The statute of limitations for personal injury cases in Georgia is two years. You should still have some time left.

Perhaps what the second lawyer meant was that the time for serving the papers on the defendant had lapsed. If he filed suit almost two years ago and never served the defendant then sure, that's true - but you should be able to simply file the complaint again.

Another issue - they filed a motion to dismiss the case. It is possible that by doing this they waived service. Or, perhaps there is some misunderstanding and your first lawyer actually did serve the defendant.

Maybe something else happened that would cause the statute of limitations to have tolled for some period of time - that means that the clock stops and you aren't using up time.

I think I'd get a second (third?) opinion.