Atlanta Injury Attorney Blog

In Georgia, there is a two year statute of limitations within which your Atlanta injury lawyer must file your lawsuit for injuries, with a few exceptions. Over the past few weeks a number of clients have called with the two anniversary fast approaching. Waiting until the last minute to file an injury claim is a very risky proposition. If your Atlanta injury attorney has not filed suit yet I cannot emphasize enough how dangerous this is.

Now it is true that there are many good reasons to be patient in the pursuit of your injury case. If your medical care is continuing for instance, it would be foolish to attempt to try or settle your case in the middle of the care. However, as the first anniversary of the car accident passes you should have a talk with your lawyer to decide what the strategy is. If your medical care is at an end, the only thing you should have to wait for is the medical records. Once they are in, your attorney should be able to draft the demand within one week and the insurance carrier will usually respond within 45 days. The negotiations will take another 2 weeks, but at that point, you will have a good idea of whether the carrier is going to make a fair offer or if you will need to litigate the case to obtain the fair value.

Continue reading "Atlanta Injury Lawyers Should Not Wait Until the End of the Statute of Limitations to File Suit " »

Posted by Christopher Simon | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Atlanta Car Accidents

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Georgians injured in a car crash have to be on their toes when it comes to hospital billing departments. Most hospitals code the intake so they know if the patient came in with a broken leg from a car accident or a broken arm from a trucking crash. Even where the patient has health insurance (which they are obligated to bill unless there is medpay insurance) the hospitals are trying to opt out and hiring a collections law firm to send out immediate lien notices. Why are they doing this to injured people in Georgia?

The answer is simple; if United Health insurance only allows $4,000.00 under their fee schedule for a set of procedures but the procedures are billed at $24,000.00, the hospital would rather get $24,000 instead of $4,000.00. By placing a medical lien on the file, they hope that they can tap into the injury settlement that the injured patient may be pursuing.

Continue reading "Atlanta Hospitals Aggressive on Reimbursement when Patient Injured In Car Crash" »

Posted by Christopher Simon | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Atlanta Car Accidents

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As an Atlanta Injury Lawyer, I have handled over 1,000 cases through the years and one of the more frustrating scenarios involves having to explain to a client with a major injury like a cervical or lumbar disc herniation that the at fault driver only has minimum limits. As I have explained in my discussion on Georgia Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Insurance, this is one of the major reasons why clients should carry $100,000 in UM insurance at a minimum. That said, many clients come to me after the crash and they only carried $25,000.00 in UM themselves. Herniated Disc cases in Georgia are worth more than $100,000.00 in most cases so the issue of available insurance coverages is a critical one for case evaluation.

For crashes that occurred prior to January 1, 2009 (when Georgia's Uninsured Motorist Law changed) or for people that buy non-stacking UM coverage, the challenge became getting past the at fault driver's $25,000.00 limits.

One argument that is gaining traction is the argument that if the client has to reimburse an outside party such as Medicare, Federal Workers Compensation Liens, Medical Liens etc., then to the extent that a check has to be written to those entities out of the recovery from the at fault driver, because those liens are not subject to the Georgia "made whole doctrine", that dollar amount may be recovered against the Uninsured Motorist Coverage above and beyond the at fault driver's limits. Toomer v. Allstate 292 Ga.App. 60 (2008) Toomer makes it clear that the argument is viable for Medicare liens and Federal Workers Comp claims, but it is still unclear if the Court of Appeals will apply the same logic to Medical Liens and Health Insurance Reimbursement Claims.

It will be interesting to see if Medical Liens and ERISA Self Funded Health Insurance Reimbursement claims will also qualify to allow older claims to dip into the uninsured motorist coverage that would otherwise be in the shadow of the torfeasor under the Bohannon decision. I will post updates as the issues are ruled on.

Continue reading "Georgia Lawyers Hoping for Changes in UM Law to Recover Properly for Disc Herniation Cases" »

Posted by Christopher Simon | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Atlanta Car Accidents

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Two clients recently came to me with compression fractures in the vertebrae of their spine as a result of car accidents and they were both women. As an Atlanta injury lawyer, this got me wondering whether compression fractures from car accidents are more common in women after car accidents and indeed they are.

Women are more likely to have osteoporosis and as a result their spinal vertebrae can be weaker and more vulnerable to the compression forces that can occur in car crashes in Georgia. It turns out that forty percent of women will suffer a vertebral compression fracture by the time they are eighty. (Source: University of Maryland Medical School www.umm.edu/spinecenter )

As with all my cases I get deep into the medicine behind the injuries to maximize the recovery and I thought I would explain what happens in a compression fracture injury here. The normal human spine resembles the diagram below with the vertebrae being separated by the intervertebral discs which act as shock absorbers and allow flexibility.

Compression fractures in car accidents occur when too much force is exerted on the spinal column while it is being flexed in an unnatural way. Vertebral compression fractures usually occur at T11 and T12, which is the bottom of the thoracic region and at L1, the first vertebra of the lumbar region. This is due to the natural curve of the spine. See the image below:

One of the clients was injured in the crash in Conyers, Georgia and hers was a lateral crash with the at fault driver striking her at a 45 degree angle from the front. In the Alpharetta, Georgia crash, the client was struck from the rear in a high speed crash.

Most compression fractures do not require aggressive treatment and although they are painful, with a brace and rest the client has a good chance of almost a full recovery. On a case by case basis and depending on age and severity, some clients do experience post-traumatic arthritis though and you should ask your doctor for a detailed prognosis before you decide to settle an injury case involving compression fractures. A compression fracture from a car crash is a serious injury and the case can have a significant value so be sure to speak with an experienced Conyers injury lawyer or an Atlanta injury lawyer before you decide what to do.

For further reading, please see the University of Maryland's website for an excellent discussion of the function of the spine.

Posted by Christopher Simon | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Atlanta Car Accidents

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Let's us assume that you have decided that your Atlanta injury case is small enough that it would not make sense for a lawyer to handle it. This assumes you have already read the article on whether you should hire an Atlanta lawyer or not. We will also assume that you are either in a situation where the insurance company is making a low offer or they are fighting you on the issue of whose fault the crash is. Assuming you have the backbone for the fight...what is next?

First understand that you will be suing the other driver, not their insurance company. You will need to locate the other driver by looking at the crash report. Know that sometimes the address is wrong or the person has moved away so never ever wait until just before the statute of limitations (two years for Georgia injury cases and four years for property damage cases) because you may file the suit and then get a notice back from the sheriff saying that they were unable to serve the defendant ( a "non est")

In Georgia, you must sue the defendant in their home county unless you are dealing with a non-resident of the state or you have a trucking company as a defendant. You can do this by mail, but I suggest going to the clerk's office and picking up the summons and the return of service and sending your complaint. Click on this Georgia personal injury lawsuit that I recently filed. You will have to pay around $125.00 to file the suit.

If the case is small enough not to require a lawyer, then you will be filing suit in small claims court, which in Georgia is called the Magistrate's Court. It has a maximum jurisdiction of $15,000.00 (that is the most that can be awarded in this Court) When you go to the clerk's office for the County where the Defendant lives, you will receive a form to fill out that will become the "Complaint." In this document you will lay out what you are complaining about. For example:

"Mr. Smith crashed into me damaging my car in the amount of xxx dollars and I sustained injuries. I have medical bills totaling $xxxxxx. I am also seeking human damages." In Magistrate Court, it really does not need to be any more complicated than that. The hard part is proving the case at trial but that comes later.

The clerk will give the lawsuit to the Sheriff and then then the Sheriff will make two tries to serve the defendant with the lawsuit. There are some exceptions but generally a person must have the documents handed to them for service to be valid. You can also serve an adult that lives with the defendant.

You will get a copy of the "return of service" which is the sheet the sheriff writes the results of his service attempts on. Keep an eye out for this document when around 30 days have elapsed since you gave it to the clerk. You may need to call the clerk of court to follow up. If the document says service was perfected, then you wait.

Then the Defendant has 30 days from that day to file their answer with the Court. In the case of Georgia car accident cases, the defendant will normally send the lawsuit to their insurance company and the insurance company will hire a lawyer or assign one of their in-house attorney's to defend the suit. It is very very difficult to outlawyer a lawyer so understand that if you cannot get your case resolved with the adjuster for the insurance company now that it is "in litigation" you need to decide if you can make it on your own or whether your need to hire a lawyer. Even if an Atlanta Injury Lawyer will not take the case on a contingency fee, some may agree to handle the case on an hourly basis. Assume that you will pay between $175.00 and $200.00 per hour for their services at trial and the time would include some prep time. That said, if you are fighting over repairing or replacing your car and you don't have collision coverage or if you have significant medical care, then it may be worth it.

Continue reading "How Do I File My own Georgia Injury Case? " »

Posted by Christopher Simon | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Atlanta Car Accidents

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If you have been injured by a drunk driver in Georgia, it almost always makes sense to hire an injury attorney because punitive damages are recoverable and they can multiply the value of an injury case ninefold. Although I have advised many prospective clients with minor injuries that they are capable of handling their claim on their own, when it comes to injuries from being hit by a drunk driver in Georgia, even modest injury cases can have significant value because punitive damages may be recovered.

Continue reading "Being Injured by a Drunk Driver in Georgia makes the Decision on Whether to Hire a Lawyer Easy" »

Posted by Christopher Simon | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Atlanta Car Accidents

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As an Atlanta car accident lawyer, I receive numerous calls from clients that have had their cars totaled out in a crash only to learn that their car has depreciated tremendously since the time they purchased it. Most people are aware that if you buy a new or used car from a dealership, you are paying a premium price. With most new cars, 50% of the value you paid for is gone after three years. It is less true with used cars, but many of my clients that bought SUVs in the last 3 years cannot believe how much value has been lost. For most people though, the drop in value is on paper only as they don't plan to sell the car; what happens when it is in a crash and totaled out though?

When your car is totaled out in a car crash in Georgia, the at fault party(and their insurer) owes the current market value of the vehicle and that is it. If you are upside down on the loan, there is no way to recover that from the other guy's insurance company. Why not? The truth is you were upside down on the car 5 minutes before the car crash too and the crash only brought the situation into reality. Georgia Courts will not hold the other driver liable for anything beyond loss of use (rental) and the total current market value of the car if it is totaled.

Due to plunging resale values, the smartest thing you can do is buy gap insurance coverage when you purchase the vehicle. This coverage fills in the gap between the market value of the car and what you owe on the loan. In these tough times I cannot recommend this strongly enough.

Posted by Christopher Simon | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Atlanta Car Accidents

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Some of my Georgia clients call me after an Atlanta car wreck, already having signed up with a lawyer and they have already been advised to start their medical care with a chiropractor suggested by the lawyer. Usually the potential client's phone call to me starts this way "I am not comfortable with the situation..." That feeling that you have is well founded. Is there anything wrong with chiropractic care? No, it can work wonders, but the fact that the lawyer sent you to the doctor begs the question, what is their relationship? Whose interests are they looking out for?

Use common sense to guide you in your decision as to whether you should stay with that law firm. Remember that you can fire a lawyer at any time. Go through these steps:

1) Have you spoken with the actual lawyer, or just an assistant? If it's just the assistant, call back and insist on a discussion with the lawyer about whether it can hurt the case at trial that the lawyer made the referral after the Atlanta, Georgia car wreck;

2) Does the medical care seem professional? Ask the chiropractor to see the bill and ask what they will be charging you, because it all comes out of your settlement money at the end of the case.

3) Are you comfortable with the chiropractor and is the medical care helping?

If you are not getting a good feeling after answering these questions, you should fire your Georgia lawyer and find one that will tell you the real implications of lawyer directed health care. To fire a lawyer, just fax a letter to the firm stating that you no longer need their services. You will owe them for whatever actual time they put into your case, but in the first few weeks, that is usually nothing. If you are unsure of what to do, feel free to call me. As an Atlanta Injury lawyer, I place the client's best interests before anything else and that is the way it should be.

Posted by Christopher Simon | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Atlanta Car Accidents

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In a recent Atlanta, Georgia car accident where my client was hit by a drunk driver, we are facing one of the more complex coverage scenarios that illustrates two points. First, it is essential that you carry no less than $100,000.00 in insurance coverage and make sure that your uninsured motorist limits match that amount. Second, this matter illustrates how complex and precarious coverage analysis can be. With any case that will involve uninsured motorist coverage hiring an Atlanta injury lawyer is essential.

Here we have a drunk driver in Atlanta, Georgia that is carrying a low end Infinity insurance policy. He has what we call a 25/50 policy meaning there are two buckets of $25,000.00 in coverage available to protect all five claimants. However, several of them have Georgia Uninsured Motorist Coverage and there is the issue of the Uninsured Motorist Coverage on the Vehicle they are traveling in. The real question in the case is how to maximize the recoveries to bring the fairest result for all of the clients. Three of the injuries are very serious including skull fractures, a broken collarbone, cracked ribs and the other two injuries are more sprains and strains.

Continue reading "Uninsured Motorist Insurance Coverage Questions In Georgia Car Collisions Demonstrate Why a Lawyer is Necessary" »

Posted by Christopher Simon | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Atlanta Car Accidents

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Many clients involved in car accidents in Atlanta, Georgia have come to me explaining that even though the officer ticketed them, the crash was the other driver's fault and they wonder what they should do with the traffic ticket from the City of Atlanta.
If the injury is serious, I will take a hard look at the evidence to determine if the officer just got it wrong, and sometimes they do.

For people that have been injured in a Georgia car crash and the probability of a subsequent lawsuit, the outcome of the traffic ticket can be critical. People that sustain serious injuries in Atlanta should be careful with how they handle the citation they are given.

Continue reading "The Impact of Paying an Atlanta Georgia Car Accident Ticket" »

Posted by Christopher Simon | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Atlanta Car Accidents

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As an Atlanta injury lawyer I am constantly litigating car accident cases where the insurance company disputes liability and tries to scare off the injured party. This often leads to the litigation of "swearing contest" cases where there are no eyewitnesses and the jury is left to judge the credibility of the parties without further aid. What is odd about this predicament is that there are increasing numbers of cameras and yet it is very difficult to get the police and DOT to produce the records.

As any Atlanta motorist knows, there are a series of video cameras covering not only all major highways, but increasingly we are seeing video and still cameras at major intersections. Through the years, I have sent Open Records Requests and Subpoenas and the response has been "we don't record that information." The lack of access to those videos leads to needless litigation by both sides to the dispute. There are situations where the trucking company was clearly in the wrong but litigated the case because of the chance that a jury would see it their way and when I was defending insurance companies, I handled many a case where the passenger car driver was clearly at fault and the video would have exonerated the tractor trailer driver. Georgia injury claims can be severely devalued where there is a solid liability dispute.

Continue reading "Atlanta Georgia Collisions are Frequently Filmed but Accessing the Video can Be Challenging" »

Posted by Christopher Simon | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Atlanta Car Accidents

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