The demand package is the document a Georgia injury claim is built toward, and most people picture it wrong. It is not a letter asking for money. It is an evidentiary file with a narrative on top, and every component in it exists because an adjuster is going to ask a specific question and the file has to already contain the answer. This is part two of a series called Anatomy of a Georgia Injury Claim. Part one covered who pays your medical bills while a Georgia injury claim is pending, and the records generated by all of that treatment are what the demand package is assembled from.
What follows is the contents of the package and the reason each piece is there. It is a description of process. Nothing here describes or predicts what any particular claim produces.
What is a demand package in a Georgia injury claim?
A demand package is the organized presentation of the claim, sent to the liability insurer, that sets out what happened, who is responsible, what the injury was, what it cost, and what is being asked for in exchange for a release. It arrives as one assembled file rather than as a stream of documents, because an adjuster evaluating a claim in pieces evaluates it as pieces. The package is put together after treatment has stabilized, which is why it lands where it does in the sequence set out in the phase-by-phase Georgia claim timeline.
Why does the demand package wait for maximum medical improvement?
The package waits because it has to state the whole injury, and the whole injury is not known until treatment plateaus. Maximum medical improvement, usually shortened to MMI, is the milestone the claim timeline post covers in full: the point a treating physician stops expecting further change. A demand sent before that has to guess at the parts that are still unfolding, and a release signed on that demand closes the claim anyway. There is no supplement filed later.
The outer boundary on that patience is statutory. Under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33, actions for injuries to the person in Georgia are generally brought within two years after the right of action accrues. Waiting for MMI and preserving the ability to file suit are both real constraints, and they run against each other. Which one governs the calendar in a given claim is a judgment call made with the deadline in front of you, not a rule of thumb. Where a government vehicle or property is involved, a much shorter written notice deadline can apply first.
What goes into the liability section?
The liability section establishes that the insurer’s insured caused the incident, and it does that with documents rather than adjectives. That typically means the police or incident report, photographs of the vehicles or the location, a scene diagram where the geometry matters, witness names and statements, and any available video. The narrative that ties them together explains the sequence of events and connects it to the mechanism of injury described in the medical records.
A competent liability section also deals with the claimant’s own conduct rather than ignoring it. Georgia reduces an award in proportion to the claimant’s percentage of fault and bars recovery entirely at fifty percent or more, under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33 on apportionment of damages. Comparative fault is the first argument an adjuster reaches for. A package that has already addressed it is not conceding anything: it is refusing to leave the point unanswered.
What goes into the damages section?
The damages section separates the losses that carry a receipt from the losses that do not, and documents each in the way that category is actually proven. The first group, usually called special or economic damages, is medical bills, out-of-pocket spending, and lost income. Every one of those numbers is tied to a document. Earnings evidence in particular is more involved than people expect, and the methods are set out in the post on how lost wages are proven in a Georgia injury claim. For injuries on or after April 21, 2025, Georgia’s 2025 tort reform (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-1.1) generally limits medical damages to the reasonable value of necessary care. Where the injured person has health insurance, what providers charged and what the insurance would actually need to pay both come into evidence on that value, so the package documents both figures.
The second group, general or noneconomic damages, covers physical pain, limitations on daily activity, and the effect on work and family life. There is no invoice for any of it, so it is documented differently: through the treating records, through the physician’s description of restrictions and prognosis, and through specific accounts of what changed. The framework Georgia uses for this category is covered in the post on pain and suffering damages in Georgia.
The package also inventories who else has a claim on any eventual recovery. Health plan reimbursement interests, any provider treating under a letter of protection, and any hospital or other provider lien arising under O.C.G.A. § 44-14-470 and perfected under § 44-14-471 all have to be identified before resolution, not discovered after it.
| Component | What it is | Why it is in the package |
|---|---|---|
| Cover letter and narrative | The written account of the incident, the injury, and the claim being made. | Gives the adjuster a single organized reading of the file rather than a stack of records. |
| Liability evidence | Police or incident report, photographs, diagrams, witness information, video. | Establishes responsibility and addresses comparative fault before it is raised. |
| Medical records | Records from every treating provider from the first visit through discharge. | Connects the incident to the diagnosis and shows the course of treatment. |
| Itemized bills | Line-item charges from each provider, with what was actually paid or owed against them. | Ties each claimed medical cost to the treatment record that justifies it. |
| Imaging and diagnostics | Radiology reports, study results, and consulting physician findings. | Supplies objective findings rather than reported symptoms alone. |
| Wage documentation | Employer statements, pay records, tax returns, written work restrictions. | Proves time missed and any change in earning capacity. |
| Out-of-pocket receipts | Copays, prescriptions, equipment, and travel to appointments. | Captures economic loss that never appears on a provider bill. |
| Lien and reimbursement inventory | A list of every party asserting an interest in a recovery. | Identifies what has to be resolved before any distribution can be made. |
Why does a demand set a response deadline?
A deadline turns an open-ended review into a defined one, and in some settings a written demand is a legal prerequisite rather than a courtesy. In a first-party claim against your own insurer, O.C.G.A. § 33-4-6 makes a written demand, followed by the insurer’s refusal to pay within sixty days after the demand is made, a precondition to the statutory bad-faith remedy, so it matters to be able to prove when the demand was made. That is a different posture from a third-party liability demand, but the discipline it requires is the same: a demand supported by documentation, delivered in a provable way, with a stated period to respond.
For an injury claim arising from a motor vehicle collision, the form of a pre-suit settlement offer is also set by statute. For offers made on or after April 22, 2024, O.C.G.A. § 9-11-67.1 generally requires an offer prepared with a lawyer’s help, before the defendant has answered a lawsuit, to be in writing and sent by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery, return receipt requested. It must specifically reference the statute and state, among other terms, an acceptance date at least thirty days after receipt, the amount, the parties to be released, whether the release is full or limited, the claims to be released, and a payment date at least forty days after receipt. It also has to include the medical or other records in the claimant’s possession that are sufficient for the insurer to evaluate the claim. That last requirement is one reason the package is assembled before the demand goes out.
The corollary matters more than the deadline itself. A demand that names a figure without the documentation behind it invites a request for records, which restarts the review and wastes the deadline. The package is what makes the deadline meaningful.
What does the insurer do with the package?
The adjuster reads it, checks it against the carrier’s own file, and responds with a position, a request for more information, or an offer. More than one exchange is normal. Each round takes its own stretch of time, and the process ends either in an agreed resolution or in a decision to file suit before the limitations period runs. The pacing of those rounds is described in the claim timeline post, and the mechanics of what happens after an agreement are covered in how a personal injury settlement actually gets paid.
What can you do to make the package complete?
Almost everything that makes a package complete is generated during treatment, which means the work is done months before anyone starts assembling it.
What actually helps while the file is being built
- Name every provider you saw, including urgent care, imaging centers, and one-time consultations. A missing provider is a missing bill and a missing record.
- Keep appointments and follow the treatment plan, or make sure the reason for a gap is documented. Unexplained gaps in treatment are the first thing an adjuster marks.
- Save receipts for prescriptions, equipment, and mileage as they happen.
- Ask your employer what documentation it can produce for missed time and for any accommodation or restriction.
- Tell your lawyer about prior injuries to the same body part. The insurer will find them, and a package that addresses them is stronger than one that is surprised by them.
- Keep a short, dated record of specific limitations rather than general descriptions. Concrete beats adjectival.
If you are somewhere in the middle of this sequence and want to talk through what your own file is missing, you can reach the firm through our contact page.