A plaintiff seeking expropriation must file and properly draft a petition in the correct district court, and related property or damage claims are barred after two years from actual occupation and use.
§2.1. Petition for expropriation; place of filing; contents; claims for damages; prescription A. The rights of expropriation granted in R.S. 19:2 shall be exercised in the following manner: (1) A petition shall be filed by the plaintiff in the district court of the parish in which the property to be expropriated is situated. However, where the property to be expropriated extends into two or more parishes and the owner of the property resides in one of them, the petition shall be filed in the district court of the parish where the owner resides; but if the owner does not reside in any of the parishes into which the property extends, the petition may be filed in any of the parishes into which the property extends. In all such cases, the court wherein the petition is filed shall have jurisdiction to adjudicate as to all the property involved. (2) The petition shall contain a statement of the purposes for which the property is to be expropriated, describing the property necessary therefor with a plan of the same, a description of the improvements thereon, if any, and the name of the owner if known. (3) The petition shall conclude with a prayer that the property be adjudicated to the plaintiff with just compensation paid to the owner, as provided in this part. B. All claims for property by, or for damages to the owner caused by the expropriation of property pursuant to R.S. 19:2 shall be barred by the prescription of two years commencing on the date on which the property was actually occupied and used for the purposes of the expropriation. Added by Acts 1950, No. 238, §1; Amended by Acts 1974, Ex.Sess., No. 11, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1975; Acts 2012, No. 702, §1.