Art. 1797.Number Required For Verdict

Louisiana does not require a unanimous verdict in a civil jury trial by default. Article 1797 sets the concurrence threshold instead: five of six jurors must agree to render a verdict when the jury has six members, and nine of twelve must agree when the jury has the full twelve, unless the parties stipulate a different number. That flexibility cuts both ways — parties are free to stipulate to a higher threshold, including unanimity, if they prefer it to the default.

Paragraph C connects this article back to Article 1761's provision for a shrinking jury. If the parties have already stipulated that the case will proceed with fewer jurors when members die or become disqualified, they also have to fix, as part of that same stipulation, how many of the jurors who remain must concur to reach a verdict — closing a gap that would otherwise be left open once the jury's original size no longer matches the default concurrence numbers in Paragraphs A and B.