Truck accident litigation frequently involves several potentially responsible parties, such as a driver, a motor carrier, a vehicle owner, a maintenance company, a shipper, and a broker. When one of those parties pays for harm that another should bear, it may seek to recover from the other through a claim for indemnity or contribution. A common question is how long such a claim remains available. The answer depends on what type of claim it is and, just as importantly, on when the claim is considered to accrue.
Indemnity and contribution are different from the underlying injury claim
The first point to understand is that an indemnity or contribution claim is distinct from the injured person’s underlying personal injury claim. An injured person’s claim for bodily injury in Georgia is generally governed by O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33, which requires actions for injuries to the person to be brought within two years after the right of action accrues. That two-year period measures the injured plaintiff’s time to sue the wrongdoers.
A claim for indemnity or contribution belongs not to the injured person but to a defendant who has paid, or been required to pay, for the harm. It is governed by its own limitations period, and crucially, that period runs from a different starting point.
Contribution among joint tortfeasors
Contribution is the right of one joint tortfeasor who has paid more than its proportionate share of a common liability to recover the excess from another joint tortfeasor. Georgia recognizes a right of contribution among joint tortfeasors under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-32 in circumstances where the apportionment statute does not eliminate it.
The accrual rule for contribution is the central feature. The limitations period on a contribution claim does not begin to run at the time the underlying tort was committed or when the injury occurred. It begins to run only when the cause of action for contribution itself accrues. A claim for contribution accrues when a judgment is entered against the party seeking contribution, or when that party makes a settlement of the underlying claim. Until a defendant has actually been adjudged liable or has settled, it has paid nothing and has no matured claim for contribution. The right to enforce contribution arises once that party has paid more than its pro rata share.
This means that a defendant in a truck accident case generally is not racing the same two-year personal injury clock that bound the original plaintiff. Its time to pursue contribution starts later, when its own liability is fixed by judgment or settlement.
Contractual indemnity
Many truck accident cases also involve written contracts, such as a contract between a carrier and a broker, between a carrier and a shipper, or between a vehicle owner and a lessee. These agreements often contain indemnification clauses in which one party agrees to indemnify another for certain losses.
A claim to enforce an indemnification obligation created by a written contract is a contract claim. Under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-24, actions on a simple written contract must be brought within six years after the cause of action accrues. As with contribution, the accrual point matters. A claim under a contractual indemnity provision generally does not accrue, and the limitations clock does not start, until the indemnitee has sustained the loss the provision covers, which typically means until liability has been determined or paid. The exact accrual point can depend on the language of the particular indemnity provision.
Other limitations periods that can apply
Georgia also has a general statute, O.C.G.A. § 11-3-118, addressing certain claims, including claims for indemnity or contribution that are not otherwise governed by another law, with a three-year period running from accrual. Because more than one statute can potentially apply depending on the nature and source of the claim, the governing limitations period for any particular indemnity or contribution claim turns on how the claim is characterized, whether it arises from a contract or from common law, and what other statutes may control. This is an area where the precise facts and the language of any contract are decisive.
The interplay with apportionment
Georgia’s apportionment statute, O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33, enacted as part of the 2005 tort reform legislation, changed the landscape for these claims. When a jury apportions damages among parties at fault, each party is liable only for its assigned share, and that apportioned liability is generally not subject to a right of contribution. The legislature, however, left O.C.G.A. § 51-12-32 intact, and Georgia courts have held that a right of contribution still exists in certain situations, such as where joint tortfeasors settle before trial and there has been no apportionment of damages by a factfinder. Whether a contribution claim is even available in a given case therefore depends on the procedural posture, separate from the limitations question.
Summary
There is no single statute of limitations for indemnity claims in Georgia truck accident cases. The governing period depends on the type of claim. A common-law contribution claim runs from its own accrual, which occurs when judgment is entered against the party seeking contribution or when that party settles, not from the date of the crash. A claim on a written contractual indemnity provision is subject to the six-year period for written contracts under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-24, again measured from accrual of the loss. A general three-year period under O.C.G.A. § 11-3-118 can apply to certain indemnity or contribution claims not otherwise governed. Because these claims accrue later than the underlying injury, they are not measured by the injured plaintiff’s two-year personal injury deadline, and the correct period in any case depends on the specific facts and any controlling contract.
Disclaimer
This article is provided strictly for general educational and informational purposes. It is intended to explain how Georgia law works as a matter of public legal education, and it does not constitute legal advice, a legal opinion, or a recommendation about any particular course of action. Reading this article, or contacting the website on which it appears, does not create an attorney-client relationship between the reader and any law firm, attorney, or author.
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