Trial Attorney Blog

A couple of years ago the Georgia Injury Lawyers at Finch McCranie LLP, represented the family of a young boy who fell from a civic center stage to the concrete floor below. Within moments the boy had slipped into a coma. With limited resources, the parents cared for their son in the living room of their home, 24-hours a day. As time went one and the boy ended up back in the hospital, officials there put more and more pressure upon the parents to remove the boy from life support. The parents refused to do so and the young boy eventually died as a result of his brain injury.
The facts of every case are certainly different; however, recent news out of Brussels, Belgium give one pause when it comes to making such a decision now. Recently made public in various newspapers and on internet sites throughout the world is the story of Rom Houben, a 46-year old man who was involved in an automobile accident 26 years ago. Up until 3 years ago, this man was thought to be in a vegetative state, but thanks to new brain scanning technology, they discovered that not only was his brain functioning properly but it was almost operating normally. Doctors used a state-of-the-art scanning system which demonstrated the almost normal brain functioning. Houben said that even though his body was paralyzed and he was unable to communicate, he heard every word that was said in his presence. Dr. Steven Laureys, a neurologist at the University of Liege in Belgium has published a new study that states Mr. Houben could be one of many misdiagnosed coma cases in the world. With this new information, the decision to discontinue life support of an accident victim in a coma would be exceedingly difficult for a family.

A few years ago, the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP represented an elderly woman who had beeen knocked down and seriously injured by malfunctioning electric doors at an Atlanta grocery store. We sued the store and the door company responsible for maintaing the doors. Recently, an 80-year old woman settled a very similar case for $7 million with Target and a mechanical door company. She had been knocked down by a faulty door in 2007. The woman sustained brain injuries which left her with significant cognitive deficits and required her to move into a nursing home.
If you or a loved one has been injured while shopping upon the property of a retail store or at a mall, call the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP who have been representing clients in premises liability litigation for over 40 years.

Recently, we represented a gymnastics instructor in a contested workers compensation claim. The client was expected to attend and supervise gymnastics meets around the city as a part of her job duties even though she was not paid to do so. One evening while on her way home from such an event, she was seriously injured in an automobile accident. The employer/insurer took the position that she was “off the clock” and not in the course and scope of her employment from the time she left the event. Fortunately, the State Board of Workers Compensation did not agree and she was awarded benefits. This case made us think about the changing employment landscape. In the past, employers whose employees clocked in and out at work could be assured that when the employees left the job site they would be free from any obligation to their employees until the start of the next work day. However, recent technological advances and the concept of “telecommuting” have expanded the workplace into the employee’s home and personal life. The development of PDA’s, cell phones and email allows employers to stay in contact with their employees after the work day is over. Accordingly, some employers now expect employees to perform work related tasks even when they are “off the clock”. Technology has effectively turned some employees into 24/7 workers. This could be potentially good evidence for Georgia injury lawyers to develop in future workers compensation cases with some workers.
If you or someone you care about have sustained a work related injury, call the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP for a free consultation.

The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP are well aware that there are many dangerous products that come to market. This week Federal Safety Regulators have announced the recall of more than 2.1 million drop-side cribs made by a Canadian manufacturer. It appears that part of the mechanism that allows the rail to slide up and down can break which can allow a child to get wedged between the bed and the rail, resulting in the child’s suffocation and death. The recall covers cribs manufactured and distributed between January of 1993 and October of 2009 and sold at major retailers. It has been reported that Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said that her agency likely had not acted fast enough in recalling cribs made by Stork Craft Manufacturing.
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured as a result of a dangerous product, call the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP for a free consultation.

The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP are investigating injury claims associated with the popular birth control drugs Yaz, Yasmin, & Ocella. Last month, we received a call from a 21 year old former client who had undergone surgery to remove her gall bladder. As it turned out, she had been taking Yaz. Recent reports suggest that these prescription medications could be putting millions of young women at risk of serious side effects, including stroke, heart attack, blood clots, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and even death. A recent study published by the British Medial Journal demonstrated that birth control products containing the active ingredient contained in Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella – Drospirenone – carried a risk of blood clots nearly double that of other birth control medications. Other reports have associated Drospirenone with an increased risk of gallbladder disease, resulting in removal. Yaz and Yasmin are manufactured by Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Ocella is the generic equivalent of Yasmin, manufactured by Barr Laboratories. Bayer has previously received warnings from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for advertisements that overstated the benefits of Yaz and which minimized the potential safety risk associated with the drug. As a part of a subsequent agreement with the FDA and attorneys general in 27 states, Bayer began running a new ad campaign in February of 2009 to correct the information conveyed by deceptive Yaz commercials.
If you believe that you or a family member have been injured as a result of using the prescription contraceptives Yaz, Yasmin, or Ocella, contact the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP at 1 800-228-9159.

Medical malpractice is a serious problem in Georgia and the United States. While limits on recoveries for innocent victims is being pushed by large insurance companies, there are many issues that are being ignored. One is the lack of information available to the public about incompetent doctors and hospitals.

More than 20 years ago, Congress created a federal database to track incompetent and unprofessional health-care practitioners. The database, compiled by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, includes some 460,000 records of malpractice lawsuits whose judgments total $69.7 billion. It includes information on 23,788 patient deaths, 8,100 major permanent injuries and 3,896 cases that resulted in quadriplegics, brain damage or lifelong care.

This is information that is critical to patients selecting doctors and hospitals. However, much of the data is closed to the public. Although the full database is open to hospitals, managed care organizations and state licensing agencies, the public can view only limited information, such as the lawsuit’s allegation and the patient’s health. The doctors’ names remain hidden.

Georgia injury lawyers are very much aware of the number of dangerous drugs that make it to the market. Lobbying efforts by the powerful drug companies and the FDA’s failure in recent years to police the pharmaceutical industry has resulted in more than a few dangerous drugs coming on the market. We read last week that a Philadelphia jury recently awarded $75 million in punitive damages to an Illinois woman who developed cancer after taking one of Pfizer’s menopause drugs. The jury awarded $3.7 million awarded in actual damages. More than 6 million women have taken Prempro, a hormone replacement drug, used to treat symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats and mood swings during menopause. A study in 2002 by the Women’s Health Initiative suggested women who used hormone replacement drugs are at higher risk for developing breast cancer. According to news reports, the Illinois woman took Prempro for 5 years before she developed breast cancer in 2002. So far, Pfizer’s Wyeth unit has lost 5 of the 8 cases tried with 33 more scheduled for trial.
As we have all seen, prescription drugs can have serious side effects. Other drugs which are thought to cause health problems include birth control drugs, Yaz and Yasmin which were manufactured by Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The Georgia Injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLPhttp://www.georgiainjurylawyers.net/Dangerous-Drugs.cfm have pursued prescription drug injury cases and other personal injury lawsuits in Georgia for over 40 years. If you are somebody you care about has been injured or killed by an unsafe prescription drug, call us today at 1-800-228-9159 for a free evaluation of your case.

The United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit has issued an important opinion in an ERISA case. In Longaberger Co. v. Kolt, No. 08-4432 Nov. 16, 2009. the court held an ERISA plan could enforce its reimbursement rights against an attorney who obtained a personal injury settlement on behalf of an insured.

The attorney negotiated a $135,000 settlement on behalf of a client who was involved in an automobile accident. Only $1,000 remained in his lawyer’s trust account after disbursing $86,000 to the client, and then taking $45,000 as an attorney fee and paying other lawyers involved in the case.

The client was an insured of the plaintiff, an employee welfare benefit plan. The plaintiff sued the attorney under ERISA, seeking reimbursement for $114,000 in medical bills paid on behalf of the client.

Our Atlanta automobile product defect attorneys have written many blogs critical of automobile manufacturers for delaying or resisting recalls of dangerous products. Now Volvo deserves credit for quickly and voluntarily issuing a recall due to a dangerous defect. Volvo is recalling 9,667 of its 2010 XC60s, most of them in the United States and Canada, because in a crash test the driver’s seat belt came undone.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety conducted a side-impact test on the XC60 in early October of this year as part of routine testing to select its Top Safety Pick awards. The test involves a barrier striking the driver’s side at 31 miles an hour. The barrier is supposed to represent the front end of an S.U.V. or pickup truck.

During that test, the driver’s seat belt in the XC60 detached from the point to the left of the driver’s hip at which the belt is anchored to the vehicle.

We just read of another incident in which an Atlanta area young man died as a result of an “overdose” of acetaminophen, the aspirin-free pain reliever found in Tylenol. Many people believe acetaminophen is one of the safest painkillers on the market. If used properly it is safe, but, it is also the leading cause of acute liver failure in the United States.

Taking just slightly more than the maximum recommended dose for a few days can be toxic, even deadly.

We have previously blogged on these dangers, but feel the warnings are worth repeating.