How do you file an injury claim against the State of Georgia?

If a State of Georgia agency or employee caused your injury, you must send a written notice of claim within twelve months under O.C.G.A. § 50-21-26. The notice goes to the Department of Administrative Services and to the agency involved, and it must contain specific details. Without it, Georgia courts have no power to hear your case.

What does O.C.G.A. § 50-21-26 say?

This section sits inside the Georgia Tort Claims Act. Its heading is “Notice of claim against state; time for commencement of action; contents of notice; DOAS access to records; confidentiality.” Subsection (a)(1) sets the deadline:

Notice of a claim shall be given in writing within 12 months of the date the loss was discovered or should have been discovered.

The section goes on to require delivery by certified mail, statutory overnight delivery, or personal delivery to the Risk Management Division of the Department of Administrative Services, with a copy to the state agency involved. It lists six things the notice must state, bars any lawsuit before the notice is given, and requires a copy of the notice and the delivery receipts to be attached to the complaint. Last amended in 2000 (Ga. L. 2000, p. 1589).

What does it mean for you?

The State of Georgia can be sued for injuries its employees cause, but only on its own terms, and this law is the first of those terms. “Tort” is the legal word for a civil wrong like negligence. “State government entity” covers state agencies, state departments, and in most cases state universities and the State Patrol. It does not cover cities or counties, which have their own rules.

Picture a Georgia Department of Transportation truck that backs into your car on a work site, a State Patrol cruiser in a chase that ends in your lane, or a fall in a state office building. Those are state claims.

The notice has to name the state entity, the time, the place, the nature of your loss, the dollar amount, and the acts that caused it. It has to go to two places: the Risk Management Division of the Department of Administrative Services, and the agency itself. Then you wait. The state has 90 days to deny the claim or let it sit before you can file suit. Courts have dismissed cases where the notice went to the wrong office, left out a required detail, or arrived a week late. The statute uses the word “jurisdiction,” which means a court cannot fix the problem even if it wants to.

The twelve months runs from when you discovered the loss or should have. For most crashes and falls, that is the day it happened.

Related Georgia laws

• O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33: the two year lawsuit deadline for injuries
• O.C.G.A. § 36-33-5: six month notice for claims against a city
• O.C.G.A. § 36-11-1: twelve months for claims against a county

Not sure which of these clocks is yours? Compare every Georgia injury deadline on one page.

Sources

• Official Code of Georgia Annotated on legis.ga.gov (official text)
• O.C.G.A. § 50-21-26 on Justia (2025 Georgia Code)
• Text verified against the published code on 2026-10-16. Statute text is public record. Nothing on this page is legal advice about your specific case.

What should you do next?

Claims against the State are the most technical deadline cases we handle, and the ones where a small mistake costs the most. If a state vehicle, state employee, or state building was involved, do not wait to make the call.

Call Kenneth S. Nugent, P.C. at 770-820-0711, any hour, any day. The call is free, the case review is free, and there is zero fee unless we win. Nine offices across Georgia, and we come to you if you cannot come to us.

One more thing. Don’t sign anything from an insurance company before you talk to a lawyer. A signature on the wrong form can close the door on your claim long before any deadline does.