What You Should Know About the Georgia Personal Injury Statute of Limitations
If you or a loved one were hurt in an accident, you may be entitled to compensation. Georgia has a statute of limitations for personal injury cases. Call Blasingame, Burch, Garrard & Ashley. Don’t wait: (706) 354-4000
If you have suffered a personal injury, it’s crucial to thoughtfully assess whether to pursue legal action for compensation within the confines of the Georgia personal injury statute of limitations.
Nevertheless, Georgia law will give you a short window of time to make up your mind and file your lawsuit.
You can find the amount of time in Georgia’s applicable “statute of limitations.”
It is vitally important that you file a lawsuit within the statute of limitations period, otherwise, your case will be dismissed.
If you have suffered injuries due to another party’s negligence, fill out the form below with the details of what happened:
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Do you have questions about the Georgia statute of limitations for personal injury claims or want to know how we can help you? Just submit the short form below to speak with an experienced injury attorney from BBGA about your case.
GA Personal Injury Statute of Limitations: Two or Four Years
The statute of limitations for personal injury claims in Georgia, including car accidents and wrongful death, is two years. This period starts from the date of the injury or the occurrence of death.
Legal action must be initiated within this two-year window, or your right to recover compensation is permanently lost.
For most Georgia car accidents, the clock begins ticking on the date on which you were struck, since your personal injuries should be apparent at the scene of the crash.
If you are bringing a loss of consortium claim, however, then you have four years to bring a lawsuit.
Loss of consortium refers to claims your spouse might have after your injury for negative changes to your marriage, such as loss of care or loss of companionship.
Your spouse files the claim, and the law gives them an extra two years to do so.
Medical Malpractice Claims: One or Two Years
If a doctor or another medical professional injured you, you might have a claim for medical malpractice. Medical malpractice has its own statute of limitations, found at § 9-3-71.
Typically, you will have two years to bring a lawsuit from the date of the injury or death.
Georgia also has a five-year statute of repose which cuts off all medical malpractice lawsuits five years after the action that gave rise to your injury.
Consider the following: A doctor gives Melissa the wrong drug to treat her ailment. The drug slowly causes cancer to grow on her liver. Over six years pass before she realizes that she is injured and that medical malpractice caused her injury.
However, because more than 5 years have passed since the doctor treated Melissa, her claim is barred by the statute of repose.
But if a surgeon left a foreign object in your body, § 9-3-72 creates a one-year statute of limitations. The clock starts ticking after you discover the object.
Wrongful Death Claims: Two Years
If a loved one dies because of someone else’s wrongful conduct, surviving family members (such as spouses or children) can bring a wrongful death lawsuit. They have two years from the date of death to file the lawsuit.
Contact a Georgia Personal Injury Lawyer For Assistance
Avoid delay. Because of Georgia’s personal injury statute of limitations, you should contact a lawyer as soon as possible. Two years might sound like a long time, but you will be busy seeking medical care and possibly attending rehabilitation. You also need to leave time to negotiate with the defendant or their insurance carrier.
Rather than delay, reach out to a Georgia personal injury attorney today. Your lawyer can analyze how to best protect your rights, which might include filing a lawsuit immediately if you are bumping up against the statute of limitation deadline.
To schedule your free consultation with one of our Georgia injury lawyers, call Blasingame, Burch, Garrard & Ashley at 706-354-4000.
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