Georgia’s 2024 Truck Accident Legal Claim Law Change: What Truck Accident Victims Need to Know
Key Points:
- Georgia law changed on July 1, 2024. Before this date, you could sue both the trucking company and their insurance company together. Now you generally can only sue the trucking company.
- The date of YOUR accident determines which rules apply. If your accident happened before July 1, 2024, you may still have the right to name the insurance company in your lawsuit.
- This change does NOT reduce how much money you can recover. The insurance company still pays your settlement or verdict. The change only affects whether they’re named as a defendant.
- There are exceptions to the new rule. You can still add the insurance company if the trucking company is bankrupt or cannot be located after reasonable efforts.
Changes In Georgia’s Truck Accident Laws and What It Means for You
The time after a truck accident is overwhelming for an accident victim. Medical costs, household bills, wondering when you can return to work and when things will return to normal. You may wonder what your legal rights are, and whether you should file a lawsuit or accept the settlement offer from the insurance company.
When you’ve been injured, you need legal advice. An attorney can explain how changes in the law affect your ability to file a claim against the trucking company and driver who caused your accident. On July 1, 2024, a new law went into effect that changed how accident victims could recover damages in an accident case.
Here’s What Happened
Before July 1, 2024: If you were injured in a commercial truck accident, you could file a lawsuit against the trucking company and against their insurance company. This process, called “joinder,” shortened the legal process, making a settlement easier to reach.
After July 1, 2024: Claimants can only sue the trucking company. The insurance company can only be added to a lawsuit in specific circumstances. This changes how a case is handled, how it proceeds if the case goes to trial, and takes some negotiating power away from the claimant and their attorney.
To understand what the new law means, it is important to understand what the old rule meant for accident victims.
The Old Rule: “Direct Action”
Georgia was one of a few states that let accident victims sue insurance companies directly after an accident, the so-called “direct action” rule. Accident victims could sue the trucking company, the insurance company, or both together. After an accident, victims knew that the insurance company was part of the case, and neither the insurer nor the trucking company could abandon the case leaving the other holding the bag.
Georgia state law (O.C.G.A. § 40-1-112(c) and O.C.G.A. § 40-2-140(d)(4)) provided the basis for joinder of parties in these cases.
The New Rule: When You Can Join and When You Cannot
Beginning July 1, 2024, victims had to prove one of two things before they could join the insurance company.
Either the trucking company was insolvent or bankrupt, meaning the company had no money and could not pay any judgment or had already filed bankruptcy, or,
The trucking company cannot be located for service after reasonable diligence. If the company cannot be served notice of lawsuit, then the case may proceed against the insurance company.
So What Really Changes?
Realistically, not too much. The biggest changes affect cases that happened before the laws changed. The law does not affect the statute of limitations.
If your accident happened before July 1, 2024, and within Georgia’s two-year statute of limitations on personal injury lawsuits, the old laws and rules still apply in your case. If you’re not sure, you need to speak to an attorney as soon as possible. The statute begins to run the date of your accident, not the date you file your lawsuit.
If your accident happened after July 1, 2024, the new rules apply to your claim, and you can only file a claim against the trucking company. You cannot file a claim against the insurance company unless the trucking company cannot pay or you cannot locate them.
What the Changes DO NOT Affect for You
The only thing the law changes is whether you can directly sue the insurance company. Remember, most states do not allow claimants to sue the insurer directly. All this really does is put Georgia claimants in the same position as those in other states.
It does not affect:
- What your settlement is likely to be. The insurance company pays the settlement or award whether they are named in the lawsuit or not. So, your compensation remains the same even if you cannot sue them directly.
- What you can sue for. You are still entitled to sue for medical costs, lost wages and income, pain and suffering, emotional trauma, and other legal costs.
- How much you can receive. You can still request maximum damages up to the policy limits.
Since under Georgia law an insurance company has “automatic liability” for claims against their clients. Whether they are named in a lawsuit or not does not increase the value of your claim. Juries should not consider the presence or absence of an insurer when making a judgment. Only the judge ever sees the policy limits. So why did insurance companies want this change?
Mainly because it affects settlement negotiations. By removing the insurance company from the front of the negotiating process, the new rules let the company run the settlement negotiations behind the scenes. Claimants’ attorneys must deal with the trucking company, and seldom or never directly with the insurance company.
The primary effect was to shield the insurance company, not to harm the claimant.
Things That Have Not Changed
Despite the changes, the most important parts of insurance coverage and your right to sue for damages has not changed. The key parts of Georgia law still give you considerable legal protection. Under Georgia law, insurance companies must:
Provide Coverage for their Insured Companies
If a trucking company fails to report an accident, refuses to cooperate with the investigation, or violated the terms of their policy, the insurance company cannot deny your claim. The insurance company must pay the claim and then take their own client to court.
Pay No Matter Where the Accident Occurred
Georgia law does not permit “radius of use” limits. That is, policies cannot limit coverage to “within 100 miles of Atlanta.” If an accident occurs outside such limits, an insurance company must still pay the claim.
Accept Service in the Jurisdiction of the Accident
A plaintiff can file a lawsuit in a location where the accident occurred, where the defendant resides, or where the business has its primary office. Neither the trucking company nor the insurer may require you to change if you prefer to file in the county where the accident occurred.
You have the right to file your lawsuit in the county where the accident occurred. The trucking company cannot force your case to be moved to a different county just because their headquarters are somewhere else.
Accept a Claim Up to the Policy Limit
You are permitted to file a claim up to the full amount of your damages. The insurance company cannot limit your claim to the minimum coverage amount.
If You’re Involved in a Commercial Vehicle Accident
Your first step should be seeking medical attention. You will need a doctor’s report for the insurance claim, and you should have a doctor check you out, even if you feel okay after any serious collision.
After that, you’re involved in a truck or other commercial vehicle accident, you should take these steps to protect your legal rights and ensure your best chances of a just settlement:
Step 1: Document Everything
Keep track of all paperwork. Your attorney will need to have copies of all these documents. Some of it must be included with your insurance claim as well.
- Police reports, sketches, and photographs
- Medical bills and doctor’s records
- Photos of the accident scene.
- Contact information for any witnesses
- Insurance information from the truck’s driver. Get the driver’s personal information as well as the company’s insurance
- Information about the truck, including license plate numbers, VIN if possible, company names and logos. If the truck is a big rig, get the same information for the trailer as well as the truck
Step 2: Know Your Deadlines
Deadlines known as the statutes of limitations are strict. If you miss the statute of limitations, you will be barred from filing your claim.
The statute for a personal injury lawsuit is two years from the date of the accident. Property damage claims are four years from the date of the accident. A contract claim against the insurer is six years. Your attorney can explain the specific deadlines in more detail.
You must report the accident to your own and the trucking company’s insurance company as soon as possible. Some policies even include a set period of time, sometimes as short as 30 days. Do not trust the driver or trucking company to do so. Always report the accident yourself.
Step Three: Get Legal Advice
You should never talk to the insurance company without talking to your attorney first. Even if you don’t plan to hire an attorney, you should speak to one and have them review your documents before signing anything. Insurance companies are not your friends, and they prefer to keep your settlement payments as low as possible. Common tactics to do so can include:
- Offering quick settlements before you know the extent of your injuries
- Fishing for statements of guilt or minimization of harm
- Asking for a recorded or written statement
It’s always best to have your attorney handle any communications with the insurance company or their attorneys. You can concentrate on getting well.
Do I Really Need a Truck Accident Attorney?
It’s always a good idea to have an attorney review your paperwork before you send it in, and to have an attorney review anything the insurance company sends you. Even if the insurer is being honest and your case is straightforward, a commercial truck accident involves state and federal laws, medical diagnoses, application of insurance policies, and other complicated legal matters.
If your case goes to trial, someone must appear before a judge who can present your case clearly and with the legal expertise to convince the judge and jury that you should receive the compensation you requested. A personal injury attorney is your best ally in a trucking accident case.
Before July 1, 2024, Georgia’s laws allowed claimants to sue the trucking company’s insurance carrier directly. They could sue the insurer alone or with the trucking company. The 2024 law changed that, so that the insurance company could only be added, or “joined” to the lawsuit if the trucking company is bankrupt or cannot be located and served. Citation: O.C.G.A. §§ 40-1-112(c)(1) and 40-2-140(d)(4)(A), as amended effective July 1, 2024
No. The amount of compensation you can recover should not be affected by this change. Remember, Georgia was unusual in allowing a claimant to sue an insurer directly. Most states do not permit this. Georgia courts have specifically stated that adding the insurer to a lawsuit “does not enhance the value of the claim.” All this does is remove the insurance company from the front of the lawsuit.
“Reasonable diligence” means you must make documented, good-faith efforts to find and serve the trucking company before you can add their insurer to your lawsuit. Taking the step of hiring a private process server, using the sheriff’s department, attempting service at the company’s last known address or with their registered agent and through the secretary of state should be sufficient.
What This Means for You
The 2024 law change makes it a little harder for you to directly confront the insurance companies who write the checks in an insurance claim. It did not change anything else about your right to fair compensation for your injuries after a serious commercial truck accident.
You still need to remember:
- Acting quickly and remembering important deadlines
- Get legal advice from an experienced personal injury attorney
- Get the compensation you deserve from the insurance company
If you were hurt in a truck accident in Georgia, you deserve to understand how the law affects your case. We hope this guide has helped.
