The term ante litem is a legal one that means “before litigation.” In some cases, certain lawsuits can be brought only after an ante litem notice be sent. This is a paper that notifies the defendant or defendants of the victim’s intent to sue. This is typically a requirement when the defendant is a county, school system, police department or municipality.
Even though there is the requirement to file an ante litem notice prior to filing certain types of personal injury lawsuits, the statute of limitations is still in effect. In most instances, a person has up to a year to file an ante litem notice. This does not extend the statute of limitations. For example, a person may have three years to file a personal injury lawsuit and a year to file the ante litem lawsuit and file at the last possible moment. The person will then have two more years to officially file the personal injury lawsuit.
When a person is involved in an incident that causes injury or property damage, they may have the legal right to file a lawsuit seeking recovery for the financial damages they incur. This is the case even when the person or party found to be at fault is a government entity. An experienced attorney can assist a victim in determining if they may be entitled to compensation for any financial damages they are saddled with as a result of their incidents. Reach out to an personal injury attorney in Atlanta today for more information about these kinds of cases.