Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyers Blog

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.

As an Atlanta personal injury lawyer practicing in 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 persoal 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.