Auto Insurance Claims: statute of limitations question for auto accident, time span, memphis tn

Question
Hello my wife and I were in a car accident in April 2008 outside of Memphis, TN.  We live in Georgia and have been dealing with the insurance company here.  We were struck from behind by a drunk driver while we were waiting at a stop light.  My portion of the claim is settled, but my wife suffered more extensive injuries and so hers has been on hold.  When we first initially started talking to the insurance company here in GA we were told by them that we have a 2 year time span on statute of limitations and after that we cannot make a claim on this accident.  It is now June of 2009 and I contacted the adjuster from the drunk driver's insurance company, who by the way we have been trying to contact for several months and she never got back to me.  Today she told me that we can no longer settle on this claim because it has passed Tennessee's one year statute of limitations, but they have told us all along that there were two years that we can make the claim here in GA.  She said she talked to her manager and that there is nothing that she can do.  We have now accrued thousands of dollars in medical bills that we cannot pay without the settlement from the insurance company.  Please any advice would be wonderful and thank you.

Answer
Taran,

I am not familiar with the statute of limitations in all states, but the two year limit is generally accepted. The statements made by the liability carrier for the person that hit your car are not necessarily fact. That is, that insurer has no legal duty to you and is adverse to your interests. Therefore, they can mislead you, tell you things that are patently false or anything they like. Their policyholder (the person that hit you), on the other hand, does owe you for the loss.

If I were you I'd retain an attorney to address the losses you've incurred. Or at the very least, stop talking to the third party insurer and go to written communications only. They are unlikely to lie in writing.

Charlie