# Louisiana's Comparative Fault Law: Civil Code Article 2323

Louisiana Civil Code article 2323 is the state's comparative fault law. It has every person's share of fault for an injury measured as a percentage. A person 51% or more at fault for their own injury recovers nothing; below 51%, their damages are reduced by their own share.

## What the law does

Article 2323 is how Louisiana divides responsibility when more than one person caused an injury. Each person's share of the fault is set as a percentage, including people who are not part of the lawsuit, people who cannot pay, and people who cannot be identified.

The injured person's own share then decides what they can recover:

- **51% or more at fault, for an injury on or after January 1, 2026:** the injured person recovers nothing.
- **Less than 51% at fault, for an injury on or after January 1, 2026:** the injured person recovers, with the damages reduced by their own percentage.
- **Any share of fault, for an injury before January 1, 2026:** the injured person still recovers, with the damages reduced by their own percentage. The 51% cutoff added by Acts 2025 No. 15 does not apply to injuries that happened before it took effect (La. C.C. art. 6).

Someone found 20% at fault for a crash with $100,000 in damages recovers $80,000. If you were hurt on or after January 1, 2026, someone found 51% at fault recovers nothing. If you were hurt before January 1, 2026, your damages are reduced by your share of the fault however large it is, so someone found 51% at fault recovers $49,000.

## When the 51% bar applies

The bar was added by Act 15 of 2025 and took effect on January 1, 2026. Before that date the article reduced an injured person's damages by their share of the fault and set no percentage at which recovery ended.

The act states only its effective date. It does not say which injuries it covers. The firm reads it to apply to claims that arose on or after January 1, 2026, because Louisiana law applies a change of this kind going forward unless the legislature says otherwise. That reading is the standard one, and it rests on Civil Code article 6, not on the act's own words.

## Two rules inside the article

- **Every kind of claim.** The article applies to any claim for damages for injury, death or loss, whatever the legal basis of the claim.
- **Intentional harm.** When a person is hurt partly through their own negligence and partly through someone's intentional act, the claim against the person who acted intentionally is not reduced.

## The text of article 2323

> **Art. 2323. Comparative fault**
>
> A.(1) In any action for damages where a person suffers injury, death, or loss, the degree or percentage of fault attributable to all persons causing or contributing to the injury, death, or loss shall be determined, regardless of whether the person is a party to the action or a nonparty, and regardless of the person's insolvency, ability to pay, immunity by statute, including but not limited to the provisions of R.S. 23:1032, or that the other person's identity is not known or reasonably ascertainable.
>
> (2) If a person suffers injury, death, or loss partly as the result of his own negligence and partly as a result of the fault of another person or persons, then the following shall apply:
>
> (a) If the degree or percentage of negligence attributable to the person suffering injury, death, or loss is equal to or greater than fifty-one percent, then the person suffering injury, death, or loss shall not be entitled to recover damages.
>
> (b) If the degree or percentage of negligence attributable to the person suffering injury, death, or loss is less than fifty-one percent, then the amount of damages recoverable shall be reduced in proportion to the degree or percentage of negligence attributable to the person suffering the injury, death, or loss.
>
> B. The provisions of Paragraph A shall apply to any claim for recovery of damages for injury, death, or loss asserted under any law or legal doctrine or theory of liability, regardless of the basis of liability.
>
> C. Notwithstanding the provisions of Paragraphs A and B, if a person suffers injury, death, or loss as a result partly of his own negligence and partly as a result of the fault of an intentional tortfeasor, his claim for recovery of damages shall not be reduced.
>
> D. In cases where the issue of comparative fault is submitted to the jury, the jury shall be instructed on the effect of this Article.
>
> Amended by Acts 1979, No. 431, §1; Acts 1996, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 3, §1, eff. April 16, 1996; Acts 2025, No. 15, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2026.