Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyers Blog

As an Atlanta medical malpractice attorney practicing throughout north Georgia, I am always interested in keeping up on the latest changes in Georgia law that affects my practice. Today I read an article in the Fulton County Daily Report, a legal newspaper published throughout Georgia, which was very interesting to me. The article was about how the Supreme Court of Georgia is expected to rule soon on a key issue crucial to medical malpractice victims and the lawyers who represent them. The case, docketed to the September term, must be decided by the end of March.

Atlanta Oculoplastic Surgery v. Nestlehutt, No. S09A1432, involves the constitutionality of a $350,000 cap on pain and suffering damages in medical malpractice cases (which was part of comprehensive tort reform passed in 2005). Fulton County State Court Judge Diane E. Bessen struck down the caps on noneconomic damages, ruling that they violated the Georgia Constitution's guarantees of a right to trial by jury and to equal protection under the law. Judge Bessen further held that the caps infringed upon the separation of powers by interfering with the trial judge's usual role of forcing plaintiffs to choose between a reduced award and a new trial when a jury verdict is found by the court to be too high. The Georgia Supreme Court must now decide whether to keep the $350,000 pain and suffering cap in place, or to strike it down as unconstitutional.

Regardless of how the Georgia Supreme Court rules on this issue, medical malpractice victims are likely to remain hampered by the pain and suffering cap. This is because the Georgia Legislature is likely to try to quickly amend this law to insure that the cap remains in place if it is truck down by the Georgia Supreme Court.

As reported in the Fulton County Daily Report, Sen. John J. Wiles, R-Kennesaw, indicated that he would file legislation to respond to the Supreme Court if it overturns parts of the tort law. "As a strong supporter of tort reform in 2005, I would most certainly offer legislation to address any judicial decision adverse to the important provision contained in the current Georgia law that protects the citizens of Georgia," Wiles said in a statement. Senator Wiles and the Legislature could respond to the high court's rulings by simply passing new legislation, or a response may require amending the state constitution. It will depend on the legal grounds the justices use to find the legislation unconstitutional.

If the Georgia Supreme Court does strike down the pain and suffering cap for medical malpractice claims in Georgia, there may be a window of opportunity for injured malpractice victims to bring their cases while no restrictions on pain and suffering awards are in place. Competent legal representation for medial malpractice claims is essential. This is yet another example of just why that is.

As an Atlanta car accident lawyer, I have written several times in the last 3 months about the dangers of texting and driving. In each blog, I have talked about the injuries or deaths caused at the hands of drivers operating motor vehicles while texting. I have also talked about the citations issued to the drivers of the vehicles, and in one blog, I wrote about the legislation introduced in the Georgia state house to make texting and driving illegal.

Now, even before any legislation has been passed, according to an article in the AJC on line, the Gwinnett county police department has charged a 48 year old woman with vehicular homicide arising from the death of a pedestrian the woman ran over while allegedly texting and driving on a rainy night on October 30, 2009. Along with a charge of vehicular homicide, the woman was also charged with reckless driving, failure to exercise due care and engaging in actions which distract from the safe operation of a motor vehicle.

Although the article made clear that the charge is going to be fought hard by the woman and her lawyer, what is important is that this appears to be the first time in Gwinnett County a vehicular homicide charge has been levied against a driver when someone is killed while the driver is texting and operating a motor vehicle. I believe this will become common place in all Georgia counties, especially once the General assembly passes legislation making texting and driving illegal.

Driving and texting is clearly a deadly combination. Now, a driver who negligently kills another motorist or pedestrian can expect to be charged with vehicular homicide and may spend many years in jail. If you are texting and driving, please think of these consequences before you do it again. It is clearly not worth it.

As a personal injury lawyer who practices in Atanta and north Georgia, I have handled numerous cases where my clients are injured while riding in golf carts. Atlanta and north Georgia have scores of golf courses and injuries occur when golf cart drivers act carelessly causing accidents. Like any motorized vehicle, golf carts can be extremely dangerous, even deadly. Depending on the make and model, golf carts generally weigh between 500 and 750 pounds empty. Add the weight of two grown men and two sets of clubs, and the combined weight can easily exceed 1000 pounds.

There are typically two types of golf cart accidents that cause injuries. The first is where one cart rear ends another cart. Like similar car accidents, these types of incidents can cause spinal whip lash type injuries requiring both conservative treatment and spinal surgery. The second type of accident is where the driver loses control of the cart, typically while turning on an uneven surface, and the vehicle flips over. This type of incident almost always causes very serious crush injuries, including death.

The drivers of the carts causing these accidents can be liable to those injured if they acted carelessly or recklessly in causing the accidents. All things being equal, rear end collisions and carts flipping over are almost always caused by careless or reckless behavior. This becomes a certainty when you consider that alcohol is involved in most golf cart accidents.

When alcohol is involved, not only are the drivers liable for general damages, including, medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering, but they may also be subject to punitive damages, meant to punish and deter this type of behavior. It is important to thoroughly investigate whether the driver may have been drinking because punitive damages can have a significant impact on the value of the claims made.

Because the police rarely investigate golf cart collisions, it is important that an injured individual or the family of someone killed hire competent attorneys as quickly as possible after the incident to thoroughly investigate these issues. The chance of identifying and interviewing helpful witnesses and discovering helpful physical evidence diminishes greatly as time passes after the incident.

If you have been injured or have lost a family member killed in a golf cart accident, please contact our offices to discuss your rights and possible claims. The attorneys and staff in our offices welcome the opportunity to talk with you about these issues, and we have the knowledge and resources to quickly and thoroughly investigate the incident to secure all the needed evidence to properly pursue your claims if you decide to retain us.

According to an article I read this morning on the AJC online, dozens of accidents have been caused by icy roads in the metro Atlanta area in the last 24 hours. As an Atlanta car accident lawyer who practices in all over north Georgia, I have wanted to write a blog on the issues of car and tractor trailer accidents caused by icy roads. Because of the snow we had yesterday, I am finally getting around to it.

As we all know, driving on icy roads is very difficult and dangerous. Because we all know this, it is not an excuse that an accident is not your fault because you lost complete control of your vehicle and there was nothing you could do to avoid the accident. The fact that you decided to drive when there are icy conditions can be negligence in and of itself.

In such situations, it is likely that if you are the one who ran the stop sign or red light or traveled out of your lane and caused an accident, you will be liable for the accident and liable for the damages arising from the accident. These damages can include, but are not limited to, the property damages to the other vehicle or vehicles and the injuries (or deaths) of anyone in the accident, including their medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering.

All things being equal, if there is ice on the roads, it is best not to operate a car or truck. I understand that unfortunately, because we live in the real world, sometimes we feel we have to drive when there are icy conditions - we have to go to work, for instance. If you have to drive, drive very slowly. You should drive so slowly and anticipate stops as far as possible in advance so that you can avoid using your brakes as much as possible. Braking is one of the main causes of accidents when the roads are icy.

Rapid acceleration is also a main cause of accidents. When starting from a complete stop or increasing your speed when traveling slowly, accelerate very gradually. This allows you to keep your vehicle in control. Braking and quick accelerations cause the tires of your vehicle to loose grip on the road, which is very difficult to regain on ice.

If you do loose control of your vehicle, do not panic. If your car is sliding to one side, although it is counterintuitive, steer in the same direction to regain control of your vehicle. Apply your brakes as gently as you can or not at all. Be very alert, and if you do get in a collision, keep cool headed and call 911. Hopefully, you will have been travelling slowly enough that neither you and nor anyone else will be injured.

The attorneys in our office regularly represent clients injured by drivers on icy roads. It you have been injured or a loved one has been injured or killed in an accident caused by icy roadway conditions, please contact our firm and talk to one of our experienced car accident lawyers about your rights and claims.

Three people were killed in two separate highway car accidents last week in Atlanta and north Georgia after they exited their vehicles after minor car accidents. In the first incident, 2 young women, one the mother of an eleven month old daughter, were killed Saturday January 30 when struck by a tow truck coming to the scene of a minor accident on I-20 near I-75. I have attached a CBS Atlanta video about the incident.

According to an AJC on line article, the second incident occurred on the evening of Friday February 5 on I-575 in Cherokee county. In the second incident, the driver of a vehicle involved in an earlier car accident had exited his vehicle and was standing in the median when a tractor trailer that veered to avoid the first collision struck and killed him.

As an Atlanta car accident and tractor trailer attorney, it saddens me because these types of tragic deaths can be avoided in most situations. Indeed, the family of the young mother in the Friday night incident stated in an interview on cbsatlanta.com that they believe that had she and her friend stayed in the vehicle, they would be alive today. That may very well be true.

If you are involved in an accident on a highway, you should follow some basic safety rules:

1. If possible, safely move the vehicles as far as possible off the roadway.
2. If you are capable, and as soon as you are out of harms way, call 911.
3. Stay in your vehicle until emergency personnel make the scene safe and tell you to exit your vehicle (even if your vehicle is off the roadway).
4. If you feel you must exit your vehicle, be extremely careful doing so and move as far away from your vehicle, traffic and danger as possible.

Following these simple rules can save your life. We cannot second guess if the 3 victims last week would not have been killed had they stayed in their vehicles. But nothing I read about the incidents indicated to me that the vehicles they exited were in any way further damaged after the original collisions.

Regardless, the families of the victims need to know their legal rights. This will be especially true for family of the young mother who left behind an eleven month old daughter. The fact that the drivers and passenger exited their vehicles does not mean that the drivers of the vehicles that ran them down are not liable for the deaths. If the drivers were in anyway negligent for the killings, the families of the deceased may be entitled to wrongful death damages.

In Georgia, good wrongful death attorneys know the survivors of a person wrongfully killed are entitled to recover the medical bills, funeral bills, pain and suffering and the full value of the life of the deceased. The value of these damages can be significant, often exceeding a million dollars. Hopefully, once they are able to begin to move on and heal from the deaths of their loved ones, the families of these deceased will talk to competent accident injury lawyers to discuss their rights.

As a personal injury lawyer practicing in Atlanta and north Georgia, I was saddened today when I read an article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution on line about 3 children who were violently attacked and seriously injured by five dogs that had escaped from their owner's yard in southern California. Most injured of the three was a 5 year old girl who was pulled from her mother's arms and tossed about like a rag doll by a mastiff that punctured the girl's lung, broke numerous ribs, and inflicted several bites. The girl remains hospitalized since Monday and is unable to breath on her own.

The girl's 7 year old brother also remains hospitalized after needing 237 staples to close a leg wound, and her 8 year old sister was treated for leg and arm injuries. After the incident one of the dogs was shot when it attacked an officer and the other 4, including the mastiff and what appeared to be pit bull mixes, were taken into custody and quarantined to determine whether they have rabies and whether they should be destroyed.

As part of my Georgia injury practice, I represent victims of dog bites and attacks like the family in California. I have a personal connection to my clients in these cases as I was attacked by a German Sheppard when I was 6 years old. As a result, my left calf was almost torn off and it took over 100 stitches to repair it. To this day, unfortunately, I have not completely gotten over my general fear of dogs.

The difficulty in handling dog attack cases is proving the owner was negligent for the dog's behavior. In Georgia, OCGA § 51-2-7, as amended effective July 1, 1985, provides:

A person who owns or keeps a vicious or dangerous animal of any kind and who, by careless management or by allowing the animal to go at liberty, causes injury to another person who does not provoke the injury by his own act may be liable in damages to the person so injured. In proving vicious propensity, it shall be sufficient to show that the animal was required to be at heel or on a leash by an ordinance of a city, county, or consolidated government, and the said animal was at the time of the occurrence not at heel or on a leash.

Under this statute, generally speaking, you prove an owner's negligence by (1) showing the dog was off the owner's property and in violation of the local leash law or ordinance, or (2) even if the dog was not off the owner's property and/or not in violation of the local leash law, showing that the dog was vicious or dangerous and that the owner had knowledge of this fact. It is not enough to show the owner had reason to know the animal had a propensity to do harm; rather, it is necessary he has reason to know that it has a propensity to do the harm of the type it inflicts.

In the California case, it appears the owner of the dogs will be liable for the vicious attacks and horrible injuries suffered by the children as it appears that if the city or county where the attacks occurred had any type of leash law, the owner was most likely in violation of such law when the attacks occurred. It would be a much more difficult case if the children had been on the owner's property and not in violation of the local leash laws.

In that case, there would have to be evidence that the owner had knowledge of prior episodes where the dogs had previously attacked. It is not only insufficient that the owner might have known the dogs were aggressive; it is also insufficient to simply show the dogs were violent breeds. Actual knowledge of prior attacks is what is necessary.

The experienced trial lawyers in our office know the law and the facts required to properly litigate a case to recover damages resulting from a dog bite or attack. If you or a family member has been through the frightening and painful experience of being attached by a dog, please call me to discuss whether you have a case against the owner of the dog. I know what you have been through.

I know I am beginning to sound like a broken record, but texting and driving kills. I just read another article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution on line where a Douglasville driver ran a red light in Alabama killing the driver of the other vehicle. It is not certain that the driver was texting, and I hope that is not the case. Unfortunately, it is likely the driver was texting and that is why he ran the light.

As an Atlanta personal injury lawyer who practices all over north Georgia, I am seeing more serious injury and deaths caused by texting drivers causing violent collisions. The article I read about the Alabama fatality, also mentioned a collision where a Lilburn man six days ago crashed his car into a tree while texting a friend. Thankfully, in that crash, the driver had only minor injuries and was treated and released from the hospital.

Charges have not yet been filed in the Alabama case. The State Patrol is still investigating, and although they feel texting was involved, they cannot yet prove it. The next step will be to subpoena the Douglasville driver's phone records. If the records confirm he was texting, charges will be filed, most likely for vehicular homicide. The Lilburn driver was charged with improper use of a cell phone by a driver.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, the Georgia General Assembly is working on two bills that would make the act of texting and driving illegal in Georgia. Both bills would require a fine between $100 and $300, and one of the bills would put two points on the offender's license. As far as I am concerned, the legislation can not be passed fast enough. Ever day I get another call or read another article about the perils of texting and driving. You would think that the perils of texting and driving are now absolutely obvious (both intuitively and because of all the press on the topic), and that legislation would not be needed. But like drinking and driving, we human beings will put others at serious risk of injury unless it is illegal to do so.

And even when it is illegal, we human beings will continue at some level to ignore the law and cause great harm. Even if the legislation is passed to make texting and driving illegal, I expect it will still be a problem for that very reason. And I worry many more drivers will continue to text and drive than now drink and drive. For the family of the driver killed in Alabama and all others killed and seriously injured by texting drivers, I hope I am wrong.