Trial Attorney Blog

Under Georgia law, a person injured by the act or omission of a state, local or county government agency must file a written pre-suit notification of intent to file a claim before a lawsuit can subsequently be filed. These are known as “Ante-Litem” provisions. Under the State Tort Claims Act, for example, an Ante-Litem Notice must be filed within twelve (12) months from the date the loss was discovered or should have been discovered. Any person with a claim against the county must present that claim within twelve (12) months of the occurrence, however, claims against municipalities must be presented within six (6) months of the happening of the incident upon which the claim is based. Whether the claim is brought under the State Tort Claims Act ,against a county or a municipality, there are also provisions under the law which specify who must be served with the notice and what information must be contained within the Notice. Many cases have been dismissed for failure to file these notices in a timely manner and/or failing to provide the government agency with sufficient information to review the claim on an administrative basis.
Any individual who claims to have been injured by the acts of a government agency should confer with counsel immediately before their claims are time barred for failure to file the required pre-suit notification, the Ante-Litem Notice. If an injured individual does not timely file an Ante-Litem Notice, their claim may be barred by the statute of limitations. Accordingly, anyone with a potential claim should confer with counsel immediately.

Our Atlanta medical malpractice lawyers have written in the past about the unfairness of damage caps in medical malpractice cases and how they penalize the most severly injured innocent victims of medical malpractice.

Currently before the Georgia Supreme Court is the issue of the constitutionality of the $350,000.00 cap on non-economic damages enacted by the legislature in 2005. A decision is expected any day.

The attorneys who prosecuted that case have prepared a video which explains and details the terrible injuries suffered by their client. While the content is extremely disturbing and may upset some, we recommend that all citizens of this state view the video, so that they may be truthfully educated about the horrors of medical malpractice and the unfairness of caps on damages.

Oftentimes we are asked by clients who have claims against government entities and/or employees to represent their interests in personal injury cases. Regrettably, due to the antiquated and harsh doctrine of sovereign immunity (for legal claims), this many times proves to be a difficult undertaking. Simply stated, sovereign immunity protects many government agencies and employees from lawsuits involving personal injuries. Thankfully, there are some exceptions to the rule, most notably when there is another statute that waives the immunity from suit.
With respect to county immunity, the Georgia Code states that county governments are entitled to sovereign immunity unless liability is imposed upon them by law. See O.C.G.A. § 36-1-4. The only statute that imposes liability upon counties by operation of law is O.C.G.A. § 33-24-51, which allows a waiver of sovereign immunity when a county purchases liability insurance for the negligent use or operation of a government owned motor vehicle. The law used to be that if a government employee ran over someone or ran a stop sign and caused serious personal injuries nothing could be done because of the doctrine of sovereign immunity. As stated, there is now a statute that waives county government immunity in situations involving vehicles. However, if a county employee or agent hurts another person due to a difficult type of negligent act and there is no waiver of sovereign immunity, then there may not be any means of recovery for the innocent victim of the governmental negligence.
Because cases involving sovereign immunity are always factually unique, they require unique legal analysis as well. An ante-litem notice is required for virtually all claims against governmental agencies so anyone with a claim against a county, municipality or state government agency or employee should confer with counsel immediately to preserve their rights. Whether the doctrine of sovereign immunity can be overcome again will be a question of both facts and law, but the sooner the analysis begins, the better, because otherwise claims can be barred altogether for failure to file timely pre-suit notifications with the government agency involved.

General Motors Co. Is recalling 1.3 million Chevrolet and Pontiac compacts cars to repair or replace steering motors which can fail causing the vehicle to be difficult to steer at lower speeds. While this may not be an insurmountable problem for some drivers, the Georgia injury lawyers recognize that it may be a serious problem for older or elderly drivers who may surprised by the loss of the power steering and be physically unable to steer the vehicle. Under those circumstances a power steering failure could cause an automobile accident with devastating consequences.
According to an article published by the Associated Press today, General Motors told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about the recall on Monday. NHTSA began an investigation into 905,000 of the models on January 27th after getting 1,100 complaints that the cars lost their power steering. The complaints included 14 crashes and one injury.
If you or a loved one have been injured in an automobile accident involving a recalled vehicle, contact the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP .Our firm has been representing injured victims in products liability claims for over 45 years.

Bus accidents on Georgia roads and highways many times result in serious injury and sometimes death for passengers. Many people do not realize that under Georgia law, common carriers such as bus companies and airlines owe their passengers the duty to exercise extraordinary care in the operation of the bus or airplane which is a higher legal duty than is normally owed. Specifically, the Official Code of Georgia Annotated §46-9-1 provides as follows:
“Carriers as such are bound to exercise ordinary diligence. Common carriers as such are bound to use extraordinary diligence, and in cases of loss the presumption of law is against them, and no excuse avails them unless the loss was occasioned by the act of God or the public enemies of the state.”
If you or a loved one have been seriously injured in a bus accident, as a passenger on a bus or any other common carrier, call the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP to discuss your rights. We have been representing clients in personal injury and wrongful death cases for over 45 years.

As a Georgia injury lawyer, I am always amazed at the number of deck collapse cases I read and hear about. Many of these decks are built high off the ground and do not meet any acceptable or recognized building code. Unfortunately the deficiencies of the construction do not become apparent until the decks are loaded up with people and the deck pulls away from the house and falls. In recent years there have been a number of death cases related to deck collapses.

Some of the deck collapses simply result from the deck material rotting over time. This should be readily apparent to anyone doing a reasonable inspection. A failure to inspect is negligence. It has also been my experience that many deck collapses result from the ledger board not being secured to the home properly. In some cases the ledger board is secured to the side of the house using nails. This is always insufficient to secure the deck to the house and should never be done. Instead, the ledger board should be securely attached with lag screws or if possible, lag bolts.

Just this week, a Roswell, Georgia woman was injured when the deck on her townhome collapsed and fell. As a result she sustained a broken leg.

Georgia injury lawyers are well aware that just because a prescription drug is an FDA approved drug is , does not mean that it is safe. There was a time when the American public believed that to be the case but we have come to the realization that money talks. Yes, “it is always all about the money” when it comes to business relationships and the drug business is BIG business. It is common knowledge that many former FDA employees end up being hired by big pharmaceutical companies after leaving the agency that supposedly regulates them. In addition, the industry spends an enormous amount of money on lobbyist to influence politicians.
This week a Philadelphia jury awarded $9.45 million to an Alabama woman who claimed that Pfizer’s Wyeth unit hormone-replacement drug, Prempro caused her to develop breast cancer. $6 million dollars of the award was for punitive damages. More than six million women took the drug until a 2002 study indicated that the drug was linked to cancer. Including this verdict, Pfizer has lost seven of the ten cases that have gone to jury trials.
Dangerous drugs are prevalent in our country. Everyday we learn about others, including Yaz, Yasmin, Avandia and many others. If you have been injured as a result of taking a dangerous drug, call the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP for a free consultation

Chrysler Group LLC announced on yesterday it will replace a front airbag crash sensor in more than 355,000 minivans. Careful not to call it a “recall”, Chrysler says it’s “safety improvement campaign” covers its 2005 -2006 Chrysler Town and Country and Dodge Grand Caravan minivans sold in the United State and Canada.

Chrysler’s “safety improvement campaign” came about because they discovered that under certain environmental conditions one of the front airbag sensors could crack allowing water to enter the sensor potentially rendering it inoperable. In a carefully worded document Chrysler sent to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to notify them of the “safety improvement campaign”, Chrysler said inter alia, “Until the vehicle is repaired, the airbags may not provide the enhanced protection in the event of a crash.”

As Georgia injury lawyers, we have seen and litigated many product liability cases. It is clear that, at present, in the event of an automobile accident involving Chrysler’s 2005 -2006 Chrysler Town and Country and Dodge Grand Caravan minivans potentially the front seat passengers of those vehicles would have no protection and might be subjected to serious injuries and possibly death in the event of a head-on collision.

Recently, the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP got a call from a former client who advised us that her 21 year old daughter had been having gall bladder problems that led to her having her gall bladder removed. It turned out that she had been taking one of two related dangerous drugs that have become associated with such health problems, Yaz. Yasmin became a very popular seller for Bayer Corp. almost immediately upon release to the public in 2001 (Yaz was approved in 2006). Both are oral contraceptives that combine progestin with estrogen to prevent pregnancy. Bayer’s earlier commercials for Yaz claimed it was not only an effective birth control, but that it also provided relief from PMS and acne. Although the side effects were played down in the original commercials, the FDA demanded new spots be aired that were more forthcoming about potential risks. Yasmin and Yaz share an ingredient; drospirenone, which is a component of progestin. Drospirenone has been associated with health risks that are not present in other forms of progestin. It may increase potassium levels in the bloodstream which could result in serious health issues, such as cardiac arrhythmias. This becomes a serious problem for people who suffer from obesity, diabetes or high blood pressure. Symptoms to be noted are: a sudden numbness, confusion, vision problems, speech or balance difficulties, chest pain, nausea, migraine headaches, jaundice, insomnia, depression and behavioral changes, as well as changes in the woman’s menstrual cycle.
If you or a loved one have taken these drugs and been injured as a result, call the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP.

Defective and dangerous infant cribs have become a major problem across the United States. Since September 2007 the Consumer Product Safety Commission, CPSC, has recalled more than 6 million cribs due to dangerous designs and defects. These problems include failures related to drop sides, hardware and wooden slats.

Consumer advocates and health professionals have long complained that federal safety requirements governing cribs do not address the durability of drop-sides on cribs and related hardware, as well as wood strength and quality and other issues.

Wednesday, the chairman of the CPSC, warned crib makers that her agency is cracking down on defective equipment and will push through tougher federal requirements for cribs.