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 to get it done today. Meanwhile you’re trying to work out how you’ll pay for a scan, and whether you can get back to your job on Monday. That’s a lot to carry at once, and none of it is your fault.

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’ll speak to someone local. Not a queue, not a callback in a week. Ken Nugent built the firm around one idea: that the person who takes your case ought to 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 nine offices. You pay nothing up front, and you pay nothing at all 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 motor vehicle accidents, catastrophic injury and wrongful death, and premises liability cases across Chatham County. Most cases that come through this office start with a crash on I-16, I-95, Abercorn Street, or one of the port truck routes. Free consultation, available 24 hours a day, with no fee unless we win.

1. Motor Vehicle Accidents — car, truck, motorcycle, rideshare, pedestrian and bicycle collisions. With the port and two interstates, commercial trucks feature heavily in Savannah cases.
2. Catastrophic Injury & Wrongful Death — traumatic brain injury, spinal cord damage, and the loss of someone you love. These cases need medical experts and life care planning, 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 practised 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 practise 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 must be filed within two years. But if a city, county, or state agency is responsible, you must send a written notice long before that — as little as six months. In Chatham County the deadline depends on which government was involved, and the clock starts the day of the crash.

Most people know there’s a two-year deadline for injury claims in Georgia. Far fewer know that if a government caused the harm — a city truck, a county vehicle, a road that wasn’t maintained — you have to send a formal written notice first, and that deadline can be a quarter as long.

That notice is called an ante litem notice. It’s Latin for “before the lawsuit,” and it means exactly that: a letter you have to send to the government before you’re allowed to sue them. Send it late, and the claim is over regardless of 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. Drive west out of Savannah on Highway 80 and you pass through Garden City and Port Wentworth without much telling you where one ends and the next begins. But the deadline on your claim changes at each of those lines, and so does who you send the letter to.

If a government vehicle or a road hazard was involved in your crash, call us the same week if you can. Not because we want to rush you — because six months moves 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 whichever agency responded: Savannah Police inside the city, Chatham County Police in unincorporated areas, and the Georgia State Patrol on I-16 and I-95.

Chatham is one of the Georgia counties that has both a State Court and a Superior Court. Not every county does, and the difference is practical: State Court handles civil cases like personal injury, while Superior Court handles those plus felonies, divorces, and land disputes. Most Chatham injury cases are filed in State Court, which generally moves faster.

Where the crash happened	Who has your report
Inside Savannah city limits	Savannah Police Department
Unincorporated Chatham County	Chatham County Police Department
I-16, I-95 and state routes	Georgia State Patrol

There’s a wrinkle here that catches people out. Savannah and Chatham County ran a single combined police department for years. They separated in 2018 into two departments with two record systems. If your crash was near a city line, the report may not be where you first look — and asking the wrong agency costs you weeks.

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