Redhibition in Louisiana is the implied warranty every buyer gets against hidden defects in what they purchase. If a serious flaw existed before the sale and you didn’t know about it, Louisiana Civil Code lets you either cancel the transaction and get your money back or keep the item and recover the difference in value. The deadlines are short, they’re shorter still for real estate, and they shift depending on whether the seller knew about the problem.
What Redhibition Is
Louisiana Civil Code Article 2520 recognizes a defect as redhibitory in two situations. The first is when the flaw makes the item useless or so inconvenient that you wouldn’t have bought it at all had you known. The second is when the flaw doesn’t render the item useless but cuts its usefulness or value enough that you would have paid less.1Justia Law. Louisiana Civil Code Art. 2520 – Warranty Against Redhibitory Defects That split controls which remedy you can ask for.
The defect must have existed when the seller handed the item over, even if you didn’t notice the symptoms until later. Proving that timeline is usually the hardest piece of a redhibition case, which is why an independent inspection shortly after you discover the problem matters so much.
Defects That Don’t Count
Not every problem qualifies. Article 2521 strips the warranty for anything you already knew about when you bought the item, and for defects a reasonably careful buyer would have spotted.2Justia Law. Louisiana Civil Code Art. 2521 – Defects That Are Excluded From Warranty A cracked windshield visible during a test drive is on you. A transmission that fails after weeks of normal driving is a different story.
Tell the Seller First
Before you can sue, you have to give the seller a chance to fix the problem. Article 2522 requires notice early enough for the seller to make meaningful repairs, and if you delay, your recovery shrinks to the extent the seller shows the fix would have been cheaper or easier with earlier notice.3Justia Law. Louisiana Civil Code Art. 2522 – Notice of Existence of Defect Notice isn’t technically required when the seller already knows about the defect, but you should send written notice anyway. A certified letter describing the defect and asking for repair, paired with a written estimate from an independent mechanic or licensed inspector, builds a record a seller can’t easily dispute later.
How Long You Have to Act
This is where people lose cases they would otherwise win. Louisiana’s prescriptive periods are shorter than most buyers expect, and they move based on what was sold and what the seller knew.
Good Faith Sellers
For movable property like vehicles, appliances, and equipment, you have four years from delivery or one year from the date you discovered the defect, whichever comes first.4Justia Law. Louisiana Civil Code Art. 2534 – Prescription The “whichever comes first” is a hard outer wall. Even if a hidden engine defect realistically couldn’t have surfaced for three years, once it does you have one year, and the four-year window closes no matter what.
For residential or commercial real estate, the period is far shorter: one year from the date the property was delivered to you, with no separate discovery clock.4Justia Law. Louisiana Civil Code Art. 2534 – Prescription Find foundation damage 14 months after closing and the claim against a good faith seller has already prescribed.
Bad Faith Sellers
When the seller knew about the defect, or is legally presumed to have known, you get one year from the date you discover it, and the four-year outer cap doesn’t apply.4Justia Law. Louisiana Civil Code Art. 2534 – Prescription Manufacturers are automatically presumed to know about defects in what they make, so this longer runway applies to any claim against a manufacturer.5Justia Law. Louisiana Civil Code Art. 2545 – Liability of Seller Who Knows of the Defect, Presumption of Knowledge
Repairs Reset the Clock
Prescription is interrupted when the seller accepts the item for repairs. It starts over the day the seller returns the item or tells you they refuse or can’t fix it.4Justia Law. Louisiana Civil Code Art. 2534 – Prescription Hand your car back to the dealer three times for the same issue and each return resets the deadline. Keep records of every handoff.
What You Can Get Back
The remedy depends on how bad the defect is and whether the seller acted in good faith.
Canceling the Sale
When the defect is severe enough that you’d never have bought the item, you can seek rescission. You return the item, the seller refunds the purchase price.1Justia Law. Louisiana Civil Code Art. 2520 – Warranty Against Redhibitory Defects
Reducing the Price
When the defect lowers the item’s value without destroying its usefulness, or when you just want to keep what you bought, you can ask for a price reduction instead. Article 2541 lets you choose a reduction even when the defect would support full rescission.6Justia Law. Louisiana Civil Code Art. 2541 – Reduction of the Price The amount equals the difference between what you paid and what the item was actually worth defective. A court can also cut a rescission claim down to a price reduction if the judge decides the defect doesn’t make the item useless.
Damages Against a Seller Who Knew
A seller who knew about the defect and said nothing, or who claimed the item had a quality it lacked, is on the hook for more. Article 2545 makes that seller liable for the purchase price with interest from the date of payment, reasonable expenses of the sale and costs to preserve the item, additional damages, and reasonable attorney fees.5Justia Law. Louisiana Civil Code Art. 2545 – Liability of Seller Who Knows of the Defect, Presumption of Knowledge The attorney fee piece shifts the financial risk of litigation onto the dishonest seller. A good faith seller who genuinely didn’t know owes you rescission or a price reduction but not those added damages or fees.
Why Manufacturers Are Different
A manufacturer is automatically deemed to know about any redhibitory defect in what it made.5Justia Law. Louisiana Civil Code Art. 2545 – Liability of Seller Who Knows of the Defect, Presumption of Knowledge You don’t have to prove actual knowledge. That drops the manufacturer into the bad-faith category by default: the one-year-from-discovery clock applies, and the Article 2545 damages and attorney fees are available. For buyers of cars, boats, and other manufactured goods, that presumption carries real weight.
“As-Is” Clauses and Whether They Hold
Louisiana lets buyers and sellers agree to limit or exclude the redhibition warranty, but the rules are strict. Under Article 2548, a waiver has to use clear, unambiguous language and must be brought to the buyer’s attention.7Justia Law. Louisiana Civil Code Art. 2548 – Exclusion or Limitation of Warranty, Subrogation A vague “as-is” label buried in fine print often won’t survive a challenge.
Even a properly drafted waiver has limits. If the seller told you the item had a specific quality the seller knew it lacked, the waiver doesn’t protect them.7Justia Law. Louisiana Civil Code Art. 2548 – Exclusion or Limitation of Warranty, Subrogation A used car dealer who assured you the engine was rebuilt, knowing it wasn’t, can’t hide behind an as-is clause. Article 2548 also subrogates you to whatever warranty rights the seller had against whoever sold the item to them, so if the retailer validly waived the warranty but the manufacturer is liable, you can pursue the manufacturer directly.
Taking It to Court
If the seller refuses to repair the defect or repeated repair attempts fail, the next step is a lawsuit. You file a Petition for Redhibition with the clerk of court in the parish where the sale took place or where the related work or service was performed.8Justia Law. Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Art. 76.1 – Action on Contract The petition should lay out the sale, describe the defect, say when and how you discovered it, and state whether you want rescission or a price reduction.
The seller is then served with the lawsuit by a sheriff or private process server and has 21 days to answer, or 30 days if you included discovery requests with the petition.9Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Art. 1001 – Delay for Answering Your strongest evidence will be a professional inspection report done soon after you found the defect, written correspondence showing you gave the seller notice and a chance to fix the problem, and records of any repair attempts. The more clearly you can tie the defect back to the date of delivery, the harder it is for the seller to argue you caused it.