Ten years from the product’s first sale. Under O.C.G.A. § 51-1-11(b)(2), “No action shall be commenced … with respect to an injury after ten years from the date of the first sale for use or consumption of the personal property causing or otherwise bringing about the injury.” The clock doesn’t wait for an accident, so a person hurt by a machine sold 11 years ago may have no strict liability claim even if the injury happened yesterday.
The limit covers more than strict liability. Section 51-1-11(c) applies the same ten years to a negligence claim against the manufacturer, with exceptions:
- negligence in manufacturing products that cause a disease or birth defect;
- conduct showing “a willful, reckless, or wanton disregard for life or property”;
- the continuing duty to warn. The subsection doesn’t relieve a manufacturer “from the duty to warn of a danger arising from use of a product once that danger becomes known.” In Chrysler Corp. v. Batten (1994), the Georgia Supreme Court held that a failure-to-warn claim of this kind wasn’t cut off by the ten-year period.
This period is separate from the two-year injury deadline in § 9-3-33. Both must be met. A product bought used still counts from its first sale to a consumer, which is why a serial number, a purchase record, or a date stamp can decide the case.
A claim against someone other than the manufacturer, such as a repair shop, isn’t under this subsection and has its own analysis.
General information about Georgia law as of November 2026. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship.