Georgia Personal Injury Intake: Deadlines and Fault Rules

This guide is for law firms. If you were injured, contact a licensed Georgia attorney.

Does Georgia use comparative or contributory negligence?

Georgia uses modified comparative fault with a 50 percent bar: a plaintiff who is 50 percent or more responsible recovers nothing. The rule comes from O.C.G.A. §§ 51-11-7 and 51-12-33, as summarized in the Matthiesen, Wickert & Lehrer 50-state chart (updated April 2025). That is stricter than the Texas, Florida and Illinois rule, where a plaintiff at exactly 50 percent can still recover. In Georgia, an even split of fault ends the claim.

SB 68 adds to the weight of the liability facts. According to Kennedys (2025), it removed the long-standing rule that kept seat belt non-use out of evidence in motor vehicle cases, so a jury may now consider it on negligence, comparative fault and causation. Georgia intake should record whether the caller was belted, in neutral terms, alongside the police report, citations and witnesses.

Sources: Contributory Negligence and Comparative Fault Laws in All 50 States, Matthiesen, Wickert & Lehrer (2025); Georgia Enacts Sweeping Tort Reform: Key Takeaways from SB 68, Kennedys (2025)

Is Georgia a no-fault state?

No. Georgia is an at-fault state, so the injured person claims against the at-fault driver’s liability insurance. The Insurance Information Institute’s list of the twelve states with no-fault auto insurance laws does not include Georgia. Georgia callers will not have a PIP claim, though some carry medical payments coverage on their own policies.

Georgia auto intake therefore turns on the other driver and their coverage. The call should capture the other driver’s name and insurer, the caller’s own carrier, and whether the other vehicle was a commercial truck, a delivery van, a rideshare car or a government vehicle. Interstate trucking through Atlanta brings federal motor carrier rules into play, and our trucking accident intake guide lists the records that matter. SB 68 also limits recovery of billed medical charges to the reasonable value of care, according to Kennedys (2025), so the caller’s health insurance status is worth recording.

Sources: Background on: No-fault auto insurance, Insurance Information Institute; Georgia Enacts Sweeping Tort Reform: Key Takeaways from SB 68, Kennedys (2025)

Which Georgia deadlines can run out before the statute of limitations?

The two-year limit under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33 is the main deadline, but claims against government defendants can carry shorter notice periods. Georgia law requires notice to cities, counties and the state within set periods before suit, and those periods are shorter than two years. We have not listed them here because we could not confirm the current text against the official code in this review. The attorney should check them the morning after any call that names a public entity.

What intake can do is make sure the question gets asked. A Georgia intake specialist should ask whether a MARTA bus, a city or county vehicle, a school bus or a state DOT truck was involved, and whether a fall happened on public property. The dossier should record the entity the caller names, the location and the incident date, so the deadline check starts with the right facts.

Source: Statutes of Limitations for All 50 States, Matthiesen, Wickert & Lehrer (2019)

Does Georgia cap personal injury damages?

Georgia caps punitive damages at $250,000 in most tort cases, with no cap where the defendant acted with specific intent to harm or while impaired. O.C.G.A. § 51-12-5.1(g) sets the $250,000 maximum for tort actions not covered by its product liability and intent provisions. Under subsection (f), there is no limit where the defendant acted with specific intent to cause harm, or while under the influence of alcohol or drugs to the degree that judgment was substantially impaired.

That impairment exception is the reason a Georgia intake call should ask, plainly, whether the other driver seemed intoxicated, was arrested or was charged. SB 68 also changed how non-economic damages are argued: according to Kennedys (2025), it restricts “anchoring” by limiting when attorneys may suggest dollar amounts for pain and suffering. Neither change caps compensatory damages in an ordinary negligence case.

Sources: O.C.G.A. § 51-12-5.1, CaseMine; Georgia Enacts Sweeping Tort Reform: Key Takeaways from SB 68, Kennedys (2025)

What does Georgia guidance say about lawyers using AI?

We found no formal State Bar of Georgia ethics opinion on generative AI as of October 2026, but a Bar committee is examining the question. The State Bar of Georgia’s Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Committee is charged with examining how the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct cover artificial intelligence, whether existing rules and Bar policies adequately address lawyers’ technology-related conduct, and how the Bar can help members integrate AI into practice. It reports to the Executive Committee, the Board of Governors and the Supreme Court of Georgia.

Until the committee reports, Georgia firms work under the existing Rules and the national guidance in ABA Formal Opinion 512. For intake, that means confidentiality of caller information, supervision of whoever answers the phone, and attorney review of every summary. Each Della dossier carries the recording and transcript so that review is possible.

Source: Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Committee, State Bar of Georgia

Do Georgia intake calls need recording consent?

Georgia is a one-party consent state for recording phone calls, under Ga. Code §§ 16-11-62, 16-11-66(a). Georgia firms take calls from Florida, an all-party state, every day, so a notice at the start of every call is the safer default. Every Call Della plan includes a recording disclosure set for the firm’s state, and Della plays it before the caller describes their matter. Our call recording consent by state table covers all 50 states and DC.

Source: Reporter’s Recording Guide: Georgia, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

What should a Georgia intake call capture?

A Georgia intake call should capture the facts that decide the deadline, the fault rule and the coverage, in the caller’s own words. The checklist below is the minimum for a Georgia auto or premises matter. It is a list of facts to record, not questions to argue with the caller.

1. Incident date, city and county
2. Whether a MARTA bus, school bus, city, county or state vehicle was involved
3. Police report agency and any citation issued
4. Whether the caller was wearing a seat belt, asked neutrally
5. Any sign the other driver was impaired, arrested or charged
6. Whether the other vehicle was a commercial truck, with the company name or USDOT number
7. Injuries, treatment so far, and the caller’s health insurance status
8. The other driver’s insurer and the caller’s own carrier

How does Della handle Georgia intake after hours?

Della, Call Della’s intake specialist, answers a Georgia firm’s line in the firm’s name nights, weekends and holidays. She takes the facts above in a calm order, never gives legal advice, and tells callers she is an AI if they ask. Each call becomes a dossier with a summary, urgency score, recording and transcript. Urgent calls send an email alert to the attorney on call, on every plan, and the rest are in the 7am morning brief.

Firms lose callers in the gap between the call and the reply. According to Lawyers Mutual NC (2019), reporting an ABA Law Practice Division secret-shopper study, lawyers took three or more days to reply to voicemails and online requests 42 percent of the time. See how Della runs after-hours personal injury intake, or compare Georgia with other states in our personal injury rules by state table.