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As a Georgian, I was saddened to see that CDC officials have confirmed that there is salmonella contamination at a Blakely, Georgia factory that ships peanut paste and other products to 85 different companies. The outbreak of Salmonella has caused illness in over 40 states and has caused at least six deaths among the elderly.

Kellogs is recalling Austin and Keebler brand Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers and some Famous Amos Peanut Butter Cookies and Keebler Soft Batch Homestyle Peanut Butter Cookies.

It is still unclear if the salmonella strain in the Blakely plant matches the strain that has sickened people across the US. If the strains do match though, it is apparent that the peanut paste and peanut butter produced by the Peanut Corp. of America will have to be tracked down in every product it was baked in. Before I became an injury lawyer, I practiced as an insurance defense lawyer and handled food poisoning cases for Taco Bell, Olive Garden and Red Lobster. The key to prosecuting these cases is identifying the bacterial agent responsible for the illness and determining if there is a DNA match with the strains causing the outbreak. For the time being, Peanut Corp. has made a voluntary recall of all peanut butter made since Aug. 8 and all peanut paste produced since Sept. 26.

If you have been injured by a drunk driver, 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 you are capable of handling a Georgia injury 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.

Prospective clients often want to know if it is worth their while to hire an attorney given that 1/3 of the recovery goes to the lawyer and the answer is, sometimes. However, when the collision was caused by a drunk driver, juries take this very seriously and regularly return significant punitive damages awards. If you try and handle an Atlanta DUI crash case on your own though, the adjuster will use your inexperience against you.

For example, in a case involving emergency room care and a few follow up visits to the family doctor, where the crash was serious and caused by a drunk driver, an Attorney can research the criminal background of the other driver and lock down the dash camera recording from the arresting officer. Armed with that information we are able to maximize the client’s recovery in cases with modest medical bills. Even in cases with medical bills totaling less than $3,000.00, I have been able to recover the $25,000.00 policy limits because of the punitive damages aspect of the case. I have made significant recoveries in Georgia DUI cases against Farm Bureau, Liberty Mutual, Traveler’s Insurance, Farmers Insurance and State Farm.

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One of the most commonly asked questions is whether an injured client without health insurance can expect the at fault driver in a Georgia car crash to pay their medical bills. On a simple trip to the emergency room in Georgia, an average ambulance ride is $500.00, the ER physician is $250 and the ER itself is another $500.00.

The short answer is the other driver’s insurance will not pay your medical bills soon but eventually they will. When people are injured in a car wreck in Atlanta and they speak with the other driver’s insurance company, they are usually asked if they are hurt and then the adjuster will dissuade the client from getting any follow up medical care with a statement like this “we will only pay for medical care that we think is reasonable.”

To put it simply, if you have an injury and are seeing a doctor, the other driver’s insurance will not pay the bills as you go, even though they may give you that false impression by telling you to send over the bills. Do not become confused with your own vehicle’s Georgia medical payments insurance provisions as they will pay as you go.

As we have been discussing, the new Georgia Uninsured Motorist laws that went into effect on January 1, 2009 are drastically different. Check out this video for more details

When you are injured in a Georgia collision, you need to put your Georgia Uninsured Motorist Insurance carrier on notice as soon as possible because the failure to do so can void coverage. Problems usually arise with these coverages when you are covered under your parent’s or grandparents policy and you don’t realize that until a year down the road when you finally hire a lawyer.

Depending on the facts of the case and the Uninsured Motorist Insurance policy language, you can be required to give notice in as few as 30 days of the crash. See Flamm v. Doe, 167 Ga. App. 587 (1983). In Manzi v. Cotton States Mutual Insurance Company, 243 Ga. App. 277 (2000), the Court of Appeals ruled that the insured’s failure to give notice within 60 days voided the coverage. Keep in mind that if the policy is worded correctly, you can lose thousands of dollars of potential insurance coverage just by not asking the right questions. Failing to hire an injury attorney when there are serious injuries involved can have dire consequences.

What are some other sources of Georgia Uninsured Motorist coverage? If you have multiple car policies even with the same carrier, so long as there are separate policy numbers, these policies likely stack under OCGA Sec. 33-7-11(b)(1)(D(ii)

As a 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.

Let us imagine a situation where we have litigated your Georgia personal injury case and the insurer has finally come to their senses and has agreed to settle the case. One huge question is, will I have to reimburse my health care insurer out of the settlement? The answer is maybe. This is an extremely complex area of law and if your medical care is paid by insurance then it makes sense to hire a car accident injury lawyer but for the sake of this conversation, here are some general truths:

First I will order a copy of the policy to review the policy language to see if it entitles the plan to reimbursement from the settlement. These days, most of the health insurance plans issued in Georgia have refined their language to permit their recovery.

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We get numerous calls from people who have already signed up with a lawyer and the other lawyer told them 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 car accident attorney at any time;

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.;

In a recent 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 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.

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I have had many clients that have been seriously injured in Atlanta in car crashes and treated at Grady Hospital. The clients come to me without health insurance and with staggering medical bills and they wonder how they will pay for the medical care, especially if the policy limits for the at fault driver are low and there is not enough Georgia Uninsured Motorist insurance coverage.Grady is the largest trauma hospital in Georgia and they have recently made the news for their financial troubles, but, their financial aid programs remain largely in effect. If you were involved in a car accident and received emergency care at Grady and have no other insurance options, you can visit the financial aid office and look into getting a Grady Card. The Grady Card entitles the client to 50% off of their medical care. Understand that this is only available to persons with serious emergency care that have no medical payments insurance and no health insurance. In situations where there is no tortfeasor to recover from or the wrongdoer has no insurance Grady will also work out long term extended payment plans.

With so many people going without health insurance these days, access to quality medical care is a constant challenge. If the injuries occur due to the negligence or recklessness of other though, there are options.

In cases where there are substantial medical bills to be repaid that were incurred before your loved on died, you should retain a wrongful death attorney to coordinate the settlement and structure it so that the hospital gets some repayment but does not take a disproportionate share. This can be accomplished by structuring the payments so that the estate of deceased does not receive the majority of the settlement funds and they instead go to the Georgia wrongful death statutory claimants.