Personal Injury

Catastrophic Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries – Where Is The Safety Net? – Time For Universal Health Care?

Today we had the father of a young man in his early twenties come in to the office. His son was involved in an automobile accident and sustained serious injuries to his spine. It appears that he will be paralyzed for life from the waist down. The young man’s medical bills far exceed the liability insurance coverage, the hospital has filed a lien which will consume all of the available liability coverage and, to make matters worse, the young man has no health insurance.
Last
(more…)

Insurers’ Profits Continue To Skyrocket

Insurance companies continue to profit at the expense of their policyholders and Georgia’s serious automobile and truck injury victims. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported today that property and casualty insurers’ profits are continuing to sky rocket. Allstate Insurance Company reported a record $5 billion profit for 2006. State Farm Insurance’s profit climbed 65% for the year. St. Paul/Travelers earnings rose six fold in the fourth quarter and American International Groups rose eight fold.
There are several reasons for these huge profits. First, insurers are shorting the
(more…)

Georgia Injury Victims May Benefit From Proposed Change In Uninsured Motorist Law

There may be some relief in sight for some injured Georgia automobile and truck accident victims who are involved in a motor vehicle collision with an uninsured or underinsured vehicle. Last week Senate Bill 276, the Uninsured Motorist Stacking bill, passed the Senate Insurance and Labor committee unanimously. Advocates working for it’s passage are pushing hard for it to come to a floor vote. If passed it will provide uninsured motorist insurance coverage previously unavailable under Georgia’s current law.
Example: Current Law
You have purchased
(more…)

Georgia Recognizes Roadside Drunk Driving Victim Memorials

Anyone who has driven the two-lane highway between Georgia and Panama City, Florida has seen the many crosses along the roadside, each representing a victim of a fatal automobile accident. Many of these fatal collisions involved college students and drunk drivers. These unofficial memorials or marker have usually been placed by family and friends.
A young victim killed in a drunk driving accident, seventeen year-old Donny Ray Harris Jr., will be the first drunken driving victim in the state of Georgia to be remembered with
(more…)

FUNCTIONAL CAPACITY EVALUATIONS OF INJURED WORKERS IN GEORGIA

In Georgia employees who become disabled, due to injury, and remain out of work for any significant period of time are likely to be sent for a functional capacity evaluation. An FCE is a systematic evaluation process to determine an individual’s tolerance for physical work activities. These evaluations take on many forms. The most common evaluations involve a series of standardized tasks with measured weights and distances, and a trained and presumably an experienced observer to administer the tests. Other methods involve the use of
(more…)

Closing Arguments: Trial Techniques for Serious Injury Cases

We continue here with our previous discussion about how experienced trial counsel prepares and delivers closing arguments before juries in serious injury cases. See prior entries of 3/13 and 3/15/07. We continue as follows:
You must close your summation with confidence and with an ending appropriate to the tone of the case that will have the desired impact. Once you have concluded, sit down with an air of confidence that you have clearly won your case.
In every winning summation there is both the logical
(more…)

Psychiatric/Psychological Privilege in Injury Cases in Georgia

Many times we represent clients’ who have been seriously injured in automobile, trucking or on-the-job accidents who have sought and received psychological or psychiatric counseling and treatment. During the course of litigation, insurance company lawyers often try to subpoena mental health records from mental health professionals. It is wise to be vigilant in monitoring these requests from insurance defense lawyers and to object to these requests.
Under Georgia law, “Parties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, which is relevant to the subject matter
(more…)

Closing Arguments for Juries in Serious Injury Cases

.We continue in this artice our Previous blog and presentation on the delivery of effective Closing Arguments in jury trials.(See entry of 3/13/07). We continue as follows:
GIVE YOUR REMARKS A STRUCTURE
As discussed above, one should not rely upon the inspiration of the moment to deliver a closing argument. A winning summation is usually the result of meticulous, painstaking preparation done well in advance of the actual delivery of the remarks. In order to insure that such preparation is not wasted, obviously, it is
(more…)

Your Duties Under The Georgia Workers’ Compensation Act

We cannot tell people how many times unrepresented, injured workers sabotage their cases by failing to comply with their own obligations under the Georgia Workers’ Compensation Act. At a minimum an employee who sustains an on-the-job injury must do the following:
1. Report any on-the-job injury within 30 days of the date of the injury. Although the law provides that an employee should notify the employer within 30 days, any injury should be reported immediately. If you do not report your injury immediately, you may
(more…)

Basic Overview of Benefits Available Under the Georgia Workers’ Compensation Act

Many people are unaware of what benefits are available to an injured worker in Georgia. Accordingly we thought it might be helpful to clients or potential clients to have an overview of the basic benefits.
(A) TEMPORARY TOTAL DISABILITY WEEKLY INCOME BENEFITS:
If you are injured and begin losing time from work, you are entitled to receive 2/3 of your average weekly wage up to a maximum of $450.00 per week. The first seven days of compensation are not payable until or unless you have
(more…)

Representing Children in Serious Injury Cases

Over the years, our lawyers have handled many different cases involving serious injuries to children. These injuries arise in a myriad of contexts and are oftentimes heartbreaking. Over the years, we have had serious burn injury cases, dog bite cases,unsafe premises, sexual abuse cases, car accidents, medical malpractice cases, drowning accidents, playground injuries,unsafe consumer products, school injuries and the like, all involving young children. Some of these cases have resulted in wrongful deaths, comas, paralysis, burns and amputations. Presently, we are handling injuries to children
(more…)

Zicam Recalled for Dangerous Effects

Yesterday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned consumers to stop using Zicam, a popular homeopathic cold remedy, because it could damage or destroy their sense of smell, a condition called anosmia.
The Food and Drug Administration received 130 reports from consumers and doctors of people losing their sense of smell after using one of the Zicam nasal products, which include Zicam Cold Remedy and Zicam Cold Remedy Swabs. The reports date to 1999, when Matrixx Initiatives of Scottsdale, Ariz., first introduced the products.
(more…)

ATV Accident Results in Serious Injury and Criminal Charge

The Georgia injury lawyers have written before that with the growing popularity of ATV’s or All-Terrain Vehicles, serious injury and death cases are on the increase in Georgia, especially among children. Today I read about a tragic case that occurred on May 16th in South Carolina. In that case, a 15- year-old girl was riding on the seat behind her 32 year old neighbor when the neighbor lost control of the vehicle and the two were ejected. As a result, the teen sustained

(more…)

Medical Malpractice Awards Decrease

Medical malpractice claims in Georgia are constantly coming under fire from insurance companies and doctors who allege they raise the costs of medical care through increased insurance costs to doctors. For many years our Atlanta based attorneys have watched as these large insurance companies and medical groups spend massive sums to influence politicians to enact legislation eroding the rights of innocent victims of medical negligence.
A recent study in New York has exposed these false arguments.Data from the National Practitioner Data Bank show 1,882
(more…)

Police Chase For Non-Violent Crime Turns Deadly

We read yesterday in the paper about a tragic case in Charlotte, N.C. involving a police chase which resulted in the death of an innocent 84-year old woman who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and got caught up in the chase, resulting in her death. According to the news reports of the incident, the police were chasing a suspected shoplifter who had committed a petty offense at a local shopping mall. Although the news reports are sketchy, it appears that the merchant called the police and shortly thereafter the police spotted the vehicle being operated by the suspected thief. A three mile chase ensued at high speeds and during the chase, the suspect lost control of his vehicle and struck the vehicle being operated by the innocent victim. Her death resulted. The petty thief has now been charged with murder.

(more…)

Georgia Wrongful Death Actions:Who Has The Right To Sue? (Part IV)

In a wrongful death case where the deceased individual is survived neither by a spouse, child or parent, under Georgia law such a cause of action would vest in the Executor or Administrator of the Estate. In short, there will always be someone able to proceed on behalf of the “heirs-at-law” and such an individual, once duly appointed, will proceed in a fiduciary capacity to protect the rights of the heirs-at-law relative to the wrongful death action. Thus, if an individual dies and is neither
(more…)

Georgia Wrongful Death Actions:Who Has The Right To Sue? (Part III)

In Georgia, if an individual loses her or her life due to the negligence of a third party and is not survived either by a spouse or children, the cause of action for the wrongful death of such an individual vests in the surviving parents. If both parents are alive, the cause of action is vested jointly in the parents if they are living together. If one parent is deceased, the right is in the surviving parent. If both parents are living, but are
(more…)

Consumers May Be Without Remedies Against Auto Manufacturers

The Atlanta consumer and product liability lawyers of Finch McCranie LLP have successfully litigated cases against auto manufacturers for serious injury and death caused by defects in their products. Now, as a result of the bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler, many deserving victims of these defective products may be left without recourse.
The bankruptcy proceedings currently underway will leave consumers currently bringing personal-injury and product-liability lawsuits against Chrysler LLC and General Motors unable to continue their actions and receive compensation for their injuries. In
(more…)

Georgia Wrongful Death Actions:Who Has The Right To Sue? (Part II)

In Part I of this series, we set forth the provisions of Georgia law for wrongful death actions where surviving spouses were involved. In this article, we shall address actions by surviving children under Georgia’s wrongful death statute where a spouse does not survive to bring such a case.
If a parent is killed due to the negligence of a third party and is not survived by a spouse but is survived by children, the cause of action for the wrongful death vests with
(more…)

Georgia Health Insurer Accused Of Unfair Practices

A lawsuit has been filed by Georgia surgery centers against Blue Cross Blue Shield Healthcare Plan of Georgia Inc. and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia, seeking class action. The lawsuit, like many others around the country attacks the insurer’s practice of discouraging visits to out-of-network providers by reimbursing procedures at a tiny fraction of “usual and customary” charges.
The suit is similar to one filed earlier this year by a dialysis provider against Blue Cross. That suit was dismissed. The new suit alleges
(more…)

Secret Link