Notice Requirements

There are two kinds of deadlines for personal injury claims: statute of limitations and notice requirements.

• State or federal laws, called “statute of limitations,” tell you how long you have to file a lawsuit. For example, in Georgia, you have up to two years to file most types of personal injury claims.
• Notice requirements can be set by state, federal, or local law or by a contract you signed, like a car insurance policy. They tell you how long you have to report an injury when you file a lawsuit.

Notice requirements require you to tell someone if they’re responsible for an injury or loss you’ve suffered (such as notifying your insurance company that you had an accident). If you don’t tell them you got hurt, you can’t file a claim for your injuries and damages later.

You should know that both deadlines apply to your claim. For example, if you are well within the statute of limitations but didn’t give notice before the deadline, you don’t have a claim, and in most cases, you won’t be able to bring it to court.

Statute of limitations tend to have much longer deadlines than notice requirements. They are also much easier to miss since many people who have been hurt don’t even know they have a deadline.