Trial Attorney Blog

In a case where an injured party brings a claim against a person who caused them injury and that person’s employer, a jury question is often present as to whether the negligent employee was acting within the scope of his or her employment at the time they inflicted the injury upon the innocent third party victim. As long as a disputed issue of material fact exists, only juries can determine whether an employee was acting within the scope of their employment and/or acting solely for personal reasons. Under Georgia law, while courts are free to decide cases where there is no disputed issue of material fact on this question, as long as there are facts from which a jury could determine that an employee was acting within the scope of his or her employment on behalf of an employer, only a jury can decide whether the employer should be held legally liable for the damages inflicted by the negligent employee.
In a medical malpractice case, if the doctor involved is working on behalf his employer then in that event, the employer would be liable. If the doctor is coming home from an office function, and injures someone on his or her way home, the question arises as to whether this was a special office function the doctor was required to attend and/or whether there are any other disputed facts which would indicate that the doctor/employee was still acting within the scope of his employment and on behalf of his employer. Again, these cases are factually unique. The issues must be resolved by a jury except in cases where it is plan and palpable that the employee’s conduct was in no way connected to his or her employment.
Unless there is no dispute about the facts or unless it is clear that an employee’s conduct has nothing to do with their employment, Georgia juries will have to decide whether an employer will be liable for the tortious facts of an employee. Legal instructions to the jury will always provide that an employer should be held liable for acts committed by employees provided such employees were acting within the scope of their employment at the time of the complained of injury.

Georgia injury lawyers often see car accidents and truck accidents caused by tire failure. A tire failure can also be the precipitating event in a vehicle rollover case. The causes of these tire failures vary but include manufacturing defects, road hazards and failure to keep the tire properly inflated.
In any motor vehicle crash where a tire failure is suspected, it is crucial to preserve the vehicle and especially the tires and rims so that they can be inspected by experts. Georgia injury lawyers know experts who can timely inspect and evaluate the evidence and who can testify at trial, if necessary.
Tire and Wheel defects include each of the following:
• Tire Tread Separations
A tread separation refers to the separation of the tread from the carcass of the tire. This separation usually occurs between the two steel belts and is one of the most common modes of tire failure.
• Tire Sidewall Failures
A sidewall failure, also known as a blowout, often involves a hole in the sidewall. These generally occur while a tire is being used on a vehicle when the tire is underinflated. Sidewalls may also undergo a “zipper failure in which the sidewall bursts or explodes during the inflation process. The rupture pattern usually resembles an open zipper. In a zipper failure, there are no visual signs or indicators that the tire may fail during normal servicing.
• Tire Bead Failures
A bead failure involves the breakage of the bead, the part of the tire that contacts the wheel rim. This type of failure occurs during the mounting of a tire on a rim when the bead becomes hung up on the rim, creating huge stress on the entire bead. When the bead fractures, a low pressure explosion occurs, turning the tire and rim into high velocity projectiles which almost always result in serious injury or death. Tire bead failures are most frequent in the spacesaver” spares.
• Aged Tires
Tires do not have an infinite shelf life. Tires may fail due to ozone cracking, even where there is significant useable tread left on the tire. Ozone cracking appears as small cracks or fissures on the surface of the tire rubber. Aging tires increase the likelihood of a tire tread separation or tire sidewall failure.

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Georgia injury lawyers have seen many serious automobile accidents, tractor-trailer accidents and motorcycle accidents caused by foreign objects and road debris on Georgia highways. Just a few weeks ago a 19 year old girl was killed in Tifton, Georgia when she collided with a tractor-trailer. Both vehicles were heading south on Interstate 75 when the girl swerved to avoid a piece of retread rubber in the roadway. After running off the roadway, she apparently over-corrected, came back onto the roadway and struck the tractor-trailer rig. This death should not have happened. Recently I got a call from the mother of the girl and we discussed the growing problem of road debris and in particular, large pieces of tractor trailer truck tire tread littering our highways. There are ever increasing numbers of these accidents which are claiming the lives of many motorists.
The National Transportation Highway Safety Administration commissioned a study entitled “Commercial Medium Tire Debris Study”. The study objectives were to:
1. Investigate the underlying causes of tire failures in heavy- and medium-duty trucks through an analysis of tire debris samples collected on interstate highways in five regions of the United States;
2. Determine the extent of truck tire failures for retread tires; and
3. Determine the crash safety problem associated with tire failures for large trucks.
At the end of the study the “Overall Study Conclusions” were as follows:
“The analysis of tire fragments and casings collected in this study has found that the proportion of tire debris from retread tires and OE tires is similar to the estimated proportion of retread and OE tires in service. Indeed, the OE versus retread proportions of the collected tire debris broadly correlated with accepted industry expectations. Additionally, there was no evidence to suggest that the proportion of tire fragments/shreds from retread tires was over-represented in the debris items collected. Examination of tire fragments and tire casings (where the OE or retread status was known) found that road hazard was the most common cause of tire failure, at 38 percent and 36 percent respectively. The analysis of tire casings found maintenance and operational issues accounted for 32 percent of the failures while over-defection accounted for 16 percent. Analysis of tire fragments found that excessive heat was evident in 30 percent of the samples examined. These results suggest that the majority of tire debris found on the Nation’s highways is not a result of manufacturing/process deficiencies. Similar findings are corroborated in earlier studies of tire debris. The evaluation of available crash data shows that vehicle crashes related to truck tire failure and truck tire debris are very rare events that account for less than 1 percent of traffic crash involvements.”
Whether recapped or retreaded truck tires are safe is debatable; however, it is an undeniable fact that tractor-trailer tire debris on or nation’s highway is increasing and it poses a very significant risk to motorists. Whether truck tire failure is caused by manufacturing defects or simply a drivers failure to keep the tires properly inflated, the negligent parties need to be held accountable, if they can be identified.

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In Georgia there is a bad law on the books that was passed by the Republican dominated Legislature as part of its so-called effort at “tort reform.” We refer here to the provisions of O.C.G.A. § 9-11-68, the Georgia Offer Of Judgment statute. This statute provides that a party may make an offer of judgment to another party in a pending case in which the offering party agrees to settle the case for a specified sum. Thereafter, if the party to whom the offer is made fails to settle for the offer and later fails to obtain an award of at least seventy-five percent (75%) of the amount of the offer, then the party making the offer of judgment may petition the court for payment of its attorney’s fees from the date the offer was made until the less favorable award or loss.
A hypothetical might provide a good example of why this is such a bad law. Suppose a middle class person files a lawsuit against a rich corporate defendant with silk stocking lawyers paid by an insurance company our through other corporate monies. An offer of judgment is made by the wealthy defendant against the middle class person. If the middle class person does not obtain a verdict in excess of seventy-five percent (75%) of the amount of the offer, that middle class person may be on the hook under this new law for the payment of the attorney’s fees of the silk stocking lawyers – even if they win their case (but especially if they lose the case).
Many Washington, D.C., New York law firms and firms in Atlanta charge anywhere between six to eight hundred dollars an hour ($600. – $800.) for their “silk stocking services.” While such fees are outrageous from the standpoint of any middle class person, corporations routinely pay these fees because corporations have the funds to do so. Thus a middle class person who is trying to assert their legal rights in any litigation runs the risk of having all their assets seized by these silk stocking corporation lawyers if they do not prevail in civil litigation. Thus, the middle class person is being forced to settle the case rather than run the risk of presenting his or her case to a trial by jury.

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Motorcycle riders are especially vulnerable to serious injury or death when involved in an accident with a careless driver. While many drivers fault the motorcyclist, we at the Finch McCranie firm know that most motorcycle operators are responsible, cautious individuals. Defective tires, or design problems with the motorcycle itself, can also cause a motorcyclist to crash. In such cases, the victims may have a viable products liabilty case against the manufacturer of the product.
Just last week a Georgia couple was injured in Tennessee when the rear tire of their motorcycle blew. Stephanie Rasmussen of Hoschton, Georgia, a passenger on the motorcycle was flown to Vanderbilt Medical Center and her husband, Kevin Rasmussen, was transported to Harton Regional Medical Center.
Whether the rear tire of the motorcycle was defective is unknown; however, given the injuries, an inspection of the tire by an expert may be warranted. In our experience, a qualified tire expert can determine the cause of the tire failure. For this reason, in all cases of suspected tire failure, the tire and rim assebly should be preserved.

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Cords on window blinds continue to kill an average of one child a month, despite a 16-year federal push to make them safer.

According to safety groups, a new voluntary industry rule on window blind cords does not address all strangulation risks to children and ignores input from consumer advocates.

The voluntary standard just published by the Window Covering Manufacturers Association (WCMA) prohibits accessible inner cords on Roman shades but still allows long draw cords. Inner cords weave between the slats of horizontal blinds or attach to the back of Roman shades. Roman shades weren’t covered by voluntary rules for vertical and horizontal blinds enacted in the 1990s.

Recently, the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP successfully represented an elderly woman who was injured while shopping in a large, nationwide department store. While walking towards a clothing display that caught her attention, she tripped and fell over an empty wooden shipping pallet which had been left in a main aisle. As a result of her fall, she sustained a serious back injury. When questioned under oath, the manager could not say how long the pallet had been there or even who placed it there. He conceded that the empty pallet was serving no purpose (having been emptied) and that it presented a potential danger to customers. He also conceded that warning cones should have been placed to warn customers of the potential danger.
Premises liability law compensates those whose injuries occurred on someone else’s property because the property owner negligently created or failed to correct an unsafe condition. Premises law or landlord liability law requires landowners to protect people who lawfully enter their land or property. In Georgia, one who owns or occupies property and by express or implied invitation, induces or leads others to come upon his premise for any lawful purpose, is liable in damages to such persons for injuries caused by his failure to exercise ordinary care in keeping the premises and approaches safe. Although a property owner is not an insurer of the customer’s safety, the owner/occupier is required to exercise ordinary care to protect the customers and others invited upon the property from unreasonable risks of harm of which the owner/occupier has superior knowledge.
Landowners can be liable when their negligence results in falls, slips, trips and other accidents. Property owners can be liable when a child is injured while using playground equipment or for injuries suffered by a customer when the property owner fails to provide adequate security or otherwise fix or warn of hazardous conditions on the property. We represent individuals who have been seriously injured on someone else’s property.

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http://www.serious-injury-litigation.com/lawyer-attorney-1259787.htmlGeorgia injury lawyers know that dangerous products can cause serious injury or death to innocent consumers. For example, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the voluntary recall of Gold Star and Comfort-Aire portable dehumidifiers due to a fire hazard. The Commission said the recall involved 98,000 dehumidifiers exported from China by LG Electronics Tianjin Appliance Co. Of China. According to the Commission, the dehumidifiers have power connectors that can short circuit, posing a fire risk. The company has received four reports of fires involving dehumidifiers including Gold Star model # GHD30Y7, which were sold at Home Depot outlets, model # DH305Y7, sold at Walmart stores, and Comfort-Aire model # BHD-301-C dehumidifiers, sold at Heat Controller.
Defective and dangerous products coming into the United States from China are increasing at an alarming rate. In 2008, 80% of all product recalls in the U.S. involved imported products from China. Other dangerous recalled products include dog food, toys with lead paint, drywall and even pharmaceuticals.

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Every year Georgia citizens die needlessly as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning. According to Journal of the American Medical Association, carbon monoxide is the leading cause of accidental poisoning deaths in America, yet many people do not know when they are being affected by it since its symptoms appear flu-like. Exposure to high levels of carbon monoxide can result in death.
Most of the time this poisoning occurs as a result of defectively installed or maintained gas furnaces or gas hot water heaters, although there are many sources of carbon monoxide which include house fires, faulty furnaces, heaters, wood-burning stoves, internal combustion vehicle exhaust, electrical generators, propane-fueled equipment such as portable stoves, and gasoline-powered tools such as leaf blowers, lawn mowers, high-pressure washers, concrete cutting saws, power trowels, and welders. Exposure typically occurs when equipment is used in buildings or semi-enclosed spaces. Poisoning may also occur following the use of a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCUBA) due to faulty diving air compressors. Riding in the bed of pickup trucks has even led to poisoning in children. Idling automobiles with the exhaust pipe blocked by snow has led to the poisoning of car occupants. Generators and propulsion engines on boats, especially houseboats, has resulted in fatal carbon monoxide exposures.
Many of the deaths that occur as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning could have been avoided had the owner of the property, whether it be a hotel, apartment of single family dwelling, conducted reasonable maintenance inspections and installed carbon monoxide detectors. Many times local governments require such things when it comes to hotels and apartments. Failure to abide by building codes in the installation, replacement and servicing of furnaces and hot water heaters often results in carbon monoxide leaks and either chronic or acute poisoning.

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Medical malpractice lawsuits in Georgia have long been the target of doctors’ groups and big insurance companies. Using advertising, political contributions, and misinformation, they have been successful in fostering the notion that these lawsuits are frivolous. Many people have bought into this misconception, that is, until it happens to them or a loved one.

A recent story in the Miami newspaper illustrates this well. A Belle Glade, Florida judge plans to sue two radiologists and a surgeon after a foot long by foot wide sponge was left in him after surgery and went undiagnosed for five months, even as he developed serious health issues from it.

Late last year 67-year old Nelson Bailey checked into Good Samaritan Medical Center for surgery to treat his diverticulitis which was causing him abdominal pain. After the surgery the pain not only continued, but got worse.