The Other Driver's Insurer Didn't Pay Your Bills: Medical Liens and Extra Costs in Georgia

Attorney Answer

The other driver's insurer does not usually pay your bills as they arrive. It pays when your claim against its insured is settled or decided. Until then, the hospital bill is still your account, which is why a collector is calling. Georgia's lien law limits how the hospital can reach your claim, and gives you leverage. The repossession fee can be part of what you claim for the crash.

Why you are getting the bill. The at-fault driver's insurer generally pays a claimant when it resolves the claim against its own policyholder, not bill by bill. Statements that it “will take care of” your bills are usually about paying them at settlement, not as they come in.

What the hospital can do, and what it cannot. Georgia gives a hospital a lien for its reasonable charges. That lien attaches to your claim against the at-fault driver, not to you. O.C.G.A. § 44-14-470(b) says:

The lien provided for in this subsection is only a lien against such causes of action and shall not be a lien against such injured person, such legal representative, or any other property or assets of such persons and shall not be evidence of such person’s failure to pay a debt.

And before any such lien can be enforced, the hospital has to try your health insurance first. O.C.G.A. § 44-14-471(c):

(c) No filing of a claim or lien under this part shall be enforceable unless the person, firm, hospital authority, or corporation operating a hospital, nursing home, physician practice, chiropractic practice, or traumatic burn care medical practice filing such claim or lien first submitted a claim to each health insurer of the injured person, if such injured person has health insurance coverage, and had such claim rejected.

So if you have health insurance, make sure the hospital has it and has billed it. The lien does not erase the bill itself, but it governs how the hospital reaches your settlement.

The repossession fee. Costs that flowed from the crash, including fees your lender charged because the car was not handled in time, can be part of what you claim against the at-fault driver. For the property side of your claim, Georgia also puts a duty on the other driver's insurer. O.C.G.A. § 33-4-7(a):

(a) In the event of a loss because of injury to or destruction of property covered by a motor vehicle liability insurance policy, the insurer issuing such policy has an affirmative duty to adjust that loss fairly and promptly, to make a reasonable effort to investigate and evaluate the claim, and, where liability is reasonably clear, to make a good faith effort to settle with the claimant potentially entitled to recover against the insured under such policy. Any insurer who breaches this duty may be liable to pay the claimant, in addition to the loss, not more than 50 percent of the liability of the insured for the loss or $5,000.00, whichever is greater, and all reasonable attorney's fees for the prosecution of the action.

That duty applies to property damage only. Its penalty also depends on exact conditions in § 33-4-7(c): a written demand by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery, 60 days, and a later recovery at least equal to the demand. A lawyer can tell you whether the repossession costs fit within it.

What you can do

1. Give the hospital your health-insurance information in writing, and ask it to bill your health insurer.

2. Ask the collector, in writing, for an itemized statement of the hospital account.

3. Keep the lender's repossession invoice and every record of what the insurer told you about towing.

4. Ask the other driver's insurer for its position on the repossession fees in writing.

5. Even if you are handling this yourself, you would be best served by a brief phone consultation with a local Georgia attorney before you act. Most lawyers offer a short initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts — and on how your court actually handles this — is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. An injury claim must be brought within two years under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33, and a claim for your car within four years under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-31. If the accident was last year, the two-year limit for the injury claim is the one to watch.