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Georgia Supreme Court: Minor tolling statute doesn’t extend ante litem notice deadline

6/18/25

By: Marissa A. Dunn and Dana K. Maine

On June 10, 2025, the Supreme Court of Georgia decided whether Georgia’s minor tolling statute applies to toll the deadline to submit an ante litem notice for suits against municipalities in Dates v. City of Atlanta (2025S24G1246).

Kierra Dates filed an action against the city of Atlanta after her minor son was allegedly injured on city property. Before suit (and within the timeframe required by statute), Dates sent an ante litem notice to the city pursuant to the municipal ante litem notice statute, O.C.G.A. § 36-33-5 but failed to include a demand for a specific amount of monetary damages. Later, she sent a supplemental ante litem notice (outside the statutorily required time) and corrected this error. The trial court dismissed her complaint for failing to comply with the requirements of the ante litem notice statute, and she appealed. The Court of Appeals affirmed, finding the initial notice inadequate for failing to specify the specific amount of monetary damages and finding her second notice untimely.

On certiorari, the Georgia Supreme Court considered whether the minor tolling provision, outlined in O.C.G.A. § 9-3-90(b), applies to municipal ante litem notices. Finding it did not, the Georgia Supreme Court cited the fact that the ante litem notice is not the same as a statute of limitations, to which the minor tolling statute applies. The ante litem notice requirement is a condition precedent to filing suit. Therefore, the tolling statute does not toll the time within which a minor must submit an ante litem notice to a municipality pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 36-33-5. The Court did not extend this holding to counties, which are governed by a different statute.

For more information, please contact Dana Maine at dana.maine@fmglaw.com, Marissa Dunn at marissa.dunn@fmglaw.com or your local FMG attorney.

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