Georgia wrongful death & catastrophic injury
Wrongful Death & Catastrophic Injury Lawyers
Support for families and severely injured victims
- Two separate claims: full value of the life, and the estate claim
- Statutory order of who may bring the claim under O.C.G.A. 51-4-2
- Life-care planners and economists are required, not optional
- Punitive damages available for DUI and reckless conduct
How these cases work
Proving a wrongful death & catastrophic injury case
Georgia wrongful death law is unusual: the claim measures the full value of the life of the deceased from the perspective of the person who died, separate from the estate's claim for medical bills, funeral costs and pain before death. Catastrophic injury cases require life-care planning and economic modeling to capture decades of future cost. These are the cases insurers fight hardest and the ones most often decided by trial readiness.
Georgia rules that control your claim
- Filing deadline
- Two years from the date of the crash for personal injury and wrongful death claims (O.C.G.A. 9-3-33). Property damage claims get four years. Claims against a city, county, or the state carry ante litem notice deadlines as short as six months.
- Fault rule
- Modified comparative negligence with a 50% bar (O.C.G.A. 51-12-33). You can recover as long as you are less than 50% at fault, but your award is reduced by your share of the blame.
- Minimum coverage
- $25,000 per person / $50,000 per accident bodily injury and $25,000 property damage. Georgia does not require uninsured motorist coverage, but insurers must offer it in writing.
Common injuries
Injuries we see in these crashes
- Burn InjuriesThermal and chemical burns from post-collision fire, fuel ignition or airbag deployment. Burn cases carry scarring and disfigurement damages that are separate from medical cost and often exceed it.
- Spinal Cord InjurySpinal cord damage causing partial or complete loss of function below the level of injury. These are lifetime-cost cases requiring a life-care plan covering attendant care, home modification, equipment replacement cycles and lost earning capacity.
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)A TBI does not require losing consciousness and frequently does not show on a standard CT scan. Mild TBI is the most under-documented and most aggressively disputed injury in Georgia crash litigation, because the symptoms are invisible and the insurer will attribute them to stress or pre-existing conditions.
Case results
What we've recovered
$2.5M
Settlement
Trucking crash victim against a corporate defense team.
$1.8M
Recovery
Justice for a family in a wrongful death case.
$1.2M
Verdict
Catastrophic injury, trial-tested victory.
$475K
Settlement
Pedestrian struck at a crosswalk.
No Fee Unless We Win
Talk to a wrongful death & catastrophic injury lawyer today
No Fee Unless We Win. Available 24/7.
By city
Wrongful Death & Catastrophic Injury by Georgia city
Local courthouse, local jury pool, local road history. Start where your crash happened.
- Atlanta wrongful death & catastrophic injuryFulton County
- Columbus wrongful death & catastrophic injuryMuscogee County
- Augusta wrongful death & catastrophic injuryRichmond County
- Macon wrongful death & catastrophic injuryBibb County
- Savannah wrongful death & catastrophic injuryChatham County
- Athens wrongful death & catastrophic injuryClarke County
- Sandy Springs wrongful death & catastrophic injuryFulton County
- South Fulton wrongful death & catastrophic injuryFulton County
- Roswell wrongful death & catastrophic injuryFulton County
- Johns Creek wrongful death & catastrophic injuryFulton County
- Warner Robins wrongful death & catastrophic injuryHouston County
- Albany wrongful death & catastrophic injuryDougherty County
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