Georgia law creates a variety of deadlines affecting your right to bring a lawsuit, and the facts of your case create other factors you need to keep in mind. Here are a few considerations:

• Statutes of limitation. Once a claim arises (in a personal injury case, usually the moment you are injured) a limitation period starts to run. Once that limitation period expires, your right to file a lawsuit is extinguished. A bodily injury claim is subject to a two-year limitation period in Georgia, but various factors can change the duration of that period, either shortening it or lengthening it. For example, if the victim of an injury is under the age of 18, the victim’s right to sue does not start to run until he or she turns 18. Also, if the perpetrator of a crime (including a traffic violation) causes an injury, the limitation period on claims by persons injured in that crime does not start to run until the criminal charges are disposed of, whether by guilty plea, dismissal, or trial. On the other hand, under certain circumstances you can shorten the applicable limitation period by contract. Missing a statute of limitation deadline completely bars your case from going forward, so make sure that you know what deadlines apply to your case and that you meet them.
• Statutes of repose. Like a statute of limitation, a statute of repose sets a maximum time for a claim to be brought, but its clock starts running from an event other than when your claim arose. For example, in a defective product case, the statute of repose in Georgia runs ten years from the date the product was first purchased. If you are injured by that product nine years and six months after it was first purchased, even though the bodily injury limitation period is two years you will only have six months to file a lawsuit. Negligent construction, medical malpractice, and other types of claims have their own statutes of repose that need to be taken into account.
• Notice requirements. Sometimes, the identity of the defendant creates deadlines. If you need to sue the government — if, for example, you were injured in a car wreck caused by a county vehicle — there are ante litem (pre-litigation) notice requirements, which create deadlines for you to notify the relevant government body after a claim arises. Sometimes these deadlines are as short as six months after your claim arises. Failure to give the required notice can prevent you from bringing a claim, so while these deadlines pertain to notice and not the filing of a lawsuit, missing one is just as damaging as missing a statute of limitation deadline.
• Availability of evidence. Sometimes you should put a case into suit sooner so you have access to the discovery process to collect and preserve evidence. Over time, evidence disappears, memories fade, and people move on or pass away. If the evidence in your case is fragile, that might suggest bringing suit sooner rather than later.
• Your medical treatment. Because so much of your claim consists of your medical bills and your physical injuries, knowing what those bills are and what the extent of your injuries is (and what future physical limitations you might face) is critical to evaluating your claim. If possible, you should wait until you are finished treating for your injuries before bringing a lawsuit.

These are just examples of the factors that determine when you should file your lawsuit. Generally, we recommend filing your lawsuit sooner rather than later, because lawsuits take time and typically they don’t get better with age. For personal information that specifically addresses the circumstances of your case, give us a call.