a 51% bar: a rider assigned 51% or more of the fault collects nothing at all. Louisiana used pure comparative fault before that, so a rider carrying most of the blame still collected something. Now the single point between 50% and 51% is the whole case. Crash reconstruction, witness depositions taken before memories soften, and the electronic data off the vehicles are what hold that number down.
Two more changes cut the same direction. Act 18 of 2025 (La. Code Evid. Art. 306.1, effective May 28, 2025) ended the Housley presumption in civil tort cases, so a rider who was healthy before the wreck no longer gets the benefit of an assumption that the wreck caused the injury; that link now takes expert medical testimony. Act 460 of 2025 changed Louisiana’s direct action rule effective January 1, 2026, so the at-fault driver’s insurer cannot be named as a defendant until after trial, and the jury never sees the insurance company’s name while it deliberates. c motorcycle file has to be built around both of those from the first week.
Louisiana requires a helmet on every operator and passenger on a public road. If you were not wearing one, you still have a claim. The question that matters is whether the missing helmet actually changed the injuries you are claiming. No insurer gets to discount a femur fracture, road rash, or a torn spleen on the ground that your head was bare, because headgear would not have prevented any of them. Helmet evidence turns on the documented facts of the crash, not on a blanket assumption.
This week: tell the shop or the tow yard in writing not to repair or release your bike, and send us the address where it is sitting.
Shreveport Practice Areas
Car AccidentsRear-end, intersection, and highway collisions across Louisiana.
Truck Accidents18-wheeler and commercial-vehicle wrecks governed by federal trucking rules.
Catastrophic InjuryBrain, spinal-cord, amputation, and severe-burn injuries that change a life.
Wrongful DeathClaims brought by families after a fatal accident or act of negligence.
Premises LiabilitySlip-and-fall and unsafe-property injuries on someone else's premises.
Product LiabilityInjuries caused by defective or unreasonably dangerous products.
Oilfield AccidentsDrilling, pipeline, and refinery injuries across the energy sector.
Industrial AccidentsPlant, warehouse, and heavy-equipment injuries in industrial settings.
Offshore AccidentsRig, platform, and vessel injuries beyond the shoreline.
Injuries and Damages in Shreveport Motorcycle Cases
c rider takes the collision force with his body, so Shreveport motorcycle injuries land at the severe end: traumatic brain injury, spinal cord damage, long-bone and pelvic fractures, organ damage, and road rash deep enough to need skin grafts. Most of those get stabilized at the Level I trauma center at Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport on Kings Highway, or at Willis-Knighton, before anyone talks about specialized care. How severe and how permanent the injury is drives what the claim is worth: it sets the medical cost and how much of your working life changed.
Louisiana sorts damages into two piles. Economic damages have paper behind them: past and future medical bills, lost wages, lost earning capacity, the bike itself, and the out-of-pocket items people forget, like the mileage to appointments and the ramp you had to build. Non-economic damages cover what never comes with an invoice: physical pain, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, permanent scarring and disfigurement, permanent disability. Louisiana puts no general cap on any of that in personal injury cases. The $500,000 cap belongs to medical malpractice alone and has nothing to do with a motor vehicle claim.
Some of this shows at the scene and some of it does not. c brain moving inside the skull can leave you confused, forgetful, and sensitive to light days later. Internal bleeding can look like nothing from the outside while it turns dangerous. That delay is why you get evaluated even when you walked away upright, and why a gap in treatment hands an adjuster the argument that your injuries came from somewhere else. Neuropsychological testing for a brain injury and imaging for spinal damage put numbers on a page, and numbers are harder to wave off than how you say you feel.
When a rider is killed, Louisiana recognizes two claims. c wrongful death claim under La. C.C. Art. 2315.2 belongs to the surviving spouse, the children, and certain other relatives, for their own loss. c survival action under La. C.C. Art. 2315.1 belongs to the estate and covers what the rider went through before death. Both are filed together in the First Judicial District Court.
This week: ask every provider for complete records and itemized bills instead of the visit summary, and keep the appointments already on the calendar.
What Shreveport Clients Say
- Emma Dvorak
I was overwhelmed dealing with everything after my injury, but their team took a lot of the pressure off of me.They were patient, answered all my questions, and made sure I understood what was happening.
- Diane Didier
I was recommended to Trey Morris by a friend, and they have been amazing!They kept me up to date with all the details of my case. I was in the loop during the entire process. Having to go over the details my accident was so uncomfortable, but they were so understanding and made every effort to make the entire process as smooth as possible. I would highly recommend Trey Morris and his team to anyone.
- Laurie Shearin
I'll always appreciate the way I was treated here.I felt heard, respected and taken care of from beginning to end.
- Zachary Krengle
Trey Morris and the team treated me so well after my accident.Beyond taking the steps to make sure my case was taken care of timely and apropiatelly. They listened and made me feel like I was a priority to them and not just another client. I hope none of my friends are put in a situation to need them, but if they do I would highly suggest Trey Morris and the team.
- Valorie Schneider
Really glad I chose Trey Morris Injury Law.They were easy to work with and made sure I understood what was going on.
- Alayna Cantrell
I would recommend Trey Morris to my friends and family.Trey Morris & the team there helped me with my case. The firm is amazing!
- Sunshine Halpert
This is the firm you want handling your car accident.Trey Morris Injury Lawyers is the best. Jessica, Seth, and Brian handled my case quickly. They kept me up to date and infor ed the whole time. I will send everyone I know to you guys. Thanks so much!
- Alyx Braud
My mans Trey Trey got it done!All the people at the firm were super friendly and they really made me feel like they cared about my case as much as I did. It didn't take too long and I got my settlement 🤑
- Raley Snead
I had a great experience with Morris Injury Attorneys.Everyone is professional, responsive, and kept me / my loved ones updated throughout the entire process. They made everything easy to understand and handled our cases quickly. I'm really pleased with the outcome and would definitely recommend them to anyone who needs a good injury attorney.
- Annabelle Lee
Trey morris injury lawyers handled my case with the utmost professionalism.I will definitely be recommending to any friends and family!!
- Lindsie Waguespack
Trey Morris Injury lawyers handled my claim with so much professionalism!Thank yall for everything!!
- LAM Rogers
Trey Morris and his team were the only attorneys i needed to call.After I was in an accident they helped my case and got me a settlement I am very happy with. They were very professional. I recommend them highly. Thank you to the whole office at Tray Morris.
What to Do After a Shreveport Motorcycle Crash
What happens in the first hours sets the ceiling on everything after. c rider usually walks away hurt worse than the driver who hit him, so the medical piece comes first and the legal piece can wait an hour.
Call 911 and let them evaluate you even if adrenaline has your pain turned off. c report from the Shreveport Police Department or the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office writes down the location, the road conditions, what each driver said, and any citation issued, while all of it is still fresh. Fault gets disputed in nearly every motorcycle case, and that report is where the dispute starts. If you went down on I-20, I-49, or another state highway, the Louisiana State Police usually work the crash instead.
If you can move safely, photograph the whole scene: both vehicles, the road surface, skid marks, debris, the signals, and your own injuries. Wide shots showing the entire intersection carry as much weight as the close-ups. Get the other driver’s name, phone number, insurance carrier, and policy number, plus the plate, make, model, and color. Get names and numbers from anyone who stopped, before they drive off, because one neutral witness settles the kind of conflicting accounts drivers and adjusters produce in these cases. Do not apologize, do not take blame, do not describe your injuries to the other driver or his insurer, and sign nothing and record nothing until you have talked to a lawyer.
This week: if you are still in a hospital bed, hand your phone to whoever is sitting with you and have them collect the photos and the witness numbers while the trail is warm.
Proving Fault and Preserving Evidence
Your account of the wreck is not proof of negligence; it is one story against another. Since adjusters open these files leaning against riders, the investigation has to replace assumption with evidence. The first work is paper and data: the police report, the EMS run sheet, and the event data recorders in the vehicles, downloaded before anybody touches them.
Evidence goes stale fast. Businesses along Youree Drive, along Bert Kouns, and off the I-20 exits overwrite camera footage on cycles as short as 48 to 72 hours. Wrecked vehicles get repaired or hauled to salvage. Witnesses lose the details inside of a few weeks. When liability is genuinely disputed, an accident reconstruction expert takes the damage patterns, the skid marks, and the physical evidence and rebuilds the collision, and a biomechanical analysis ties those forces to your particular injuries. That second piece matters more than it once did, because with the Housley presumption gone under Act 18 of 2025 (La. Code Evid. Art. 306.1), the causal link has to come from an expert rather than from the order of events.
The driver is not always the only one who pays. If he was working when he hit you, his employer answers under respondeat superior (La. C.C. Art. 2320), which usually opens a commercial policy far larger than a personal one. c public body responsible for the design and upkeep of the road can carry fault when a defect helped cause the crash, subject to its own notice requirements and shorter deadlines. Finding every responsible party changes both the insurance available and how the percentages get split, and under the 51% bar the split decides whether you collect anything at all.
This week: list every business with a camera pointed at the spot and send us the list, so a preservation letter goes out before the footage rolls over.
Your Shreveport Trial Team
The lawyers who work your file. Every Shreveport case is handled by the firm's own trial attorneys.
Filing Deadlines and Insurance Coverage for Caddo Parish Riders
For a crash on or after July 1, 2024, you have two years from the date of the wreck to file suit, under La. C.C. Art. 3493.1 as enacted by Act 423 of 2024. If the crash came before that date, the old one-year deadline under La. C.C. Art. 3492 governs you. Louisiana calls this a prescriptive period, and once it runs the court dismisses the case no matter how plainly the other driver was at fault. c few things suspend it: a claimant under 18 has the clock tolled during minority, and an injury nobody could have known about gets the discovery rule. Two years sounds roomy until you try to build a serious injury case inside it, and the deadline for preserving evidence is far shorter than the deadline for filing.
If the driver who hit you carried nothing, or nowhere near enough, your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage becomes the main source of compensation. Every auto insurer in Louisiana has to offer UM coverage, and it stays on the policy unless the insured rejected it in writing on an approved form. c UM claim goes against your own carrier, which then takes the same adversarial posture the other driver’s insurer would. If the driver took off, Louisiana treats an unidentified hit-and-run driver as an uninsured motorist, but only where the crash was reported to law enforcement.
If you were riding uninsured, La. R.S. 32:866, the No Pay No Play statute, takes a bite. Since August 1, 2025, an uninsured driver cannot collect the first $100,000 in bodily injury damages or the first $100,000 in property damage, even where the other party caused the whole thing. It does not bar the claim outright, and damages above those thresholds can still be pursued. You need that number in front of you before you look at any settlement offer.
Caddo Parish motorcycle cases are filed in the First Judicial District Court at 501 Texas Street, with federal court available in limited circumstances. Most of them resolve in negotiation or mediation, and the preparation is usually what moves the offer, because a file ready for a Caddo Parish jury is real exposure for the defense. Trey Morris Injury Lawyers takes rider cases on contingency, with no attorney fee unless the firm collects compensation for you, and the firm handles cases across Caddo Parish, Bossier Parish, and Northwest Louisiana. If your wreck happened across the river in Bossier Parish, the case goes to the 26th JDC in Benton instead of Caddo.
This week: pull the declarations page for every policy in your household and confirm in writing whether UM coverage was accepted or rejected, and at what limits. Then give us the date, the location, and the names, and we will pull the crash report.