Source: http://www.shanesmithlaw.com/library/georgia-statute-of-limitations-tolled-for-car-accidents.cfm
Timestamp: 2018-06-21 23:50:03
Document Index: 238253401

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 40', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 9', '§ 16']

Georgia Statute of Limitations for Car Accidents | Law Offices of Shane Smith
Georgia Statute of Limitations for Car Accidents Tolled Under Certain Circumstances
The statute of limitations in Georgia for a car wreck is normally two years. As an accident attorney, I would not advise waiting until the last minute to file your car accident claim against the defendant driver. Your claim will not normally get better with delay, and it is too easy for a mistake to happen. However, the Georgia Supreme Court held that the statute of limitations for a personal injury case can be "tolled" until the traffic court case against the defendant driver is completed.
Essentially, the two-year "clock" wouldn't start running until the ticket the defendant received from the car accident is settled in court. This is especially critical in DUI victim cases where it can take a year or more for the case to go to court. This could give someone a significant amount of "extra" time to file their claim or lawsuit in Georgia Courts. This helps prevent the situation where someone delays their ticket or criminal case to shorten the length of time they can be sued.
The reason for the recent decision by the Georgia Supreme Court was a law which says that" the statute of limitations for any tort action a victim brings over an alleged crime is tolled from the date of the alleged crime until the prosecution of the crime becomes final or is terminated, as long as that time does not exceed six years."
The issue before the court was whether or not a traffic offense was a crime. The Georgia Supreme Court found that it clearly was a crime and therefor the statute provided extra time. Please find the text of the case below.
I would not recommend delaying in taking a case to trial or in filing a lawsuit in your car accident clause. Sometimes it is to your benefit if the defendant driver wants to avoid answering questions by claiming the fifth amendment. It can look really bad to a jury if they do so in front of them. Delays can make witnesses forget how much your back injuries hurt you or what you couldn't do because of them. This can help you though, if for some reason you were late in talking to an accident attorney about your car wreck case or you tried to wait until you neck injury healed before talking to a lawyer.
1.On April 27, 2005, Patricia Parker was injured when the car in which she was a passenger was struck from the rear and overturned by a vehicle driven by Alan Beneke; Beneke was cited for following too closely. See OCGA § 40-6-49. Parker filed a personal injury action against Beneke on May 11, 2007. The trial court initially granted Beneke's motion for summary judgment based on the expiration of the two-year statute of limitation, see OCGA § 9-3-33, but on motion for reconsideration vacated its order and denied summary judgment. In finding that the complaint was timely-filed because the statute of limitation had been tolled until Beneke posted a cash bond disposing of the traffic citation on May 19, 2005, the trial court relied on OCGA § 9-3-99, which provides that
Ineneke v. Parker, 293 Ga.App. 186 (667 S.E.2d 97) (2008), the Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of summary judgment, but vacated the portion of the trial court's order ruling that Beneke had committed a “crime” as a matter of law so as to bring OCGA § 9-3-99 into play, holding that this question must be resolved by a jury. See Beneke, supra at 189-190(1). We granted certiorari to consider whether the Court of Appeals erred in holding that a “crime” within the context of OCGA § 9-3-99 must be a “crime” that satisfies the definition set forth in OCGA § 16-2-1(a),N1i.e., one that involves criminal intent or criminal negligence. For the reasons that follow, we hold that it did so err.
[T]he fundamental rules of statutory construction ... require us to construe a statute according to its terms, to give words their plain and ordinary meaning, and to avoid a construction that makes some language mere surplusage. [Cits.] At the same time, we must seek to effectuate the intent of the legislature. [Cit.]