Personal Injury

Georgia Supreme Court Issues Ruling Favorable to Victims of Crime

This past week, the Georgia Supreme Court issued a ruling that was favorable to victims of crime who have civil tort claims arising out of the criminal acts perpetrated against them. The Supreme Court held that the statute of limitations is tolled for victims of crime for any claims arising out of the criminal acts perpetrated against them until such time as the criminal prosecution of the perpetrator is terminated. See Beneke v. Parker, ___ Ga. ___ No. S08G2078, (2009).

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Fatal Toyota Sudden Acceleration Cases Raise National Concerns

In early September, a veteran of the California Highway Patrol was provided a loaner vehicle from a Lexus dealer while his car was being serviced. After leaving the dealership, this 19-year law enforcement officer, whose job included safety inspections, was faced with a tragic situation. The vehicle he was driving suddenly and unexpectedly began to accelerate out of control. It appears from the investigation conducted to date that the officer was unable to stop the vehicle. Witnesses stated that the car was traveling in excess
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Falls In Nursing Homes, Hospitals and Skilled Nursing Facilities

The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have represented many clients who have sustained serious injuries as a result of falling in hospitals, nursing homes and extended care facilities. Patients who are long term residents in skilled nursing facilities are by definition in a compromised state of health, usually from multiple chronic medical problems. These patients are often weak, are subject to lightheaded spells, become confused and have significant deficiencies of mobility and balance. Falling, sometimes frequent falling is thus a
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Nursing Home Falls

Everyday patients fall in Georgia nursing homes. Our Atlanta attorneys have successfully tried cases against nursing homes and other skilled care facilities in which patients have suffered severe injuries due to preventable falls.
Patients who are in long term nursing homes are by definition in a compromised state of health, usually from multiple chronic medical problems. These patients are often weak, are subject to lightheaded spells, become confused and have significant deficiencies of mobility and balance. Falling is a common occurrence for these patients. The
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High Court Upholds Vioxx Award in Wrongful Death Case

Every year Georgia citizens purchase and take millions of dollars worth of prescription medication, thinking that it is safe to do so. Georgia injury lawyers know that unfortunately, many of these medications are dangerous drugs, notwithstanding the fact that the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has “approved” them. As we have seen, many of these dangerous drugs cause serious injuries and sometimes result in the wrongful death of the consumer. An example of such a drug is Vioxx. Fortunately, some victims and
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Report: FDA Approved Medical Device Under Political Pressure

Georgia injury lawyers know that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is hardly the consumer safety “watchdog” that it was in prior years. In fact, just because a product has been approved by the FDA does not mean that it is a safe product! The influence drug manufacturers have over regulators, politicians and Congress is enormous. The Washington Post recently reported in an article (The Washington Post) that the FDA approved a controversial knee-surgery device after receiving pressure from lawmakers and lobbyists. According to
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Medical Errors Abound

Amid the debate over so called medical malpractice reform, the rights of patients seem to be getting sacrificed for the profit of large insurance companies. A recent report from California demonstrates why the right of patients to redress in courts cannot be curtailed.
According to published reports the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) recently issued administrative penalties to 11 California hospitals, each of which has been “fined $25,000 for alleged regulation violations that caused injury or death to patients. The violations included failures
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Sexual Predators in the Workplace

Many employment lawyers are confronted with hostile environment claims where managers exploit their positions to seek sexual favors from employees working underneath them. Such an employment case obviously involves sexual harassment but is entirely different and generally far less devastating to a victim when a sexual predator is hired by an employer and is allowed to gain access to vulnerable victims through their jobs. As an example, if a mental health facility hires someone unsuitable for a position and that person takes sexual advantage of
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Board of Commissioners To Conduct Independent Investigation of Fatal High Speed Chase

From newspaper accounts it appears that the Board of Commissioners of Clayton County may conduct an independent investigation into a police chase which resulted in the wrongful death of two innocent women who were returning from bible study when a pickup truck fleeing from a Clayton County police officer slammed into their vehicle on Old National Highway in Atlanta. The deadly pursuit began when the police noticed a suspect allegedly soliciting a prostitute. Even though this is a misdemeanor and a minor offense, Clayton County
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Georgia Man’s Wrongful Death- Was Alcohol A Factor?

The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have handled many wrongful death lawsuits where alcohol was a factor in causing or contributing to our client’s death. Some of these cases have involved our representation of a guest passenger who was killed as a result of the negligence of the host driver. Such could have been the case on Friday evening when an Augusta, Georgia man, Earl Clark, died in an accident on Mike Padgett Highway. Clark was the passenger of a
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Atlanta Pedestrian Dangers

Atlanta pedestrians are subject to many dangers. Transportation For America, a consumer advocacy group has ranked the metro area as the 10th most-dangerous city for pedestrians in 2007-2008. The group said there are 5,000 preventable pedestrian deaths in the U.S. every year.
The group assessed 52 metropolitan areas on how dangerous they are for pedestrians. The 10 worst for pedestrians in 2007-2008 were: Orlando, Fla.; Tampa, Fla.; Miami; Jacksonville, Fla.; Memphis; Raleigh, N.C.; Louisville, Ky.; Houston; Birmingham, Ala.; and Atlanta.
According to the study, Atlanta
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Hormone Replacement Therapy and Breast Cancer:

The Women’s Health Initiative has issued warnings in the past that certain hormone replacement medications have the ability to harm many women. For example, Prempro is a drug that has been taken by as many as 6 million women in just one year. Statistically, it did not seem that the increased risk of developing breast cancer from using this hormone replacement therapy was all that great. Statisticians stated that there would be a .08% additional case of breast cancer for every 10,000 women that did take Prempro as opposed to those that did not.

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“98,000 Reasons” Why Medical Negligence and Medical Malpractice Remain a Public Health Danger

As Congress debates providing and paying for health care, another huge “cost” must not be forgotten: the cost of medical errors and medical negligence.
According to conservative estimates, 98,000 Americans annually die because of preventable medical negligence. Many more suffer life-changing injuries.
A terrific website, 98,000 Reasons, describes many of these stories of preventable injuries and deaths. Please visit it, as reducing medical errors saves innocent lives, and reduces costs of health care.

Makers Of Dangerous Foreign Made Products Have Protections Not Available To U.S. Companies

Our Georgia product liability lawyers have filed many lawsuits against foreign manufacturers for dangerous products introduced into commerce in the United States. In these actions it is sometimes very difficult to find and serve the manufacturer in a foreign country.
This problem has now come into the spotlight as the result of the Chinese wallboard epidemic facing many unsuspecting consumers across the United States. The problem is enormous. By some accounts as many as 100,000 homes across the United States, built between 2004 and
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Consumer Finance Bill Proceeds In Congress

Our Atlanta consumer lawyers often have to inform wronged consumers that they have no remedy under the law. We see this very often in the investment, credit, and banking areas. Legislation that, if enacted, will provide greater protection to investors was approved by a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives last week.
At the same time, the full House approved a bill to accelerate restrictions on abusive practices by credit card companies that had been signed into law last May. That law was scheduled
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Supreme Court Tackles Prosecutorial Immunity

The United States Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a very interesting case. The question before the Court in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, v. McGhee and Harrington is : Do citizens who have been framed by unscrupulous prosecutors for crimes they did not commit have a right to sue the prosecutors when the fraud is finally exposed?
Most public officials have qualified immunity, which means that they can’t be sued personally for actions taken in the course of their public duties unless it can be shown
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Toyota Sudden Acceleration May Be More Than Mat Problem

Our Georgia product liability lawyers have been monitoring the Toyota recall due to uncontrolled rapid acceleration. Several weeks ago, Toyota announced the biggest recall in its history. The Japanese automaker issued a safety advisory urging Toyota owners of over 3.8 million cars and trucks to remove driver side mats from their vehicles.
It initially was announced that the floor mats were the sole cause of these sudden acceleration incidents. Now, ABC news is reporting that the cause may be something much more complicated than the
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Family Files Wrongful Death Suit Over Police Chase That Ended in Fatality

It seems that everyday when our personal injury lawyers open the paper, we read about another wrongful death in the context of a high speed police chase. Today, we read about another tragic police chase, this one in Montana. The Billings Gazette reported that the family of a Billings nurse killed by a drunken teenager who was fleeing from police has filed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit, claiming city officers and county deputies violated their own pursuit policies. Stahl died shortly
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Dangerous Contraceptive Pills Yaz and YasminShould Be Removed From The Market

As Georgia injury lawyers, we are well aware that citizens can no longer rely on the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) to be the guardian of public safety when it comes to new drugs that come to market. Every year, the cash rich pharmaceutical companies, with their high powered lobbyist market and sell dangerous drugs and medical devices to the public. The Coalition Against Bayer Dangers, a consumer watchdog group, has demanded an ban of “third generation” contraceptive pills with increased rates of side effects. Studies
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Aide Pleads Guilty To Neglect In Nursing Home Death

Nursing home neglect and nursing home negligence leading to the wrongful death or serious injury of the elderly is a growing problem. With the number of aging baby boomers steadily increasing, it is likely to continue to be a problem. Neglect takes many forms. Recently, we read that an Illinois woman involved in a lawsuit over the alleged wrongful death of an 89-year old Alzheimer patient has pleaded guilty to criminal neglect, according to the Chicago Tribune. Sara Wentworth died of hypothermia earlier this

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