Atlanta Injury Attorney Blog

Simon and Faenza lawyer, Christopher Simon, spoke to the media today at the Cobb County Schools to address allegations made on the Neal Boortz show. The popular radio show aired commentary to the effect that the Cobb County Schools Foundation was retaining control of the $30,000,00 in charity donations made by the public to help the impoverished Campos family in the wake of the wrongful death of their daughter.

In fact, the donations will go directly to the family after the funerary and other family utilities are caught up.

The firm will continue to support the Campos family in their quest to raise awareness of the danger that can be posed by elderly drivers and to push for legislation requiring more frequent driving tests for the elderly. The woman that ran Karla down was 82 years old and claimed she hit the wrong pedal before she traveled 80 feet, half on the curb, past 3 stopped cars, to run the child down in front of her mother. This tragedy could have been prevented if the state had testing legislation in place.

Many of my clients ask me "how do I get my police report?" after a crash in Georgia and usually the process involves sending money orders or showing up in person. That has all changed now that the State of Georgia is getting more progressive. The Department of Transportation has partnered with a tech company to open www.BuyCrash.com that allows citizens to pull their own police reports right off the internet for only $10.00. Given how annoying the process can be, especially for out of State drivers, this website is a blessing. Even better is the fact that I tested the interface and it looks like runners will not be able to raid the system to illegally solicit business.

We are handling a case for a very nice lady who was badly hurt when she was hit by a 20 something in Savannah. The police report merely indicated that the defendant driver was driving her dad's Mercury. We sent a demand letter to her insurance carrier and we got an unexpected letter back indicating that the Defendant was an employee of the Georgia State Department of Agriculture and was on the job (in lawyerspeak she was in the course and scope of employment) at the time. This can be a huge problem because Georgia law generally provides that State employees are immune from being personally sued when they screw up discretionary acts.

Continue reading "Georgia Uninsured Motorist Insurance will Protect the Consumer When the Defendant has Sovereign Immunity" »

Google hit another milestone two months ago when they put their legal research database online. They have complete databases for every State and Federal Decision. Now prisoners can search online to their heart's content as they work on their habeus corpus appeal. As a lawyer getting cleaned out by westlaw every month, I am anticipating going pure google when my contract is up! Check it out for yourself! Google Scholar advanced search.

If my tree falls and hits my neighbor's house, am I responsible in Georgia? Let's assume you have been eyeballing that tree in your front yard for a month now and you are beginning to suspect that it is rotting. Have you stayed up at night worrying about it hurting someone or something and wondering what your legal responsibilities are?

In Georgia, the owner of a tree is liable for injuries from a falling tree only if he knew or reasonably should have known the tree was diseased, decayed or otherwise constituted a dangerous condition. In other words, if you did not have a reason to know it was diseased (full leaves, looks fine) then it is not your fault if something happens. If you should have known, you had better have good homeowner's insurance coverage.

One Court put it this way: "A landowner who knows that a tree on his property is decayed and may fall and damage the property of an adjoining landowner is under a duty to eliminate the danger.” But a landowner does not have a duty to consistently and constantly check all trees on his property for nonvisible rot; 'the manifestation of decay must be visible, apparent, and patent.'” Cornett v. Agee, 143 Ga.App. 55, 57 (1977).

Continue reading "If My Tree Falls and Hits My Neighbor's House, am I Legally Responsible?" »

With the recent snow and ice on the roads in Georgia, there have been numerous multi-vehicle crashes including one involving 27 cars. The question arises; who is going to pay for all the property damage and injury claims? As a Georgia car accident lawyer, I have already been asked this questions several times so we will review the issue today. We will break the topic into two parts; first addressing normal crashes involving ice and black ice in Georgia and second, addressing multi-vehicle collisions, like the one pictured by CBSAtlanta.com here.
If you are involved in a car accident in Georgia and ice played a role, just accept the fact that it will be an ugly process. A typical scenario with the recent snow in Atlanta involves one car hitting a patch of black ice and going into a spin or suddenly coming out of their lane and causing a crash. In many of the these situations, the drivers insurance company may refuse to pay for your property damage, claiming that the ice was an "act of God" for which their insured cannot be blamed. To this I say "B.S." You have to live in a cave not to know that its snowing and sub zero out and that ice is on the roadways. When that happens you have to drive with exceptional care. The Georgia law on driving with ice on the road is OCGA § 40-6-180 which says in part that you have to drive at a speed that is safe for conditions.

Continue reading "In a Georgia Car Accident on Icy Roads, Who is Responsible?" »

As an Atlanta injury attorney, I frequently am the go to resource for friends wondering about certain aspects of the law, including the new Georgia Super Speeder law. What does it really mean? What do you need to know?

1. Purdue pushed the law to raise money; over $20 million by most estimates.
2. Studies show that speeding is not the cause in most accidents, it is crappy driving.
3. The Georgia Super Speeder fine is an additional $200.00 fine on top of the local ticket.
4. If you go over 75mph on a two lane country road, you will pay it.
5. If you go 85mph or over on an expressway, you will pay it.

Continue reading "Atlanta Injury Attorney Explains Georgia Super Speeder Law" »

As part of our continuing series on what a Georgia 18 wheeler accident lawyer does, today we will look at a video reconstruction of the consequences when a passenger car going 65 strikes a tractor trailer going 35 in the rear. The driver of the passenger car claimed that the tractor trailer truck simply came into his lane. The video is interesting but the point is that this crash seemed like the truck driver's fault until the collision reconstructionist measured the skid marks. laser sited the gouge mark in the road, measured the crush damage to the vehicles and compared the crush damage to historical data on similar vehicles.

The damage to the front left of the passenger car was not consistent with a side impact and when the impact velocity was finally known, the math was fed into a computer and this simulation was created to show the jury exactly how the car ended up the way it did.

Continue reading "Georgia 18 Wheeler Accident Lawyer Demonstrates Value of Crash Reconstruction" »

When you are in a car accident in Georgia and your car is totaled, if you are "upside down" on your loan you may have to write a big check. As part of my job as a Georgia injury lawyer, I teach my clients that Georgia law provides that a party that damages or destroys property is only responsible for the fair market value of the thing destroyed.

Continue reading "Gap Insurance and Georgia Car Crashes, How Does it Work?" »

The Firm is proud to announce that Mr. Simon was selected by his peers to Georgia Trend Magazine's Legal Elite list in the December 2009 issue. This annual list consists of leading Georgia lawyers as selected by their peers in 11 practice areas. Mr. Simon was selected to the list for his work in the field of Personal Injury law. Congratulations Chris on this recognition of your hard work.

Thank you to everyone that put in their edits and comments on the cover. The Georgia Guide to Buying Car Insurance and Handling Car Accident Claims has gone to press and will be up for sale on Amazon just after the New Year! I put a lot of work into this guide and I think it will really help out Georgia Consumers.

Continue reading "Georgia Car Insurance and Car Accident Book has Gone to Press" »

As an Atlanta car accident lawyer and a former tractor trailer insurance defense lawyer, I have worked around fatality car accidents for most of my professional life. I have arrived at crash scenes with bodies being removed in pieces and reviewed photos that no one should ever have to see. A Georgia wrongful death lawyer knows that working on these cases and getting to know the families profoundly affects them professionally, but these experiences can also affect the lawyer's driving. There was a great article in the December 2009 issue of Men's Health called Dead Man Driving regarding collisions and I thought I would discuss their points and add to it my own impressions.

I view safe driving as 40% your actual driving skill, 40% your decisions on what and when to drive and 20% blind luck. There is nothing we can do about blind luck so we will focus on the other two categories.

Continue reading "Twelve Ways to Avoid Car Accidents in Atlanta" »