Atlanta Injury Attorney Blog

Last month, the City of Atlanta raised taxes 42% and with property values falling, many of my neighbors are asking "how do I appeal the Fulton County property tax assessment?" I am an Atlanta personal injury lawyer so do not pick up the phone and ask me to handle your appeal because i won't . However, as a resident in the City and an officer of the Court, I do want to give you the tools to file your own appeal if the County is taking advantage of you. So how do you sink their battleship?

First off, you should not panic. For a home worth about $240,000.00, this should not be more than a $250 increase for the year which breaks down to just over $20.00 a month. However, it is certainly a punch in the eye when you consider the amount of waste the Mayor has allowed to occur. To add insult to injury, with property values in Georgia sinking to 1996 levels in some counties, this is going to anger a lot of good citizens. So, let's get to it. How do you appeal the Fulton County property tax assessment now that values are going down?

1) When you get Change of Assessment Notice, file your written appeal on uniformity or value within 45 days.

Continue reading " How to Appeal Fulton County Property Tax Assessments in Light of City of Atlanta Tax Increases " »

As an Atlanta personal injury lawyer, I get a lot of questions from clients that have been in serious crashes and they worry that using their medical payments insurance or their Georgia Uninsured Motorist insurance will cause them to have their own car policy canceled. This is untrue unless you exceed the number of claims listed in the statute below. Under O.C.G.A. § 33-24-45(c), the insurance company cannot drop you for claims unless:

You have three or more of the following within the preceding 36 month period:

(1) Accidents involving two or more motor vehicles in which you were not at fault;

(2) Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage claims;

(3) Comprehensive coverage claims or towing or road service claims.

I recently finished a new video explaining how to logically approach getting the full fair market value for your car when the insurance company totals it out after a car accident in Georgia. As an Atlanta car accident attorney, I am asked these questions time and again, so I thought I would share this information with the web community so that folks can feel more comfortable when they deal with the insurance companies.

I am handling a wrongful death case for a Georgia family where the death occurred in California and it is stunning how much less favorable California law is for the family of the deceased. I represent the children of a deceased 35 year old who was run down by a tractor trailer as he walked down a lonely stretch of highway late at night. From the police investigation and photographs, we determined that the trucker hit the young man from behind and that the truck had swerved several feet over the fog line when it struck him.

As a Georgia wrongful death lawyer handling an out-of-state wrongful death case, we always associate excellent local counsel. On this particular case, the firm of Howarth and Smith has been handling the California wrongful death legal issues while our firm develops the value of the life components and the engineering aspects.

Continue reading " Georgia Wrongful Death Laws are far more Progressive and Liberal than California's " »

Any Georgia sexual harassment lawyer will tell you that there can be a fine line between an uncomfortable office environment that can be cured by human resources and one that requires EEOC involvement. As sad as it may seem, we spend more waking hours with the people we work with than we do with our own families. Because we all want to earn money, take care of ourselves and our families, we put in as many hours as it takes to keep our jobs, and possibly even get promoted. Jobs have changed even in the last 10 years from simple 9-5 professional relationships to people working together day in and day out - - trying to earn some money, working hard to maybe advance within the company, and trying to form friendships and bonds in the process.

The other day, I heard from a friend that, within her company, there were many deeper-than-professional relationships amongst the employees, and even between employees and their supervisors. And her particular supervisor was a touchy-feely guy. A guy who gave hugs- and kisses on the cheek – gave lots of compliments on how she looked. He made comments on what she was wearing and asked questions about whom she was dating. She asked me, "what if my boss touches me, is the that sexual harassment in Georgia?"

In Georgia, what is sexual harassment? The answer is that, in Georgia, as well as most other states, it depends. There is no clear cut answer. Some examples:
1) If your boss is a touchy-feely guy who likes to give hugs, and you don’t like it, and you make the fact that you don’t like it known to your boss, or a person within management, it should stop. If it doesn’t stop, that might be sexual harassment. Or if you say something about it and then you suddenly feel like they are out to get you, it might be sexual harassment AND unlawful retaliation - - both of which should lead you to consult a Georgia sexual harassment lawyer.

2) Same scenario, but assume after you talk to someone about it, it does stop, without any retaliation or negative consequence to you. This is good. There is no sexual harassment and life goes on.

3) If your workplace seems to be charged with conversation, pictures, flirtations, and other things on a sexual level, and you don’t like it, it may be that you are being sexually harassed. If you report it and nothing changes – or if you report it and feel like they are retaliating against you – there is a good chance your employer is violating the law. Consult a Georgia sexual harassment lawyer.

4) Same scenario, but someone addresses your concerns - - again, this is good.
The problem is that when you depend on your job – especially in these crazy times - you don’t want to rock the boat. I’ve had many people talk to me about Georgia sexual harassment. When I say, “Why don’t you tell HR that you’re uncomfortable with this guy and they way he looks at you/talks to you/touches you?” they say, “because I need this job.” Or “Because if I do, I know I’ll get fired.” Or “Because if I do, I won’t get that promotion or salary raise I deserve.”

If this sounds familiar to you, talk to a Georgia sexual harassment lawyer. Between employers and employees, the employers hold all the cards. They’re the ones with the power. And the law recognizes that and protects people whose workplaces include people and attitudes that make things uncomfortable and less than professional.

So the answer to my friend’s question - - “Is any of that sexual harassment?” - - depends on lots of things. Her frame of mind, her boss’ frame of mind, whether she let anyone know that she was uncomfortable, whether she couldn’t let anyone know she was uncomfortable because she knew she’d be fired or treated worse because of her complaint, whether her boss’ sexual escapades led to favoritism for the women who he gave in to his advances - - those kinds of things.

But if any of these scenarios ring a bell with you – if you are uncomfortable at work or feel like your boss or a co-worker has “crossed the line” and treated you unfairly – you should speak with and Atlanta sexual harassment attorney. You may have a good case.

Federal law requires that Georgia employees get paid overtime when they work more than forty hours and yet many bosses lie to their employees about eligibility and whether salary covers the amount. As a Georgia overtime lawyer I tried a case in front of Judge O'Kelly in Northern District Court in April that illustrates the profound imbalance of power between bosses and employees and makes it clear why this law is so critical to protecting employees.

In our case, the employee was a welder on commercial construction sites and was a Katrina refugee. He worked 10-12 hour days and the employer rented him a mobile home. When the employee asked for his overtime pay the employer threatened to put him out on the street and to fire him. Because the Gainesville, Georgia man did not know his right to overtime pay was Federally protected, he felt powerless. He endured this for almost two years before he read an article explaining his rights. This post will go over some fundamental issues dealing with overtime law and situations to look out for.

Continue reading " Georgia Overtime Law is Misunderstood by Many Employees " »

I was fortunate to have lunch today with two old law partners of mine who are now Marietta divorce lawyers, Mike Marsh and Jessica Frost. We got to talking about how frustrated their clients have become with the backlog of cases in Superior Court. As we have discussed before, when filing for divorce in Georgia, the Superior Court has exclusive jurisdiction. Conversely, an injury claim can be brought by an Atlanta personal injury lawyer in the Magistrate, State Court, Superior Court, or Federal Court.

The common wisdom used to be that State Court judges are less likely to grant Motions for Summary Judgment but, with the backlog of low end personal injury cases in State Court, more attorneys are availing themselves of the Superior Courts. Given that Superior Court handles all felonies and family law matters and you have a recipe for disaster. We often tell clients that it can be over a year from the time a suit is filed before you will get to the actual jury trial and in some counties, even longer.

No matter what the practice area, litigation is a strenuous process filled with periods of intense activity followed by apparent stasis. We go to great lengths to explain this to our clients but feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

As an Atlanta personal injury lawyer, I spend my days battling with insurance carriers to get them to treat people like human beings, so there is no love lost there. However, even I am annoyed that the New York Times would write a piece attacking AIG for not paying claims for the travelers on Captain Sullenberger's flight. Collision insurance, Georgia medical payments insurance, and a few other coverages are the only ones I know of that kick in without requiring liability. I am constantly explaining to people that when they fall and get injured in Georgia, the property owner does not automatically have to pay. All liability insurance is, wait for it....based on liability! This plane appears to have gone down due to bird strikes and last I heard Canadian geese were not insured and subject to socialist Canadian health care.

Continue reading " Thankless Claimants of Hudson River Crash Need to Reassess Their Blessings " »

Here is part two of the CNN piece on claims handling practices by the major insurance companies. In Georgia car accident claims, I can tell you that the deny, delay defend mantra is the order of the day.
I handled a case for a father who broke his hand in a car accident in Riverdale, Georgia and missed out on five months of work as a schoolteacher. He had medical bills of $28,000.00 and lost income of over $23,000.00. The Allstate insured driver had only $100,000.00 in coverage and when we demanded the entire policy, they refused to even offer the full amount of his bills and wages. I filed suit and gave the in house lawyer with Allstate one more chance to do the right thing and after deposing my client and realizing that his case was legitimate, she overturned the adjuster's decision. The point is that it should never have come to that. It dragged the matter out for three more months, forced me to put the case into the courts and increased my client's costs and ruined his credit. Watch the conclusion of the investigative piece and make up your own mind.

As a lawyer in Atlanta that deals with car accidents, I speak with many clients that have been injured in Georgia car accidents and the clients that assumed in the early going that the insurance company for the driver that hit them will pay for their medical care, only to be rudely surprised when the time came for the bills to be paid. A year or two back, Anderson Cooper did a very nice investigative piece on dealing with Allstate insurance that teaches good lessons on how to deal with a Georgia insurance company after a car accident. Here is the first portion.