New Orleans
Louisiana just adopted one of the broadest hands-free driving laws in the state’s history, and most drivers don’t know how far it actually reaches.
The Voorhies Law Firm uses that law, and the evidence it makes available, to build distracted driving claims other firms miss.
Distracted driving covers any behavior that takes a driver’s attention off the road, not just phone use.
Common forms include:
Distraction-related crashes often look, from the outside, like an inexplicable failure to brake or a driver who simply ‘didn’t see’ the hazard in front of them.
Phone and vehicle data can turn that mystery into hard evidence.
Louisiana significantly expanded its distracted driving law in 2025, and it’s worth understanding exactly what changed.
Effective August 1, 2025, Louisiana law prohibits drivers from holding or physically supporting a wireless device at all while driving, not just for texting. That means calls, social media, apps, even simply holding the phone, are now illegal unless it’s mounted or used hands-free. A citation, or evidence a driver was holding a phone at the time of a crash, can be powerful support for a negligence claim.
Louisiana’s original texting-while-driving law, R.S. 32:300.5, has been on the books for over a decade and remains in effect specifically for text-based communication. See our Texting While Driving page for more on how that specific statute works. The 2025 hands-free law is broader, covering essentially all handheld phone use, not just texting.
The same statewide framework applies here: two years to file under article 3493.1 for crashes on or after July 1, 2024, and a 51% comparative fault bar under article 2323 for crashes on or after January 1, 2026.
STEP 1
Free consultation.
Tell us what happened. We’ll give you an honest, no-cost assessment.
STEP 2
Evidence preservation.
We move quickly to request phone records and vehicle data before they’re lost or overwritten.
STEP 3
Investigation.
We piece together exactly what distracted the other driver, whether it’s a phone, an app, or something else entirely.
STEP 4
Medical documentation.
We link your treatment record directly to the crash.
STEP 5
Damage calculation.
We total up medical costs, lost wages, pain and suffering, and any long-term impact.
STEP 6
Demand and negotiation.
We present the evidence of distraction directly to the insurer.
STEP 7
Filing suit, if needed.
If a fair resolution isn’t on the table, we file before your deadline.
STEP 8
Resolution.
You receive your compensation, whichever way the claim resolves.
We handle distracted driving claims involving:
Behind every distracted driving case is someone whose crash was entirely preventable, caused by a choice the other driver made in the seconds before impact.
We make sure that choice doesn’t get minimized.
Client recoveries at The Voorhies Law Firm now exceed $100 million across every practice area we handle.
Results may vary, and every distracted driving case depends on what evidence of distraction can actually be established.
Distraction evidence tends to disappear fast, phone records get harder to obtain the longer you wait, and vehicle data can be overwritten.
Richard P. Voorhies III and the team at The Voorhies Law Firm request that evidence right away, before it’s gone.
We’re recognized by Super Lawyers and other legal organizations, but our clients care about something more immediate: direct access to their attorney, not a call center, and no cost to start.
We handle distracted driving cases on contingency.
Phone records, vehicle infotainment data, witness accounts, and sometimes even social media activity around the time of the crash can all help establish distraction. Requesting this evidence early, before it’s lost, matters significantly.
Yes, as of August 1, 2025. Louisiana’s new hands-free law prohibits holding or physically supporting a wireless device while driving, well beyond the state’s older texting-specific ban.
Not necessarily. Hands-free use is legal, but any use of a device that takes attention off the road can still support an ordinary negligence claim, separate from whether it violated the handheld-device statute specifically.
In most cases, two years from the date of the crash for incidents on or after July 1, 2024, under Civil Code article 3493.1.
Nothing out of pocket. We handle these cases on contingency, so our fee comes only from what we recover for you.
