Trial Attorney Blog

The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have sued a number of police departments around the State of Georgia for the wrongful death of innocent citizens caused by police chases. Our experience has shown that following a high speed pursuit, the police begin immediately to plan their defense. We have already seen this in last week’s outrageous police chase in Clayton County. The police have told reporters that the officer had already slowed down “hoping that the fleeing suspect would slow down”. In other words, the police will say, as they always do, that they were not “in pursuit” at the time of the collision. Oh yes, they often contend they had “terminated the pursuit” by the time of the fatal crash. Trying now to put as much distance between the pursuing officer and the crash, they say the officer didn’t even see the collision! I wonder whether the police videotape will bear this out or whether it will mysteriously disappear as it does in so many police chase cases. We see the same lame excuses for bad police conduct over and over. Where was the pursuing police officers supervisor in all of this. Did he radio the speeding officer and tell him to back off or terminate the chase or did he not hear such commands, if made.Will this be another case where the radio was not working properly? In handling many of these police chase cases, we discovered a woman whose own innocent daughter was killed as a result of a police chase case. She has a website which every citizen should check out. http://pursuitsafety.org/index.html She posts the photograph of every innocent victim of police chases. When you see the faces of some of the thousands of innocent victims who have lost their livesas a result of “cowboy” police chases over misdemeanor criminal offenses and traffic offenses, you can see why the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP feel passionate about these cases.
If you have a loved one that has been killed as a result of a police chase, the experienced Georgia police chase lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP would be more than happy to discuss the rights you have to pursue justice. Call us at (404) 658-9070 or toll free at (800) 228-9159.

Our Atlanta product liability attorneys have represented parents of children killed and seriously injured by dangerous products.

Drawstrings in hooded sweatshirts have been long recognized as a danger to small children. There have been many reports of children strangled after the drawstrings have been accidently caught in various devices. Some of these incidents have resulted in death.

In November 2008, a 3-year-old boy died in Fresno, Calif., when the drawstring on his Hill Sportswear hooded sweatshirt became stuck on a playground set strangling him. Hill Sportswear and the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a recall of the sweatshirts in February of this year.

The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have several wrongful death lawsuits pending against various police departments throughout the state. They all involve police chases.They all involve police officers violating their own department policy with respect to police chases. They all involve the wrongful death of innocent victims and several involve the Clayton County Police. Will they ever get the message? Yesterday, Clayton County Police officers saw two men in a pickup truck appear to solicit a known prostitute. When they attempted to detain them, the men took off and the police took off in hot pursuit putting innocent citizens at risk of serious injury or death. During the course of the police chase which began in Clayton County and ended in Fulton County, two innocent women were killed when the fleeing suspects slammed head-on into the women’s car. Is it worth imposing the death sentence on innocent citizens to catch two men who have allegedly propositioned a prostitute? I am sure that the families of the two innocent victims don’t think so and most rational people don’t either. Maybe when the counties employing these officers get hit with large enough verdicts, they will either change their chase/pursuit policies or enforce the ones on the books.
If you have lost loved ones as a result of police officers negligently chasing fleeing suspects over minor offenses such as soliciting a prostitute, traffic offenses or misdemeanor criminal offenses, call the Atlanta Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP. We have been representing the families of innocent police chase victims in wrongful death lawsuits for years and have substantial experience handling such cases. For a free consultation call us at 800 228-9159.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is again launching an attempt to protect its mega business members at the expense of ordinary U.S. citizens. The Chamber has been at the forefront in attempts to mislead Americans about a multitude of issues which affect millions of people, all to protect the profits of its controlling members. Now, the Chamber is rolling out an advertising campaign of at least $2 million aimed at defeating a central plank of the Obama administration’s financial-regulation overhaul.

But there won’t be any mention of banks, Wall Street groups, and insurance companies whose interests the Chamber is seeking to protect.

The ads are aimed at the administration’s proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency, which would regulate consumer products including mortgages and credit cards, some of the areas which were unregulated for years and led directly to the economic disaster the country is now facing. It would have the power to ban certain practices and require financial firms to offer loans with simple terms and clear disclosure.

A Florida jury awarded a 92-year-old man over $5.3 million in his wrongful death lawsuit against Phillip Morris, the cigarette maker according to The Miami Herald. The man’s wife died in 1996 at the age of 63 from lung cancer after smoking 2 packs of Marlboro’s a day since she was 16-years of age. The apparent theory of the case was that the tobacco industry, including Philip Morris, misrepresented the risk of smoking in its advertising and knowingly sold a product which was addictive. Notwithstanding the ridiculous 1994 sworn testimony of the tobacco industry CEO’s to Congress that “nicotine is not addictive”, this jury found otherwise.
Losing a loved one is difficult especially when that loss is due to the negligence of another person or persons. Finch McCranie, LLP has over 40 years experience pursuing wrongful death lawsuits. If you have lost a loved one and feel you have a wrongful death claim, call our experienced Georgia injury lawyers at 1-800-228-9159 for a free consultation of your case.

If you go on Google and take advantage of a tool known as “Google News Alerts,” Google will send to you via e-mail news accounts in which certain terms are used. I typed in today the terms “police chase killed.” The following are headlines received from newspapers across the country which I received from this Google News Alert:

1) Victim In Police Chase Remembered as Caring Mom;

2) Woman Killed In Crash During Oakland Police Chase;

Georgia injury lawyers have not forgotten the sworn testimony the CEO’s of all of the major tobacco companies gave Congress a few years ago. Who could forget when these prominent men raised their right hands and swore that “Nicotine is not addictive”. Apparently a jury has not forgotten their testimony. Bloomberg reported that in a wrongful death case, a California jury has ordered Altria Group, Inc., the parent company of Philip Morris USA, maker of Marlboro cigarettes to pay $13.8 million in punitive damages to the daughter of a smoker who died of lung cancer. According to the original lawsuit, the cigarette maker misrepresented the risk of smoking in its advertising. In 2002, a jury awarded $28 million to the plaintiff. That award was later reduced and eventually thrown out prior to the most recent trial. The deceased plaintiff who was 64 at the time of the original trial had smoked since she was 17. According to her lawyer, Philip Morris misrepresented the risks of smoking for 50 years.
The Georgia injury law firm of Finch McCranie, LLP have over 40 years experience pursuing wrongful death lawsuits. If you have lost a loved one and feel you have a wrongful death claim, call our experienced attorneys at 1 (800) 228-9159 for a free consultation.

A Douglas County, Georgia woman has been charged with criminal offenses involving drunk driving after a collision early last Monday morning resulted in two deaths of innocent motorists. The Atlanta press reported that Natasha Searcy, 22, was driving drunk in her 1998 Pontiac when she crossed the center line, striking a car driven by 25-year-old Ashley Ingalsbe.

Searcy has been charged with vehicular homicide in the first and second degrees, driving under the influence, not having insurance and failure to maintain lane, and was denied bond.

The press reported that Luke Ingalsbe, 4, died in the crash. Ashley Ingalsbe died Monday afternoon, and Ashley Ingalsbe’s 2-year-old son Jacob and her boyfriend, Thomas Vinnacombe, were also seriously injured.

Our Georgia attorneys frequently receive calls about dangerous drugs which seem to be routinely marketed to unsuspecting consumers and health care professionals. Recently, weight-loss drugs made by mega-manufacturers GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Roche Holding AG were linked to at least 32 reports of serious liver injury from 1999 to October 2008.

The Food and Drug Administration has posted a notice on its web site advising consumers taking Glaxo’s over-the-counter drug Alli or Roche’s prescription Xenical to consult a doctor if they experience weakness, fever, jaundice or other symptoms of liver injury. The FDA did not recommend that patients or doctors stop using these medicines.

Both medicines contain orlistat, a chemical that blocks the intestines from absorbing fat when taken as many as three times a day with meals. The FDA approved Xenical in 1999 for weight loss and weight management in conjunction with a reduced-calorie diet. Alli, half the dose of Xenical, was cleared for non- prescription use in 2007.

Last September a 2 month old child in Demorest, Georgia, died after being suffocated when she became trapped in a pocket of fabric not securely fastened to her bassinet. In January of this year, a 6 month old child in Fort Worth, Texas, died when a fabric flap on her basinett was undone and she became trapped between exposed bars in the bassinet.

Both children died after getting trapped in previously recalled bassinets manufactured by Simplicity. These deaths follow two prior deaths in 2008 under similar circumstances.

Last Thursday, the Consumer Product Safety Commission renewed warnings about the dangers associated with close-sleeper/bedside bassinets. The Simplicity 3 in 1 nad 4 in 1 convertible bassinets contain metal bars which are spaced farther apart than allowed by federal standards.