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Every personal injury claim has an expiration date. If you miss it, you can lose the right to compensation no matter how badly you were hurt or how clearly the other party was at fault. Courts in Georgia enforce these deadlines strictly.
The good news is that the rules are knowable. Here is how the clock works for injury claims in Savannah and Chatham County, and the situations that can shorten or extend it.
Under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33, most lawsuits for injuries to the person must be filed within two years after the right of action accrues. In most cases, that means two years from the date of the accident.
This deadline covers the claims people bring most often, including car and truck crashes, slip and falls, dog bites, and assaults. Filing a claim with an insurance company does not stop the clock. Only filing a lawsuit in the proper court does.
| Type of claim | Deadline |
| Personal injury | 2 years from the injury |
| Wrongful death | 2 years from the date of death |
| Loss of consortium (spouse’s claim) | 4 years |
| Damage to your vehicle or other property | 4 years |
| Notice of claim against the City of Savannah | 6 months |
| Notice of claim against Chatham County | 12 months |
| Notice of claim against the State of Georgia | 12 months |
A single crash can trigger several of these deadlines at once. Your injury claim and your vehicle damage claim, for example, run on different clocks.
The most dangerous deadlines are the ones people don’t know exist. When a government entity is responsible for your injury, Georgia requires written notice of the claim, called ante litem notice, long before the two-year limit.
These claims can arise from a crash with a city vehicle, a fall caused by a broken sidewalk, or a road defect the county failed to repair. A claim against the City of Savannah requires notice within six months, and the notice must include specific information. Missing it can end the claim before it starts.
If a public employee was driving when you were hit, a car accident lawyer should review the notice requirements right away.
Georgia law recognizes a few circumstances where the deadline is paused, or “tolled”:
Tolling rules are narrow and fact-specific. Never assume one applies without having your situation reviewed.
When an accident takes a loved one’s life, the family generally has two years from the date of death to file a wrongful death lawsuit. A separate claim on behalf of the estate, covering medical and funeral expenses and the person’s pain before death, also has its own timing.
The same tolling rules for criminal cases can apply in some fatal crashes. Families dealing with grief shouldn’t have to track these dates alone, and wrongful death claims need early attention to preserve evidence.
Two years can sound like plenty of time, but strong cases are built in the first weeks. Surveillance video gets erased, witnesses move, and vehicles are repaired or scrapped.
Commercial cases move even faster. Trucking companies are only required to keep some driver records for a limited time, so truck accident claims often start with a letter demanding that the company preserve evidence.
Waiting also weakens your position with insurers, who know when a deadline is close. Our guides on when to hire a personal injury lawyer and how long a personal injury case takes explain how timing affects the outcome.
Founding attorney Benjamin Clary has spent 13 years protecting injured Georgians’ rights, including making sure their claims are filed on time. He holds a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent rating and handles every case on a contingency fee basis.
We track filing deadlines for clients across coastal Georgia, including injury claims in Rincon. If you’re unsure how much time you have left, a personal injury lawyer at our firm can review your deadline for free.
Contact us today to schedule your free consultation.
