Forced arbitration in consumer contracts has become a way of life in the United States. Almost all consumer contracts and purchase agreements contain clauses requiring a person that has been the victim of fraud, negligence, or intentional harmful conduct by a large company to give up their rights to a jury trial and submit to arbitration.
For many years consumer and lawyer groups have complained that these arbitration panels are stacked against consumers and serve as nothing more than “bought” protectors of large companies.
Recently,
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Our Atlanta car accident attorneys frequently review cases in which the negligent driver has been distracted while conversing on a cell phone. Recently, the consumer advocacy groups Public Citizen and the Center for Auto Safety obtained records showing that since 2003, the government has known that drivers talking on their cell phones experience the same potentially deadly distraction whether they are using a handheld device or hands-free technology.
In a press release the groups stated that by keeping this information secret from the public
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Many servicemembers and dependents reside in Georgia. While servicemembers can receive care at military hospitals they have no rights if they are the victim of malpractice, no matter how egregious. The Feres Doctrine, named after a 1950 Supreme Court decision, grants complete immunity to military health care professionals who commit malpractice upon service members. Service members who have sacrificed for their country and become victims of malpractice are left to suffer the consequences with no recourse.
This injustice has again come to light in
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According to news reports out of Memphis, Tennessee, on Monday, July 20, a suspect was on the run from the police when he ran a red light striking another vehicle and killing the innocent driver of that vehicle. The newspaper reports said the suspect was fleeing from the police in a stolen vehicle and that when he hit the other car he did so on the driver’s side killing the female driver instantly. The news report indicates that the innocent victim was a female in
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We read in the paper about a tragic death which occurred in Pittsburg, Kansas on July 17 of this year. According to news accounts, deputy Sheriffs in Cherokee County, Kansas were pursuing a driver who had committed traffic violations. During the high speed pursuit, the fleeing suspect rear-ended another vehicle on the road resulting in the death of a 13-year old innocent victim. The child’s mother was taken to a nearby hospital but the news accounts released thus far do not indicate the severity of
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Accutane, a popular, but dangerous, acne drug has been pulled from the U.S. market by its manufacturer, Roche Holdings, a Swiss company. Currently, Accutane is the subject of about 700 lawsuits alleging that the drug caused inflammatory bowel disease. Most of the lawsuits have been consolidated in the courts of New Jersey, where the drug is manufactured by Hoffman -LaRoche, a U.S. subsidary of Roche Holdings.
Inflammatory bowel disease (which is not the same thing as irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS) refers to two diseases that cause inflammation of the intestines, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. The diseases have some features in common, but there are some important differences.
Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory disease of the large intestine, also called the colon. In ulcerative colitis, the inner lining of the intestine becomes inflamed and develops ulcers. Ulcerative colitis is often the most severe in the rectal area, which can cause frequent diarrhea. Mucus and blood often appear in the stool if the lining of the colon is damaged.
Crohn’s disease differs from ulcerative colitis in the areas of the bowel it involves. It most commonly affects the last part of the small intestine and parts of the large intestine. However, Crohn’s disease can attack any part of the digestive tract. Crohn’s disease causes inflammation that extends much deeper into the layers of the intestinal wall than ulcerative colitis. Crohn’s disease generally tends to involve the entire bowel wall, whereas ulcerative colitis affects only the lining of the bowel.
By withdrawing the drug from the U.S. market Roche may be hoping to fuel settlements of the pending lawsuits. Roche has lost the six lawsuits that have gone to trial to date with damages totaling more than 33 million dollars.
The lawsuits allege that Roche failed to warn doctors and patients about the risks of developing inflammatory bowel disease.
Accutane has previously been linked to birth defects and has been removed from the market in 11 other countries.

According to a report issued by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund the number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty jumped twenty percent (20%) during the first six months of 2009. The number of officers killed in traffic related incidents increased seventeen percent (17%) during the first six months of 2009 from 30 to 35 deaths. Of interest is the fact that more officers are killed in the line of duty in traffic related accidents than they are with incidents
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Georgia injury lawyers know that a medical providers failure to diagnose a condition or even mis-diagnose a condition can, and often does, result in the wrongful death of a patient.
A Tennessee state court jury has awarded nearly $24 million to a woman in what is one of the largest medical malpractice verdicts ever in the state of Tennessee. The lawsuit alleged her doctor failed to diagnose a lump that she complained about over the course of 18 months. The lump turned

Now that the Obama administration is proposing health care reform, big insurance companies and some doctors associations are attempting to graft so called “tort reform” into the legislation. Georgia residents are already faced with a very restrictive system which affords doctors, hospitals, and other health care professionals with extraordinary protections against lawsuits. Even in the worst cases of malpractice victims are restircted to a recovery for non economic damages of no more than $350,000.00.
The New York Times today ran an excellent guest editorial regarding
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Our Georgia injury lawyers have represented clients who have suffered injuries or lost loved ones in boating accidents and collisions. Boating accidents usually occur in our area either on a privately owned vessel or on a personal watercraft (jet ski). Some of the causes include:
Boater error
Boater inexperience
Boating under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol
Equipment failure
Adverse weather and/or water conditions
A boat operator and the boats owner must exercise the highest degree of care to prevent injuries to passengers, swimmers
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