Legal Update: Louisiana Second Circuit Holds Period to File Tort lawsuits Against Design Professionals is Five Years Instead of One
City of Shreveport v. CDM Smith Inc., 2025 WL 1947593 (La. App. 2 Cir. 7/16/25)
Authors: Christoper K. LeMiuex and Patrick A. “Trey” Talley, III
In City of Shreveport v. CDM Smith Inc., the Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal issued a major ruling that significantly extends the time parties have to bring negligence claims against architects and engineers. On September 28, 2022, the City of Shreveport (“City”) sued Burk-Kleinpeter, Inc. (“BKI”) and numerous other defendants over alleged defects in a hydraulic model prepared for the City’s sewer rehabilitation program.
In response, BKI filed a partial peremptory exception of prescription, arguing the City’s negligence claims were barred by Louisiana’s one-year tort prescription in Civil Code article 3492. The trial court agreed, dismissing the tort claims with prejudice.
On appeal, the Louisiana Second Circuit reversed. The court held that the five-year peremptive period set forth in La. R.S. 9:5607—not the one-year prescription for tort claims in Louisiana—governs actions against design professionals, whether based on tort, contract, or otherwise. Under the statute, the five-year peremptive period begins to run from the date the design professional “completed the services it was contracted to provide.” In rendering its opinion, the Court noted that the Louisiana appellate Courts have historically been split on this issue. Accordingly, the Court relied on numerous cases from other Circuits and from the Louisiana Supreme Court in rendering its decision. Ultimately, the Court held that the five-year peremptive period superseded the one-year prescriptive period for claims against design professionals, and because BKI’s work continued until at least April 2019, the City’s September 2022 filing was timely.
This ruling is a major win for contractors and a potentially negative result for Architects. Before Shreveport, the law was still relatively unclear, and a party suing an architect or engineer for negligence generally had only one year to file from when the party knew or should have known that it sustained damage. This often-forced litigation in the middle of a project, damaging working relationships and complicating ongoing performance. Now, the Second Circuit has joined the First Circuit in holding that the law allows claims against design professionals to extend for up to five years from the date the design professional finishes its contracted services, diminishing uncertainty over when the clock starts and avoiding the need to rush to court while the job is still underway. Thus, the 5 year period could allow time for settlement to occur instead of requiring parties to rush to sue Architects, which could benefit Architects.
Importantly, the Second Circuit’s decision also means contractors can usually wait until the project is complete and damages are fully understood before suing, reducing the filing of premature claims and easing court congestion. The caveat, however, for breach of contract claims is that the five-year peremptive period also supersedes the ten-year prescriptive period for breach of contract claims against design professionals. Nevertheless, although there is still some uncertainty in the Courts on the issue—particularly in the Fourth Circuit—Shreveport gives contractors a less-rushed path for pursuing design-related claims.
