Georgia Injury Lawyer Blog

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.

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.

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.

When Georgia injury lawyers hear about single car automobile accidents or single vehicle truck accidents, we always wonder whether the cause of the accident may have been related to a product defect, such as a defective tire or front end part. Today for instance, the White County News today reported that a Cleveland, Georgia resident, Marcus Carl Chambers, age 30, was killed early Friday morning when his pickup truck veered off Ga. 115 west of Cleveland. According to the article the 1999 GMC Sonoma truck was traveling westbound on Ga. 115 when it ran off the road and overturned, ejecting the driver. Chambers, who had not been wearing a seat belt, was pronounced dead at the scene. Police are reportedly continuing their investigation.

While the cause of this crash may have been something as simple as the driver falling asleep, it is always prudent to look for other causes when investigating automobile accidents and truck accidents. The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have represented many families in wrongful death cases which involved defective products. If you or a loved one have been seriously injured in an accident involving a potential products liability case, call us for a free consultation.

This week the Transportation Department served Toyota with legal documents demanding that they produce certain documents related to the recent massive Toyota product recall in the United States. The government wants to know when and how Toyota learned of the safety defects in millions of its vehicles involving the entrapment of gas pedals by floor mats and "sticky" gas pedals. Toyota has 30 -60 days to respond to the government's request for the production of the documents.

Although Toyota has denied any electronic defect which would cause sudden engine acceleration, many believe that neither the floor mat issue or "sticky" gas pedals would cause a vehicle to accelerate to high speeds. Many Toyota owners have testified that the gas pedal did not stick but rather that there was a sudden, sustained and unexplained acceleration of the vehicle. It has been estimated that since 2000, there have been in excess of 30 automobile accidents resulting in death as a result of this problem.

If you or a loved one has been injured as a result of being involved in an automobile accident or truck accident involving a Toyota product, call one of the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP.

Compared with automobile accidents, motorcycle accidents or pedestrian accidents, trucking accidents can be significantly more complicated. One of the biggest mistakes a lawyer can make is treating a trucking case like a typical automobile accident case. First, the number of parties involved is generally more than two in case of truck accident. These parties involved in the case of a truck accident may include the drivers, the owners of the truck, the truck manufacturing company, the brake maker, etc.

Second, commercial vehicles are heavily regulated by both federal and state governments and determining fault in a truck accident requires the parties to not only be aware of all the applicable regulations, but the ability to effectively determine if any were not followed. A competent Georgia injury lawyer will be familiar with the regulations imposed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Many rules and states have differing statutes of limitations that only an expert attorney can deal with. It is very important to choose a lawyer who knows in and out of truck law.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, one of the leading causes of truck accidents is driver fatigue, coupled with alcohol and/or drug use. However, how can you determine if the trucker was speeding or fatigued? An experienced attorney will know who to question, how evidence needs to be immediately preserved and gathered, and have access to experts who can piece together what happened and why.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured as a result of being involved in a truck accident, call the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP. We have over 45 years experience representing people who have been seriously injured and families of those whose injuries have lead to the wrongful death of their loved ones.

As Georgia injury lawyers we see all types of automobile accidents and truck accidents but yesterday's collision in Palmetto, Georgia between a Ford Mustang and a Dodge four-wheel drive pickup truck came close to becoming a wrongful death case.

The collision between the two vehicles occurred on U.S. Highway 29 at about 7:15 a.m. According to Palmetto police, the driver of the Dodge truck, crossed over the centerline of the highway into the northbound lane and collided head-on with the Ford Mustang. Because the Dodge truck was jacked up so high, it literally rode over the Mustang and came to rest on top of it. Fortunately, neither driver had any life-threatening injuries.

The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have been representing the victims of serious injury accidents for over 45 years. We have also represented families of victims involved in motor vehicle collisions which have resulted in the death of their loved ones. If you or a loved one has been injured as a result of the negligence of others, call us today to discuss your rights.

The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP commute into the City of Atlanta everyday. In doing so, it is astounding to see how many people are sending text messages on cell phones, Blackberries and other PDA’s while driving. Many of these drivers cause automobile accidents, truck accident, bus accidents and even motorcycle accidents which result in serious injuries and sometimes the wrongful death of innocent victims.

Texting while driving is a rising problem among teenagers and adults and is a leading cause of traffic accidents. When someone texts while driving, they are endangering their own lives as well as other drivers and pedestrians they may pass. Last week two members of the Georgia House of Representatives introduced Bills that would ban the practice of texting. If a Bill passes, Georgia would be the 20th state in the nation including North Carolina and Tennessee, to ban texting while driving. Just today I read that similar legislation is being proposed in South Carolina and it is expected to pass.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a motor vehicle accident as a result of the negligence of a driver who was texting or operating other communication devices, call the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP who have been representing injury victims for over 45 years.

The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have seen our share of dangerous products recalled for one reason or another; however, last week's recall of numerous Toyota models of automobiles and trucks probably sets a new record. In late 2009, Toyota issued a recall of 4.2 million vehicles because it was thought that they could interfere with the gas pedal and cause sudden acceleration. Now Toyota has issued a recall affecting 2.3 million vehicles and has suspended the sale of eight models, including their most popular model, the Camry, over faulty gas pedals that could stick and cause unexpected acceleration and result in an automobile accident.

Toyota is working with CTS Corp., which manufactures gas pedals for Toyota, to redesign the pedals and to find a remedy for what is believed to be a condensation problem which can cause the pedal to move slowly or in some cases get stuck.

In the meantime, there are thousands of potentially dangerous vehicles of the road which could suddenly accelerate and cause serious injuries to the occupants and others or even cause the wrongful death of innocent people.

If you or a loved one is injured as a result of the sudden acceleration of a Toyota product, call one of the Georgia injury lawyers immediately for a free consultation. In all of these cases, it is crucial that the automobile be preserved so that it can be inspected by experts.

Georgia injury lawyers know that when there is a motorcycle accident, the injuries are usually serious. Motorcycles are by their very nature far less crash worthy than closed vehicles and crashes frequently result in catastrophic injuries or death. In 2000, I spent two weeks in the trauma unit of the Orlando Regional Hospital (a fantastic hospital) where my daughter was a patient. Throughout the day and night, helicopters landed on the roof with critically injured motorist, most of which were involved in motorcycle crashes. Sadly, many died as a result of brain injuries and other serious injuries.

Recently, I went to the Georgia DOT website to locate some recent statistics on motorcycle crashes. For reasons unknown to me, the latest posted data was from 2003. According to their study:

. There were 2,851 total motorcycle crashes, 2123 involving injury crashes, and 101 fatal crashes.
. Motorcycle crashes accounted for 7% of traffic fatalities, but only about 1% of the crashes.
. Of all motorcycle riders in crashes, 56% had at least visible or more severe injuries compared to only 4% of passenger cars occupants involved in a crash.
. Males represented 87% of the injuries and fatalities in motorcycle crashes.
. Motorcycles made up 2% of all registered vehicles.
. Half of the motorcycle operators (50%) involved in fatal crashes did not have a valid Class M license or permit.
.
Because of the seriousness of the injuries sustained in motorcycle accidents and because many of the motorist who cause these accident are under-insured, Georgia injury lawyers need to be creative when representing riders. It is imperative that the victim’s attorney examine all potential avenues of recovery so that the client can be fully compensated. Other areas to review include failure of the motorcycle’s mechanical systems, failure of other motorcyclists to observe the motorcyclist, failure maintain the roadway and debris on the roadway from trucks, including tire tread separation.

If you or a loved one have been injured in an automobile accident, truck accident or motorcycle accident, consult the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP. Our firm has been representing personal injury victims for over 45 years.

Last fall Toyota announced the largest auto recall in U.S. history after numerous sudden unintended acceleration accidents were reported, many of which resulted in fatalities. Now, Toyota has announced an additional recall of 2.3 million vehicles to correct this same problem. Why the additional recall? It appears that Toyota is doing so because ABC News is soon to report an increase in sudden acceleration cases since the recall last year. According to news reports, there have been 60 new cases of sudden unintended acceleration cases involving Toyota vehicle.

In one tragic occurrence outside of Dallas, Texas, four people were killed when a Toyota sped off the road through a fence and landed upside down in a pond. Even though Toyota has long blamed maladjusted floormats for the unintended acceleration problem, however, in this particular accident, the floormats were found in the car’s trunk where the owners had been advised to put them as part of the earlier recall. Thus, the evidence continues to mount that this problem with Toyotas is not caused by floormats but rather by onboard computer glitches and other engineering issues.

While we are pleased that Toyota has finally recalled its dangerous products, obviously, it is disturbing that Toyota refused to do so earlier for all affected vehicles. From the reported news coverage, had it done so, it may be that an additional 60 cases involving injuries and/or fatalities may have been avoided.

An automobile accident in Dekalb County, Georgia has claimed the life of a young woman this week, Dekalb County police officials have reported that charges are pending against 17-year-old Shaeed Saunders stemming from the death of Tanesha Williams - age 14. Authorities have reported that on Wednesday, Saunders was attempting to pass another vehicle around a curb at a high rate of speed when he lost control of his vehicle, ran up on the sidewalk and struck Williams and 2 other students. The 2 students were injured but are expected to recover. The collision occurred near Stone Mountai High School where Saunders was a student.

The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have represented the families of victims of automobile accidents, trucking accidents , motorcycle and and bicycle accidents and pedestrian accidents who have died as a result of the negligence of others for over 45 years. If you have lost a loved one as a result of the negligence or carelessness of someone, call us today for a free consultation.

Georgia injury lawyers close attention to dangerous product recalls. In a filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Chrysler Group LLC announced the recall of 24,177 vehicles due to a potential defect in a brake system that could result in automobile accidents from sudden brake failure.

The recall includes 2010 model Chrysler Sebring, Dodge Avenger and Nitro, and Jeep Liberty, Commander and Grand Cherokee SUVs. The recall also applies to 2009-2010 model year Dodge Ram trucks.

According to Chrysler, the clip retention tab on the brake pedal pin on some of the vehicles was improperly formed, or not installed, during the manufacturing process. Although Chrysler is unaware of any automobile accidents related to the defective product, it could result in sudden brake failure.

The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have been representing injured victims of dangerous products for over 45 years. Many of these cases involved serious injury and some involved the wrongful death of the client. If you or a loved one have been injured by a dangerous and defective product of any kind, contact us for a free consultation at (800) 228-9159.

Georgia injury lawyers know that dog bite incidents often result in very serious injuries and in some cases, death. We have had a number of these cases over the years. The most recent case involved a real estate agent who was attacked by a large dog. Although the dog was tied up at its owners home, it was inadequately restrained by a collar which was itself a defective product. As a result, the dog got loose and literally bit off the entire calf of the female victim. We sued the homeowner for negligence and the manufacturer of the collar on a products liability theory and obtained a sizeable settlement from both.

It was reported today that a former UPS driver has sued Joe Namath alleging that he was attacked and seriously injured by Namath's dogs while he was making a delivery to his home. It is alleged that the victim in that case has undergone four surgeries and has been totally disabled from work since the incident in 2007. If the allegations are true, lets hope that Namath has a large liability insurance policy.

If you or a loved one have been injured as a result of being attacked by a vicious dog, call the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP who have helped similar victims for over 40 years.

The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP handled a wrongful death case several years ago wherein we represented the family of a young boy who died in a house fire caused by a defective humidifier.

This week it was announced that Home Depot is recalling Chinese manufacture dehumidifiers because they pose a fire hazard according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The recall involves approximately 2,000 Hampton Bay model HB-50 dehumidifiers. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says that an internal component can fail causing it to overheat posing fire and burn hazards to consumers. The dehumidifiers were sold by Home Depot from November 2000 through May 2007. Home Depot has received approximately 18 reports of the dehumidifiers catching fire.

After the wrongful death case that our attorneys handled several years ago, we take these dangerous product recalls seriously as should consumers. If you have been injured or lost a loved one as a result of a defective product, contact the Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP who have over 40 years of experience representing injured clients.

It is a sad reality that innocent citizens are oftentimes injured by their own government. City and county employees and/or state employees operate vehicles on a day-to-day basis and like other drivers sometimes are guilty of negligence which cause considerable damage to innocent third parties. Because of the expansive conduct of governmental entities in virtually every aspect of our lives, there are many other real life scenarios whereby innocent third party citizens cam be and are injured by the acts of government employees. In such circumstances, there is always an issue as to whether the injured individual has a right to sue the government for any damages inflicted because of the longstanding doctrine of Sovereign Immunity.

Setting aside for a moment whether one can sue the government successfully and overcome a defense of Sovereign Immunity, another hurdle the injured individual faces in these cases is dealing with statutory pre-suit notice requirements. These pre-suit notice requirements are often referred to as “ante-litem” notice provisions. What this means is that before a injured citizen can sue his or her government with a claim for money damages, they must give the government pre-suit notice of the claim so that the government has a sufficient opportunity to investigate the claim and determine whether the government has any liability and, if so, what damages are involved. Here in Georgia, if an injured individual has a claim against a municipality, they must provide notice to that municipality within six months of the date of the occurrence otherwise their claim is time barred. If they have a claim against a county, they must give notice within one year and the same is true for claims against state government. There are also specific methods by which these notices must be given so if the injured individual is acting without the advice of counsel, they could run afoul of the various ante-litem notice provisions. If they do, they may not be able to sue the government - even if their claim is meritorious. This is why we have referred to these ante-litem provisions in other blogs written on the subject as “Traps for the Unwary.”

If you or any member of your family are injured by a government employee, you should immediately confer with counsel so that pre-suit notice requirements can be observed and your claims not held by law to have been waived for failing to provide statutorily mandated ante-litem notices to the government entity involved.

The Georgia Court of Appeals has recently accepted an Application for Interlocutory Review of a very important victim’s rights statute in this state. Here we refer to a case in which we represent the Plaintiff involving a tolling provision for the statute of limitations for victims of crime. O.C.G.A. § 9-3-99 was enacted as part of the Crime Victims Restitution Act of 2005 and will now be interpreted by the Court of Appals after a ruling in this appeal. Its tolling provision reads as follows:

The running of the period of limitations with respect to any cause of action in tort that may be brought by the victim of an alleged crime which arises out of the facts and circumstances relating to the commission of such alleged crime committed in this state shall be tolled from the date of the alleged crime or the act giving rise to such action and tort until the prosecution of such crime or act has become final or otherwise terminated, provided that such time does not exceed six (6) years. (Emphasis Supplied.)

As is apparent from a review of the broad language employed by the Georgia Legislature, this statute is very important for victims of crime. Many victims of crime do not know that they have civil claims against third parties. If someone is raped in a motel, they may not be able to independently recover that a rapist was formerly an employee of the motel and had been negligently left with master keys to their motel rooms. A victim of an independent trucker who is driving under the influence of drugs may not know that the trucker was operating under an oral lease agreement with a third party. This might be very important if the independent trucker had no insurance and the statutory employer/lessor had good insurance. A victim of a drunk driver may not discover until after two years that the drunk was provided far too much alcohol by a bar that knew that he would be driving in violation of the Dramshop Act. In short, there are many real life scenarios where an innocent crime victim may not even initially know whether they have viable third party claim and may not be able to discover the existence of such a claim until they are able to get access to the criminal investigative file concerning their case, something that may not occur for over 2 years. Moreover, in many cases, criminal perpetrators are not even apprehended for over 2 years and even if they are apprehended in a timely manner, they may assert their Fifth Amendment privilege and therefore withhold from the victim crucial information concerning the possible involvement of third parties.

The case that is on appeal before the Georgia Legislature will decide whether the language of the statute quoted herein applies to third parties and criminals or only to criminal perpetrators solely. In the case our firm is handling, the Defendants contend that the language of the statute only tolls the statute of limitations for causes of action that victims of crime have against the criminal perpetrators only. However, the clear wording of the statute is so broad as to clearly encompass claims against third parties as well. Indeed, it appears that the Georgia Legislature recognizes that victims many times are not only traumatized physically and emotionally and thereby delayed in bringing civil actions because of such trauma, but also are usually unable to access and/or discover important evidence and information in their cases, particularly with regards to the possible involvement of third party actors.

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