Trial Attorney Blog

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.

Preventable medical errors add extremely high costs to the healthcare provided in Georgia and across the United States. The Society of Actuaries, the largest professional organization dedicated to supporting 21,000 members in the United States and Canada, recently commissioned a study to assign a cost to these medical errors.

The study defined measureable costs of medical errors to include increased medical costs, costs related to an increased mortality rate, and costs related to lost productivity after the occurrence of an error. Most other costs of medical errors, such as pain and suffering, which are not measureable from medical claim databases, were not included. Neither were malpractice costs or insurance payments.

An error was defined as a preventable adverse outcome of medical care that is a result of improper medical management (a mistake of commission) rather than a progression of an illness due to lack of care (a mistake of omission).

Inattentive drivers are responsible for many Georgia motorcycle accidents every year. Sadly the negligence of these inattentive drivers often results in the serious injury or wrongful death of the motorcyclist. Such may have been the case yesterday in Macon, Georgia when a woman driving a 1999 Chevrolet Impala ran a stop sign at the intersection of Peeble Street and Second Avenue and struck a motorcycle. According to witnesses, the woman struck 59-year old James Collins of Danville and then left the scene of the accident. The victim was pronounced dead shortly after the crash.
Hopefully authorities will be able to apprehend the driver and prosecute her for her callous, criminal conduct and hopefully for the family of the victim, there will be insurance coverage to compensate them for their loss.

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Georgia injury lawyers know that dog bites can result in serious and disfiguring injuries and sometimes the wrongful death. Because of the population of Atlanta area, it is not uncommon to hear about these cases on a weekly basis. It is estimated that almost 5 million Americans each year are dog bite victims. About 800,000 of these are serious enough to seek medical treatment for their injuries. Sadly, about half the victims are children and most of them are between the ages of 5 and 9 years old.
According to the law, dog owners are responsible for their dog’s actions and homeowner’s insurance will pay for the damages. Owning a dog know to have dangerous propensities or failing to abide by leash laws will subject the owner to liability if the dog bites someone. It is estimated that dog bites account for roughly one-third of homeowners’ insurance claims. For that reason, many insurance companies that sell homeowner’s insurance coverage will now inquire about the types of pets the prospective insured may have living in the home and factor that into the underwriting process when determining a fair premium.
Georgia law provides two ways that an animal owner or handler may be found liable for injuries inflicted by the animal. The first requires that the victim prove: (1) that the animal is dangerous or vicious; (2) that the owner or handler had knowledge of the dog’s viciousness or tendency to attack humans; and, (3) that the owner or handler either carelessly managed the animal or allowed it to go at liberty. The second basis upon which an owner or handler may be found liable for injuries inflicted by an animal requires that the victim prove that the animal; (1) was not at heel or on a leash as required by a local ordinance; and, (2) that the owner or handler either carelessly managed the animal or allowed it to go at liberty. The second ground does not require knowledge of dangerousness or viciousness of the animal. To successfully prove liability under the Georgia statute, the claim can be based on either a violation of a leash law or the owner’s or handler’s knowledge that the dog had the temperament or propensity to bite people.

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