Louisiana prejudgment interest rate
United States Louisiana prejudgment interest has separate tort, contract, and government-defendant paths.
→ All Louisiana judgment & prejudgment interest rates
Published value Claim-dependent
2026 Louisiana prejudgment interest at a glance
- Current rate
- 7.5% general / up to 6% government PI-WD per year
- Effective date
- August 1, 2026
- Controlling authority
- La. R.S. 9:3500, 13:4202, 13:4203, and 13:5112; Civil Code art. 2000
- Rate basis
- Published value
- Source checked
- August 20, 2026
- Recorded history
- 1 data point
Louisiana does not apply one universal prejudgment rate or start date. General ex delicto judgments ordinarily use the annual judicial-interest schedule under La. R.S. 13:4202 and accrue from judicial demand under R.S. 13:4203. For a personal-injury or wrongful-death claim against the state or a political subdivision governed by current R.S. 13:5112(C), prejudgment interest is instead the lesser of 6% or the applicable judicial rate. A monetary contract claim can use an agreed rate under Civil Code art. 2000.
When Louisiana prejudgment interest applies
General damages ex delicto use R.S. 13:4203. A monetary contract can use Civil Code art. 2000. Effective August 1, 2026, Act 13 amended R.S. 13:5112(C) for personal-injury and wrongful-death claims against the state or a political subdivision: the prejudgment rate is the lesser of 6% or the applicable R.S. 13:4202 judicial rate.
When it starts accruing
General ex delicto judicial interest attaches from judicial demand under R.S. 13:4203. Civil Code art. 2000 measures delay on a qualifying monetary obligation from the time the sum is due, with R.S. 9:3500 resolving the legal-interest rate to R.S. 13:4202. For the covered government-defendant branch, R.S. 13:5112(C) separately labels the period from the request for service through the trial judge’s signature as prejudgment interest and the period after signature as post-judgment interest at the applicable judicial rate.
Simple or compound
Do not compound automatically. Civil Code art. 2001 permits interest on accrued interest only when the parties add it to principal through a new agreement made after the interest accrued. Day count, payment allocation, and claim-specific branches remain outside the calculator model.
How the rate is set
R.S. 13:4202(B) sets each following calendar year’s judicial rate from the specified Federal Reserve benchmark plus 3.25 percentage points. The R.S. 13:5112(C) government-defendant prejudgment branch uses the lesser of 6% or that applicable annual judicial rate.
→ Compare with the Louisiana post-judgment interest rate (interest after judgment)
Louisiana prejudgment interest is claim-dependent. General ex delicto judgments ordinarily use the annual R.S. 13:4202 judicial rate from judicial demand under R.S. 13:4203. Effective August 1, 2026, R.S. 13:5112(C) caps the covered state or political-subdivision personal-injury and wrongful-death prejudgment branch at the lesser of 6% or the applicable judicial rate. A monetary contract can use Civil Code art. 2000. Automatic compounding is not assumed. Not legal advice.
Current recorded observation
| Effective date | Rate | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| August 1, 2026 | 7.5% general / up to 6% government PI-WD | Published |
Source & provenance
Observation recorded August 20, 2026 (00:00 UTC) from the cited source (Louisiana Legislature and Office of Financial Institutions (official)):
https://ofi.la.gov/legal/statutes-rules-policies-opinions/judicial-interest-rates/
Cite this page
StatuteRates. “Louisiana Prejudgment Interest Rate.” StatuteRates.com. Accessed today. https://statuterates.com/rates/louisiana-prejudgment-rate/ Rate recorded under La. R.S. 9:3500, 13:4202, 13:4203, and 13:5112; Civil Code art. 2000, effective August 1, 2026.