Personal Injury

NEW DRUG LABELING LAW

As the Georgia Injury Lawyer Blog attorneys have writtten about before, prescription drug manufacturers can cause serious personal injuries and death by failure to warn of a prescription drug’s hazardous side effects. A new law requires prescription drug companies to take steps to ensure drug safety and eliminate the risks of needless serious personal injury or death.
In late September, President Bush signed into law the Prescription Drug User Fee Reauthorization Act, PDUFA. This Act creates new federal safety requirements for drug companies, and
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Spoliation or Destruction Of Evidence

Spoliation is defined as the destruction or a significant or meaningful alteration of evidence. For many years, in Georgia, spoliation of evidence has given rise to a presumption against the spoliator which has resulted in discovery sanctions in appropriate cases. Many states actually recognize a separate tort of spoliation. However, Georgia courts have not yet embraced that concept.
Spoliation of evidence is actually a type of fraud which interferes with the plaintiff’s opportunity to win a lawsuit. In some cases, it can logically be expanded
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Medical Malpractice or Frivolous Litigation?

It seems that all the time we read articles about the need for reform in the medical malpractice area because of so-called frivolous litigation. The argument always seems to be that claims are being brought which are frivolous and that medical malpractice rarely occurs. The truth is that, like any other human undertaking, malpractice does occur in the field of medicine. Sometimes, the malpractice can be egregious and the mistakes life altering.
Just today we read a story about a lady who had a double
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FORMER CHIEF JUDGE OF CLAYTON COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT JOINS FIRM

Stephen E. Boswell, former Chief Judge of Clayton County Superior Court, has joined one of the Atlanta area’s longest established law firms, Finch McCranie, LLP., according to Richard W. Hendrix, partner in the firm.
Judge Boswell recently retired from the Superior Court bench after serving 13 years as a Superior Court Judge, over two periods of service since 1982. Previously, he was in private practice in the Atlanta area for 16 years, with a variety of experience in civil and criminal jury trials.
As of
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Georgia Motorcycle Accident Kills One, Injures Another

We read in yesterday’s paper where one motorcyclist was killed and another seriously injured after their bikes were involved in a multi-vehicle wreck just outside of Atlanta in Cherokee County. According to the news accounts, the bikers were among a group of 40 to 50 taking part in a charity bike ride when the crash occurred. The news report indicates that a teenage driver struck a lady who was sitting stopped at a stop sign waiting for the motorcyclists to pass her when, after being
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Civil Restitution For Crime Victims In Federal Court

In 1996 the United States Congress enacted the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act of 1996, which makes restitution mandatory upon a defendant’s conviction for a federal violent or property crime in which there is an identifiable victim who has directly and proximately suffered physical injury or monetary loss. Upon conviction for other federal crimes, including drug offenses, the imposition of restitution is in the discretion of the sentencing court. In instances in which restitution is imposed, the court “shall order restitution to each victim in the
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Another Chinese Toy Recall

The Associated Press is reporting that yet another massive recall of Chinese-made toys has been issued. Toys and child necklaces made in China were recalled Wednesday because they contain dangerous levels of lead. The recalled toys contained high levels of lead on their surface paint and the necklaces and jewelry sets contain excessive lead in some of their metal parts.
Under current regulations, children’s products which contain more than .06% of lead accessible to users are subject to a recall. The Consumer Product Safety Commission
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Food Poisoning Danger – Recall Due To E. coli

Our firm was recently retained to represent a gentleman who almost died after he consumed a meal at a restaurant in south Georgia. It seems like our food supply is not as safe as it used to be. Time and time again we hear and read about horrific food poisoning injury cases, some resulting in death.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported this week that a New Jersey-based meat processor has voluntarily recalled 331,582 pounds of frozen ground beef products that may be contaminated with
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Effort to Control Hospital Infections

In an analysis made public this week, Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports Magazine, compared data compiled by the Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services showing compliance with infection control measures for hospitals in Maryland and Virginia.
Consumers Union is advocating a bill before Congress that will require hospitals to publish their infection rates. The analysis determined that the hospitals in both states generally performed about as well as hospitals nationwide. But, according to the study, the hospitals in each state varied greatly
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Gadolinium Contrast Agent – A Dangerous Drug Under Investigation

Many of us who have handled serious personal injury cases, including those involving brain injury have seen MRI’s performed using various contrast agents for years. One of those agents does not appear to be as safe as once thought. Gadolinium, or gadodiamide, is a contrast agent which allows an MRI to define normal tissue from abnormal tissue in the brain and body. The FDA declared Gadolinium safe for use in contrast MRI’s in 1988.
In June 2006, the FDA first notified health care professionals and
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South Carolina Teenager Seriously Injured After Being Thrown From ATV

Georgia and South Carolina injury lawyers are seeing ATV accidents involving serious injury and sometimes death are on the rise with the return of warm weather. Tragically many, if not most are preventable by using common sense and obeying ATV rules. Just this week, I read about a Summerville, South Carolina teenager who is fighting for her life as a result of being thrown from the back of a fast moving ATV. According to witnesses, neither the 32 year old ATV driver or the
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Brain Death

Our Atlanta based lawyers are constantly involved in cases involving brain injury and brain death. As tragic as these cases are, the families and loved ones are many times faced with the decision whether to cease life support after there has been a medical determination of brain death.
In general, brain death is considered to be the irreversible loss of brain function. The exact definition has changed throughout the years and is still subject to debate. The brainstem controls brain function and is responsible for
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Lawmakers Hold Hearing on Medical Device Safety Act

Defective medical devices can lead to the serious injury or death of innocent people. For this reason Georgia injury lawyers representing victims of defective and dangerous products were dismayed when the Supreme Court decision in Riegel v. Medtronic, held that consumers can’t sue medical device companies over medical devices that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Now, victims of these dangerous products who say they were injured by faulty medical devices want Congress to pass legislation called the Medical
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Workers Compensation Injuries – Is There A Premises Liability and Negligent Security Third Party Claims?

The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP who handle workers compensation cases always investigate the possibility that there is a negligent third party who can be sued and held accountable for the client’s injuries and damages. As any injured worker knows, the income benefits available under the Georgia Workers Compensation Act are limited. A worker with serious injuries is never made whole with workers compensation benefits alone. Many serious on-the-job injuries or deaths are attributable to the negligence of someone other
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Congressman’s Death Highlights The Dangers of Operating An ATV

As the popularity of ATV’s (all-terrain vehicles) increases the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP see more ATV accidents resulting in death and serious injuries each year. Even experienced riders must be very careful when operating an ATV. On April 18th of this year, former Utah Congressman Bill Orton, age 60, died while operating his ATV. According to authorities, he was riding out on the sand and went off a very steep sand dune, and when he impacted the bottom, the front end
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Car Roof Crush Standards Increased

Many automobile crashes which our Georgia lawyers investigate involve serious injury and deaths which are caused by roof collapses in rollover situations. Tragically, many of these victims would have been less seriously injured or survived had the roof of the vehicle not collapsed. For many years, safety advocates have urged auto makers and the federal government to increase the minimal standards for vehicle roof strength.
Now, under pressure from Congress, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued increased roof-strength requirements. The long-awaited federal
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Limiting The Chance For Serious Injury Or Death From Grinding Wheel Explosions

The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have previously posted on the danger posed by defective grinding wheels that explode or disintegrate. When a grinding wheel comes apart, it can result in serious eye injury and even death. Although there are several reasons why these wheels fail, it is thought that many of these are inferior, imported products.
To prevent injuries, the following procedures are recommended when using grinding wheels:
* Check the wheel before each use for any cracks or chips. If
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Grinding Wheel Failures Can Lead To Serious Injury Or Death

Recently an Atlanta eye surgeon told one of the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP that his group sees at least two new patients a month with serious eye injuries caused by grinding wheel accidents. Often times , the hazards of using a grinding wheel are overlooked. When using a grinder there are several potential hazards to of which you should be aware. They include: cuts and amputations; eye injuries from flying particles; punctures from work piece or debris; hearing loss from noise; and
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Hydroxycut Recalled – May Be Linked To Liver Damage

The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have handled many products liability cases involving dangerous drugs and consumer products. Last week the FDA announced the recall of Hydroxycut. Government officials warned dieter and body builders to immediately stop using Hydroxycut, a supplement which has been linked to serious liver damage and at least one death. According to an FDA official, the agency has received 23 reports of liver problems, including the death of a nineteen year old. It has been
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Secretary of Transportation Pushes For Child Seat Testing

Many Georgia parents employ child safety seats to protect the lives of their children without any reliable data as to the safety of the particular seat model. Now, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has announced that he will urge carmakers to crash-test child safety seats in their vehicles and recommend which child restraints are the safest in each auto.
If adopted, this new system would be a victory for parents who struggle to find the best car seats for their children. While federal regulators rate
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