§ 9-2-63.Affidavit of indigence for renewal of action

Renewing a dismissed case usually comes with a price tag — the costs run up in the first case have to be paid before the plaintiff can start again. O.C.G.A. § 9-2-63 gives an indigent plaintiff a way around that cost. When any action has been dismissed or discontinued and the plaintiff wants to recommence it, filing a written affidavit with the new complaint, summons, or other proceeding opens the door to renewal without paying the accrued costs.

The affidavit has to say two specific things: that the plaintiff is advised and believes there is good cause to recommence the action, and that indigence leaves the plaintiff unable to pay the costs that built up in the earlier case. Get that affidavit on file with the papers that recommence the case, and the statute grants the right to renew without the payment that would otherwise be required.

This section has stayed on Georgia’s books since 1901, older than O.C.G.A. § 9-2-60’s five-year automatic-dismissal rule but newer than O.C.G.A. § 9-2-61’s renewal provision, which traces back to 1847. Where § 9-2-61 conditions renewal on paying the costs owed from the earlier case, this one removes that condition for a plaintiff too poor to meet it, so lack of money does not close off a claim that would otherwise still be alive.