Finch McCranie, LLP

Finding a Qualified Attorney

As I ride around the City, I am amazed at the number of billboard advertisements by attorneys. Occasionally, even though I am working all day long, I also get a chance while I am in a waiting room (usually awaiting a doctor’s deposition) to watch daytime TV. When I watch the TV, I am similarly amazed at the number of lawyer advertisements on daytime television. Obviously, this leads me to consider how the average person goes about finding a qualified personal injury attorney in a
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Loss of Consortium Claims

Many of the clients we represent are married individuals. When they are seriously injured, obviously, their spouses are adversely affected. The emotional toll of caring for an injured spouse, worrying about their health and financial issues and being overwhelmed by dealing with the totality of a serious injury case can be debilitating. The spouse of the actual client may be emotionally taxed and physically burdened by increased demands and therefore entitled to compensation for their damages. The question is whether a loss of consortium claim
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Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage: Don’t Leave Home Without It

A typical case we see far too often is that where the motorist who caused the damage to our client had the minimum limits of Georgia law which provides only $25,000.00 in liability insurance coverage. Typically such a driver has little or no personal assets to satisfy an excess judgment against them. In those cases where our client’s damages (medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering) clearly exceed the $25,000.00 in available limits, the best chance for an excess recovery is to procure uninsured/underinsured motorist
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Family Purpose Liability: Alive and Well in Georgia

In our serious injury practice we are often times confronted with cases involving the Family Purpose Doctrine. It is not unusual for one of our clients to be injured by the acts of a teenage driver. More often than not, the teenage driver is operating the automobile with the express permission of the owner of the car which are usually the parents. Under Georgia law, when a family purpose car that is furnished by the owner to a member of the family for their convenience
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Insurance Coverage for Intentional Torts

Our lawyers are often times confronted with cases where the clients complain of intentional torts committed against them. For example, we have had clients that have come in swearing that the driver that hit them did so on purpose because of some longstanding feud or vendetta. Unfortunately, if someone acts intentionally to cause harm, their insurance policy will typically provide no coverage for them. Insurance coverage is purchased to protect against negligent acts and omissions which give rise to liability to third parties. If someone
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Suing Uncle Sam Under the Federal Tort Claims Act

The Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) waives sovereign immunity only for the acts or omissions of an “employee of the government while acting within the scope of his office or employment. . .” 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b). Because it is a limited waiver of sovereign immunity, the provisions of the Federal Tort Claims Act are strictly construed and must be followed if a valid claim against the government is to be asserted under its provisions.

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LAKE ACCIDENTS IN GEORGIA

On May 12, 2007, we wrote here about an increase in boating accidents in Georgia. We handled several such cases in 2006 and based on our experience were very aware of the peculiar dangers affiliated with recreational boating activity. Unfortunately, in yesterday’s paper, we read about 4 separate deaths which occurred in Georgia lakes over the Memorial Day weekend. Thus, even before the summer has officially begun, we have already seen tragic evidence of the dangers associated with boating.
We cannot tell from the news
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ALL TERRAIN VEHICLE (ATV) ACCIDENTS OFTEN RESULT IN SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH

We recently filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the owners of an ATV who failed to supervise the use of their ATV. The owner’s minor daughter and our client, a seventeen year old girl, were riding the ATV at night. Our client, the passenger, was thrown from the ATV which resulted in her sustaining internal injuries which lead to her death.
With the growing popularity of ATV’s serious injury and death cases are on the increase, especially among children. Believe it or not, the ONLY
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Wrongful Death of a Child: Apportionment of Proceeds Between Divorced Parents

Anyone who has practiced law for any period of time in the area of Serious Injury Litigation unfortunately comes across cases where a child has been killed as a result of the negligent act of a third party and the cause of action resides in divorced or separated parents. These cases not only are tragic, they can be very sad and/or messy.
The law has long been in Georgia that where parents are divorced and their unmarried child dies as a result of a negligent
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More Traps for the Unwary: Problems Under the Federal Tort Claims Act

We have previously written about procedural problems that clients may face when dealing with claims against governmental entities. Specifically, if an individual has a claim against a city or county government, there are certain pre-suit, ante litem requirements that must be observed before suit can be filed. We have written about this in earlier articles and would refer the reader to the same. We have also written these procedural problems under Georgia’s State Tort Claims Act. Here, we write briefly to discuss some unique issues
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Arbitration Exposed As Being Controlled By Big Business

Forced arbitration in consumer contracts has become a way of life in the United States. Almost all consumer contracts and purchase agreements contain clauses requiring a person that has been the victim of fraud, negligence, or intentional harmful conduct by a large company to give up their rights to a jury trial and submit to arbitration.
For many years consumer and lawyer groups have complained that these arbitration panels are stacked against consumers and serve as nothing more than “bought” protectors of large companies.
Recently,
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Cell Phone Usage and Auto Accidents

Our Atlanta car accident attorneys frequently review cases in which the negligent driver has been distracted while conversing on a cell phone. Recently, the consumer advocacy groups Public Citizen and the Center for Auto Safety obtained records showing that since 2003, the government has known that drivers talking on their cell phones experience the same potentially deadly distraction whether they are using a handheld device or hands-free technology.
In a press release the groups stated that by keeping this information secret from the public
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Servicemembers Have No Recourse For Malpractice

Many servicemembers and dependents reside in Georgia. While servicemembers can receive care at military hospitals they have no rights if they are the victim of malpractice, no matter how egregious. The Feres Doctrine, named after a 1950 Supreme Court decision, grants complete immunity to military health care professionals who commit malpractice upon service members. Service members who have sacrificed for their country and become victims of malpractice are left to suffer the consequences with no recourse.
This injustice has again come to light in
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Another Police Chase: Another Innocent Person Killed

According to news reports out of Memphis, Tennessee, on Monday, July 20, a suspect was on the run from the police when he ran a red light striking another vehicle and killing the innocent driver of that vehicle. The newspaper reports said the suspect was fleeing from the police in a stolen vehicle and that when he hit the other car he did so on the driver’s side killing the female driver instantly. The news report indicates that the innocent victim was a female in
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Death To The Innocent: A Preventable Result of High Speed Pursuit Chases

We read in the paper about a tragic death which occurred in Pittsburg, Kansas on July 17 of this year. According to news accounts, deputy Sheriffs in Cherokee County, Kansas were pursuing a driver who had committed traffic violations. During the high speed pursuit, the fleeing suspect rear-ended another vehicle on the road resulting in the death of a 13-year old innocent victim. The child’s mother was taken to a nearby hospital but the news accounts released thus far do not indicate the severity of
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Accutane Removed From Market

Accutane, a popular, but dangerous, acne drug has been pulled from the U.S. market by its manufacturer, Roche Holdings, a Swiss company. Currently, Accutane is the subject of about 700 lawsuits alleging that the drug caused inflammatory bowel disease. Most of the lawsuits have been consolidated in the courts of New Jersey, where the drug is manufactured by Hoffman -LaRoche, a U.S. subsidary of Roche Holdings.

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2009 Increase in Number of Police Officers Killed in The Line of Duty

According to a report issued by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund the number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty jumped twenty percent (20%) during the first six months of 2009. The number of officers killed in traffic related incidents increased seventeen percent (17%) during the first six months of 2009 from 30 to 35 deaths. Of interest is the fact that more officers are killed in the line of duty in traffic related accidents than they are with incidents
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$24 Million Awarded in Medical Malpractice Case

Georgia injury lawyers know that a medical providers failure to diagnose a condition or even mis-diagnose a condition can, and often does, result in the wrongful death of a patient.
A Tennessee state court jury has awarded nearly $24 million to a woman in what is one of the largest medical malpractice verdicts ever in the state of Tennessee. The lawsuit alleged her doctor failed to diagnose a lump that she complained about over the course of 18 months. The lump turned

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Medical Malpractice Myths

Now that the Obama administration is proposing health care reform, big insurance companies and some doctors associations are attempting to graft so called “tort reform” into the legislation. Georgia residents are already faced with a very restrictive system which affords doctors, hospitals, and other health care professionals with extraordinary protections against lawsuits. Even in the worst cases of malpractice victims are restircted to a recovery for non economic damages of no more than $350,000.00.
The New York Times today ran an excellent guest editorial regarding
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Georgia Boating Accidents

Our Georgia injury lawyers have represented clients who have suffered injuries or lost loved ones in boating accidents and collisions. Boating accidents usually occur in our area either on a privately owned vessel or on a personal watercraft (jet ski). Some of the causes include:
Boater error
Boater inexperience
Boating under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol
Equipment failure
Adverse weather and/or water conditions
A boat operator and the boats owner must exercise the highest degree of care to prevent injuries to passengers, swimmers
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