Georgia Personal Injury Statute of Limitations: Deadlines That Kill Claims

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Georgia sets the filing deadline by what was harmed and by who the defendant is. Injury to the person carries two years, loss of consortium and damage to property carry four, medical malpractice carries its own two-year period with a five-year outer limit, and claims against cities, counties, and the State carry shorter presentment periods. A timely filing also has to be followed by timely service, and that second step ended one lawsuit that was filed three weeks before the deadline.

The Two-Year Rule and the Four-Year Exceptions

OCGA 9-3-33 sets the core rule: “actions for injuries to the person shall be brought within two years after the right of action accrues, except for injuries to the reputation, which shall be brought within one year after the right of action accrues, and except for actions for injuries to the person involving loss of consortium, which shall be brought within four years after the right of action accrues.” Property has its own periods. “All actions for trespass upon or damage to realty shall be brought within four years” (OCGA 9-3-30(a)); “[a]ctions for injuries to personalty shall be brought within four years” (OCGA 9-3-31); and actions “for the recovery of personal property, or for damages for the conversion or destruction of the same, shall be brought within four years” (OCGA 9-3-32). One event can therefore produce claims that expire on different days.

Claim Period Source
Injury to the person Two years after the right of action accrues OCGA 9-3-33
Loss of consortium Four years OCGA 9-3-33
Damage to realty Four years OCGA 9-3-30(a)
Injury to or destruction of personal property Four years OCGA 9-3-31, 9-3-32
Medical malpractice Two years after the injury or death, and in no event more than five years after the negligent act OCGA 9-3-71
Foreign object left in a patient One year after the negligent act is discovered OCGA 9-3-72
Claim against a municipality Presentment within six months of the event OCGA 36-33-5
Claim against a county Presentment within 12 months OCGA 36-11-1
Claim against the State under the Tort Claims Act Notice within 12 months OCGA 50-21-26

When the Clock Starts

The statute runs from accrual, and Georgia courts have treated accrual differently by claim. For wrongful death, the Supreme Court of Georgia held in Miles v. Ashland Chemical Co., 261 Ga. 726 (1991), that “an action for wrongful death ‘accrues’ to the heirs at death, not at the time the cause of the injury is discovered,” and that under OCGA 9-3-33 “the defendants’ liability extended two years from the date of death.” The court declined “to extend the statute of limitation by adopting the discovery rule in wrongful death cases.” In the same opinion it described its earlier holding that the discovery rule “should be confined to cases in which ‘bodily injury’ develops over an extended period of time” and not applied to property damage.

For medical malpractice, the period runs from the injury. In Kaminer v. Canas, 282 Ga. 830 (2007), the Supreme Court held that the patient’s injury, not the physician’s negligence, controls for limitation purposes, rejected the continuing treatment doctrine as inconsistent with OCGA 9-3-71(a), and explained that in a misdiagnosis case the injury under that statute has long been confined to the original negligent diagnosis.

Medical Malpractice: Limitation, Repose, and Foreign Objects

OCGA 9-3-71(a) requires an action for medical malpractice to be brought “within two years after the date on which an injury or death arising from a negligent or wrongful act or omission occurred,” and subsection (b) provides that “in no event may an action for medical malpractice be brought more than five years after the date on which the negligent or wrongful act or omission occurred.” Subsection (c) describes (a) as a statute of limitations and (b) as “a five-year statute of ultimate repose and abrogation.” The Supreme Court has held that the unrepresented-estate statute does not toll it, quoting an earlier decision for the point that “by definition, a statute of ultimate repose cannot be ‘tolled'” (Simmons v. Sonyika, 279 Ga. 378 (2005)).

Foreign objects follow a separate rule. When a foreign object has been left in a patient’s body, the periods of OCGA 9-3-71 do not apply, and the action must instead be brought within one year after the negligent or wrongful act or omission is discovered; a chemical compound, a fixation device, and a prosthetic aid or device are not foreign objects for this purpose (OCGA 9-3-72). In Ringewald v. Crawford W. Long Memorial Hospital, 258 Ga. 302 (1988), the court applied the one-year period to a clamp left in a patient whether or not the discovery date fell within the ordinary malpractice periods. Minors and legally incompetent persons are governed by OCGA 9-3-73: a minor who has attained age five is subject to the ordinary malpractice periods, and a minor under five has two years from the fifth birthday, with outer limits in subsection (c).

Claims Against Cities, Counties, and the State

Presentment statutes can end a claim before the limitation period does. A claim against a municipal corporation must be presented to the governing authority within six months of the event (OCGA 36-33-5). “All claims against counties must be presented within 12 months after they accrue or become payable,” and minors or other persons laboring under disabilities “shall be allowed 12 months after the removal of the disability to present their claims” (OCGA 36-11-1). Claims against the State under the Tort Claims Act require notice within 12 months of when the loss was or should have been discovered (OCGA 50-21-26).

What Pauses or Extends the Clock

Several statutes toll or extend the period. Except as OCGA 9-3-33.1 provides for childhood sexual abuse claims, “individuals who are less than 18 years of age when a cause of action accrues shall be entitled to the same time after he or she reaches the age of 18 years to bring an action as is prescribed for other persons” (OCGA 9-3-90(b)), and the same section gives persons “legally incompetent because of intellectual disability or mental illness” at accrual the same time after the disability is removed (OCGA 9-3-90(a)).

For a tort claim brought by the victim of an alleged crime, OCGA 9-3-99 tolls the period “from the date of the commission of the alleged crime or the act giving rise to such action in tort until the prosecution of such crime or act has become final or otherwise terminated, provided that such time does not exceed six years,” except as provided in OCGA 9-3-33.1.

Filing Is Not Enough: Service

A complaint filed shortly before the limitation period runs can still be dismissed if the plaintiff does not show due diligence in perfecting service. In Mote v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., No. A25A0651 (Ga. Ct. App. May 13, 2025), a collision occurred on March 22, 2022, and the complaint was filed on March 1, 2024, about three weeks before the two-year period expired. The service packet for the uninsured-motorist carrier was mailed to the sheriff on March 1, 2024, and the sheriff received it on March 21, 2024, one day before the period ended; the carrier was served on March 28, 2024. The trial court dismissed the complaint for lack of due diligence in perfecting service, and the Court of Appeals affirmed.

The court stated the rules. “[T]he mere filing of a complaint does not commence a suit; instead the plaintiff must file the complaint and effect proper timely service as required by law.” Service can relate back to the filing date if it is made within five days of the person’s receiving the summons and complaint (OCGA 9-11-4(c)), and service outside that period “is not automatically invalidated,” but then the relation back “is dependent upon the diligence exercised by the plaintiff in perfecting service.” The plaintiff has the burden of showing due diligence and, in words the court quoted from an earlier decision, “must provide specific dates or details to show diligence and cannot rely on conclusory statements.”

For example, imagine a right of action that accrues on March 1, 2025. The two-year period for injury to the person ends March 1, 2027, and the four-year period for property damage ends March 1, 2029. If the defendant is a Georgia city, the six-month presentment period ends September 1, 2025.

Frequently Asked Questions

What if the defendant hid the claim by fraud?
“If the defendant or those under whom he claims are guilty of a fraud by which the plaintiff has been debarred or deterred from bringing an action, the period of limitation shall run only from the time of the plaintiff’s discovery of the fraud” (OCGA 9-3-96).

What happens when a timely case is dismissed?
A case commenced within the limitation period and later discontinued or dismissed “may be recommenced … either within the original applicable period of limitations or within six months after the discontinuance or dismissal, whichever is later,” and if the dismissal comes after the period has expired, “this privilege of renewal shall be exercised only once” (OCGA 9-2-61(a)).

Does an uninsured motorist claim follow the same clock?
Yes, for service. Mote states that a plaintiff making a claim against an uninsured-motorist carrier “must serve process upon the UM carrier within the same statute of limitation applicable to the uninsured motorist.”

Did the 2025 tort reform change these deadlines?
The 2025 tort reform act, SB 68, changed rules on evidence, trial procedure, and damages, such as OCGA 9-10-184 on argument about noneconomic damages and OCGA 51-12-1.1 on medical special damages. The current text of OCGA 9-3-33 still sets the two-year, one-year, and four-year periods quoted above.

  • OCGA 9-3-33; OCGA 9-3-30(a); OCGA 9-3-31; OCGA 9-3-32; OCGA 9-3-33.1 (referenced in OCGA 9-3-99)
  • Miles v. Ashland Chemical Co., 261 Ga. 726, 410 S.E.2d 290 (1991); Kaminer v. Canas, 282 Ga. 830, 653 S.E.2d 691 (2007)
  • OCGA 9-3-71; OCGA 9-3-72; OCGA 9-3-73; Simmons v. Sonyika, 279 Ga. 378 (2005); Ringewald v. Crawford W. Long Memorial Hospital, 258 Ga. 302 (1988)
  • OCGA 36-33-5; OCGA 36-11-1; OCGA 50-21-26
  • OCGA 9-3-90; OCGA 9-3-96; OCGA 9-3-99; OCGA 9-2-61
  • Mote v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., No. A25A0651 (Ga. Ct. App. May 13, 2025); OCGA 9-11-4(c)
  • OCGA 9-10-184; OCGA 51-12-1.1

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about Georgia limitation periods. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Limitation, tolling, and presentment questions depend on the type of claim, the identity of the defendant, and the specific facts. Anyone facing a potential Georgia deadline should consult a licensed Georgia attorney about the particular situation.

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