How long do you have to file an injury lawsuit in Georgia?

In Georgia, you generally have two years from the date of your injury to file a personal injury lawsuit. That clock comes from a state law, O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33. Miss it and the court will almost always throw the case out, no matter how strong it is. Some situations shorten or pause the clock, so check your dates early.

What does O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33 say?

The published heading is “Injuries to the person; injuries to reputation; loss of consortium; exception.” The operative sentence reads:

Except as otherwise provided in this article, 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.

Last amended in 2015 (Ga. L. 2015, p. 675, SB 8), which added the opening phrase “Except as otherwise provided in this article.”

What does it mean for you?

A statute of limitations is a filing deadline. “Accrues” is the legal word for the day your right to sue begins, and for most injury cases that is the day you were hurt. So if a driver ran a red light in Macon on March 3, your lawsuit must be on file with the court by March 3 two years later.

Filing means a lawsuit, not a phone call to the insurance company. People lose cases this way every year. They spend eighteen months going back and forth with an adjuster, the adjuster stalls, and the deadline passes while the claim is still “under review.” Once it passes, the insurer has no reason to pay anything.

Are there exceptions? Yes, and they cut both ways. If a crime was involved, the clock can pause while the criminal case is pending. If the injured person is a child, the clock usually does not start running at all before age 18. Loss of consortium claims, which a spouse brings for the harm to the marriage, get four years. On the other side, claims against a city, county, or the State of Georgia carry much shorter notice deadlines that sit on top of this one. Those are covered in the related laws below.

What should you take from all this? Do not treat two years as breathing room. Evidence disappears in weeks, not years. Camera footage gets overwritten, witnesses move, and your own memory of the day fades.

Related Georgia laws

• O.C.G.A. § 36-33-5: six month written notice before suing a city
• O.C.G.A. § 36-11-1: twelve month deadline for claims against a county
• O.C.G.A. § 50-21-26: twelve month notice for claims against the State of Georgia
• O.C.G.A. § 9-3-31: four years for damage to your vehicle or property

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. § 9-3-33 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?

If you were hurt and you are not sure when your clock started, or whether something paused it, that is exactly the kind of question we answer every day. You do not have to work it out alone.

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.