Guide to Atlanta Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury

A statute of limitations sets a limit to the amount of time you have to file a personal injury lawsuit. Governed by state law, these limits vary from state to state. For example, the law in Georgia – with a few exceptions – limits the time for filing a lawsuit for financial recovery. However, according to legal experts, the following situations have different limits:

• Most Personal Injury Actions: Most personal injury lawsuits are filed for vehicle-related injuries, but sports and work injuries are also quite common. The Georgia Statute of Limitations limits the time for filing a lawsuit to two years after the date of the injury.
• Wrongful Death Lawsuits: You can bring a lawful death lawsuit against a plaintiff if you qualify as a relative or debtor and if there are no other qualified filers. The time is usually limited to two years from the date of the victim’s death.
• Medical Malpractice Claims: Georgia generally imposes a two-year limit on medical malpractice claims, but different medical circumstances can result in longer limits up to five years. In cases where a surgeon or staff member leaves behind a foreign object in the body, the time limit is one year after discovering the negligent act.
• Product Liability Lawsuits: Product injuries caused by a design or manufacturing flaw commonly have a two-year limit for filing a lawsuit. However, some products have a longer life expectancy, and you might be able to file within ten years of the date of your injury. Georgia recognizes the 10-year limit from the date of product manufacture as a statute of repose.
• Legal Minors with Personal Injury Cases: Most cases involving legal minors’ injuries are handled by a court-ordered parent or guardian. In other cases, the statute of limitations doesn’t start until the injury victim turns 18.

Usually, you can’t file a case when the statute of limitations has expired. However, your best option is to contact a personal injury lawyer based in Atlanta. There may be legal exceptions of extenuating circumstances that made it impossible for you to file the lawsuit within the given time.

Continuing Violations

Legal experts agree that you might be allowed to sue for injuries sustained years earlier in cases where claims involve a pattern of long-term bullying that resulted in significant damage of properties or injuries. For example, in the case of Bodner vs. Banque Paribas, the plaintiffs claimed property stolen by the Nazis in World War II. Such a case would usually be thrown out summarily because of the long-past expiration date. However, the court held that the bank’s refusal to return property constituted a continuing violation that hadn’t even been subject to the starting date of the statute of limitations.

The same law can be cited in cases of physical abuse or misappropriation of property. The basic legal premise is that continued wrongful violations justify lumping together the multiple violations for the purposes of a lawsuit.

Medical Malpractice Cases in Georgia

According to the Georgia State University College of Law, Georgia has one of the strictest policies for approving medical malpractice cases. Most cases are limited to two years from the date of the medical malpractice claim, but the cases might be dated from the discovery of an injury. However, all cases are limited to five years.

Of course, there are exceptions to the five-year limit rule regarding legal minors injured by medical malpractice or negligence. If you were a minor when injured, talk to a Georgia attorney to explain your options for filing a claim.

Filing a Case in Atlanta

It’s critical to hire an attorney after sustaining a personal injury. An experienced Georgia attorney will know your best options for negotiating a settlement or pursuing a lawsuit in court. In addition, it is easy to follow the statute of limitations guidelines most of the time. For example, after receiving medical treatment because of a car accident, you can consult with an attorney and initiate legal action a week or a month after the crash. In other cases, where you experienced a hip replacement procedure seven years ago, but now your hip replacement seems to be defective and harmful, you need the skills and knowledge of an experienced attorney to seek justice and get the compensation you deserve.

With a law degree under his belt, Mark Scott understood very early that law communication was a relatively neglected area. He decided to help people by “translating” the language and offering information and advice in a clear, useful, and actionable manner. For this reason, instead of finding him in court, you will most likely find his name online, where he is very active and thriving as a legal columnist. His part of making the world a better place is to make the law a less convoluted maze. He aims to make it easier for people to understand when and how to seek legal counsel, how to proceed in a significant number of legal matters, and to find the proper resources so they can stand up for their rights.