Q: Can a collection agency sue me for a seven year old medical bill in georgia after 6 years

A: It depends. The statute of limitations in Georgia for a Georgia debt for most things is 4 to 6 years. The statute begins to run from the time that the bill was owed.

You do not indicate if the bill was incurred in Georgia or whether you made a payment on it. If you made any kind of a payment after the statute of limitations expired, it would revive the statute and start the clock running again. I have some articles on this at my website: www.rachelhunterlaw.com which may help to explain. Also, any payments would serve to extend the statute and the statute would run from the date of your last payment.

Assuming that the debt was incurred in Georgia 7 years ago and no payments were made, then you are correct that the statute has probably expired. However, the statute is a legal defense that must be raised in a timely filed answer with the court. It does not mean that you do not owe the debt or that a debt collector cannot try to collect on the debt. It means only that if you are sued, you will have no legal duty to pay IF you file an answer raising the defense. While most ethical lawyers would not sue on a debt barred by the statute of limitations, not all lawyers take this position and suit after it has expired is possible. So if you are sued and you think the statute has run, then you need to get to a lawyer who handles consumer law/credit card/debt defense (same issues are involved as with medical debt) and pay the lawyer to draft and file a proper answer for you.

Collection agencies do not sue by anyone. They work for creditors. So if you are sued, a lawsuit would be filed by

the original creditor if they still own the debt or by a junk debt buyer if they have bought the debt from an original creditor.