Art. 1921.Interest Allowed By the Judgment

Article 1921 is short, but it settles an issue that comes up in nearly every money judgment: interest. The court must award interest in one of two ways, as prayed for, meaning matching whatever specific rate or terms the pleadings requested, such as a rate written into a contract, or as provided by law, meaning the default rate Louisiana law fixes elsewhere for judgments generally.

Louisiana distinguishes legal interest, the state's general statutory rate that applies by default, from a specific rate the parties may have agreed to in a contract. When a judgment does not call for a particular contractual rate, or none applies, the court falls back on legal interest, the rate other Louisiana law sets and periodically adjusts. In many cases, especially claims arising from an injury or a wrong rather than a contract, legal interest attaches to a money judgment as a matter of course, running from the date suit was filed, even when the pleadings never mention a specific rate.

For a party seeking a higher or different rate than the default, the prayer for relief matters. Pleading a specific contractual interest rate preserves the ability to recover it; without that request, a court awarding interest under Article 1921 has no reason to look past the legal interest rate that applies as a matter of law.