§ 9-3-28.Actions by informers

Some Georgia laws let a private person — an informer — sue to recover a fine, forfeiture, or penalty that the law authorizes, effectively stepping into a role the state might otherwise fill. O.C.G.A. § 9-3-28 gives these actions a short fuse: one year, among the shortest periods in this article.

What makes this section distinctive is its trigger. The clock does not start when the underlying violation occurred; it starts when the defendant's liability is discovered, or when reasonable diligence would have uncovered it. That discovery-based trigger recognizes that an informer often has no way of knowing about a violation the moment it happens, so the statute measures the year from the point of actual or reasonably diligent discovery rather than from the underlying act.

Because both the period and the discovery trigger are narrow, informer actions demand prompt investigation once a potential violation comes to light. Waiting to confirm every detail before filing risks running out the one-year clock, since the reasonable-diligence standard can start the clock even before actual discovery occurs.