Personal Injury & Wrongful Death

Family Files Wrongful Death Suit Over Police Chase That Ended in Fatality

It seems that everyday when our personal injury lawyers open the paper, we read about another wrongful death in the context of a high speed police chase. Today, we read about another tragic police chase, this one in Montana. The Billings Gazette reported that the family of a Billings nurse killed by a drunken teenager who was fleeing from police has filed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit, claiming city officers and county deputies violated their own pursuit policies. Stahl died shortly
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Dangerous Contraceptive Pills Yaz and YasminShould Be Removed From The Market

As Georgia injury lawyers, we are well aware that citizens can no longer rely on the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) to be the guardian of public safety when it comes to new drugs that come to market. Every year, the cash rich pharmaceutical companies, with their high powered lobbyist market and sell dangerous drugs and medical devices to the public. The Coalition Against Bayer Dangers, a consumer watchdog group, has demanded an ban of “third generation” contraceptive pills with increased rates of side effects. Studies
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Aide Pleads Guilty To Neglect In Nursing Home Death

Nursing home neglect and nursing home negligence leading to the wrongful death or serious injury of the elderly is a growing problem. With the number of aging baby boomers steadily increasing, it is likely to continue to be a problem. Neglect takes many forms. Recently, we read that an Illinois woman involved in a lawsuit over the alleged wrongful death of an 89-year old Alzheimer patient has pleaded guilty to criminal neglect, according to the Chicago Tribune. Sara Wentworth died of hypothermia earlier this

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Federal Pleading Standards Receiving Congressional Scrutiny

Pleading standards in Federal Courts have been dramatically impacted by two recent United States Supreme Court decisions. These decisions, Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, raised the standard that parties bringing a lawsuit must meet to avoid having their cases dismissed.
At issue is how specific a pleading must be under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Rule 8 requires that a complaint include “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Rule 12
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Serious Injury Or Death Often Results From Electrocution Injury

As Georgia injury lawyers, we have seen a number of electrocution cases over the years. Some of the electrocutions result in serious injury and many result in death. Electrocution injury can cause many problems which include, tingling, pain, tetany, palpitations, chest pain, respiratory arrest, amnesia, seizures, altered mental state, coma, blistering and wounds. This week we had occasion to investigate the electrocution of a client who is a lineman for an electric utility company. He was seriously injured when he came into contact
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Nine Deaths Linked To Highly Flammable Women’s Robes

The product liability injury lawyers at Finch McCranie,LLP have handled many wrongful death cases stemming from dangerous products. These products take many different forms. The Associated Press reported this week that full-lenght women’s chenille robes made in Pakistan are being recalled because they are highly flammable and are now linked to nine deaths of women, most of whom were in their 70’s and 80’s. Most of the incidents occurred while the victims were cooking.
Our firm has seen many wrongful death cases
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Doctors Convicted Of Felonies Still Paid By Taxpayers

Doctors who have committed crimes are still being paid by taxpayers for doing work for the Food and Drug Administration according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. This work ranges from conducting research for the agency or overseeing the safety of patients in clinical trials. The report takes the FDA to task for slowness in debarring ,( disqualifying ), health professionals who have been convicted of crimes.
The FDA has the authority to debar doctors from overseeing the safety of patients in clinical
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Ford Recall:Cruise Controls Malfunction

Recently our firm posted a blog about a tragic accident in Georgia where an 11-year old girl lost her life due to an apparent malfunctioning cruise control switch on a Ford Econoline Van. Last week, we noted with great interest that shortly after this tragic event occurred, the Ford Motor Company recalled 4.5 million vehicles over “faulty cruise control switches.” According to the recall, the faulty cruise control switches being recalled could cause a fire in the vehicle which was the stated reason for the
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Defective Cruise Control Suspected In Wrongful Death

We read today about a tragic case in which an 11-year old girl was killed in an accident that may have resulted from a defective product. According to news accounts, a 1997 Ford Econoline Van lost control near the intersection of U.S. 441 and Interstate 16 while the van was being operated by the child’s grandfather. The grandfather reported to the Georgia State Patrol that the cruise control had gotten stuck and that he could not cut it off. As the driver took the exit
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Recreational Off-Road Vehicle Rules Proposed

Our Atlanta attorneys frequently review cases involving recreational off-road vehicles which involve death and serious injury. The Consumer Product Safety Commission staff has recommended that the agency set mandatory rules to regulate recreational off-road vehicles.
The CPSC’s five commissioners received the written recommendation this week, and must propose a rulemaking before any rules could be implemented. An agency spokesman said the commissioners could vote on whether to proceed with the rulemaking as early as Wednesday of this week.
The off-road vehicles, also known as ROVs,
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Emory Student Struck and Killed By Automobile

An Atlanta television station,11Alive, reported the death of a 19 year old Oxford College at Emory student who was struck and killed by an automobile as she was crossing the street. The girl was a native of North Carolina. Apparently the victim was crossing the street near the intersection of Mason Mill Road and Houston Mill Road in Atlanta when she was hit. The serious injuries she sustained resulted in her death early Saturday morning.
The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie,
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Dangerous Nurses May Be Practicing In Georgia

Dangerous nurses and healthcare providers may be practicing throughout Georgia. In 1987, Congress ordered federal health officials to create a database of state disciplinary actions against nurses and other health professionals. This database includes the names of those who, among other things, have been found to have committed physical, mental and sexual abuse of patients.
While each state is required to maintain a database, no nationally available database has ben created. When a hospital or temporary agency wants to hire a nurse, there’s no easy
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Auto Windows Pose Dangers To Children

The serious injury lawyers at Finch McCranie LLP handle many automobile related cases. A significant number of these involve product defects. One such defect that has remained under publicized is the threat posed by power windows to children.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, estimates there are 1,995 injuries and six deaths a year related to power windows.
A consumer protection group, Kids And Cars, is calling upon NHTSA to require all automobile makers to equip vehicles with automatic reverse features so that
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Automobile Accident Victim Trapped in Coma for 23 Years Was Conscious

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

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Automatic Electric Doors At Retail Stores Can Cause Serious Injuries

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

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On-The Job Injuries Within The Course & Scope Of Employment – An Expanded View

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
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Regulators Announce New Crib Recall

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.
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Birth Control Drugs Yaz, Yasmin & Ocella May Cause Serious Medical Problems

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,
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Critical Medical Information Kept Secret

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
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PFIZER’S WYETH UNIT TO PAY $75 MILLION TO WOMAN WHO DEVELOPED BREAST CANCER AFTER TAKING PREMPRO

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
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