Ruben J. Cruz Personal Injury Law Blog on Lawyers.com

Cruz & Associates - Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyers


GEORGIA ACCIDENT LITIGATION

According to Georgia law, individuals who have been injured have the right to sue those who caused them injury for damages.  From the beginning of its legal system, Georgia law has recognized a difference between civil wrongs and criminal wrongs. Civil wrongs are considered Torts. Citizens have consistently had the right to pursue compensation for civil tort cases.

In the early 1800s, a distinction came to be recognized between intentional and unintentional infliction of injury. Negligence as a separate form of tort came to be recognized in the early 1800s.

From that point forward, Georgia accident litigation has consistently focused on fair compensation for those who have suffered injury due to the negligence of others.  Over time, several areas of Georgia accident litigation have gone through changes.

Some of these areas include:

STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS

Georgia accident litigation has come to include laws indicating a specified length of time during which accident litigation can be started. These time period vary based on the specific type of litigation, and a lawyer should be consulted for precise information. In general, though, Georgia law has come to recognize the following time limitations:

• Medical malpractice – 2 years from the date of the action causing the injury.
• Personal injury - 2 years from the date of the action causing the injury.
• Product liability - 2 years.
• Libel, Slander, Defamation - 1 year.
• Injury to personal property - 4 years.

TORT REFORM

A major issue in Georgia accident litigation is the concept of Tort reform. This issue calls for changes to the Georgia legal system, in which caps or limitations are imposed on the amount of potential compensation for medical malpractice or other forms of accident litigation.

Tort reform is a highly controversial issue. Insurance firms and others strongly support this, claiming that it will reduce frivolous lawsuits, reduce the clog on the legal system, and reduce unfairly large monetary payouts.  Opposition to tort reform claims that the cost of bringing a case to court in itself prohibits frivolous lawsuits from ever getting there. Attorneys will not take on “frivolous” cases because it is not worth their while. Further, opponents claim that a cap is an unfair limitation, as each case is inherently different.

Senate Bill 3 was enacted in 2005, which indeed imposed changes resulting in tort reform. This bill placed caps on how much an individual practitioner can be liable to pay, how much an institution can be liable to pay, and how much an individual can receive.

In 2008, an appeal was made to this law, which overturned certain aspects of it in the case of Park v. WellStar. This ruling found several aspects of Senate Bill 3 unconstitutional.  The case and tort reform in general, is still under discussion, and may reach the Georgia Supreme Court.

Accident litigation is a continually developing process, with laws, regulations and procedures developing over time.

For more information, if you've suffered an injury in atlanta, you can contact the Atlanta injury law firm of Cruz & Associates, 1-877-291-6635.

Cruz & Associates
3025 Piedmont Rd., Suite 200
Atlanta, GA 30305