How long do we have to sue for breach of this Louisiana contract?
Ten years for an ordinary contract action (a "personal action"), unless a shorter, more specific period applies. Louisiana Civil Code art. 3499: "Unless otherwise provided by legislation, a personal action is subject to a liberative prescription of ten years." But a claim on a promissory note is not a ten-year claim: art. 3498, "Actions on instruments, whether negotiable or not, and on promissory notes, whether negotiable or not, are subject to a liberative prescription of five years." In American Turbine Technology, Inc. v. Omni Bancshares, Inc. the plaintiff argued its line-of-credit claim "as a personal action is subject to liberative prescription of ten years under La. C.C. art. 3499"; the Fifth Circuit agreed the action "is not governed by the Louisiana UCC" and reversed the district court's one-year ruling, but did not give it ten years ("Because this action arises from the terms of the promissory note itself, in view of Ott, we also find that this action should be subject to the prescriptive period of five years under La. C.C. art. 3498"), while declining "to ultimately decide the issue of prescription here because that peremptory exception was not pleaded below or on appeal." The ten-year default is displaced by shorter, listed categories: art. 3494 sets a THREE-YEAR period for, among other things, "An action for the recovery of compensation for services rendered, including payment of salaries, wages, commissions, professional fees, ... freight, passage, money, lodging, and board," "An action on money lent," and "An action on an open account." Delictual (tort) claims run on a wholly separate, shorter clock that is NOT the ten-year personal-action period at all: art. 3493.1, "Delictual actions are subject to a liberative prescription of two years. This prescription commences to run from the day that injury or damage is sustained." That two-year period is itself qualified by the article’s own third sentence: it does not run "against minors or interdicts in actions involving permanent disability and brought pursuant to the Louisiana Products Liability Act or state law governing product liability actions in effect at the time of the injury or damage."
The trap
Do not import a one-year delictual-prescription assumption from an older source: former art. 3492, which set delictual prescription at ONE year, was REPEALED by Acts 2024, No. 423, § 2, effective July 1, 2024, and delictual prescription in Louisiana is now TWO years under the newly enacted art. 3493.1: a reviewer relying on a pre-2024 secondary source, treatise, or memory will misstate current law. Second, the ten-year personal-action default in art. 3499 yields easily to more specific categories: open accounts, money lent, and compensation for services all drop to THREE years under art. 3494, so a services or supply contract dressed as a simple breach-of-contract claim may in fact be governed by the three-year period, not the ten-year one, depending on how the claim is actually framed. Third, the label on the pleading decides the clock, and calling the claim a breach of contract does not earn ten years by itself: in American Turbine the district court had dismissed everything under the UCC's one-year period for conversion of instruments (La. R.S. 10:3-420); the Fifth Circuit held the action "is not governed by the Louisiana UCC" and pointed instead to art. 3498's five-year period for actions on promissory notes, so a single dispute can carry the one-year UCC period, the five-year instrument period or the ten-year personal-action period depending on how the claim is actually framed, and a claim on a note pleaded as breach of contract gets art. 3498’s five, not art. 3499’s ten. Note what the court actually ordered: it reversed the summary judgment that had held the claim prescribed and remanded, so no period was finally fixed for that claim.
9 authorities
- statuteLa. Civ. Code art. 3499enactment date not established
The words that state the rule
Unless otherwise provided by legislation, a personal action is subject to a liberative prescription of ten years.
- statuteLa. Civ. Code art. 3493.1enactment date not established
The words that state the rule
Delictual actions are subject to a liberative prescription of two years. This prescription commences to run from the day that injury or damage is sustained. It does not run against minors or interdicts in actions involving permanent disability and brought pursuant to the Louisiana Products Liability Act or state law governing product liability actions in effect at the time of the injury or damage.
- case222 So.3d 189American Turbine Technology, Inc. v. Omni Bancshares, Inc.La. Ct. App.decided 2017read it at the source ↗
The words that state the rule
but as a personal action is subject to liberative prescription of ten years under La. C.C. art. 3499.
- statuteLa. Civ. Code art. 3498enactment date not established
The words that state the rule
Actions on instruments, whether negotiable or not, and on promissory notes, whether negotiable or not, are subject to a liberative prescription of five years. This prescription commences to run from the day payment is exigible.
- case222 So.3d 189American Turbine Technology, Inc. v. Omni Bancshares, Inc.La. Ct. App.decided 2017read it at the source ↗
The words that state the rule
we find this action is not governed by the Louisiana UCC. Therefore, we conclude the district court erred in finding this action was prescribed under La. R.S. 10:3-420 and La. R.S. 10:4-406.
- case222 So.3d 189American Turbine Technology, Inc. v. Omni Bancshares, Inc.La. Ct. App.decided 2017read it at the source ↗
The words that state the rule
Because this action arises from the terms of the promissory note itself, in view of Ott, we also find that this action should be subject to the prescriptive period of five years under La. C.C. art. 3498. We decline to ultimately decide the issue of prescription here because that peremptory exception was not pleaded below or on appeal.
- statuteLa. Civ. Code art. 3494enactment date not established
The words that state the rule
The following actions are subject to a liberative prescription of three years: (1) An action for the recovery of compensation for services rendered, including payment of salaries, wages, commissions, professional fees, fees and emoluments of public officials, freight, passage, money, lodging, and board; (2) An action for arrearages of rent and annuities; (3) An action on money lent; (4) An action on an open account; and (5) An action to recover underpayments or overpayments of royalties from the production of minerals, provided that nothing herein applies to any payments, rent, or royalties derived from state-owned properties.
- statuteLa. Civ. Code art. 3492enactment date not established
The words that state the rule
Art. 3492. Repealed by Acts 2024, No. 423, §2, eff. July 1, 2024.
- case222 So.3d 189American Turbine Technology, Inc. v. Omni Bancshares, Inc.La. Ct. App.decided 2017read it at the source ↗
The words that state the rule
For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the district court’s July 14, 2016 judgment granting Omni’s motion for summary judgment on the basis of prescription and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. REVERSED; REMANDED
“Defective” means that reading found something to correct. What you are reading is the rule as it stands after that reading.