Georgia Injury Lawyer Blog

Injuries caused by contact lens are a serious problem in Georgia and elsewhere. The consequences of injuries from these seemingly harmless devices can be life changing, including blindness. Our lawyers have just recently concluded several cases involving injuries sustained by contact lens wearers.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has just released a report which reveals that more than 70,000 children and teens go to the emergency room each year for injuries and complications from medical devices. Contact lenses are the leading cause of these visits.

The F.D.A. researchers analyzed medical records from ER visits reported in a national injury surveillance system. Based on data from about 100 nationally representative hospitals, they estimated that 144,799 medical device-related complications occurred during 2004 and 2005, or more than 70,000 yearly.

Almost 34,000 problems were linked with contact lenses in the two-year period. The rest were scattered among 12 other categories including general medical devices such as needles and catheters, gynecology devices and heart devices.

The problems related to infections and eye abrasions in contact lens wearers are sometimes easily preventable. They can result from wearing contact lenses too long, failure to follow the recommended cleaning procedures, and reusing cleaning and disinfecting solutions. Others can be caused by defective cleaning and disinfecting products.

The F.D.A. indentified other common problems causing emergency department visits by children and teens. These include puncture wounds from hypodermic needles breaking off in the skin while injecting medicine or illegal drugs; infections in young children with ear tubes; and skin tears from pelvic devices used during gynecological exams in teen girls.

The most serious problems involved implanted devices such as brain shunts for kids with hydrocephalus (water on the brain); chest catheters for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy at home; and insulin pumps for diabetics. Infections and overdoses are among problems associated with these devices. Only 6 percent of patients overall had to be hospitalized.

The study appears in Pediatrics, published online today.

Friday evening, a motorcycle accident in north Georgia injured two people. The wreck occurred before 8:00 p.m. on U.S. Hwy 41 in Tunnel Hill, Georgia.. Although details of the wreck have not been released and the accident is still under investigation, the motorcycle and a pickup truck collided. It has been reported that charges are pending against the driver of the truck. The driver of the motorcycle was flown to Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga and the passenger was taken to Hamilton Medical Center in Dalton.

Bikers are some of the most vulnerable travelers on Georgia roads. Traveling without a cage of steel around them, they may feel the freedom, but they’re also at risk for serious injuries or death in the event of a crash.

If you or someone you care about has been seriously hurt in a motorcycle accident that someone else caused, you are entitled to hold the careless person responsible in a court of law. Contact the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP today at 1-800 228-9159

Defective implanted heart defibrillators have been the subjects of many recalls over the last several years. This week, Boston Scientific Inc., advised doctors that a part in certain models of its implanted heart defibrillators made in 2006 and 2007 has a “somewhat higher’’ failure rate, requiring units to be reprogrammed. The company reported a failure rate of one in 670 devices. No deaths or injuries have been reported.

Boston Scientific estimates that about 34,000 patients still have the defibrillators implanted, even though they are no longer sold.

Boston Scientific temporarily recalled its defibrillators in March of this year after failing to notify US regulators of manufacturing changes. In April, the company recorded $1.8 billion in costs from the withdrawal. The company said the recall will result in the loss of four percentage points this year from the company’s share of the US defibrillator market.

A magnetic switch on the implantable cardiac defibrillators can get stuck, stopping the devices from delivering an electric shock to the hearts of patients who need the therapy, the company said in a letter to doctors.

The devices involved are the Contak Renewal 3, Contak Renewal 4 and Vitality HE.
According to the company’s website, the defect can by resolved by reprogramming the devices, and replacement is not necessary.

Dangerous drugs seem to have been rushed to market with F.D.A .approval during the early part of this century. Now, this seems to be changing. This week, advisory committee recommended that the F.D.A. revoke approval of the drug Avastin as a treatment for breast cancer.

This recommendation is stunning as Avastin is the world’s best-selling cancer drug, with global sales of about $6 billion last year.

Avastin, which is sold by Roche’s Genentech unit, will remain on the market even if the F.D.A. follows the committee’s advice, as it usually does. That is because Avastin is also permitted as a treatment for colon, lung, kidney and brain cancers. So even if the F.D.A. does take the rare move of rescinding its approval, doctors would still be able to use Avastin off-label for treatment of breast cancer.

While drug manufacturers are prohibited by law from selling and promoting drugs for non-approved purposes, doctors are not restricted in their use of drugs. This has led to many drug companies devising schemes to illegally promote drugs for off-label use.
Avastin was given so-called accelerated approval in early 2008, a way for the F.D.A. to approve drugs for life-threatening diseases based on less than complete evidence of effectiveness. Manufacturers must then do further studies to confirm the benefit of the drug.

The two new trials sponsored by Roche for this purpose showed a much smaller effect of the drug. The two studies, in which different chemotherapy drugs were used with Avastin, showed few signs that it could prolong lives. Use of Avastin did not prolong the women’s lives by a statistically significant amount, the gold standard for cancer drugs. And the drug had serious side effects for some patients.

The panel voted 12 to 1 to recommend the revocation. The data discussed at the meeting that for advanced breast cancer, the initial data that led to approval was not borne out by subsequent studies.
Even though doctors can still use Avastin for treatment of breast cancer, some insurance companies might be reluctant to pay for an unapproved use.

Avastin, also known as bevacizumab, is Roche’s best-selling product. Market analysts predict Roche might now lose about $500 million of the estimated $700 million in Avastin sales.

Over the years the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have represented clients who have been “falsely arrested”. In one memorable case, our client was accosted in the Lenox Mall parking lot by three store security officers who forcibly carried her back into the store where she was accused of shoplifting and strip searched. Eventually, the store realized they had made a mistake and told our client that she was “free to go”. She remained in the store and called the Atlanta who ended up arresting all three store security officers. A jury later returned a verdict for a million dollars.

The claims that can be brought against a business or an individual depend on the circumstances of the case. Georgia law recognizes different related torts in this area. Although the distinctions among the related claims have not always been clear in Georgia’s case law, Georgia’s Court of Appeals has tried to clarify them. They are: (1) false imprisonment, which is “unlawful” detention without judicial process, or without the involvement of a judge at any point (O.C.G.A. § 51-7-20); (2) false or malicious arrest, which is detention “under process of law (O.C.G.A. § 51-7-1); and (3) malicious prosecution, which is detention with judicial process followed by prosecution (O.C.G.A. § 51-7-40). An arrest “under process of law” is an arrest made pursuant to a warrant and the key distinction between malicious arrest and false imprisonment under O.C.G.A. §§ 51-7-20 and 51-7-1 is whether the person was detained using a warrant or not.

If you are falsely arrested you should consult with an attorney immediately. As with most cases, the sooner you can obtain counsel from a competent attorney, the better chance you have in making sure your rights are protected.

Incompetent nurses working in Georgia may have a history of malpractice which is unknown to the institutions and people employing them. A recent investigation reported in USA Today has disclosed the fact that communication among state licensing agencies which supposedly protect patients from dangerous nurses is frighteningly lacking and in many cases, nonexistent.

The article gives as an example the matter of Nurse Craig Peske who was fired from a hospital in Wausau, Wis., in 2007 after stealing the powerful painkiller Dilaudid.

Hospital officials reported him to Wisconsin nursing regulators and alerted police.
Six months later, Peske was charged with six felony counts of narcotics possession. But by that time, he had used a special "multistate" license to get a job as a traveling nurse at a hospital 1,200 miles away in North Carolina.

Peske was later convicted of two felony drug charges.

The ease of Peske's move demonstrates the gaps in regulatory efforts nationwide to keep nurses from avoiding the consequences of misconduct by simply moving across state lines.

The two states in which Peske worked are part of a 24-state compact created to help get good nurses to areas where they are needed most. Under the decade-old partnership, a license obtained in a nurse's home state allows access to work in the other compact states. Georgia is not a member of the compact.

The Georgia Secretary of State, like may others, maintains a database of nurses licensed to practice in this sate with disciplinary actions noted. However, in order to check the complete background of a nurse one would have to search all 50 states.

An investigation by the non-profit news organization ProPublica found that the pact also has allowed nurses with records of misconduct to put patients in jeopardy. In some cases, nurses have retained clean multistate licenses after at least one compact state had banned them. They have ignored their patients' needs, stolen their pain medication, forgotten crucial tests or missed changes in their condition, records show.

Critics say the compact may actually multiply the risk to patients. There is no central licensing for the compact, so policing nurses is left to the vigilance of member states.

With the advent of modern technology it should be a rather simple task to establish a centralized registry to which each state’s nursing licensing board could post information regarding findings of misconduct or malpractice by nurses. The existence of such a database made available to hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care organizations could potentially prevent harm to many innocent persons.

Weaknesses in the state-based system for disciplining problem nurses have surfaced as a public health issue during the past year. California, for example, revamped its nursing board and its executive officer resigned after reports of ineffective oversight that put patients at risk.

The state recently discovered that 3,500 of its nurses had been disciplined by other states but had kept clean California licenses.

Nationwide, nursing shortages have forced hospitals to rely on traveling or temporary nurses. Nurses working in one state now take medical-advice phone calls or use teleconferencing

We read today about yet another tragic ending to a high speed police chase. The police saw a driver make an illegal right turn on a city street. They attempted a traffic stop but the driver took off speeding through city streets in San Jose, California. The police kept chasing and the suspect kept fleeing--through city streets at high speeds. Predictably, the suspect ran a red light, smahed into another car occupied by a family of four, and the 15 year old teenager was killed.
The death penalty was imposed on this innocent child to capture what the police knew to be a traffic violator. Was the price worth it? Of course not. The police should have called off the chase and radioed ahead to be on the lookout for the offender.. If the chase had been terminated, the suspect would not need to keep fleeing at high speeds. He could have disappeared down a side street and probably apprehended later with tag information. But the pursuit was not terminated as it should have been and yet another statistic was created, Yet another innocent victim died when a non violent suspect was being pursued. Quite literally, the innocent teenager could have been anyone that day. All the citizens of San Jose could have been killed in the same way had they been at that intersection.
Finch Mcranie will continue to fight against high speed chases for non violent offenders. Imposing the death penalty on innocent third parties is too high a price to apprehend such suspects. Let them go and catch them later. That is what should be done. It is not the end of the world to let a suspect go, it is the end of the world for the innocent victim.
We have reprinted the article in the extended entry below if you wish to read the story.

Continue reading "Police Chase Results in Death of 15 Year Old" »

This week, The Associated Press reported that last Sunday evening a 26 year old Georgia woman drowned at Lake Lanier, just north of Atlanta. Although the boat, upon which the woman had been a passenger, had not been involved in a crash. the owner/operator of the boat was charged with boating under the influence.

Our Georgia injury lawyers have represented clients who have suffered injuries or lost loved ones in boating accidents. Some of the causes include boater error, boater inexperience, boating under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol, equipment failure, and operating in adverse weather and/or water conditions.

Georgia law states, in part, "No person shall operate, navigate, steer, or drive any moving vessel, or be in actual physical control of any moving vessel, nor shall any person manipulate any moving water skis, moving aquaplane, moving surfboard, or similar moving device while under the influence of alcohol to the extent that it is less safe for the person to operate, navigate, steer, drive, manipulate, or be in actual physical control of a moving vessel, moving water skis, moving aquaplane, moving surfboard, or similar moving device".

A boat operator and the boats owner must exercise the highest degree of care to prevent injuries to passengers, swimmers and others in the nearby water and those in any boats around them. Failure to exercise the required care can result in serious injury or the wrongful death of innocent victims. In addition to the Atlantic Ocean, Georgia has numerous recreational bodies of water. In addition to the Chattahoochee and many other Georgia rivers, there are numerous lakes where boaters congregate: Lake Lanier, Lake Sinclair, Lake Oconee, West Point Lake and others. Our main office is located in Atlanta which is not far from any of these lakes. As a result, we have seen more than our share of boating accidents and fatalities.

Continue reading "Georgia Woman Drowns At Lake Lanier - Boat Operator Charged With Boating Under The Influence" »

Georgia citizens face some of the most restrictive medical malpractice laws in the country. One of the justifications used by politicians and medical groups to support these restrictions on injured patients right of recovery is that medical professionals can police their own and eliminate incompetent practitioners.

This bogus contention has finally been exposed by a doctor survey published Tuesday in of all places, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Conducted by a team from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, the study used data from a 2009 national survey of close to 3,000 physicians practicing in anesthesiology, cardiology, family practice, general surgery, internal medicine, pediatrics and psychiatry.

Physicians were questioned in three areas: about their responsibility to report physicians who were incompetent or impaired by drugs or alcohol, about their preparedness and comfort level in doing so, and about their experiences with colleagues with these issues.

According to the report, about 70% of physicians said they feel prepared to report impaired physicians, and 64% said they were prepared to report incompetent ones. But more than one-third, 36%, said they do not feel obligated by professional commitment to do so.

Physicians with less experience, 10 years or fewer, were most willing to report impaired or incompetent colleagues. Those with greater experience, 20 years or more, were less likely to feel that it was their responsibility to do so.

Pediatricians and family practice doctors were the least likely to say they felt prepared to deal with impaired or incompetent colleagues; anesthesiologist and psychologists apparently felt most prepared.

The survey also found that 17% of respondents had direct knowledge of an impaired or incompetent physician colleague in their hospital, group or practice in the last three years. Of these physicians, 67% had reported that person to a hospital, clinic, professional society or other authority.

Among physicians who had encountered impaired or incompetent colleagues and had chosen not to report them, the two most frequently cited reasons for not doing so were the belief that someone else was taking care of the issue and the belief that nothing would happen as a result of the report.

It is frightening that a large portion of physicians do not honor the commitment to report another physician even when they have direct personal knowledge of a colleague that is incapacitated by drugs or alcohol or otherwise incompetent to be rendering care to innocent human beings.

http://www.serious-injury-litigation.com/As Georgia injury lawyers who have handled thousands of workers compensation claims, few on-the-job injuries are as horrifying to us as burn injuries.

Today 11 Alive News and WSB News reported that two Georgia Power employees suffered burns today as they were replacing a utility pole in Milton, Georgia. It is thought that as the crew was drilling a new hole for the pole, they hit a natural gas line which sparked an explosion. One of the injured Georgia Power workers, who was about 35 feet up in a bucket lift at the top of the pole, jumped to try to escape the flames. He was reportedly burned over 80% of his body and was airlifted to Grady Memorial Hospital’s burn unit.

Continue reading "Two Georgia Power Men Burned in On-The-Job Accident" »

Many Georgians have taken the drug Avandia which was heavily promoted as a treatment option for diabetes by its manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline. Yesterday, a federal medical advisory panel recommended that Avandia should either be withdrawn from the market or have sales severely restricted because it increases the risks of heart attacks.

First approved for sale in 1999, Avandia helps control blood sugar in diabetics by making patients more sensitive to their own insulin. It is one of a class of three drugs, the first of which, Rezulin, was withdrawn because it caused liver damage. The other drug in the class, Actos, made by Takeda, has appeared safe.

Avandia was once the biggest-selling diabetes medicine in the world. However, sales declined in 2007 after a study by Dr. Steven Nissen of the highly regarded Cleveland Clinic found that it increased the risk of heart attacks. An advisory committee in 2007 decided that Avandia did increase heart risks but voted to keep it on the market.
The panel voted to take this action after two days of intensive scientific hearings during which GlaxoSmithKline insisted that Avandia is safe and necessary for the treatment of diabetes.

The scientific panel members expressed concerns about the trustworthiness of GlaxoSmithKline after questions were raised about its clinical trials. Internal company documents showed that the company for years kept crucial safety information about Avandia from the public.

The panel consisted of 33 members. Twelve voted that Avandia should be withdrawn from the market; ten voted that its sales should be restricted and the warnings on its label enhanced; seven voted only to support enhanced warnings on the drug’s label; and three voted that the drug should continue to be sold with its present warnings unchanged. One member abstained, and no one voted for a final option, to weaken the label’s present heart warnings.

The Food and Drug Administration will have the final decision regarding the future of Avandia sales, as the panel serves in only an advisory role. The F.D.A. often takes the advice of its advisory panels, but experts say they cannot predict its action in this case due to the split nature of the vote.

Many of the same experts who decided to keep the drug on the market in 2007 voted Wednesday that it should be withdrawn or restricted. Those restrictions could mean that patients would have to apply for special permission to use the drug.

Dr. Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic commented that the committee’s vote was the best he could hope for. “Effectively, this drug is gone,” he said.

GlaxoSmithKline said it was in the midst of a clinical trial that would test definitively if Avandia caused heart attacks. Several panel members said the trial came too late.
In the 1990s, GlaxoSmithKline decided against just such a study because it feared that the results might hurt sales, according to recently revealed internal company documents.

Many Georgia veterans receive care at VA hospitals throughout the state. We have previously written about the lapses in safety at VA hospitals across the country which have negligently exposed these brave men and women to life threatening diseases.

Yesterday, a former medical supply technician at the St. Louis VA Medical Center told a congressional hearing that she warned more than a year ago that dental equipment sterilization was inadequate, but she was ignored.

Earlene Johnson testified before a hearing in St. Louis called by the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. The committee met after the VA sent letters two week ago, warning 1,812 veterans treated at the St. Louis dental clinic that lapses in sterilization of dental equipment potentially exposed them to viruses including hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV.

A VA official revealed yesterday that some veterans have tested positive for the viruses but it was too soon to tell if the dental equipment was the cause.

Johnson began working at the St. Louis VA in December 2008 in the sterilization division. She did not work directly for the dental division but said she saw flaws in dental sterilization. She testified that starting in March 2009, she tried to alert VA officials at the St. Louis center and in Washington about the inadequacies, to no avail.

It was a full year later that the VA notified veterans of the sterilization problem and urged them to get blood tests. Meanwhile, Johnson was fired for what she believes was retaliation for the concerns she raised.

The VA determined in March 2010 that lapses in dental sterilization had occurred from Feb. 1, 2009, through March, 11, 2010. According to the VA,
the problem arose because workers prewashing dental equipment failed to use a detergent before the equipment was sterilized.

Veterans Affairs Committee chairman Bob Filner, D-California, said his concerns extend beyond the inadequate sterilization. He wondered why problems were substantiated in March, but no one was told until the June 28 letter and news release.

VA officials have said the delay was because officials were evaluating the risk posed to veterans.

Other VA centers around the country have had problems in recent years.
In 2007, Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington came under fire over concerns about conditions at the hospital and treatment of veterans. That same year, a surgeon at the VA hospital in Marion, Ill., resigned after a patient bled to death following gall bladder surgery. The VA found at least nine deaths between October 2006 and March 2007 resulted from substandard care at the Marion hospital.

In 2008, inadequate sterilization of endoscopy equipment at VA centers in Florida, Georgia and Tennessee potentially exposed 10,000 veterans to viruse

When most people hear about a motorcycle accident they envision a collision with a car or a truck; however, motorcycle accidents also occasionally occur as a result of debris and foreign objects on the roadway.

The Savannah Morning News reported today that on Sunday, a 23 foot trailer came loose from a Ford F-150 truck being operated by 66 year old Gerald Adams. The trailer crossed over the median on Interstate 16 where it collided with 26 year old Carroll Girtman, who was riding his Yamaha motorcycle in the westbound lanes.

Adams has been charged with second-degree vehicular homicide and operating an unsafe vehicle, both misdemeanors.

As a Georgia injury lawyer who often pulls a long, heavy boat trailer, I am always aware of the my responsibility to make sure that the boat is secured to the trailer, that the trailer is properly secured to the truck with safety chains, that the tires are in good shape and that all of the lights are operational. As the Savannah motorcycle case illustrates, when a trailer comes loose from a motor vehicle, it will almost certainly result in the serious injury, if not the wrongful death of an innocent person.

Although no additional details about why or how the trailer came loose were reported, there are alot of questions to be answered. Was the hitch properly secured to the vehicle? Were safety chains being used? If there was an equipment failure, is there a products liabilty case against the manufacturer of the hitch, ball or trailer manufacturer? If properly secured, trailers do not usually come loose from motor vehicles.

Continue reading "Georgia Motorcycle Accident Results In Death" »

The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP know that most motorcycle riders are good drivers and that many accidents are caused by other careless drivers. Such may have been the case yesterday in South Fulton County. WSBTV and The Associated Press have reported that a motorcycle accident has resulted in the death of a Jonesboro, Georgia man. The victim, Albert Davis, age 32, was riding the motorcycle at 2:20 a.m. on Old National Highway when the collison occurred. To date no one has been charged; however, investigators believe that Davis locked his rear brake before hitting the back of an SUV that had entered the roadway. The Fulton County police are continuing the investigation.

Whenever uninformed members of the public hear the words “workers compensation” “on-the-job injury” and “fraud” they almost always associate those words with an injured worker; however, most Georgia injury lawyers know that employers and insurers are sometimes guilty of fraud when it comes to workers compensation claims.

In all of our years of representing Georgia’s injured workers, one case of employer fraud stands out above all others. Several years ago we represented a young lady who worked for a large architectural aluminum building products corporation who provided systems for the commercial construction industry. Our client, who had been employed in their plant for many years, injured her back and requested authorization to see a doctor. After weeks of being ignored, the client finally called her boss and advised him that she was going to go see her own doctor. Thereafter, the plant safety manager called her at home and told her not to make such an appointment and advised her that he was going to set up an appointment with their “company doctor”. A couple of weeks after that conversation, the young lady retained our firm to represent her and we filed a Notice of Claim and a Request for a Hearing with the State Board of Workers’ Compensation. The depositions of her supervisor and the plant’s safety director were scheduled. Incredibly, both of the employer’s representatives denied, under oath, having notice of the employee’s on-the-job injury and claimed that the first notice they had came upon receipt of the Notice of Claim and a Request for a Hearing they received from our firm. What neither of the employers managers knew was that the employee had recorded the conversation with the safety manager. With the unrefutable evidence of the employer’s fraud and misrepresentations clearly documented, the employer/insurer settled the case with the injured worker under very, very favorable terms.

In the State Board of Workers’ Compensation, there is a Fraud and Compliance Unit which is charged with the responsibility of assisting the Chairperson of the State Board in administratively investigating allegations of fraud and non-compliance and in developing and implementing programs to prevent fraud and abuse. Georgia law provides, in part, that any person who knowingly and intentionally makes any false or misleading statement or representation for the purpose of facilitating the obtaining or denying of any benefit or payment under the Workers’ Compensation Act may be assessed a civil penalty of not less than $1,000.00 nor more than $10,000.00 per violation.

Continue reading "EMPLOYER FRAUD IN THE GEORGIA WORKERS’ COMPENSATION SYSTEM" »

In the typical case in civil litigation, the winning and losing sides are responsible for their own attorney’s fees. There is an exception to this rule under Georgia law. If a party acts in bad faith in the underlying transaction (committing acts of fraud and/or attempting to damage the Plaintiff, as an example) or is guilty of stubborn litigiousness (pursuing claims or defenses based on frivolous legal and factual defenses) then in that event, attorney’s fees can be awarded. The Code Section in this regard is O.C.G.A. § 13-6-11.

Another unique provision of Georgia law is that a court may consider a contingent fee agreement and the amount of fees it would generate as evidence of “usual and customary fees” in determining both the reasonableness and the amount of award of attorney’s fees. In other words, if a victim in a personal injury suit should be further victimized by the bad faith and stubborn litigiousness of the person who caused their injuries, they may be entitled to attorney’s fees as part of their damages and can use a contingent fee contract with their own attorney as evidence in support of their claim.

If an innocent victim in a personal injury case is subjected to bad faith in the underlying transaction through acts of misconduct, sabotage, spoliation of evidence or false testimony and/or should be subjected to frivolous defenses and is caused unnecessary trouble and expense in the litigation process, then not only should they seek compensation for the personal injuries sustained as well as medical expenses, lost wages and other compensatory damages, they should also seek to recover attorney’s fees. In this regard, their own attorney can testify that the contingent fee agreement is a reasonable and customary arrangement in such cases and that the award of contingent fees would be the reasonable and customary and necessary amount of fees to pursue justice for the client. There is a good Georgia case which holds that the contingent fee agreement in and of itself is “a valid indicator of the value of attorney services.” See Home Depot USA v. Tvrdeich, 268 Ga. App. 579, 584, 602 S.E. 2d 297 (2004).

Not a day goes by that the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP don't read about tragic deaths from automobile accidents, tractor trailer accidents and motorcycle accidents. On Wednesday of this week a popular Georgia High School coach, 46 year old Anthony Glen Barge, was riding motorcycles with his brother-in-law near the Lake Wedowee, Alabama. They were reportedly on the way to visit relatives in the area. According to The Anniston Star, Barge was riding his 2001 Kawasaki motorcycle when he turned too wide on a curve and struck a Toyota SUV. Unfortunately, Barge was killed on impact.

Barge leaves behind his wife his wife, Cindy and seven children. Two of his sons attend Carrollton High School where he was had been employed as an assistant football and baseball coach for almost ten years.

Another dangerous product recall by Federal Regulators last Thursday may signal the end of drop-side cribs that most of us have known and used for decades. According to an article by the Chicago Tribune, the Feds recalled another two million drop-side cribs. The moveable sides that raise and lower, making it easier to access babies have repeatedly malfunctioned leading to numerous tragedies around the country. The problem with these cribs is that when the sides separate from the crib, babies’ bodies can slip into the resulting gap. Their heads can get trapped and they have been known to hang to death or suffocate. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, at least 32 children died when their drop-side cribs malfunctioned and another 14 babies’ deaths may be linked to these cribs.

According to the article, more than 250 consumers have reported that the side rails failed on these cribs which were manufactured between 2000 and 2009.

Continue reading "More Dangerous Cribs Recalled" »

“When a vehicle is supplied by an employer for the mutual benefit of himself and his employee to facilitate the progress of the employee’s work, employment begins when the workman enters the vehicle and ends when he leaves it on the termination of his labor.” This statement is an exception to the general rule that coming to or going from work is usually not considered to be work within the scope of employment. However, if an employer furnishes a company owned vehicle to an employee for his use to come to work and be on call for the master’s business 24/7 either via a radio, dispatch system, cell phone or other type of communication device, then in that event, a jury question is present as to whether an employee coming to or going from work is acting within the scope of his employment.

If an employer allows an employee to take a company vehicle home every evening so that it will be available for the employee to perform his duties on an expedited basis the very next morning or if the employee’s truck is furnished with a two-way radio, as an example, where the employee is subject to the direction and control of his supervisors whenever they wish to communicate with him, and/or if the employer furnishes fuel and provides the truck for the mutual benefit of both the employer and employee, under any of these circumstances, there may be an exception to the general rule that an employee typically is not working for his employer until he arrives at the office.

Most of the cases that deal with an employee coming and going to work do not deal with employees driving company vehicles. Under Georgia law, if an employee is involved in an accident while driving an employer’s vehicle, a presumption arises that the employee was on the business of the master. The burden is upon the master to show that the employee was not. If the truck was furnished 24/7 so that the employee would be available for call and/or available to the employer and/or if the vehicle is used as a rolling billboard or advertisement for the employer’s business, then clearly under such circumstances, the vehicle is being used both for the benefit of the employer and the employee.

Continue reading "Employer Liability For Company Cars Involved In Accidents" »

Georgia injury lawyers know that sometimes no matter how careful you ride, you can lose your life in a motorcycle accident. On Tuesday of last week a Georgia man was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle on Interstate 95. Jonathan Holifield, 22, was pronounced dead at the scene just south of Bryan-Chatham county line on I-95 north. The accident occurred at 6:38 p.m., according to the Georgia State Patrol. According to an article published by the Effingham Herald, a witness told troopers that two vehicles in the left lane moved into the middle lane, where Holifield was riding, and one of the vehicles struck Holifield’s motorcycle; however, troopers found no evidence of damage to the left side of the motorcycle. Given that there were lane changes from the vehicles, it is believed that Holifield apparently took evasive action to avoid a collision and subsequently lost control of his motorcycle

Lithium battery cells are very small and sometimes look like a silver quarter. Unfortunately, these batteries are omnipresent and found in virtually every American household, whether it be in remote controls, watches, garage door openers or children’s books. Unfortunately, the tiny batteries that operate all of these devices can be extremely deadly to young children who may swallow them. While there are federal laws that require toys that use these batteries to have battery compartments that are locked with screws, unfortunately, the batteries can be found in a variety of devices used by adults where children can access them. If a child swallows a lithium battery cell and begins having symptoms of stomach disorders, etc., the diagnosis can be extremely difficult to make and before the diagnosis is made, fatalities can ensue from irreversible damage to the gastrointestinal tract.

Obviously, prevention is the best cure here. Parents should be on notice to protect their children from these small battery cells. Any device that has such a battery must have screws on it otherwise it is potentially dangerous to a child that get a hold of it. While more federal rules and regulations may be necessary for these products, particularly since they are so omnipresent and until such time as more rules are enacted, parents need to become aware of these hidden dangers in their homes.

Because these devices clearly can endanger children, product manufacturers must also take it upon themselves to make sure that their products are safe. By making the batteries difficult to remove without a screwdriver, manufacturers can render these very useful products all the more safe and protect young children who otherwise might manually manipulate a device as is normal for any child. If a battery can be removed due to manual manipulation alone, respectfully, the products may be unsafe due to the foreseeable dangers that can be caused to young children by them.

Georgia injury lawyers have seen the devastation created by motorists who drink and drive. Many of the most serious automobile accidents and trucking accidents are caused by drunk motorists. A large number of the offenders are repeat or habitual offenders. Several years ago, our firm represented the mother of a young man in a Federal Tort Claims Act wrongful death case. The young man, who was walking home from work on the shoulder of the road, was struck and killed by an FBI agent driving a bureau car who left the scene of the accident. Our investigation would later show that the agent had just left a bar after a night of drinking. The police officer who showed up at his home later that evening recognized the agent because she had previously charged him with DUI on the same road earlier that year. A Twelve Step Recovery book was found on the seat in his car.

A new Georgia law is ratcheting up the penalties for such repeat offenders by making the crime a felony. In order for the charge to be a felony, a certain number of offenses within a certain time period will qualify a driver for the enhanced charge. In the case of DUI, four arrests and three convictions in one year will earn you a felony.

Continue reading "Georgia Cracking Down On Repeat DUI Offenders" »