Finch McCranie, LLP

Bicycle Accidents and Road Hazards

Earlier this year our Atlanta attorneys settled a wrongful death case involving a bicycle accident which occurred inside the city limits. In that particular case, the bicycle rider, who lost his life, became entangled with loose utility wires hanging from a utility pole near a busy intersection on Peachtree Street. The evidence established that the utility wires had been in a state of disarray for several months but had not been repaired. Unfortunately, this wrongful death case is not an isolated incident.
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Georgia Courts Do Not Favor Consumers

Georgia Court Watch is a project of Georgia Watch, a nonprofit and nonpartisan group committed to strengthening the rights of consumers in Georgia. It has recently issued its annual report on Georgia appellate courts. The reports shows that, contrary to the statements of many politicians, the Georgia Appellate judges are not activists and not overly consumer friendly.
The report analyzed the activity on payday loan, insurance coverage, medical misdiagnosis, and other significant consumer issues. The “2007 Annual Report” identifies and profiles the most noteworthy consumer-related
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The Importance of Uninsured Motorist Coverage

In our personal injury practice we are oftentimes astounded at the lack of understanding by the public of the important nature of uninsured motorist coverage. Many people do not know what uninsured motorist coverage is. Regrettably, many people learn what it is too late to benefit from such important insurance coverage.
In order to get license tags to lawfully operate a vehicle in Georgia, the motorist must have a minimum of $25,000.00 in liability insurance coverage per person, $50,000.00 per accident. What this means is
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Closed Head Injuries: More Serious Than Skull Fractures

Our personal injury lawyers have seen closed head injuries in every locale surrounding metropolitan Atlanta whether it be Austell, Snellville, Roswell, Alpharetta, Jonesboro, Sandy Springs or the other numerous locales near the city. Victims of closed head injuries oftentimes have the most serious injuries we confront due to swelling of the brain caused by the trauma. What we have learned from taking numerous medical depositions and researching these claims is that a serious head injury can have profound consequences for the victim in situation
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Pedestrian Personal Injury Cases On The Rise

In metropolitan Atlanta, our lawyers are seeing more and more pedestrian personal injury cases. Due to congested conditions caused by increasing population and more motorists on the road, as might be expected, there are more incidents involving pedestrians. Many cases involve situations where pedestrians are not in walking in crosswalks and are struck while crossing a road, sometimes in broad daylight. Other cases involve pedestrians crossing the road at night when they are difficult to see. Other cases involve joggers and people on sidewalks
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Police Chases: Why Do The Police Always Deny Their Mistakes?

Having handled police chase cases for over a decade, I have yet to see a case in which the police admitted wrongdoing when a high speed pursuit turned out badly. Obviously, when a high speed pursuit ends in tragedy and someone is killed or seriously injured, the police know that immediately. In cases where the pursuit should not have been initiated and/or continued, the wagons are then circled and numerous explanations and rationalizations are provided as to why the police were merely “doing their
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Amputations and Infections

Our personal injury lawyers unfortunately have seen far too many cases involving traumatic amputations. In many of these cases, the tragedy is compounded by infection that sets in shortly after the original trauma. If one loses a leg below the knee, for example, and there is an immediate amputation after the traumatic event, it is not uncommon to see subsequent amputations due to the development of infection. In some cases we have handled, there have been problems with gangrene, which required multiple amputations. The

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Car Accident Injury Study Shows Inadequate Seat Belt Use

Our Atlanta, Georgia car accident lawyers frequently review cases in which the occupants of cars have suffered severe injuries or death while not wearing seat belts. In many of these cases the injuries could have been prevented had seat belts been in use.
Fatality figures released Monday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reveal that more than two-thirds of young drivers and passengers killed in nighttime car crashes aren’t wearing seat belts.
According to the report, seat belt use actually is rising slightly nationwide.
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Traumatic Electrical Injuries

Traumatically induced electrical injuries are not only a common form of trauma but also complex and potentially devastating to the victim. The physical and emotional manifestations and severity of electrical trauma encompass a wide spectrum of symptoms ranging from a brief unpleasant sensation due to contact with a low intensity household current to instant death and/or massive injury from high voltage electrocution. Unlike a thermal burn, electrical injuries commonly involve multiple body systems and organs which are very difficult to manage and treat. In our
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Glass Injuries from Unsafe Glass That Is Not “Safety Glass”: How Dangerous Glass Causing Personal Injury and Death Continues to Endanger Unsuspecting Children and Adults

We are continually disturbed when we hear reports of persons injured by unsafe glass–decades after the need for “safety glazing” material (safety glass) was recognized. Our serious personal injury lawyers have delved deeply into the history of glass injuries in representing clients who have suffered what can be life-threatening injuries from unsafe glass, in premises liability cases tried successfully. We hope to share what we have learned about these dangerous products so that future injuries from dangerous glass can be prevented.

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Suing The Postal Service For Personal Injuries

We have been contacted many times concerning tort claims against the U. S. Postal Service. Typically these involve personal injury claims arising out of motor vehicle collisions where a postal truck of some kind is involved. Sometimes it is the mail handler delivering the mail and sometimes it is a large tractor-trailer delivering mail between districts. In either circumstance, where one sustains an injury as a result of the negligent acts of a Postal Service employee, it is necessary that the claimant file a Standard
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Police Chases For Non-Violent Offenses Continue To Kill

We read today a newspaper article out of an Indianapolis paper where two teenagers were killed following a police chase for a minor traffic infraction. Ironically, the police department in question had recently decided to review its own internal policies concerning high speed police chases. The current policy under review by the department would not have allowed the chase, which resulted in the death of the two teenagers. It bears repeating that many times the people that are killed in these chases are
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Trucking Accidents and Bad Weather

It is well known that large tractor-trailer trucks are very difficult to stop even when being operated prudently. Because of the weights on large tractor-trailers, if a tractor-trailer needs to suddenly stop for whatever reason, it takes much longer for the truck to stop than it would for the ordinary passenger vehicle. It is for this reason that regulations exist requiring trucks to slow down in inclement weather. Wet roads result in greater stopping distances for large tractor-trailer vehicles and thus, if it is
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Complications Of Bad Back Cases

In serious injury cases, usually arising from tractor-trailer collisions or automobile accidents, it is not uncommon to see clients with serious back injuries which create a host of physical and mental problems for the innocent victim. If someone is rear-ended by a tractor-trailer, as an example, and suffers a significant back injury requiring a fusion or other surgical procedure, it is not uncommon at all for such a client to develop leg problems, hip problems and other associated maladies. The mental stress
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Attacking “Independent” Experts For Bias In A Personal Injury Case

As we have written before, it is becoming increasingly necessary that plaintiff’s counsel be prepared to attack the veracity and credibility of so-called “independent” experts in personal injury cases. Insurance companies and defense law firms routinely retain medical “experts” to testify that plaintiffs are not injured at all or have only suffered minor injuries. They do this by examining diagnostic tests and/or by offering testimony that the test results do not substantiate a traumatic injury. Such testimony can be extremely misleading because oftentimes a clinical
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How Insurance Companies Attack Bad Back Claims

Increasingly we are seeing a trend that started many years ago but continues today. This involves the use of so-called “independent” experts to provide testimony in personal injury cases to the effect that the claimant has suffered no injury at all or, if any injury, only a minor one. Insurance companies employ so-called “independent” medical examiners to review radiology films, many times, so that a radiologist can testify that based upon an examination of the film, there is no evidence of trauma seen, thus the
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Bicycle Accidents On The Rise

We read this past week an article in the paper about the increasing number of cyclists hit by automobiles under a variety of different circumstances typically involving gross negligence by the driver. In one reported case, the driver was on her cell phone and hit the cyclist from the rear while speeding. In another case, a drunk driver ran over a cyclist. In another reported case, a speeding motorist hit the cyclist on the shoulder of the road, killing him.
During the summer, of course,
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The Importance of Stackable Uninsured/Underinsured Insurance Coverage

We have written before about the importance of uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. This past week we resolved a case for a client that is a classic demonstration of why it is so very important that uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage be purchased at the time one acquires liability insurance coverage for their own vehicle.
In the case we mentioned, a young lady was hit by a driver who was clearly negligent. Unfortunately, the driver of the vehicle that injured our client had only the minimum limits of liability
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Professional Service In A Personal Injury Case

For any innocent victim of a car accident where an at fault driver runs a stop sign, crosses the centerline or otherwise seriously injuries an innocent motorist, one of the essential ingredients of professional legal services for the victim is personal interaction between the victim and their attorney. In a serious case the innocent victim/client will need an attorney. Due to mass marketing, however, in many cases, clients may go to law firms where most of their interaction is not with attorneys but with lower
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What is Stackable Uninsured/Underinsured Insurance Coverage

When one purchases an automobile insurance policy from their insurance agent, the real reason that the policy is being purchased is to comply with Georgia law, which requires that all automobile drivers have minimum limits of liability insurance in the amount of $25,000.00 per person, $50,000.00 per accident. What this means is that if a driver is to drive lawfully under our laws, one must be financially responsible. If one runs a stop sign and injures another individual and breaks their leg, as an example,
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