Atlanta Injury Attorney Blog

Despite the media spotlight shifting to car accidents caused by driving and texting, the number one killer remains drunk driving in Georgia. As drunk driving car accident lawyers, we civilly prosecute drunk drivers who injure and kill innocent victims across the State of Georgia. This traffic camera video of a drunk driver plowing into an unsuspecting victim demonstrates the human consequences to selfish decision making. One victim was killed and another was left with a serious brain injury. The victim’s parents want this video spread as far as possible to deter other drivers from making this tragic decision.

Although the criminal justice system is charged with the primary responsibility for punishment, Georgia law also recognizes that there should be a civil punishment for drinking and driving when you cause an injury. O.C.G.A. § 51-12-5.1 provides for punitive damages when the person behaves with a reckless indifference to the consequences of their behavior.

Continue reading

When you read the CNN coverage on the head on crash between a tractor trailer and a Mennonite Church van in Kentucky that took 11 lives, the divergence between the effect of God’s law and man’s law is illustrated. Friday morning a tractor trailer driver crossed the center line in Kentucky and took the lives of 11 people headed to a Mennonite wedding.

Although our thoughts and prayers are with these unfortunate souls, I cannot abide the perspective of the church member mentioned in the article because to follow that path is to encourage this to happen again to other people.

Continue reading

There is a very unusual Georgia wrongful death decision out of the State Court in Bibb County that was recently upheld by the Court of Appeals. It has the potential to drastically affect wrongful death cases involving Georgia uninsured motorist insurance coverage. Smarr v. Richardson et al. involved the death of a young man in a car crash caused by a driver with $100,000.00 in liability insurance through Allstate. As we have discussed previously, a Georgia wrongful death case has two components, the statutory claim for the value of the life and the claim by the Estate of the deceased for pain and suffering, medical expenses, fear of imminent death and funeral expenses. In Smarr, Counsel for the family of the young man chose to allocate $99,900.00 of the Allstate money to the statutory claim and $100.00 to the Estate claim.

Continue reading

The Georgia Supreme Court issued a decision today on cancellation of car insurance and although I don’t think it was very interesting, it reminded me a case that we handled that was and has some bearing for Georgia consumers. We took a case for a badly injured woman who had been involved in a car crash as a passenger. The driver had driven off the road and flipped the vehicle. In response to our request for insurance information, the insurance company claimed they had canceled the policy for non-payment of premium at midnight, six hours before the crash.

Continue reading

The firm is working on the tragic wrongful death case of a child run over by an elderly driver in Cobb County. As all Georgia wrongful death lawyers know, there often is not enough insurance to assist the family in recovering from the devastating loss. In this case, the driver that killed the little girl only had a $25,000/$50,000.00 policy. That means that the most the policy will pay is $25,000 per person injured or $50,000.00 total per wreck. Here, the mother of the child was standing 2 feet from the little girl as she stepped from the school bus into a blocked off cul de sac. The defendant driver swerved around 2 cars stopped behind the bus, ran onto the curb and past the cars, past the bus and ran the girl down 2 feet from her mother. Her mother was not touched physically by the car but experienced the horror of seeing her daughter sustain a mortal wound.

Continue reading

In 2005, Georgia rewrote the prior conviction impeachment law and codified it as O.C.G.A. §24-9-84.1. The old Georgia rule was more “loosey-goosey” but with the new law, the legislature said that the prior crime must fit certain criteria before it comes in.Certain convictions or guilty pleas for past crimes can impeach or discredit testimony in totally unrelated civil or criminal case. If the crime fits the statute and the lawyer tenders the conviction into evidence, the witness is impeached and that has two damaging effects.

Continue reading

Just because your boss calls you an independent contractor, sends you a 1099 and had you sign an independent contractor’s agreement does not meet that you are exempt from overtime law in Georgia. So how does an overtime lawyer figure it out?

Continue reading

Mike Moebes, owner of the Atlanta workers compensation law firm of Moebes Law, and I just returned from the great city of New Orleans where we attended the annual Southern Trial Lawyers meeting. After two days of lectures given by some of the most respected trial lawyers in the United States, including Howard Nations of Texas and John Romano of Florida, we took some time to enjoy the sites and sounds of Mardi Gras. The STLA group rode on Float #5 in the Krewe of Tucks, right behind the Toulouse Brass Band. The float included the partners in the firm of Bogani and Robes of West Palm Beach, Florida and Saints defensive end, Jeff Charleston, and our float happened to be captured on television by Channel 4.

Continue reading

Senior Partner at Christopher Simon Attorney at Law, 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.

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.