Posted on Thursday, August 15th, 2024 at 9:00 am
How long after a car accident can you claim injury? The answer to that question depends on other factors, such as how long it takes you to realize you got hurt. In most cases, you must file a lawsuit within two years of the car accident. If you don’t, you may lose your right to do so. This is due to a law known as the statute of limitations.
What Is the Statute of Limitations?
What law is responsible for regulating how long after a car accident you can claim injury? A statute of limitations is a law that limits the amount of time an injured person has to file a lawsuit against the person who harmed them. Different states impose different statutes of limitations in different contexts. For that reason, you must always check the laws of the state where you intend to file a lawsuit.
Statutes of limitation provide the advantage of predictability. Allowing individuals to file lawsuits for any reason, regardless of how much time has passed, would constantly unsettle the individuals involved. Statutes of limitations prevent this by setting a firm time limit for filing a lawsuit. Additionally, assigning time limits to potential civil cases helps keep old cases from clogging court dockets.
Georgia’s Statute of Limitations
In Georgia, the bodily injury statute of limitations allows an injured person just two years to file suit. That means they have two years from the date of the accident to file against the party who harmed them. If your spouse is suing for loss of consortium due to your injury, the statute of limitations is four years. Loss of consortium means the loss of intangible benefits in a marriage. For example, if you can no longer go on walks with your spouse, be intimate with them, or engage in long conversations due to your injuries, your spouse may file a claim for loss of consortium.
Tolling the Statute of Limitations
“Tolling the statute of limitations” means pausing the countdown. If circumstances allow you to delay the statutory period, you may have extra time to file your lawsuit.
Under what circumstances is the Georgia statute of limitations tolled? The phrasing of the Georgia statute states that the time starts running “after the right of action accrues.” While this is usually on the day of the accident, the right of action can accrue later.
Georgia’s discovery rule covers that situation. In most cases, the statutory period only begins once you discover your injury or reasonably should have discovered your injury if you had diligently looked for signs that you suffered harm. This is one reason that you should seek medical help after an accident, even if you aren’t aware of any injuries. A doctor may spot something you weren’t immediately aware of.
If you become aware of an injury after some time, contact a Georgia personal injury attorney immediately. The discovery rule doesn’t apply in all cases. However, even if more than two years have passed, your attorney may be able to argue that the statute of limitations didn’t start running until you discovered your injury.
Prosecution also tolls the statute of limitations. In Williams v. Durden, 347 Ga. Ap. 363, the court ruled that the statutory period had not lapsed because the defendant was being prosecuted for a traffic violation in the same case, and the plaintiff had filed suit less than two years after the prosecution concluded.
Contact a Georgia Personal Injury Attorney Today
How much of an issue is the statute of limitations? It might seem like two years is plenty of time to file a lawsuit, but the truth is that your attorney needs time to investigate your case and negotiate with the insurance company. In addition, when you hire a lawyer right after the accident, they can take steps to preserve evidence that could deteriorate or go missing over time.
If you take too long to seek legal representation, the insurance company may try to delay offering an appropriate settlement to try to “run out the clock.” If you received an injury in a car accident in Georgia, don’t delay. The sooner you contact an attorney, the more time your attorney will have to work on your case, and the better your chances of obtaining the full and fair compensation you deserve.
The Atlanta, GA, car accident lawyers of Jonathan R. Brockman, P.C. have extensive experience fighting for the rights of seriously injured people. Thanks to our free consultation policy, you don’t have to pay us anything to tell us all about your case. For skilled and tireless legal help, call personal injury lawyer Jonathan R. Brockman, P.C. at (770) 205-8827 immediately or contact us online. We have a roster of attorneys who will work tirelessly on taking on legal action to give justice to your case, together with our recent victories. You can ask us anything related to your case.
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