Have you been injured in Savannah? Don’t sign anything yet.

AFTER THE ACCIDENT

The calls started before you got home from the hospital

You’re sore, your car is somewhere you didn’t put it, and someone from an insurance company has already left a voicemail. They sound friendly. They want a quick recorded statement and a signature on a form, and they’d like it done today. Meanwhile you’re trying to figure out how to pay for the scan, and whether you can get back to work on Monday. That’s a lot to carry at once. None of it is your fault.

Still sorting out the medical side? Our guide to trauma centers and ERs around Savannah explains where ambulances take crash patients and why those first records matter to a claim.

Our Savannah office sits at 1 Bull Street, downtown, a few minutes from the courthouse where your case would be heard. When you call, you talk to someone local. No phone tree, and no waiting a week for a callback. Ken Nugent built the firm on a simple idea: the person handling your case should know your roads, your courts, and your community.

Across Georgia we’ve recovered more than $5 billion for over 300,000 clients in 45 years, from 9 offices. There’s no upfront cost, and there’s zero fee unless we win your case.

Don’t sign anything from the insurance company before speaking with an attorney. Their first offer is almost never their best.

What we handle at the Savannah office

The Savannah office handles car and truck crashes, catastrophic injuries, wrongful death, and falls on unsafe property across Chatham County and the towns around it. Many of our cases here start on I-16, I-95, Abercorn Street, or a port truck route. The consultation is free, we answer 24 hours a day, and there’s zero fee unless we win.

1. Motor Vehicle Accidents: car, truck, motorcycle, rideshare, pedestrian and bicycle crashes. Between the port and two interstates, a lot of Savannah cases involve commercial trucks. Our guide to crashes with port and container trucks covers who investigates and who pays.
2. Catastrophic Injury & Wrongful Death: traumatic brain injury, spinal cord damage, and the loss of someone you love. These cases often need doctors and life care planners to explain what the years ahead will look like, and we bring them in early.
3. Premises Liability: falls in stores, hotels, parking garages and rental properties, where an owner didn’t fix something they knew about.

Not sure which one fits what happened to you? Call and we’ll tell you, even if the answer is that you don’t need a lawyer.

Who you’ll be working with

Our Savannah attorneys work out of the office at 1 Bull Street. You’ll be given a specific attorney and a specific case manager when you call, and you can reach both of them directly throughout your case rather than going through a call center.

• Angela Gore, Attorney at Law. Vanderbilt University, Mercer University School of Law. Has practiced in Savannah since law school, focusing on plaintiff’s personal injury.
• James J. Kasprzycki, Attorney at Law. Kent State University, University of Toledo College of Law. Joined Kenneth S. Nugent, P.C. in 2001.
• M. Brian Clements, Attorney at Law. Admitted to practice in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia. Judges the High School Moot Court Competition for the Savannah Bar Association.

How long do you have to file a claim in Savannah?

Most Georgia injury claims have to be filed within two years. If a city, county, or the state is responsible, you may need to send a written notice much sooner, in some cases within six months. In Chatham County, the deadline depends on which government was involved, and the clock usually starts the day of the crash.

Most people have heard of the two-year deadline. Far fewer know that when a government caused the harm, such as a city truck, a county vehicle, or a road nobody maintained, you have to send a formal written notice first. That deadline can be a quarter as long.

That notice is called an ante litem notice. It’s Latin for “before the lawsuit,” and that’s what it is: a letter you send the government before you’re allowed to sue. Send it late and you can lose the right to recover from that government, no matter how badly you were hurt.

Who caused the harm	Deadline to send notice	Georgia law
A city: Savannah, Pooler, Garden City, Port Wentworth, Thunderbolt, Tybee Island, Bloomingdale, Vernonburg	6 months	O.C.G.A. § 36-33-5
Chatham County	12 months	O.C.G.A. § 36-11-1
The State of Georgia or GDOT	12 months	O.C.G.A. § 50-21-26
A private driver or business	2 years to file suit	O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33

Chatham County makes this trickier than most. Eight separate cities sit inside it, and the land between them is unincorporated county. Head west from Savannah on US-80 and you’re in Garden City before you notice the sign. Take GA-21 north and Garden City turns into Port Wentworth just as quietly. The deadline on your claim can change at each of those lines, and so can who gets the letter. We keep every government notice deadline, city by city on one page.

If a government vehicle or a road hazard played a part in your crash, call us the same week if you can. We’re not trying to rush you. Six months just goes faster than it sounds when you’re in physical therapy.

Which court hears your case, and who has your crash report?

Chatham County has both a State Court and a Superior Court, and most injury cases are filed in State Court. Your crash report is held by the agency that responded: Savannah Police inside the city, Chatham County Police in unincorporated areas, and each smaller city’s own police department inside its limits.

Chatham is one of the Georgia counties with both a State Court and a Superior Court. Not every county has both. State Court hears civil cases like personal injury. Superior Court hears those too, plus felonies, divorces, and land disputes. Most Chatham injury cases go to State Court.

Where the crash happened	Who has your report
Inside Savannah city limits	Savannah Police Department
Unincorporated Chatham County, including Wilmington Island	Chatham County Police Department
Pooler, Garden City, Port Wentworth, Tybee Island, Thunderbolt, Bloomingdale	That city’s own police department
Port terminals and other port property	Georgia Ports Authority Police, which works crashes on port property
I-16, I-95 and state highways	Often the Georgia State Patrol, though city and county officers work many of these crashes too

Here’s where people get tripped up. Savannah and Chatham County ran one combined police department for years, then split in 2018 into two departments with two record systems. If your crash was near a city line, the report may not be where you look first, and asking the wrong agency can cost you weeks. Our walkthrough on which police department wrote your report covers every agency in the county.

You can request the report yourself, and you should if you’re able. If you’d rather not chase it, tell us where the crash happened and we’ll get it. It matters. The officer’s diagram, the citation, and the listed witnesses often shape how an insurance company values your claim before anyone talks about a settlement.