Personal Injury

Brain Injuries and Death Often Result From Falls

As Georgia personal injury lawyers we have represented many people who have died or sustained serious injuries as a result of falling. Many of them are senior citizens and many of the accidents are a result of dangerous conditions caused by the negligence of stores, restaurants and other businesses. Although the elderly most fear breaking a hip when they fall, a government study indicates that hitting their head can also have deadly consequences. Brain injuries account for half of all deaths from falls.
The
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Atlanta Consumers Affected By Recall of Play Yards

The Atlanta based lawyers with Finch McCranie LLP frequently receive calls about children injured by products specifically designed for their use. Last Thursday, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, CPSC, recalled 200,000 potentially deadly Fisher-Price’s Rainforest play yards.

Approximately 1,350 people had complained to the CPSC that one or both sides of the Rainforest play yard had collapsed. There were numerous reported injuries that included a broken nose, a mild concussion and a broken wrist. The play yards are often used as portable cribs and have a bassinet attachment. When the rails collapse, babies can fall out, get trapped or gain access to unsafe areas.

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Georgia Connection To Salmonella Outbreak

The current salmonella outbreak has a Georgia connection. The Food and Drug Administration announced yesterday that peanut butter and peanut paste made from ground roasted peanuts, manufactured in Peanut Corp.’s Blakely, Georgia, plant were found to contain the bacteria.
The FDA is advising consumers to not eat foods that contain peanut butter until they can be they are sure they do not contain salmonella contaminated products manufactured by the Peanut Corp. of America.
To date six deaths may have been connected to this salmonella outbreak,
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Georgia Governor Proposal LInked To Medical Device Approval Which Was Slammed By GAO Report

The Governor of Georgia has proposed legislation endorsing a system that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) castigated in a report issued yesterday. The GAO concluded that almost twenty years after Congress directed that all high-tech medical devices be subjected to a thorough review by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), before being placed on the market, the FDA still approves most such devices after minimal testing.
This report is especially timely since the Bush administration has long argued that FDA testing and approval shields the
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Dangerous Cribs Sold in Georgia Recalled

The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that about 535,000 Stork Craft Baby Cribs have been recalled. These cribs pose an entrapment and suffocation risk. The CPSC has instructed customers to stop using the products immediately.

The cribs were made by Stork Craft Manufacturing Inc. and were manufactured and sold between May 2000 and November 2008. They came in a variety of styles and finishes.

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Drug Maker May Enter Record Settlement With Government

Eli Lilly, the drug company, according to a report in the New York times, is expected to agree as soon as Thursday to pay $1.4 billion to settle criminal and civil charges that it illegally marketed its antipsychotic drug Zyprexa for unauthorized use in patients particularly vulnerable to its risky side effects.
The company has been charged with scheming to concvince doctors to prescribe Zyprexa for patients, children and older persons, for whom the drug was not federally approved. Studies have shown that the drug
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Georgia Illnesses Linked To Salmonella in Peanut Butter

Our Atlanta lawyers have had experience in bringing actions based upon foodborne illnesses such a salmonella. The salmonella outbreak across the nation has been potentially traced to peanut butter. A recall has been issued for peanut butter distributed by King Nut Companies of Solon, Ohio. The peanut butter was supplied only through food service providers and was not sold directly to consumers. King Nut has challenged the recall contending it could not be the source of the nationwide outbreak since it distributes to only seven
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Salmonella Outbreak in Georgia

Our lawyers receive numerous calls concernig foodborne illnesses, particularly those contracted in restuarants. Now, Georgia is among the 42 states that have been struck with a salmonella outbreak, with five people taken ill and one requiring hospitalization, according to officials from the state Division of Public Health.
The ages of the Georgians that have become ill range from 7 to 73, and the cases occurred in five different counties. The cases appeared from late October to early December of last year.
A salmonella outbreak has
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Defective Medical Devices Protected By Regulators

Dangerous and defective medical devices pose a real and present danger to patients everyday in the Atlanta area and across the Unites States. In many cases the results are debilitating injuries or death. Recently, the United States Supreme Court, at the urging of the Bush administration, provided cover to the companies that manufacture such devices.
The St. Petersburg Times newspaper has printed an editorial in which it exposes the hypocrisy of the current administration in granting federal approval to such devices thereby preempting consumer action.
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Aviation Accident Lawsuit Over Another Preventable Airplane Crash

Last week we told the story of a recurring tragedy–a preventable aviation accident that took the lives of all on board–in a wrongful death lawsuit we filed last week.
The story of this airplane crash is yet another disturbing example of how lives are lost when basic safety–and common sense–are disregarded.
The pilot ignored clear warnings of dangerous weather, and proceeded into conditions that he and his aircraft were not capable of handling. Experienced pilots have a term–“get-there-itis”–for foolishly disregarding dangers and plowing ahead.
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Boat Accidents: Propellor/Engine Safety Defects

If a person is injured or killed as a result of the negligent operation of a boat or as a result of a boat engine manufacturing or design defect, under Georgia law, the injured person or the family of those killed, may have the right to seek compensation and other forms of redress in a suit against the operator, seller or manufacturer of the boat.

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Wrongful Death Damages in Georgia

In Georgia, under the provisions of O.C.G.A. § 51-4-1 and 2, the measure of damages in a wrongful death action is “full value of the life of the decedent as shown by the evidence, without deducting for any of the necessary or personal expenses of the decedent had he lived.” The full value of the life of the decedent includes not only all economic damages sustained by the decedent such as lost wages, but also non-economic damages such as the enjoyment of life. Peculiar
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Brake Failure Blamed For Georgia Golf Cart Crash

A woman was reportedly seriously injured in Gainesville, Georgia on Friday evening when the brakes on a golf cart failed while going down a hill at a private political fund-raising event. WSBTV.com reported that the golf cart was shuttling people to a home in the Harbour Point subdivision when it’s brakes failed and the cart overturned.
Although no details about the failure have been reported, a thorough inspection of the golf cart is in order to determine why the accident occurred. Had the cart been properly maintained? Was there a defective part involved or was there a design defect?
Having litigated numerous serious injury and wrongful death cases over the years, the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP know that in any case where there has been a mechanical failure, it is absolutely crucial that the evidence be preserved and that the evidence be inspected as soon as possible by an engineer or any other expert qualified to document and evaluate such a failure.

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Wrongful Death Actions In Georgia: Who Has The Right To Sue?

The status of the decedent by in large determines who has the right to sue in a wrongful death case. Where someone is killed through the negligent acts of a third party, such as a truck driver or product manufacturer, Georgia law proscribes who has the right to sue such a cause of action. If the person is married at the time of his or her death, the surviving spouse has the right to bring a cause of action for the wrongful death of
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Using Demonstrative Exhibits At Trial

It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. If there is a picture of an injured individual in a hospital having recently undergone major trauma, such photographic evidence truly can be worth a thousand words in demonstrating to the jury the nature and extent of the client’s injury. As an example, if someone had a serious burn injury, one can imagine the impact of such photographic evidence. Words simply cannot describe such injuries. The same is often true of
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Offers Of Judgment In Georgia: A Bad Example Of Tort Reform

Most members of the public do not know how so-called “tort reform” serves to undermine basic liberties when it comes to our civil judicial system. One of the best examples of this is a little known law which serves to impede access to our courts. This is the “Offer of Judgment” statute which was passed by the Republican controlled Georgia Legislature, codified at O.C.G.A. § 9-11-68. Simply stated, if you are a middle class person and you wish to litigate a civil case, if you
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Using Life Care Plans In Serious Injury Cases

Our firm is currently handling several serious automobile collision cases in which our innocent clients were severely and permanently injured by negligent corporations. In the accident cases I am referring to, both of our clients sustained very serious neck and back injuries resulting in numerous surgeries. Medical expenses and lost wages to date have already been substantial. However, because both of our clients are relatively young adults, the big fear is that as the clients grow older, their medical expenses and lost wages will
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Jury Awards $114 Million In Nursing Home Abuse Case

Almost every week the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP hear about horrific treatment of elderly patients in nursing homes or other long-term facilities. Occasionally they are held accountable for their negligent treatment.
Last month, the family of a 76 year old Florida woman was awarded $114 million in a nursing home abuse case. The woman died in 2003 after having been a patient at the nursing home. The lawsuit alleged that the elderly woman was injured after falling, had developed pressure
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Bench Trials Under The Federal Tort Claims Act

Under the unique provisions of the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), there is no right to a jury trial. What this means is obvious: once an FTCA lawsuit is filed and the United States of America is named as the defendant, if the case cannot be resolved thereafter and a trial is required, the trial will be before a United States District Court judge which will sit, not only as the finder of fact, but also as the Judge of the law. In short,
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Who And Where To Sue Under The Federal Tort Claims Act

We have blogged in the past about some of the unique provisions of the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) and how they pertain to tort claims against the United States government. As an example, one unique provision is that no claim can be sued against the federal agency per se but instead only against the United States. In any lawsuit against the federal government in which a tort has occurred, the named defendant must be the United States of America. Thus, in a case
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