How Long Do I Have to File a Personal Injury Claim in Georgia?

How long do I have to file a personal injury lawsuit in Georgia?

In Georgia you have two years from the date of the injury to file a personal injury lawsuit, under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33. That covers car and truck crashes, motorcycle and pedestrian collisions, slip-and-falls, and most negligence claims.

Two years is the headline, not the only clock running. A hurt worker has one year. Someone struck by a city vehicle has six months to serve written notice.

According to the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, law enforcement reported 8,171 suspected serious crash injuries in Georgia in 2023, up 12 percent from 7,308 in 2019, alongside 103,147 motor-vehicle-related emergency room visits.

Roden Law’s Georgia personal injury lawyers will tell you which deadline governs your case at no cost.

Georgia filing deadlines by claim type

Your deadline turns on the kind of claim you have and who you are suing, not on what hit you.

O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33 produces three deadlines in one sentence: two years for injuries to the person, one year for injuries to the reputation, four years for loss of consortium. Your vehicle is personal property under § 9-3-32, so that claim carries four years while your injury claim carries two — the frequent error is citing § 9-3-30, which governs realty. Medical malpractice claims carry two years under § 9-3-71(a) plus a five-year statute of ultimate repose under § 9-3-71(b).

Georgia has no dedicated wrongful-death limitations statute. The period for wrongful death claims derives from § 9-3-33 plus case law, and under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-92 the time before an estate representative is appointed does not count against the estate, capped at five years.

When does the clock start?

The clock starts when the right of action accrues — in the ordinary injury case, the day you were hurt. Rear-ended on Abercorn Street on a Tuesday, your two years begins that Tuesday.

Two statutes set their own starting points in their own words. O.C.G.A. § 9-3-71(a) measures the two-year malpractice period from “the date on which an injury or death arising from a negligent or wrongful act or omission occurred.” O.C.G.A. § 50-21-26 measures its 12-month state-claim notice from “the date the loss was discovered or should have been discovered.”

Georgia recognizes narrow circumstances in which a claim accrues later, but those turn on case law, not a general statutory discovery rule. Work from the earliest possible accrual date and have a Georgia attorney confirm it.

What if my claim is against a city, county, or the state?

A claim against a Georgia government body carries its own notice deadline, running long before your two-year filing deadline. Against a city it is six months, and missing it makes the two years irrelevant.

Cities — O.C.G.A. § 36-33-5. Within six months you must present the claim in writing to the governing authority, stating the time, place and extent of the injury as nearly as practicable and the negligence that caused it. It must also state the specific amount of monetary damages sought — a figure treated as an offer of compromise and not binding on you later, so never guess low. The governing authority then has 30 days to act, and the limitations period is suspended while the demand is pending. Serve it personally, by certified mail, or by statutory overnight delivery.

Eric Roden, Roden Law’s founding partner and a Georgia-admitted attorney practicing from the firm’s Savannah office, fixes the ante litem calendar first whenever a public entity, road defect or government vehicle may be involved — that six-month window closes while an injured client is often still in treatment.

Counties — O.C.G.A. § 36-11-1. County claims must be presented within 12 months after they accrue or become payable; minors and others laboring under disabilities get 12 months after the disability is removed.

The state — O.C.G.A. § 50-21-26. Notice must be given in writing within 12 months of the date the loss was discovered or should have been discovered, by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery, return receipt requested, to the Risk Management Division of the Department of Administrative Services, with a copy to the state entity. The complaint must attach the notice and receipt as exhibits, or be dismissed without prejudice if not cured in 30 days.

According to the Georgia Municipal Association, there are 536 cities in Georgia. According to the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, the state has 159 counties. A public works truck or a county-maintained intersection turns an ordinary car accident claim or premises liability claim into a six-month problem.

What is the deadline for a workers’ compensation claim?

A Georgia workers’ compensation claim must be filed within one year after the injury under O.C.G.A. § 34-9-82 — half the time you get for a personal injury lawsuit, and a genuinely different deadline from the tort statute of limitations.

That one-year clock also resets, the part nearly every summary omits. If the employer has paid weekly benefits or furnished remedial treatment for the injury, the claim may be filed within one year after the date of the last remedial treatment furnished by the employer, or within two years after the date of the last payment of weekly benefits. Death claims run one year after the death. A worker who assumed the deadline had passed may still have a live claim.

Notice is a separate obligation under O.C.G.A. § 34-9-80: no compensation is payable unless notice, oral or written, is given within 30 days of the accident or the death — excused for incapacity, fraud, the employer’s own knowledge, or a reasonable excuse where the employer was not prejudiced.

According to the Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation’s 2026 Annual Report, insurers and self-insurers reported 28,097 indemnity claims and 86,665 medical-only claims in calendar year 2025. Raise Georgia workers’ compensation claims well inside that first year, and ask whether a third party outside your employer also owes you a tort claim.

What if the injured person is a minor?

A person under 18 when the cause of action accrued gets the same period after reaching age 18, under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-90 — so a child injured at eight generally has until age 20 to bring a two-year claim. A legally incompetent person gets the same period after the disability is removed. The statute carries an express exception cross-referencing O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33.1.

Medical malpractice runs on its own disability rules under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-73: a minor under five gets two years from the child’s fifth birthday, while minors five and older and legally incompetent persons get the ordinary periods. The outer limits are hard — no action after the tenth birthday for a child under five, five years otherwise.

Does a criminal case against the at-fault driver change my deadline?

Yes — a pending criminal prosecution arising from the same facts tolls the civil clock under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-99, but not indefinitely. The statute tolls the limitation period for a tort committed against a crime victim while the prosecution is pending, “provided that such time does not exceed six years.”

This matters most after a DUI, hit-and-run or vehicular homicide, where the criminal case can outlast the civil deadline. The tolling is real but no reason to wait: evidence in truck accident claims degrades on its own schedule.

What if I was partly at fault?

You can still recover in Georgia if you are less than 50 percent responsible. O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33(g) states that a plaintiff “shall not be entitled to receive any damages if the plaintiff is 50 percent or more responsible for the injury or damages claimed.”

Below that bar, subsection (a) reduces your damages in proportion to your own fault — 20 percent at fault cuts a $100,000 verdict to $80,000. Apportionment is several, not joint, and under subsection (c) the trier of fact may weigh the fault of everyone who contributed, including nonparties, given a settlement with that nonparty or notice at least 120 days before trial. Every point of blame an insurer shifts onto you cuts the payout; the fiftieth ends it.

One correction, because commentary published after Georgia’s 2025 tort reform blurs it: Senate Bill 68, approved April 21, 2025, did not amend O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33. The bill’s three references to that statute are cross-references from its new negligent-security provisions, directing that fault be apportioned under the existing section. The 50 percent bar is unchanged, and SB 68 altered no deadline on this page.

What happens if I miss the deadline?

If you file after the statute of limitations has run, the defendant moves to dismiss and the court grants it — however clear the liability or serious the injury. It is the most unforgiving rule in Georgia injury law.

The exceptions that genuinely exist are statutory and narrow: minority and incompetency under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-90, an unrepresented estate under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-92, a pending criminal prosecution under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-99, and suspension while a municipal ante litem demand is pending under O.C.G.A. § 36-33-5. There is no general “I didn’t know” exception.

The deadline also costs you leverage long before it costs you the case — one reason the truck accident settlement process begins with evidence preservation.

Talk to a Georgia injury attorney before your deadline runs

Find out which deadline actually applies to your case. A Roden Law attorney will identify the governing period, flag any ante litem notice, and tell you what happens first — at no cost.

These are Roden Law’s own reported figures: $300M+ recovered, a 4.9-star average across 500+ client reviews, 5,000+ cases handled, 62 years of combined attorney experience, and 6 offices. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. We serve injured Georgians from the Savannah and Darien offices. Call 1-844-RESULTS — no upfront fees, no fee unless we win.

About the Author

Eric Roden

Founding Partner, CEO State Bar of Georgia | Georgia Court of Appeals | Supreme Court of Georgia

Eric Roden has represented injury victims from the outset of his career and has never advocated on behalf of insurance companies. He focuses on wrongful death, automobile accidents, nursing home negligence, and workers’ compensation law. In 2013, he became a founding partner of Roden Law, dedicated to providing advocacy for injured clients. Education J.D., University […]

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