Under Georgia Code § 33-24-41.1, a limited release lets you accept the at-fault driver’s full liability policy limits and sign a release that protects that driver’s personal assets, while keeping your underinsured motorist (UIM) claim against your own insurer alive. A standard general release would end every claim tied to the accident. The limited release is narrower by design: it closes out the liability carrier and shields the driver personally, but it preserves just enough of the driver’s underlying liability to keep the UIM pathway open.1Justia. Georgia Code 33-24-41.1 – Motor Vehicle Accident Claim Covered by Two or More Insurance Carriers; Limited Release
What a Limited Release Actually Releases
The statute applies when a motor vehicle accident claim is covered by two or more insurance carriers. The liability carrier offers its full policy limits, you accept, and you sign a release that covers only that carrier and its insured driver. Family members’ related claims, like loss of consortium or loss of services, are included in the release as well.1Justia. Georgia Code 33-24-41.1 – Motor Vehicle Accident Claim Covered by Two or More Insurance Carriers; Limited Release
The document has to do two things at once. It releases the liability carrier from all liability for your injury claims. It releases the at-fault driver from personal liability, except to the extent other insurance coverage is available to pay those claims. That exception is the entire point. Because the driver’s liability is not fully extinguished, your UIM insurer cannot argue there is no remaining claim for UIM coverage to attach to.1Justia. Georgia Code 33-24-41.1 – Motor Vehicle Accident Claim Covered by Two or More Insurance Carriers; Limited Release
The gap the statute addresses can be large. Georgia’s mandatory minimum bodily injury limits are $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident, and serious injuries routinely exceed those numbers by orders of magnitude.2Georgia Office of the Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire. Auto Insurance Without § 33-24-41.1, taking the liability insurer’s check would typically slam the door on any further recovery.
The Policy Limits Have to Be Fully Tendered
The statute only works when the liability carrier pays its full policy limits. Georgia courts have held that settling for less than the stated limit falls outside the statute’s protection, even when the discount is small. In Holland v. Cotton States Mutual Insurance Co. (2007), the court ruled that a partial settlement did not satisfy the exhaustion requirement. If you accept anything short of the limits, you may lose your right to pursue UIM coverage entirely.
This creates a specific risk in negotiations. A liability insurer that offers slightly less than its limits, whether to save money or to muddy the framework, can pull a claimant into signing a release that no longer qualifies under § 33-24-41.1. The discount is almost never worth what it costs on the UIM side.
General Release vs. Limited Release
The wording of the release document controls the outcome. A general release extinguishes all claims against all parties. Once the driver’s liability is wiped out entirely, there is nothing left for UIM coverage to sit on top of. In Rodgers v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Co. (1997) and Kent v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. (1998), Georgia courts held that signing a general release instead of a limited release defeated the claimant’s UIM recovery.
The limited release avoids that result by keeping the driver liable to the extent other coverage exists. This is one of the highest-stakes decisions in a Georgia auto case, and it is decided by the language on a single page.
Your UIM Carrier Cannot Block the Settlement
Subsection (c) prohibits any UIM policy issued in Georgia from blocking your right to settle under the statute. Your UIM insurer cannot require its consent before you accept the liability carrier’s limits and sign a limited release.1Justia. Georgia Code 33-24-41.1 – Motor Vehicle Accident Claim Covered by Two or More Insurance Carriers; Limited Release
Consent-to-settle clauses are common in policies from other states. If your Georgia UIM policy contains one, it is unenforceable when the settlement follows the procedures of § 33-24-41.1.
How the Offset Works at Trial
If you proceed to trial against your UIM carrier after signing the limited release, the amount already paid by the liability insurer is credited against the verdict. A $25,000 policy-limits payment followed by a $150,000 jury award leaves the UIM carrier facing $125,000 in exposure, subject to your UIM policy limits.1Justia. Georgia Code 33-24-41.1 – Motor Vehicle Accident Claim Covered by Two or More Insurance Carriers; Limited Release The jury is told the offset amount so you do not receive a double recovery, but it does not see the release itself, which is not admissible to prove fault or damages.
Georgia UIM coverage under O.C.G.A. § 33-7-11 functions as excess coverage on top of the liability payment, not as a substitute for it. UIM cannot duplicate what the liability carrier already paid, and the combined recovery cannot exceed your total losses.3Justia. Georgia Code 33-7-11 – Uninsured Motorist Coverage
What Happens With Multiple Claimants
When more than one person is injured in the same crash, the liability carrier can tender its per-accident limits to all claimants together, but the claimants have to agree in writing on how the money is divided.1Justia. Georgia Code 33-24-41.1 – Motor Vehicle Accident Claim Covered by Two or More Insurance Carriers; Limited Release Three injured people splitting a $50,000 per-accident limit need a signed agreement before any limited release can be executed. Each claimant still needs their own limited release to preserve their own UIM rights. If the claimants cannot agree, the liability carrier may deposit the limits with the court through an interpleader and let a judge decide the split.
What the Statute Does Not Cover
Section 33-24-41.1 applies only to motor vehicle accident claims. It does not extend to premises liability, product liability, or other non-auto tort claims. If you are injured outside a vehicle context and multiple insurance layers are involved, this statute offers no protection for settling with one carrier while preserving claims against others.
The statute also does not address medical liens, health insurance subrogation, or ERISA reimbursement. Signing a limited release and cashing the liability carrier’s check does not resolve what you may owe the providers and insurers who paid for your treatment. Those obligations run on a separate track and can substantially reduce what you actually keep, both from the liability settlement and from any later UIM recovery.