Sexual Assault Attorneys in Louisiana: Your Complete Legal Guide

Louisiana law provides survivors of sexual assault with both criminal and civil avenues for justice. Criminal prosecutions are brought by the state through the local district attorney’s office, while civil lawsuits are filed by the survivor directly, seeking financial compensation and institutional accountability. These two paths are independent: a civil lawsuit may proceed regardless of whether criminal charges are filed or result in a conviction.

Louisiana has made significant progress in recent years on civil statutes of limitations for childhood sexual abuse, permanently eliminating the time bar for future claims in 2021. At the same time, civil deadlines for adult survivors remain among the shortest in the nation.

Criminal Statutes of Limitations

Louisiana’s criminal statutes of limitations for sex offenses are tiered by offense severity and are governed primarily by Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Articles 571, 571.1, and 572.

First degree rape (aggravated rape) — La. R.S. 14:42: NO statute of limitations. Prosecutable at any time.
Second degree rape (forcible rape) — La. R.S. 14:42.1: NO statute of limitations.
Third degree rape — La. R.S. 14:43: 6 years from the date of the offense.
Sexual battery — La. R.S. 14:43.1 and related offenses: 30 years from the date of the offense under La. C.Cr.P. Art. 571.1 (applies to a broad list of designated sex offenses including sexual battery, second degree sexual battery, oral sexual battery, indecent behavior with juveniles, pornography involving juveniles, molestation of a juvenile or a person with a physical or mental disability, felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile, human trafficking, and trafficking of children for sexual purposes, among others).
Child sex offenses generally: Under La. C.Cr.P. Art. 571.1, for any sex offense as defined in La. R.S. 15:541 involving a victim under 18 years of age, the prosecution may be instituted within 30 years.
DNA identification exception: Where the perpetrator’s identity is established by DNA evidence, prosecutors have 3 years from the date of identification to file charges, regardless of when the standard SOL would otherwise run.

Civil Statutes of Limitations

Adult Survivors (Abuse Occurring in Adulthood)

Adult survivors of sexual assault in Louisiana have 1 year from the date of the assault to file a civil lawsuit. This is one of only three states in the nation with a 1-year civil SOL for adult sexual assault claims (along with Kentucky and Tennessee, before Tennessee’s 2024 reform). Louisiana uses the civil law concept of “prescription” rather than the common law “statute of limitations,” but the legal effect is the same.

Louisiana courts have been reluctant to apply the equitable doctrine of contra non valentem (which suspends prescription when a claimant is unable to act) to sexual assault claims based on repressed or recovered memories. Survivors with blocked memories face a particularly difficult legal landscape.

Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors — Current Law (La. Stat. Ann. 9:2800.9)

In 2021, Louisiana enacted major reforms to the civil SOL for childhood sexual abuse:

Abuse occurring on or after January 1, 2021: NO statute of limitations. Survivors may file civil claims at any time, with no age cap.
Discovery rule: Claims may be brought at any time after the survivor discovers, or should have discovered, that the abuse occurred and that it caused the claimed injury.

The Lookback Window (Now Closed — June 2024 / Extended to June 2027)

As part of the same 2021 legislation, Louisiana established a 3-year “lookback window” under La. Stat. Ann. 9:2800.9, allowing survivors of childhood sexual abuse whose claims were previously prescribed (time-barred) to file new civil lawsuits regardless of when the abuse occurred. The window was initially set to expire in June 2024, but the Louisiana Legislature extended it through June 14, 2027. This means survivors of child sexual abuse that occurred at any time in their lives may file civil claims under this window before that date.

In June 2024, the Louisiana Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Child Victims Act and its lookback provision, reversing an earlier adverse ruling. This was a significant victory for survivors. The Archdiocese of New Orleans, which had filed for bankruptcy in part due to the volume of claims under the lookback window, reached a $230 million settlement in 2025 to resolve over 600 clergy abuse claims — the first major jury award under the revived lookback window was a federal verdict of nearly $2.4 million in a Holy Cross summer camp abuse case.

Institutional Liability Standard

Louisiana uses a “knew or should have known” standard for institutional liability. Churches, schools, employers, youth organizations, healthcare providers, and other entities can be held civilly liable if they knew or should have known about a perpetrator’s propensity for abuse and failed to act. This standard covers negligent hiring, negligent supervision, and failure to report. In many cases, the institutional defendant — not the individual perpetrator — is the practical source of meaningful financial recovery.

What Damages Can Survivors Recover?

In a Louisiana civil lawsuit for sexual assault or abuse, survivors may seek compensation for:

Past and future medical expenses, including physical and psychiatric treatment
Past and future mental health counseling and therapy costs
Lost wages and diminished earning capacity
Pain and suffering, emotional distress, and trauma
Loss of enjoyment of life
Punitive damages in cases involving egregious institutional cover-up or deliberate disregard for safety
Attorney’s fees and costs where authorized by applicable statutes

Louisiana Sexual Assault Attorneys

Lamothe Law Firm, LLC

Address: 400 Poydras Street, Suite 1760, New Orleans, LA 70130
Phone: (504) 704-1414
Website: https://www.lamothefirm.com

Lamothe Law Firm is one of Louisiana’s most prominent plaintiff firms for sexual assault and child sex abuse litigation. The firm is led by Frank E. Lamothe III, a trial attorney with over 50 years of courtroom experience. Frank Lamothe has been involved in Louisiana sexual abuse litigation since the early 2000s, when he began representing dozens of survivors abused by clergy at the Madonna Manor and Hope Haven Catholic institutions in Marrero, Louisiana. Those cases culminated in a settlement with the Archdiocese of New Orleans exceeding $5 million. Since then, no other attorney in Louisiana has resolved more individual claims against the Archdiocese than Lamothe.

Frank Lamothe has been inducted into the 2023 Lawdragon Hall of Fame, limited to 45 lawyers nationally. He has been named to the Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers list and was ranked by U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers as a Metropolitan First Tier lawyer in New Orleans for Personal Injury Litigation — Plaintiff. He authored the treatise “Sex Abuse in Louisiana” and has taught Trial Advocacy at the Tulane University School of Law, Louisiana State University’s Paul M. Hebert Law Center, and Loyola University New Orleans School of Law. He created the Lamothe Charitable Fund, dedicated primarily to abused children’s causes. He is also a past president of the Louisiana Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates and the New Orleans Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.

Julien Lamothe joined the firm in 2018. His primary practice areas include civil rights, sexual assault and abuse, and prisoner suicide and assault litigation, in addition to personal injury matters.

The firm has recovered over $100 million for clients across its practice. It works on a contingency fee basis and offers free, confidential consultations. The firm handles child sexual abuse, clergy abuse, sports coach abuse, sex trafficking, elderly sexual assault, and prisoner sexual assault cases throughout Louisiana and Colorado.

Herman, Katz, Gisleson & Cain, LLC (HKGC)

Address: 909 Poydras Street, Suite 1860, New Orleans, LA 70112
Phone: (844) 943-7626 / (504) 581-4892
Website: https://www.hkgclaw.com

Herman, Katz, Gisleson & Cain is one of Louisiana’s oldest and most accomplished plaintiff law firms, founded in 1942 by brothers David and Harry Herman — Harry Herman was a founder of what is now the American Association for Justice. Now in its fourth generation of practice, HKGC has secured more than $35 billion for clients since its founding, including a $9 billion estimated recovery in the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill MDL and an $85 million verdict after an industrial accident.

On sex abuse specifically, HKGC represents more survivors of the New Orleans Archdiocese clergy abuse case than any other firm. The firm actively litigated the constitutionality and application of Louisiana’s 2021 Child Victims Act and its lookback window, and its attorneys have been quoted in major media on the ongoing Archdiocese bankruptcy proceedings, including the $230 million settlement reached in 2025. Partner Soren E. Gisleson, who earned his B.A. from the University of Colorado at Boulder (1993) and his J.D. from Loyola University School of Law (1999, Law Review), has been lead counsel in several high-profile clergy abuse and institutional sex abuse cases.

The firm handles a broad range of sex abuse matters including child sexual abuse, clergy and priest abuse, nursing home and healthcare abuse, sex trafficking, sex abuse on college campuses, and youth organization and sports abuse. HKGC operates on a contingency fee basis — no recovery, no fee — and offers free consultations. The firm serves clients across Louisiana from offices in New Orleans and Natchitoches, and represents clients nationally in cases where Louisiana law is at issue.

Gainsburgh, Benjamin, David, Meunier & Warshauer, L.L.C.

Address: 1100 Poydras Street, Suite 2800, New Orleans, LA 70163
Phone: (504) 522-2304
Website: https://www.gainsburghbenjamin.com

Gainsburgh, Benjamin, David, Meunier & Warshauer is a New Orleans plaintiff firm with more than seven decades of experience representing injury victims in Louisiana and Mississippi. The firm has a dedicated sexual abuse practice and has assisted survivors of sexual abuse in civil litigation throughout both states, approaching these cases with the sensitivity, care, and thoroughness that complex abuse claims require.

The firm brings an advantage gained from decades of experience with personal injury, medical malpractice, and mass tort cases: an understanding of institutional liability, complex damages evaluation, and how to confront well-funded institutional defendants. The firm handles cases involving abuse by individuals in positions of authority — clergy, medical providers, teachers, coaches, and others — as well as institutional negligence claims against the organizations that employed or enabled them. Gainsburgh Benjamin offers free consultations and takes cases on a contingency fee basis.

Key Considerations for Louisiana Survivors

Adult survivors face a 1-year deadline. Louisiana’s 1-year civil prescription period for adult sexual assault claims is one of the most restrictive in the country. The clock begins on the date of the assault, and Louisiana courts have generally been unwilling to extend it based on repressed memory or psychological barriers to disclosure. Consulting an attorney immediately after an assault, or as soon as a survivor is able, is critical.

The lookback window for childhood abuse remains open through June 2027. Louisiana’s extended lookback window gives survivors of childhood sexual abuse whose prior claims had prescribed a final opportunity to file new civil lawsuits, regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred. The Louisiana Supreme Court has upheld the window’s constitutionality. Survivors who experienced childhood abuse at any point in their lives — including through clergy, schools, youth organizations, sports programs, or any other institution — should consult an attorney before this window closes.

Child abuse occurring on or after January 1, 2021 has no civil SOL. Louisiana permanently eliminated the civil prescription period for childhood sexual abuse occurring on or after that date. For these claims, survivors may file at any time.

Institutional claims are often the most consequential. Individual perpetrators rarely have assets sufficient to cover the long-term harm sexual abuse causes. The practical path to meaningful recovery typically runs through the institutions that hired, supervised, or enabled the abuser. Louisiana’s “knew or should have known” standard provides a viable path to institutional liability in most cases involving clergy, educators, medical providers, and youth organization employees.

The Archdiocese of New Orleans bankruptcy affects some Archdiocese claims. The Archdiocese’s 2020 Chapter 11 filing created a separate claims process for survivors with claims specifically against Archdiocese-affiliated entities. The $230 million settlement reached in 2025 is subject to court approval and has faced criticism from some survivors. Individuals with Archdiocese-related claims should consult an attorney to evaluate options under both the bankruptcy process and the broader civil litigation framework.

This guide is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Statutes of limitations and prescription periods are complex, fact-specific, and subject to change through legislation and court decisions. Survivors should consult a licensed Louisiana attorney to evaluate the specific deadlines and legal options applicable to their situation.