Trial Attorney Blog

At least every week the Atlanta media carries a story concerning a wreck in which alcohol and drunk driving are a factor. The lawyers at Finch McCranie LLP see entirely too many cases in which alcohol or drunk driving cause serious injuries and death. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, recently released data concerning alcohol impaired driving for the year 2007. This is the latest year in which the data has been collected and analyzed. The figures are frightening.
Drivers are considered to be alcohol-impaired when their blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is .08 grams per deciliter (g/dL) or higher. Thus, any fatality occurring in a crash involving a driver with a BAC of .08 or higher is considered to be an alcohol-impaired-driving fatality. In the NHTSA study the term driver included motorcycle operators as well as car and truck drivers.
In 2007, 12,998 people were killed in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes. These alcohol-impaired-driving fatalities accounted for 32 percent of the total motor vehicle traffic fatalities in the United States.
While these numbers are entirely too high, traffic fatalities in alcohol-impaired-driving wrecks decreased nearly 4 percent from 13,491 in 2006 to 12,998 in 2007. The 12,998 fatalities in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes during 2007 represent an average of one alcohol-impaired-driving fatality every 40 minutes.
In 2007, all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico had by law created a
threshold making it illegal per se to drive with a BAC of .08 or higher. Of the 12,998
people who died in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes in 2007, 8,644 (67%) were
drivers with a BAC of .08 or higher. The remaining fatalities consisted of 3,581 (28%)
motor vehicle passengers and 773 (6%) pedestrians.
In 2007, a total of 1,670 children age 14 and younger were killed in motor vehicle
traffic crashes. Of those 1,670 fatalities, 245 (15%) occurred in alcohol-impaired driving
crashes. Out of those 245 deaths, more than half (130) were occupants of a
vehicle with a driver who had a BAC level of .08 or higher. Another 29 children age 14 and younger who were killed in traffic crashes in 2007 were pedestrians or cyclists who were struck by drivers with a BAC of .08 or higher.
The rate of alcohol impairment among drivers involved in fatal crashes was four
times higher at night than during the day (36% versus 9%).
In 2007, 15 percent of all drivers involved in fatal crashes during the week were
alcohol-impaired, compared to 31 percent on weekends.
In fatal crashes in 2007 the highest percentage of drivers with a BAC level of .08 or
higher was for drivers ages 21 to 24 (35%), followed by ages 25 to 34 (29%) and 35
to 44 (25%). The percentages of drivers involved in fatal crashes with a BAC level of .08 or
higher in 2007 were 27 percent for motorcycle operators and 23 percent for both
light trucks and passenger cars. The percentage of drivers with BAC levels of .08 or
higher in fatal crashes was the lowest for large trucks (1%). In 2007, 7,058 passenger vehicle drivers killed had a BAC of .08 or higher. Out of those 7,058 driver fatalities, for which restraint use was known, 73 percent were unrestrained.
Drivers with a BAC of .08 or higher involved in fatal crashes were eight times
more likely to have a prior conviction for driving while impaired (DWI) than were
drivers with no alcohol related prior convictions.

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As Georgia personal injury lawyers we have represented many people who have died or sustained serious injuries as a result of falling. Many of them are senior citizens and many of the accidents are a result of dangerous conditions caused by the negligence of stores, restaurants and other businesses. Although the elderly most fear breaking a hip when they fall, a government study indicates that hitting their head can also have deadly consequences. Brain injuries account for half of all deaths from falls.
The study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the first comprehensive national look at the role brain injuries play in fatal elderly falls. It examined 16,000 deaths in 2005 that listed unintentional falls as an underlying cause of death. The study found that slightly more than half of the deaths were attributed to brain injuries. The other deaths were due to a variety of causes including heart failure, strokes, infections and existing chronic conditions worsened by a broken hip or other injuries sustained in a fall.
The attorneys at Finch McCranie, LLP have been standing up for the rights of injured victims for over 40 years. If you or a loved one has fallen and been injured as a result of the negligence of a store or other business, call us at (800) 228-9159.

The Atlanta based lawyers with Finch McCranie LLP frequently receive calls about children injured by products specifically designed for their use. Last Thursday, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, CPSC, recalled 200,000 potentially deadly Fisher-Price’s Rainforest play yards.
Approximately 1,350 people had complained to the CPSC that one or both sides of the Rainforest play yard had collapsed. There were numerous reported injuries that included a broken nose, a mild concussion and a broken wrist. The play yards are often used as portable cribs and have a bassinet attachment. When the rails collapse, babies can fall out, get trapped or gain access to unsafe areas.
The play yards were made by Simplicity Inc., under a licensing agreement with Fisher Price and were sold in the Atlanta area and elsewhere. Simplicity, which is now out of business, made its own branded play yards, some of which are still on the market. The CPSC is investigating whether those shared the same dangerous design.
There are reports that the CPSC knew rails on the Rainforest play yards were collapsing early last year, but officials decided not to issue the recall. The CPSC apparently reconsidered when it was flooded with complaints late last year.
At least 18 children have died in other brands of play yards when the railings collapsed into a V-shape that strangled or trapped them.
Fisher-Price agreed to send consumers a $100 refund after they send the company the fabric sides to prevent further use.

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The current salmonella outbreak has a Georgia connection. The Food and Drug Administration announced yesterday that peanut butter and peanut paste made from ground roasted peanuts, manufactured in Peanut Corp.’s Blakely, Georgia, plant were found to contain the bacteria.

The FDA is advising consumers to not eat foods that contain peanut butter until they can be they are sure they do not contain salmonella contaminated products manufactured by the Peanut Corp. of America.

To date six deaths may have been connected to this salmonella outbreak, and over 500 people have been reported ill from salmonella.

The Governor of Georgia has proposed legislation endorsing a system that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) castigated in a report issued yesterday. The GAO concluded that almost twenty years after Congress directed that all high-tech medical devices be subjected to a thorough review by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), before being placed on the market, the FDA still approves most such devices after minimal testing.

This report is especially timely since the Bush administration has long argued that FDA testing and approval shields the drug and medical device manufacturers from civil liability. The Governor of Georgia has just proposed legislation which would give similar protections to these drug and device makers under Georgia law.

The GAO report shows that the system is “fixed” to provide manufacturers speedy approval so that dangerous medical devices can be placed on the market with no recourse for innocent persons maimed or killed by the products.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that about 535,000 Stork Craft Baby Cribs have been recalled. These cribs pose an entrapment and suffocation risk. The CPSC has instructed customers to stop using the products immediately.
The cribs were made by Stork Craft Manufacturing Inc. and were manufactured and sold between May 2000 and November 2008. They came in a variety of styles and finishes.
The metal support brackets holding the mattress and mattress board in place can break, causing a dangerous gap between the mattress and crib rails.
The CPSC has received 10 reports in which one or more of the supports broke. In one of those reports, a toddler received bruises on his forehead, and in another a child became stuck in the gap.
The Stork Craft cribs were sold between May 2000 and January 2009 at major retailers, including those in Georgia and Atlanta, such as J.C. Penney, Kmart and Walmart, and online at Amazon.com, Babiesrus.com, Costco.com and Walmart.com, the CPSC said. Each one retailed for between $100 and $400.
Stork Craft Manufacturing’s name, address, and contact information, along with the manufacturing information, are located on the assembly instruction sheet, which is attached to the mattress support board. Each crib was built in Canada, China or Indonesia between May 2000 and November 2008. Some models are also inscribed with the company’s logo and the words “storkcraft baby” on the drop side teething rail, according to the recall notice.
Anyone having one of these cribs should stop using it immediately.

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Eli Lilly, the drug company, according to a report in the New York times, is expected to agree as soon as Thursday to pay $1.4 billion to settle criminal and civil charges that it illegally marketed its antipsychotic drug Zyprexa for unauthorized use in patients particularly vulnerable to its risky side effects.

The company has been charged with scheming to concvince doctors to prescribe Zyprexa for patients, children and older persons, for whom the drug was not federally approved. Studies have shown that the drug poses risks when used by these two groups.

According to reports, Lilly convinced physicians to use Zyprexa to sedate unruly nursing home patients solely to reduce time needed to devote to them. Lilly is also accused of marketing the drug to pediatricians and other doctors to treat disruptive children even though the medicine’s tendency to cause severe weight gain and metabolic disorders is particularly pronounced in children.

Our Atlanta lawyers have had experience in bringing actions based upon foodborne illnesses such a salmonella. The salmonella outbreak across the nation has been potentially traced to peanut butter. A recall has been issued for peanut butter distributed by King Nut Companies of Solon, Ohio. The peanut butter was supplied only through food service providers and was not sold directly to consumers. King Nut has challenged the recall contending it could not be the source of the nationwide outbreak since it distributes to only seven states.

Three deaths have been attributed the outbreak. These occurred in Virginia and Minnesota. Two adults in Virginia had salmonella when they died, though it has not been established that the salmonella is what killed them. Minnesota health officials reported that an elderly woman had salmonella poisoning at the time of her death.

Health officials are urging nursing homes, hospitals, schools, universities and restaurants to toss out specific containers of peanut butter linked to a salmonella outbreak in 43 states and possibly to the deaths of three people.

Our lawyers receive numerous calls concernig foodborne illnesses, particularly those contracted in restuarants. Now, Georgia is among the 42 states that have been struck with a salmonella outbreak, with five people taken ill and one requiring hospitalization, according to officials from the state Division of Public Health.

The ages of the Georgians that have become ill range from 7 to 73, and the cases occurred in five different counties. The cases appeared from late October to early December of last year.

A salmonella outbreak has been reported in Georgia. State officials say the cause of the outbreak remains unknown but they are working with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to identify it. A total of about a dozen people have been hospitalized and about 400 have been sickened by the salmonella outbreak over 42 states. The CDC is leading the investigation but has yet to release a full list of states.

Dangerous and defective medical devices pose a real and present danger to patients everyday in the Atlanta area and across the Unites States. In many cases the results are debilitating injuries or death. Recently, the United States Supreme Court, at the urging of the Bush administration, provided cover to the companies that manufacture such devices.

The St. Petersburg Times newspaper has printed an editorial in which it exposes the hypocrisy of the current administration in granting federal approval to such devices thereby preempting consumer action.

The newspaper describes it as “an old story.” A federal agency within the Bush administration is embroiled in controversy over the manipulation of science. A group of scientists and physicians within the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has written Congress accusing top FDA officials of misconduct in the approval of medical devices. The scientists warn that unsafe or ineffective devices that were improperly approved may be threatening public safety, and the full extent of the danger may not be known for years.