Art. 893.Pleading of Damages

Many states let a plaintiff plead an exact figure, such as five hundred thousand dollars in damages. Louisiana does not, for unliquidated claims like personal injury. Article 893 forbids stating a specific monetary amount in the petition's allegations or prayer; instead, the plaintiff asks for damages that are reasonable in the premises, leaving the actual number for evidence and argument at trial rather than the pleadings.

A specific-amount allegation is required only where the amount matters for a procedural purpose: whether the case belongs in a court with a jurisdictional dollar threshold, whether the claim clears the amount needed for a jury trial, or whether it is too small for removal to federal court. Even then, the petition states only whether the claim exceeds or falls below the relevant figure, not the number itself.

The defense is not left guessing. It can serve an interrogatory asking the plaintiff to specify the amount sought, and the plaintiff can supplement that answer as the case develops. If a petition states a specific dollar figure where it should not, the opposing party can move to strike it, and the court can order the offending signer, the party on whose behalf the petition was filed, or both, to pay attorney fees and costs over it.

The rule has clear exceptions and a clear limit. It does not apply to a suit on a conventional obligation, a promissory note, an open account, or another negotiable instrument, nor to alimony or child support, a tax claim, or a garnishment proceeding, since those claims already involve a fixed or readily calculable sum rather than unliquidated damages. And the prohibition governs the pleadings only; at trial or a hearing, a party remains free to put on evidence of the specific dollar amount sought, under the ordinary rules of evidence.