If another driver was looking at their phone when they hit you, Louisiana law has shifted in ways that directly affect what you can prove and what you can collect. As of January 1, 2026, holding a phone behind the wheel is a ticketable offense across the state, and the rules for fault and deadlines are not the ones that applied even a year ago.
Here is what is true in Louisiana specifically.
What the hands-free law bans
Louisiana's hands-free law is La. R.S. 32:59, enacted by Act 288 of the 2025 regular session (House Bill 519).12 It took effect August 1, 2025, and it does far more than ban texting. The statute makes it illegal to hold or physically support a wireless telecommunications device while driving, and it specifically reaches making calls, writing or reading texts, using social media, and watching or recording video.1
What's still allowed is hands-free operation. You can talk through a speakerphone, an earpiece, a wrist device, or a Bluetooth connection, and you can use a mounted GPS, as long as the phone isn't in your hand.1 You can also handle the phone when your vehicle is lawfully stopped and out of the flow of traffic. Reporting a crash, a medical emergency, or a crime to authorities is exempt.1
This replaced a narrower rule. The old texting ban, former La. R.S. 32:300.5, was repealed by the same 2025 act, along with the related handheld restrictions the state had kept on younger and newly licensed drivers.23 Before August 2025, a driver could legally hold a phone to their ear or dial a number. Now the device has to stay down. Louisiana became the 29th state to require hands-free driving.
Where holding your phone is enough to get you pulled over
The penalty depends on where the violation happens, and so does whether an officer can stop you for it at all.
In a school zone or a highway construction zone, handheld use is a primary offense. An officer can pull you over for that alone, and the fine runs up to $250 for a first violation.1 Everywhere else, it's a secondary offense: police can cite you only after stopping you for something else, and the fine is up to $100.1 If your handheld use causes a crash, the statute doubles the fine.1 Reduced fines are available in exchange for community service.1
There was a grace period. For any violation before January 1, 2026, officers were required to issue a written warning instead of a ticket.1 That window has closed. Since January 1, 2026, Louisiana drivers get real citations.
The secondary-offense rule matters for your claim. Because handheld use is only a secondary offense on most roads, the other driver may never have been ticketed for the phone even if it caused the wreck. Evidence of what they were doing often has to come from the crash investigation, phone records, or witnesses rather than from a citation, which is one reason to move quickly before that evidence disappears.
Why this is a Louisiana problem
Distraction isn't a minor category on Louisiana roads. The Louisiana Highway Safety Commission reports that 178 people, about 22 percent of all traffic deaths in the state, were killed in crashes involving inattention or distraction in a single recent year, along with roughly 1,149 serious injuries.4 Teen drivers carry the worst of it: state safety officials cite research that 6 of 10 teen crashes involve some form of driver distraction.4
The local counts are just as blunt. In Baton Rouge, thatcarhitme.com recorded 15,038 crashes in 2025, and 1,108 in May 2026 alone.56 Every one of those had a cause, and phones are among the ones drivers admit to least often.
How fault works after a distracted-driving crash
Louisiana is an at-fault state, so the driver who caused the crash, and their insurer, pays. Proving the other driver was on their phone helps your case because breaking La. R.S. 32:59 is evidence that they breached a legal duty owed to you.1
Fault is rarely all-or-nothing, though, and Louisiana's rule here just changed. For crashes on or after January 1, 2026, the state uses modified comparative fault under La. Civil Code article 2323, as amended by Act 15 of 2025.7 If you are found 51 percent or more at fault, you recover nothing. If your share is 50 percent or less, your damages are reduced by your percentage. This is a real break with the past: for nearly 50 years Louisiana followed pure comparative fault, where an injured person could still recover something even if mostly to blame. Crashes before January 1, 2026 are still judged under that older pure-comparative rule.7 The date of your wreck decides which one applies to you.
The deadlines that can end your case
Louisiana used to give injured drivers just one year to sue, one of the shortest windows in the country. That changed. Under La. Civil Code article 3493.1, the prescriptive period for injury from a car accident is now two years, running from the day you were hurt.8 The two-year period applies to accidents on or after July 1, 2024. If you were injured before that date, the old one-year deadline still governs.8 The same two-year clock covers property damage to your vehicle.8
Miss the deadline and the claim is gone, no matter how clear the other driver's fault was. If you're weighing whether to pursue a claim, that clock is the first thing to check, and it's worth talking to an attorney well before it runs.
You'll also want the official crash report, which documents the investigating officer's findings. Louisiana crash reports are available through the state, and you can start at thatcarhitme.com's Louisiana crash reports page.
Money, coverage, and the drunk-versus-distracted gap
Louisiana sets minimum liability insurance at 15/30/25: $15,000 per person and $30,000 per crash for bodily injury, plus $25,000 for property damage, under La. R.S. 32:900.9 Those limits are low, and a serious distracted-driving injury can blow past them fast. That's where your own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage comes in. Louisiana insurers must offer UM/UIM equal to your liability limits, but you can reject it or reduce it in writing, so check whether you actually carry it.10
One Louisiana rule catches people off guard: a distracted driver usually can't be made to pay punitive damages, even for a bad wreck. Louisiana bars exemplary (punitive) damages unless a specific statute allows them. The main exception is a drunk driver, where La. Civil Code article 2315.4 lets a victim seek exemplary damages when intoxication was a cause of the crash.11 Texting, on its own, doesn't unlock that. Your recovery in a distracted-driving case is built on compensatory damages: medical bills, lost income, vehicle repair or diminished value, and pain.
On the vehicle side, Louisiana recognizes the lost resale value a car carries after a wreck even once it's fixed. thatcarhitme.com's Louisiana diminished value page covers how those claims work.
If you're dealing with the aftermath of a crash and think another driver's phone was involved, preserving the evidence early and knowing your deadline matter more than anything a phone carrier or insurer tells you. You can find a Louisiana attorney through the thatcarhitme.com legal directory.
This article is general information, not legal advice.
Sources
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La. R.S. 32:59, "Use of wireless telecommunications device prohibited; exceptions" (enacted by Acts 2025, No. 288). Louisiana State Legislature. https://legis.la.gov/Legis/law.aspx?d=1429150
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Acts 2025, No. 288 (House Bill 519), enrolled. Louisiana State Legislature. https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1425602
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La. R.S. 32:300.5 (former texting ban, repealed by Acts 2025, No. 288). Louisiana State Legislature. https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=630881
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"Distracted Driving," Louisiana Highway Safety Commission. https://www.lahighwaysafety.org/our-programs/distracted-driving/
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"Baton Rouge, LA Crash Report — 2025," thatcarhitme.com. https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/louisiana/baton-rouge/2025-annual-report
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"Baton Rouge, LA Crash Report — May 2026," thatcarhitme.com. https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/louisiana/baton-rouge/may-2026-report
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La. Civil Code art. 2323 (comparative fault), as amended by Acts 2025, No. 15, effective January 1, 2026. Louisiana State Legislature. https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/law.aspx?d=109387
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La. Civil Code art. 3493.1 (two-year prescription for delictual actions), effective July 1, 2024. Louisiana State Legislature. https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=1386443
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La. R.S. 32:900(B)(2) (minimum security/insurance limits). Louisiana State Legislature. https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=88632
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La. R.S. 22:1295 (uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage). Louisiana State Legislature. https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=508161
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La. Civil Code art. 2315.4 (exemplary damages for injuries caused by intoxicated driver). Louisiana State Legislature. https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=109373