What to Do After a Car Accident in New Orleans

By Donald J. Melancon, Attorney at Law · Last reviewed August 26, 2026

A car accident is disorienting, and the decisions made in the first hours and days afterward have a way of following the case for a long time. This article walks through what to do after a crash in New Orleans and explains several recent changes to Louisiana law that now affect how injury claims work.

At the scene

• Call 911. If anyone may be hurt, request medical assistance. Ask for police even if the other driver suggests handling it privately. In New Orleans, NOPD generates an item number for the incident; that number is how the crash report is later retrieved. Louisiana law also requires drivers to report crashes involving injury or significant property damage.
• Move to safety if you can, but do not leave the scene.
• Photograph everything — all vehicles from several angles, license plates, the positions of the cars before they are moved if it is safe, skid marks, debris, traffic signals, road conditions, and any visible injuries.
• Exchange information: name, address, phone, driver’s license, plate number, and the insurance company and policy number of every driver involved.
• Get witness names and numbers. Independent witnesses leave quickly and are very hard to find later.
• Do not discuss fault. Be courteous and factual with the other driver and the officer. “I’m sorry” and “I didn’t see you” are routinely quoted back later as admissions.

See a doctor promptly

Adrenaline masks injury, and soft-tissue and head injuries often surface a day or two later. A prompt medical evaluation protects your health and creates a record connecting the injury to the crash. A gap of weeks between the accident and the first medical visit is one of the most common arguments insurers make against a claim.

This has become more important under a 2025 change in Louisiana law. Louisiana courts formerly applied a presumption that, if a person was in good health before an accident and symptoms appeared afterward, the accident caused them. The legislature eliminated that presumption for causes of action arising after May 28, 2025. The injured person now has to prove causation with evidence, which in practice means medical records and treating providers, not inference.

Dealing with the insurance companies

Notify your own insurer promptly; most policies require it. Your own policy may provide medical payments coverage, collision coverage for the vehicle, and, importantly, uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM) coverage, which pays when the at-fault driver has no insurance or too little. Louisiana’s minimum liability limits are low, so UM coverage on your own policy is frequently the most significant source of recovery in a serious crash. Check your declarations page for whether you have it and in what amount.

Be careful with the other driver’s insurer. Its adjuster may call quickly, sound sympathetic, and ask for a recorded statement. You are generally not obligated to give one, and it is usually wise to decline until you have had advice. Do not sign medical authorizations that give the other side unlimited access to your history. Do not accept an early settlement offer before the full extent of your injuries and treatment is known; a signed release ends the claim.

One procedural change is worth knowing about. For lawsuits filed on or after August 1, 2024, Louisiana’s “direct action” statute was significantly narrowed. In most cases an injured person can no longer name the at-fault driver’s insurance company as a defendant, and the insurer’s name is kept out of the suit caption, with limited exceptions such as uninsured motorist claims or where the insured cannot be served. The insurance is still there to pay a judgment; the jury simply does not hear about it in the same way.

Fault, and the new 51% rule

Louisiana compares the fault of everyone involved in a crash, and an injured person’s recovery is reduced by their own percentage of fault. For many years the state used a “pure” comparative fault system, under which a person could recover something even if mostly at fault. That changed. For accidents governed by the amended statute — effective January 1, 2026 — a person found 51 percent or more at fault recovers nothing, and a person below that threshold recovers damages reduced by their share of fault. Which rule applies to a given crash depends on when it occurred, and the difference can be the whole case, which is why the evidence of fault gathered at the scene matters so much.

If you were driving without insurance

Louisiana’s “No Pay, No Play” law limits what an uninsured driver can recover even when the other driver was entirely at fault. As of August 1, 2025, the law bars an uninsured driver from recovering the first $100,000 of bodily injury damages and the first $100,000 of property damage — a very large increase from the prior limits. There are exceptions, including where the at-fault driver was intoxicated or fled the scene, but the general rule is severe. If you were uninsured at the time of a crash, get advice before assuming you have no claim, and before assuming you have a full one.

Medical bills and what is recoverable

For claims governed by the 2025 amendments, recovery of past medical expenses is generally limited to the amounts actually paid or owed to the providers — for example, the negotiated amount a health insurer paid plus the patient’s cost-sharing — rather than the full amount originally billed. Keep every bill, explanation of benefits, and receipt, including for mileage to appointments, prescriptions, and equipment.

The deadline

Louisiana’s time limit for filing an injury lawsuit changed in 2024, and the date of the accident determines which limit applies. It is short in either case. We cover it in detail in How Long Do You Have to File an Injury Claim in Louisiana? Claims against a public body, such as an RTA bus or a city vehicle, may involve additional notice requirements, and claims involving a crash on the job may also involve workers’ compensation.

Things that quietly damage a claim

• Posting about the accident, your injuries, or your activities on social media. Assume the insurer will see it.
• Gaps in treatment, or stopping treatment against medical advice.
• Giving different accounts of the crash to the officer, the ER, your insurer, and the other insurer.
• Repairing or disposing of the vehicle before it has been photographed and, in a serious case, inspected.
• Waiting. Evidence disappears, witnesses move, and the filing deadline does not extend itself.

For purposes of compliance with the Louisiana Rules of Professional Conduct, the attorney responsible for this content is Donald J. Melancon (105 Field Street, Belle Chasse, Louisiana 70037).