Personal Injury

Aircraft Engine Failures

Yesterday, the National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB, requested that the Federal Aviation Administration increase inspections of certain Pratt & Whitney engines on dozens of passenger jets to detect possible flaws linked to the most catastrophic type of failure. The NTSB asked that the FAA require that PW2037 engines undergo recurring inspections for the time being once they reach a certain point in their operation.
The request affects more than 700 engines on some 300 Boeing Co 757 aircraft worldwide, including at least several dozen operated
(more…)

Report: More Than 90 Percent of Nursing Homes Cited For Safety Violations

A new federal report found that nine of every 10 nursing homes were cited for violating federal health and safety standards last year. For-profit homes were more likely to have problems than other types of nursing homes, according to the report. Problems included infected bedsores, medication mix-ups and poor nutrition. About one-fifth of the complaints verified by federal and state authorities involved the abuse or neglect of patients.
Elderly people are entitled to basic safety, respect and dignity. If you or someone you love is
(more…)

Digoxin and Byetta: Dangerous Drug Products

Digoxin was developed by the company Actavis Totowa to treat arrhythmias (abnormal heat rhythm) and allegedly to prevent heart failure. In April of this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a recall of this drug. As it turned out, the use of this product leads to a dangerous side effect known as digitalis toxicity, a process that occurs when digitalis is not excreted normally through urine and the body is overexposed to the drug. This process may be fatal to the victim, which
(more…)

Medical Errors Not Rewarded By Medicare

New federal regulations that restrict Medicare payments to hospitals for the extra care required to treat patients harmed by certain preventable infections and medical errors went into effect on Wednesday, October 1.
The rules adopted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) aims to provide hospitals with a financial incentive to improve patient care.
Under the new regulations, CMS will withhold payments to hospitals for care needed after patients suffer from certain preventable errors or omissions in care. These include hospital acquired urinary
(more…)

Motorcycle Crashes Continue To Increase

Motorcycle injuries and deaths continue to rise as more people utilize motorcycles and scooters for daily transportation. The Washington Post reports that in an eight-hour span over the Labor Day weekend motorcycle accidents in the metropolitan District of Columbia area left four people dead. One top transportation official calls the rise in motorcycle crashes “our nation’s greatest traffic highway safety challenge.”
While only 2 percent of all vehicles on the nation’s roads last year were motorcycles, they were involved in 11 percent of all traffic
(more…)

Nursing Home Report Reveals Disturbing Data

Nursing homes care for the elderly and disabled, some of the most vulnerable persons in society. But, a recent report has disturbing news. More than 90 percent of nursing homes were cited for violations of federal health and safety standards last year according to a report issued by the federal government. For-profit nursing homes were more likely to have problems than other types of nursing homes.
The report revealed that about 17 percent of nursing homes had deficiencies that caused actual harm or immediate jeopardy
(more…)

Another Deadly Bus Accident: California Charter Bus Crash Is Another Example of Lack of Passenger Safety Measures

Last night’s deadly charter bus crash in California reportedly killed at least ten passengers, after the bus veered from the road, and rolled over into a ditch. Predictably, passengers were ejected from the bus or tossed around inside the bus, which in our experience greatly increases the severity of injury.
In last year’s deadly bus accident involving the Bluffton University Baseball Team, our firm represents the most seriously injured surviving passenger. As we have written about previously, the NTSB found that the lack of seat
(more…)

Product Liability Claims Involving Byetta

Three new lawsuits were filed in the state of California in September concerning the injectable diabetes drug Byetta. The lawsuits allege design defect and inadequate warnings of the drug’s alleged links to pancreatitis. The lawsuits name the manufacturer, Amylin, and the marketer, Eli Lilly, as the named defendants in the suit.
Byetta is a injectable drug for adult Type 2 diabetes. The principle ingredients of the drug are a derivative of the saliva of the Gila Monster, a lizard found in the southwestern United States.
(more…)

Brain Injuries Cause Half of Seniors’ Fall Deaths

As Georgia trial lawyers we have handled a wide variety of slip and fall injury cases. While serious injuries from falls can occur at any age, it can be particularly serious for senior citizens. The elderly fear breaking a hip when they fall, but a government study indicates that hitting their head can also have deadly consequences: Brain injuries account for half of all deaths from falls. The study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the first comprehensive national look at the
(more…)

Car Accidents, Personal Injury and Tort Reform

Not only must Georgia car accident, truck accident, and other personal injury victims fight the insurance companies to get a fair shake, but now days they must also swim against the tide of so-called “tort reform.” Brainwashed by propaganda, bought and paid for by the most dangerous industries and their insurers, potential jurors naturally come into court believing that all injured litigants are exaggerating – or worse. Sadly, we taxpayers often end up paying the medical and other bills that the wantonly, careless and dangerous
(more…)

Punitive Damages In A Wrongful Death Context

Because damages in a wrongful death context are measured from the standpoint of the decedent and are considered under Georgia case authority to be somewhat punitive since the damages include compensation for the full value of the life of the decedent, in a wrongful death case, per se, punitive damages cannot be sought. However, in a case where there has been pre-impact fright and terror, pain and suffering associated with injuries prior to death and/or property damages sustained by the estate, the estate can
(more…)

Estate Claims In A Wrongful Death Context

As we have posted before, in a wrongful death context, the heirs-at-law have a claim for damages for the full value of the life of the decedent whereas the Administrator of the estate has a claim for pre-death damages. In some cases involving serious injury, the injured individual may live for a time prior to death. If, in such a hypothetical case, the individual incurs substantial medical expenses and experiences significant pain and suffering prior to death, the estate of such a decedent is
(more…)

Voices Insisting On Pursuit Safety: Heroes At Work

This entry is written in tribute to a little known non-profit association called Voices Insisting On Pursuit Safety. http://www.pursuitsafety.org/ VIPS is a group of dedicated volunteers who are trying to save lives through their work. Each of the members of this group unfortunately have experienced tragedies in their own lives typically as a result of a police pursuit gone bad. The board members of Voices Insisting On Pursuit Safety are those who have lost loved ones in tragic police pursuits where there was a reckless disregard of proper police procedure in the decision to either initiate the pursuit and/or recklessly continue the same in the face of dangerous circumstances, resulting in the death of an innocent family member caught up by happenstance in the chase.

(more…)

Another Police Chase: More Deaths

Another Police Chase: More Deaths
We read last week on the internet of a tragic story out of Parsons, Kansas. Unfortunately, the Kansas story is all too familiar and occurs each and every day in this country. What we refer to are dangerous and reckless police chase cases which regrettably and tragically all too often result in the deaths of innocent members of the public, unconnected to the chase, who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The report we read out of Parsons, Kansas was one such occurrence.

(more…)

Non-Economic Damages In A Georgia Wrongful Death Case

As we have posted before, in Georgia the measure of damages is the full value of the life of the decedent. The full value of the life of the decedent is comprised of the economic value of the deceased’s normal life expectancy and the non-economic loss sustained at the time of the wrongful death. As to the non-economic component, this includes the joy of living itself, the loss of society, affection and companionship of a wife, children and other family members and generally what the
(more…)

Determining Economic Damages In A Wrongful Death Claim

In determining the economic value of a deceased’s life in Georgia, a jury is not bound by any fixed criteria in reaching its verdict. A Georgia jury may take into consideration the decedent’s age at the time of his/her death, heredity, health, physical condition, habits, character, education, prior earning capacity, the amount of money he or she was earning at the time of his death, any reasonable probability of increase or decrease or reduction in wages or salary, loss of employment, the probability of the
(more…)

Wrongful Death Damages: The Economic Component

The economic value of a wrongful death claim in Georgia is typically based upon lifetime earnings or the economic value of lifetime services. In a wrongful death case, a plaintiff must prove by a preponderance of the evidence the age of the decedent when he/she died, probable life expectance and yearly income or the value of such services. From such evidence a jury can compute the gross cash value of the deceased’s economic losses based on remaining life expectancy.
In a hypothetical case where
(more…)

Wrongful Death Damages in Georgia

Among all the 50 states Georgia law is unique because it measures damages in a wrongful death case from the viewpoint of what the deceased lost, not what his or her survivors lost. Under Georgia law, the measure of damages in a wrongful death case is “the full value of the life of the decedent.” See O.C.G.A. §§ 51-4-1(1) and 51-4-4.
The full value of the life of the decedent under Georgia law has two components. First, the economic value of the deceased’s normal
(more…)

Tort Claims Against Local Government Employees

Here in Georgia, due to the doctrine of Sovereign Immunity, as we have posted before, it is very difficult to sue a local government employee. If a government employee commits a tort against an innocent third party and that person wishes to file a claim against the government employee, the government employee cannot be sued in his or her official capacity unless the employer of the government employee has waived its sovereign immunity. This is because any claim against the employee in his or her
(more…)

Overcoming Sovereign Immunity Defenses of Counties in Georgia

This past week we spoke at a State Bar seminar on the doctrine of Sovereign Immunity in Georgia. In Georgia, there are limited statutory waivers of sovereign immunity by state and local governments. One of the most frustrating areas is that of county immunity. Essentially, the only statutory waiver of county immunity is that which provides for liability for county vehicles. If a county agent or employee is operating a covered vehicle, there is a mandatory minimum waiver of $500,000.00 per accident/$700,000.00 per occurrence. If
(more…)

Secret Link