Georgia Injury Lawyer Blog

General Motors Co. Is recalling 1.3 million Chevrolet and Pontiac compacts cars to repair or replace steering motors which can fail causing the vehicle to be difficult to steer at lower speeds. While this may not be an insurmountable problem for some drivers, the Georgia injury lawyers recognize that it may be a serious problem for older or elderly drivers who may surprised by the loss of the power steering and be physically unable to steer the vehicle. Under those circumstances a power steering failure could cause an automobile accident with devastating consequences.

According to an article published by the Associated Press today, General Motors told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about the recall on Monday. NHTSA began an investigation into 905,000 of the models on January 27th after getting 1,100 complaints that the cars lost their power steering. The complaints included 14 crashes and one injury.

If you or a loved one have been injured in an automobile accident involving a recalled vehicle, contact the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP .Our firm has been representing injured victims in products liability claims for over 45 years.

As is usually the case with truck accidents, bus accidents on Georgia roads and highways many times result in serious injury and sometimes death for passengers. The sheer size and weight of theses vehicles make them inherently more dangerous than lighter vehicles.

Just this week, the NY Daily News reported on a bus accident. They reported that the New York City Transit has been ordered by a jury to pay two women a total of $7.5 million in damages after finding that the bus ran a red light and careened into the women’s car seriously injuring both. Interestingly, the bus company could have settled the case prior to trial for $3 million dollars but chose to take their chances with the jury.

If you or a loved one have been seriously injured as a result of being involved in an automobile accident, a truck accident or a bus accident, call the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP to discuss your rights. We have been representing clients in personal injury and wrongful death cases for over 45 years.

Insulin pump failures and defects are a serious and potentially deadly problem.The Food and Drug Administration announced last week that it has seen an increasing number of hardware and software problems with insulin pumps, tiny devices worn by thousands of diabetics to deliver insulin.
The FDA noted that critical insulin pump problems seem to exist across manufacturers. There have been 18 recalls of devices over a five-year period, including recalls by a Roche Holding AG unit and Medtronic.

The FDA is convening an advisory panel of outside medical experts to discuss what actions might be taken to minimize risks associated with the devices in these recall situations
Insulin pumps are primarily used by people with Type I diabetes, a condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin, a hormone needed to help the body properly use sugars from foods. People with Type 1 diabetes need to administer insulin daily whether through a pump or other methods like shots.

The more common form of diabetes, Type 2, which is often associated with obesity and typically develops later in life, is managed with oral medications designed to help the body properly use insulin, although some cases do require insulin.

The FDA said the number of Type I diabetics using insulin pumps has increased, with about 375,000 U.S. users in 2007, up from about 130,000 in 2002.

Manufacturers are required to report problems potentially associated with devices to the FDA. The FDA conducted a review of insulin pump-related adverse-event reports and found nearly 17,000 reports from Oct. 1, 2006, through Sept. 30, 2009. The reports don't necessarily mean a device caused a problem but serve as a signal for more investigation. Even if a device is functioning properly patients can inadvertently misuse the device. Of the reports, about 12,000 reported a patient injury (such as problems with blood glucose levels) and 310 deaths.

The agency said the information provided by manufacturers involving deaths "was typically incomplete." The agency said in 225 of the deaths reported the device problem was listed as "unknown," although in many cases the device was never returned to the manufacturer for additional follow-up.

However, in 41 death reports, a device problem wasn't identified but the circumstances involving the death involved diabetic coma and problems associated with blood-sugar levels being too high or too low, suggesting the device may not have been working properly.

Food products are prohibited by federal law and regulations from containing misleading or false claims on packaging or in advertising. The enforcement of these laws has been lax in the past eight years or so.

Now, under the Obama administration, a pattern of more rigorous regulatory action is evolving, particularly at the Federal Trade Commission and the FDA.

In a recent crackdown on false and misleading claims on food packages, the Food and Drug Administration has sent warning letters to 17 producers for making what it alleges are misleading statements about nutrition and health benefits.

The warning letters apply to 22 products and challenge labeling language on such issues as fat content, nutrient standards and the purported ability of a particular food to prevent medical problems. The increased enforcement was applauded by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the nonprofit advocacy group which recently released a report documenting purported labeling abuses.

Among the targets of the FDA action was a label for Mrs. Smith's Coconut Custard Pie, produced by Schwan's Consumer Brands North America of Bloomington, Minn. It advertised that the pie contained no trans fat, but did not disclose that it contained significant levels of saturated fat and total fat.

Diamond Food of Stockton was cited for making claims that its shelled walnuts warded off maladies such as arthritis, cancer and heart disease.

The agency also issued an industrywide challenge to upgrade the quality of nutrition labeling. FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg released a "Dear Industry" letter in which she invited food producers to collaborate on improving nutrition information, particularly on the front of food labels, where consumers are most likely to see it.

Bus accidents on Georgia roads and highways many times result in serious injury and sometimes death for passengers. Many people do not realize that under Georgia law, common carriers such as bus companies and airlines owe their passengers the duty to exercise extraordinary care in the operation of the bus or airplane which is a higher legal duty than is normally owed. Specifically, the Official Code of Georgia Annotated §46-9-1 provides as follows:
“Carriers as such are bound to exercise ordinary diligence. Common carriers as such are bound to use extraordinary diligence, and in cases of loss the presumption of law is against them, and no excuse avails them unless the loss was occasioned by the act of God or the public enemies of the state.”
If you or a loved one have been seriously injured in a bus accident, as a passenger on a bus or any other common carrier, call the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP to discuss your rights. We have been representing clients in personal injury and wrongful death cases for over 45 years.

The issue of tort reform has been embraced by many health care reform opponents as being necessary to bring down medical costs in the United States. This mantra is constantly repeated even though all unbiased studies show that the cost of medical malpractice is only a small fraction of the health care costs in the United States and that capping damages to severely injured people does little, if anything, to lower insurance costs for doctors or stop inflation of medical costs. Yet, the proponents of this so called tort reform constantly repeat this falsehood even though over 98,000 innocent people die every year in this country alone due to medical errors.

This week CNN covered a story that everyone concerned about high medical costs should view. Their reporters uncovered massive overbillings by hospitals. These outrageous billings included $1,000 for a common toothbrush. You can go to your pharmacy and buy 100 Tylenol pills for $10, yet one hospital billed $140 for a single pill. An alcohol prep pad, a piece of gauze, was billed at $44.00 by a hospital when the retail cost at a pharmacy is 23 cents. In another example a hospital billed an emergency room patient for 41 bags of IV fluid during a 2 hour visit. This of course is impossible.

Our own lawyers can tell similar stories. We had one client who was severely injured in an automobile accident and pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. Yet, when reviewing the bill we discovered a $25 dollar charge for a “mouthcare kit” which consisted of a plastic cup, a toothbrush, and mouthwash. Also charged for this patient who was dead upon arrival was $45 for a pillow.

These are just a few of the overbillings we have seen. In fact, CNN reported that health insurance companies rarely review hospital bills unless they are in excess of $100,00.00.

If the proponents of tort reform really want to lower healthcare costs these outrageous charges might be a good place to start.

Georgia injury lawyers know that an innocent guest passenger can sued a host driver for serious personal injuries caused by the negligence of the host driver. Likewise, the family of a deceased guest passenger can sue a host driver for the wrongful death of their loved one if the host driver was responsible for the death.

Just last week, a Georgia truck accident involving alcohol resulted in death for one passenger and serious injuries to five others in the truck. The truck accident occurred before 3 a.m. on Friday in the northbound lanes of Interstate 75 near Macon, Georgia. Investigators say that the truck involved, left the roadway and went over a guardrail before crashing. Shannon Hendricks, 29 years old was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. According to an article in the Macon Telegraph, none of the victims were wearing seatbelts and investigators are still trying to determine which one of the individuals was operating the truck at the time of the deadly accident.

If you have been seriously injured in an automobile accident or truck accident, call the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP to discuss your rights. We have been representing clients in personal injury and wrongful death cases for over 45 years.

Today WSBTV reported on a tragic automobile accident that occurred on Interstate 285 near Bouldercrest Rd. A white van somehow lost a tire which bounced across the concrete median wall and struck a Hyundai Sonata automobile going westbound on the interstate. The impact of the tire caused the death of the driver of the Hyundai.

From the standpoint of a Georgia injury lawyer, this is a case that needs immediate and through investigation to determine why the tire came off of the van. From the photograph of the van on the internet, it appears like the van may be a commercial vehicle. Had the van recently been serviced? Had the tires recently been rotated? Was there a catastrophic mechanical defect? Is there a product liability case? In any event, this van needs to be immediately inspected by experts to determine what happened.

I remember years ago as a high school student when I was working in a friends garage. A woman drove her car into the shop complaining about a noise. As it turned out, she had recently had her tires rotated at another garage. Unfortunately, they had finger tightened the lug nuts on one tire but had failed to tighten them with an impact/air wrench. Over the course of the day, the lug nuts began to work themselves loose. Fortunately for her and others, she had some warning about what surely could have been a terrible accident.

The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have been representing victims of automobile accidents, truck accidents and defective product cases for over 45 years. If you or a loved one have been injured as a result of the negligence of someone, call us to discuss your rights. It is always in your best interest to get your lawyer involved in the case immediately.

Georgia injury lawyers are well aware that use of cell phones and other hand held devices cause a significant number of automobile accidents and truck accidents. Just this morning I witnesses a near collision because a woman changing lanes was too glued to her cell phone to turn her head to make sure the lane was clear. Worse yet are “gotta stay connected type A types” who are constantly checking emails or texting while driving. The Georgia Legislature needs to get their act together and pass legislation to try to remedy the problem.

The Associated Press reported this week that the Florida Legislature is expected to consider several bills during its upcoming session that would ban drivers from using their cell phones or texting while driving. According to the article, the National Safety Council released a report in January that claimed 28 percent of all traffic collisions (1.6 million crashes a year) are caused by drivers using cell phones or texting.

The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP routinely subpoena phone records from cell phone companies when we have reason to believe that our client’s have been injured in automobile accidents or trucking accidents by drivers using cell phones or other hand held devices.

If you or a loved one have been injured as a result of being in a Georgia motor vehicle collision caused by a driver who was using one of these devices, call us to learn about your rights. We have been representing people in serious injury cases and wrongful death cases for over 45 years.

As a Georgia injury lawyer, I am always amazed at the number of deck collapse cases I read and hear about. Many of these decks are built high off the ground and do not meet any acceptable or recognized building code. Unfortunately the deficiencies of the construction do not become apparent until the decks are loaded up with people and the deck pulls away from the house and falls. In recent years there have been a number of death cases related to deck collapses.

Some of the deck collapses simply result from the deck material rotting over time. This should be readily apparent to anyone doing a reasonable inspection. A failure to inspect is negligence. It has also been my experience that many deck collapses result from the ledger board not being secured to the home properly. In some cases the ledger board is secured to the side of the house using nails. This is always insufficient to secure the deck to the house and should never be done. Instead, the ledger board should be securely attached with lag screws or if possible, lag bolts.

Just this week, a Roswell, Georgia woman was injured when the deck on her townhome collapsed and fell. As a result she sustained a broken leg.

If you or a loved one have been injured as a result of a deck collapse, call the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP. We have over 45 years experience representing victims in personal injury and wrongful death cases. Call us for a free consultation at (800) 228-9159.

Georgia injury lawyers are well aware that just because a prescription drug is an FDA approved drug is , does not mean that it is safe. There was a time when the American public believed that to be the case but we have come to the realization that money talks. Yes, “it is always all about the money” when it comes to business relationships and the drug business is BIG business. It is common knowledge that many former FDA employees end up being hired by big pharmaceutical companies after leaving the agency that supposedly regulates them. In addition, the industry spends an enormous amount of money on lobbyist to influence politicians.

This week a Philadelphia jury awarded $9.45 million to an Alabama woman who claimed that Pfizer’s Wyeth unit hormone-replacement drug, Prempro caused her to develop breast cancer. $6 million dollars of the award was for punitive damages. More than six million women took the drug until a 2002 study indicated that the drug was linked to cancer. Including this verdict, Pfizer has lost seven of the ten cases that have gone to jury trials.

Dangerous drugs are prevalent in our country. Everyday we learn about others, including Yaz, Yasmin, Avandia and many others. If you have been injured as a result of taking a dangerous drug, call the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP for a free consultation

Chrysler Group LLC announced on yesterday it will replace a front airbag crash sensor in more than 355,000 minivans. Careful not to call it a “recall”, Chrysler says it’s “safety improvement campaign” covers its 2005 -2006 Chrysler Town and Country and Dodge Grand Caravan minivans sold in the United State and Canada.

Chrysler’s “safety improvement campaign” came about because they discovered that under certain environmental conditions one of the front airbag sensors could crack allowing water to enter the sensor potentially rendering it inoperable. In a carefully worded document Chrysler sent to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to notify them of the “safety improvement campaign”, Chrysler said inter alia, “Until the vehicle is repaired, the airbags may not provide the enhanced protection in the event of a crash.”

As Georgia injury lawyers, we have seen and litigated many product liability cases. It is clear that, at present, in the event of an automobile accident involving Chrysler’s 2005 -2006 Chrysler Town and Country and Dodge Grand Caravan minivans potentially the front seat passengers of those vehicles would have no protection and might be subjected to serious injuries and possibly death in the event of a head-on collision.

If you or a loved one have been seriously injured as a result of a defective and dangerous product of any kind, call the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP to discuss your legal rights.