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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Nursing Home Rating Scale – A Great Consumer Tool

In addition to representing victims of trucking accidents and automobile accidents, Finch McCranie, LLP also represents victims of nursing home abuse and nursing home neglect. including patients who have sustained decubitus ulcers (bed sores), falls and brutality in nursing homes.
In one case we handled, our client who suffered from Alzheimers Disease was actually struck in the face by one of the caseworkers. When struck the client fell, breaking her hip. She underwent surgery to repair the hip; however, the trauma of the
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Georgia Jury Awards $1.25 Million for Neglect by Nursing Home

The lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have seen many different types of injuries result from being in various nursing homes. Some injuries are the result of being assaulted by nursing home staff or other patients and others are the result of nursing home neglect. Recently the family of a man who died four years ago at a Georgia nursing home was awarded $1.25 million after the jury found that the nursing home’s neglect was responsible for his wrongful death. Tucker Nursing Center allegedly
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Georgia Senator Introduces a Bill To Regulate Television Advertising By Lawyers

The personal injury law firm of Finch McCranie, LLP has been representing victims of truck accidents and automobile accidents for over 40 years. We do not advertise on television and have no intention of doing so. Unseemly television advertising has damaged the public image of the law profession. One Georgia senator is trying to do something about it; however, in its present form, it is not likely to pass.
Senator Seth Harp, a practicing Georgia attorney, has introduced a bill in Georgia Senate that proposes
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Uninsured Motorist Coverage And Georgia Drivers:

We have blogged before about the importance of uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. Because of the economic problems being currently experienced by our Country, such coverage is probably now more important than ever. Many people who are experiencing economic problems are cutting back on expenses. Some people are driving with no insurance. When insurance premiums and bills are received they are ignored. In short, people are taking their chances that they won’t be in an accident while driving without insurance. Those who are violating the
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Two Georgians Injured By Peanut Product Salmonella Food Poisoning

Our Georgia injury lawyers know that food poisoning cases can result in serious injury, and sometimes death. Just this week, federal officials announced that two Georgia citizens have been poisoned by salmonella found in peanut products and they warned consumers of dangers associated with more than 125 products recalled as part of a nationwide salmonella-and-peanuts Investigation. The Food and Drug Administration said products affected by the recall range from ice cream to pet foods. A list of recalled peanut products is available on
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Georgia’s Emergency Rooms-A Safe Haven For Medical Malpractice

Georgia injury lawyers are acutely aware of the so-called “tort reform” changes in the law which has limited and in some cases eliminated the rights of victims of medical malpractice. Unfortunately, most Georgia citizens are unaware that since 2005, emergency rooms have been a place where there is no liability for injuries caused by careless healthcare providers. Current Georgia law makes it virtually impossible for an injured patient to seek accountability in the Courts because it requires an injured victim to show by “clear
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Consumers of Dangerous Drugs Have Uphill Battle-Doctrine of Federal Preemption Protects Drug Companies

Like most Georgia injury lawyers, we are seeing more and more dangerous drug cases being dismissed because of the doctrine of federal preemption. An example of this came to our attention recently. A Kentucky man developed a drug-induced neurological disease after using a gastric reflex drug for years. He filed a lawsuit asserting state law products liability, negligence and breach of warranty claims against both the brand manufacturer and the generic manufacturers of the drug, claiming that it caused him to develop the disease.
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Atlanta Police Chase Results In Death

We read last week about another tragic ending to a police chase case in Atlanta on January 15, 2009. Unlike many other such matters where the death is not worth it from a societal standpoint, this case appears to be an example where the dangers to the public caused by the police chase were warranted under the unique circumstances involved.

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Bike-Car Accidents Often Result In Death Or Serious Injury

The injury lawyers in our firm have seen over the years that bicycle-car accidents can have serious consequences for the cyclist and often involve death or, at a minimum serious personal injury. A recent verdict demonstrates the kind of traumatic injuries that can occur in a bicycle-car collision. In that case, a jury returned a $1.8 million verdict in a personal injury case brought by a college student. She was seriously injured in 2005 when she was struck by 2 vehicles at an
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Drunk Driving Statistics Released

At least every week the Atlanta media carries a story concerning a wreck in which alcohol and drunk driving are a factor. The lawyers at Finch McCranie LLP see entirely too many cases in which alcohol or drunk driving cause serious injuries and death. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, recently released data concerning alcohol impaired driving for the year 2007. This is the latest year in which the data has been collected and analyzed. The figures are frightening.

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