Blog Archive - March, 2015

The slow speed of the so-called economic recovery has hit virtually all segments of the economy, including the agriculture industry from small family owned farms and dairies to large commercial agri-businesses. The federal government took action last year to ease the financial burden on farmers, which did not receive much fanfare but may have significant consequences for those who share the roadways with big-rigs in Georgia.

While DUI is a serious cause of many motor vehicle accidents in Atlanta and throughout Georgia, teen drivers who drink and drive continue to pose a serious danger to vehicle occupants, motorcyclists and pedestrians. Because teenage drivers are inexperienced with both alcohol and driving, they are more likely than other age groups to be involved in an alcohol related car accident. Despite Georgia's zero tolerance law concerning underage drinking and driving, teenagers continue to drive while impaired by alcohol. At Montlick & Associates, we are committed to safe driving practices that keep everyone on the road safe. We have provided an overview of what motorists should know about teen drunken driving accidents.

There are many accidents in Atlanta caused by motorists who fail to abide by their obligation to yield. Collisions caused by drivers who disregard right of way rules cause injury, disability and wrongful death to many accident victims throughout the Atlanta, the state of Georgia and the U.S. annually. The process of determining whether a driver that crashed into you violated a legal duty to yield requires an analysis of Atlanta accident law.

While our Atlanta car accident lawyers have addressed the danger associated with driving under the influence of alcohol on this blog, we have devoted less attention to drug impaired driving. As many states liberalize their marijuana laws by permitting use of marijuana for medical use and even recreational use in a couple of states, it is reasonable to presume that the number of motor vehicle accidents caused by drivers under the influence of drugs is likely to rise.

While distracted driving is increasingly drawing attention from federal motor vehicle safety regulators, the scourge of drunk driving remains a serious threat to those using Georgia streets and highways. Alcohol impaired drivers continue to account for almost a third of all motor vehicle accident related fatalities. While stricter laws and tougher enforcement of Georgia drunk driving prohibitions have provided some improvement, there are still many families that have their lives turned upside down when a family member suffers life-altering injuries or wrongful death.

Whether you are at home in a residential neighborhood or at work in an industrial or business park setting, delivery trucks have a constant presence. The severity of delivery truck accidents stems from the same cause as those involving large commercial big-rigs; they are massive in weight and size compared to small passenger vehicles. Delivery trucks also have many of the handling and safety disadvantages that are customarily associated with big-rigs, including longer stopping distances, less responsive maneuvering and larger blind spots.

Spring break is here for many and right around the corner for others, which means sun and fun for many college students and vacationing families. While families and university students look forward to this time to travel, relax and spend time with family and friends, it is appropriate to exercise caution because the volume of DUI arrests and intoxicated drivers spike during spring break.

Few people worry that they will be involved in a potentially fatal collision when simply backing out of their driveway. However, our Atlanta personal injury attorneys know that driveways accidents involving small children are all too frequent and can result in devastating injuries and tragic loss of life. Because motor vehicles have enormous blind spots immediately behind their vehicle, the risk of hitting a small child playing in the driveway is very real and much more common than most people would assume. Each week, at least two children are killed and another 50 are hurt in backup accidents. Tragically, almost all of these victims are small children under the age of 5 who cannot be seen from inside the passenger compartment of the motor vehicle.

Most parents recognize the importance of driving safely and placing their child in a car seat to avoid serious injury to their kids if a serious Georgia car accident occurs. Although car seats can be an invaluable safety feature for protecting children in car accidents, they do little to protect the unborn children of pregnant vehicle occupants. Each Atlanta car accident attorney from our law firm has understands there is no careful tracking of the deaths of unborn children in car accidents, but it is estimated that as many as a thousand fetuses die in fatal car accidents annually.

Our Atlanta truck accident attorneys at Montlick and Associates recognize the potentially devastating consequences when truck drivers disregard trucking industry safety rules, and trucking companies look the other way. While most truck drivers are conscientious and professional, unfortunately this is not always the case.  The enormous force of impact generated when a big-rig slams into another vehicle can cause permanent injuries that prevent the ability of a trucking accident victim to continue working and participating in routine daily activities. When a person is injured in a big-rig collision, an investigation to gather and preserve evidence is essential to establish the cause of the crash and wrongful conduct by the driver and trucking company.

Successful pursuit of a motor vehicle accident claim depends on gathering relevant evidence and carefully analyzing the facts. Frequently, there are conflicting witness accounts regarding which driver was at-fault. While physical evidence like skid marks, vehicle damage and the position of the vehicles might corroborate a particular version of the facts, sometimes there are still multiple interpretations of the physical evidence and witness testimony. The use of an accident reconstruction expert can constitute a valuable tool when deciphering conflicting evidence and developing a compelling case for the judge or jury.

At Montlick and Associates, our Atlanta truck accident lawyers often handle personal injury cases where damages are more difficult to prove because the injury victim is a child with no earning history, or a senior who is at or near retirement age. In other cases, the task of proving damages can be complicated because the trucking accident victim's medical bills are fairly limited. The prospect of obtaining a full recovery under such circumstances often turns on effective advocacy in establishing non-economic forms of damages like pain and suffering and loss of consortium, or some permanent disability or losee that is not reflected simply by the amount of the medical bills. These types of damages are more subjective, so they cannot simply be proven by submitting bills the way medical expenses and lost wages can be documented.

With over five and a half million auto accidents occurring in the United States each year, you can imagine the number of injuries which result from these accidents. In fact, over two million injuries result from auto accidents, with more than 30,000 fatalities. Surprisingly, the majority of fatal car accidents involve only one car, although half of auto fatalities can be linked to high speeds. The victims of these accidents are left with injuries which range from minor bumps and bruises to the other end of the spectrum which includes serious and traumatic injuries.

Our Atlanta car accident lawyers at Montlick and Associates are frequently asked if injury victims can handle their own car accident claim. Some people do attempt to negotiate directly with an insurer or to file their own lawsuit, but generally speaking the chances of obtaining a recovery for the full value of one's loss is extremely low without an attorney. In fact the insurance industries own studies show that on average accident victims get significantly more money when represented by legal counsel.  Lawyers that handle auto accident claims have the benefit of legal training, legal specialization seminars, experience handling similar cases and litigation resources. Even when liability seems relatively clear, you would be hard pressed to find an insurance company simply rolling over and paying the full value of a claim. The notion of liability being "relatively clear" also can become extremely murky when insurance company experts and insurance defense lawyer have an opportunity to develop a creative interpretation of the facts. When the facts do not permit a compelling defense based on liability (i.e. fault), insurance companies will dispute the amount of damages by trivializing the extent of an accident victim's injuries. This blog post provides the top reasons car crash injury victims should seek prompt legal representation.

Road rash is the commonly used name for skin abrasions, most often suffered as the result of motorcycle accident. These abrasions occur when skin hits pavement or concrete as the body is scraped along the road surface. This type of extreme friction rubs off the external skin layers, and in extreme cases can leave the muscle exposed. While some cases of road rash may be relatively minor, deeper abrasions can leave significant scarring as well as chronic pain. Often, road rash injuries are dismissed by some people as being relatively minor injuries. Consider, however, that your skin is the largest organ of your entire body. If road rash covers a large part of the body, illness, infection, scars and chronic pain can be the result.

There are over 130,000 thousand amputations each year in the United States and many of these are due to trauma from an auto accident. There are a variety of situations which can result in the loss of a limb following an auto accident, however amputation will either occur during the accident or as a result of injuries sustained during in the crash. Some victims have a limb pinned between two vehicles, or a vehicle and another fixed object which results in the loss of a limb, while others are involved in rollover accidents which lead to a limb being pinned under the vehicle. Victims who have their legs crushed when the front end of the vehicle crumples back into the passenger area can end up losing one or both legs. In some instances loose metal can pierce a leg or arm, puncturing an artery and resulting in significant loss of blood and possible loss of the limb as well.

Some illnesses and injuries are well known to the general public for having specific, "telltale" symptoms. For example, chest pain and difficulty breathing are well known as being symptoms of a heart attack. Of course, not all people who have heart attacks experience those symptoms, and some people who experience chest pain and difficulty breathing are not experiencing a heart attack. This is where doctors and hospitals come in, to look beyond the symptoms that a patient is reporting in order to assess what is happening with their body.

Although every personal injury case is based on unique facts and circumstances, there are certain questions repeatedly raised by individuals who contact our Atlanta personal injury law firm. A common question involves whether an injury victim is better off taking a case to trial or negotiating a settlement. Admittedly, most personal injury cases settle prior to trial, but our attorneys routinely prepare cases for either form of resolution with the same tenacity and diligence to seek the best outcome for our clients. In this blog post, we have provided an overview of four key factors that need to be considered when evaluating whether a case is more appropriate for trial or settlement. 

Injured parties are often surprised when they receive a settlement offer from an insurance company very soon after their injury occurs. Unfortunately, all too many people are quick to accept initial settlement offers because they know that between their medical bills and being out of work, any savings that they have could quickly be depleted, leaving them struggling to make ends meet.  However, this can be a costly mistake.

People trek from across the U.S. to the Nevada desert each year to attend the Burning Man Festival. This summer's version of the event was marred by a fatal bus accident. According to the Burning Man blog, a woman died when she fell under a bus transporting participants to the popular arts festival. When bus accident occur, they raise particular legal issues based on the unique status of "common carriers". Our experienced Atlanta auto accident lawyers at Montlick and Associates have provided an overview of key facts that people injured in bus accidents need to know about their legal rights.

McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson (J&J), entered into a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in which the pharmaceutical company has agreed to pay $25 million to resolve federal criminal charges. The criminal charges related to the sale of liquid medication contaminated with metal. While the settlement resolves the criminal charges, the criminal prosecution will not provide financial compensation to patients who suffered harm caused by the tainted drugs. If you have been injured by a defective or contaminated pharmaceutical, you might want to speak with one of our Atlanta personal injury attorneys to learn about your rights and remedies.

Our Atlanta medical malpractice attorneys at Montlick and Associates recognize that negligent medical care can take many forms in a hospital setting.  One of the most common and preventable forms of medical malpractice in a hospital involves improper administration of medications.  This type of mistake can occur in a number of different scenarios, but patients generally do not experience drug administration errors unless a health care professional is negligent.

Because seniors often fear the loss of independence that accompanies the surrender of their driver's license, many seniors continue to drive even though declining physical and mental abilities can make doing so unsafe. Age can take a serious toll on driving skills and contribute to collisions that cause life-altering injuries and fatalities. Motorists that are age 80 and older have a higher risk of involvement in a multi-car accident than any other age group with the exception of teen drivers according to the Federal Highway Administration. This fact is particularly concerning because the number of elderly motorists is expected to triple during the next two decades.

Cosmetic surgery is popular here in Atlanta, and there is no shortage of facilities for people to choose from when they want a face lift, breast enhancement, reconstructive surgery, or other procedure that they feel will enhance their appearance. As the name indicates, cosmetic surgery is surgery, and any type of surgery involves risk. If cosmetic surgery is performed in a negligent manner, a patient's health may be endangered, in addition to any damage that is done to their appearance.

Families entrust the care of their older relatives to nursing homes because they believe that nursing homes are safe places where their loved ones can be cared for and kept safe around the clock. While this is often true, some of the health conditions which often affect older adults, particularly Alzheimer's and dementia, can cause certain individuals to develop a tendency to wander off. These conditions certainly make it difficult for family members to provide care for these individuals at home, and they continue to pose challenges to the nursing homes that are entrusted with the responsibility of caring for them.

While all medical professionals from primary care doctors to brain surgeons can be found liable for medical negligence, the challenge of proving a medical malpractice can vary substantially based on the situation.  The evidentiary standard for proving medical negligence by doctors in an emergency room can be especially challenging.  A slight departure from the standard of care by doctors with similar training in the geographic area might be sufficient to justify liability against a doctor in another setting.  However, Georgia law requires a plaintiff to establish “gross negligence” if the alleged malpractice occurred when the patient was treated in an emergency room.

While train accidents might not be a common form of vehicular collision, train derailments and rail crossing accidents can cause serious injuries and fatalities, and they still happen all too often. Because a significant number of people are transported on the typical Amtrak or commuter train, a train crash or derailment can cause a massive number of injuries. The media has widely covered three major train crashes during the last two months causing seven deaths and dozens of injuries. When individuals suffer debilitating injuries or lose a loved one in a train accident, an experienced personal injury attorney can represent their interest in seeking compensation for their loss.

With the increased use of over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription drugs, drugged drivers continue to constitute a significant public safety risk. While alcohol and illegal drugs might receive more attention as a cause of Atlanta car accidents, legal drugs prescribed by a physician and OTC medications also can seriously impair driving ability. These legal medications can compromise a driver's mental and physical driving abilities by causing drowsiness, impaired coordination, diminished reaction time and poor judgment. If you are struck and suffer injury while navigating the roads of Atlanta and the surrounding vicinity, our experienced Atlanta auto accident lawyers diligently represent the victims of drug impaired drivers.

Because of the size of the federal government and the massive amount of money that flows through federal agencies, federal programs are susceptible to fraud by businesses and individuals. The False Claims Act, which was passed during the Civil War, is a federal statute designed to encourage disclosure of attempts to defraud government entities and protect "whistleblowers" who assist the government in recovering public funds. Our Qui Tam Lawyers at Montlick and Associates represent courageous individuals who disclose attempts to defraud the federal government.

Most people have certain driving habits that are less than optimal, but some drivers routinely engage in conduct that substantially increases the risk of an auto accident. While the best practice is for drivers to always observe the rules of the road and engage in defense driving, there are especially dangerous driving habits that cause more accidents and severe injuries. When motorists disregard traffic safety and engage in these practices, the predictable result can be serious permanent injuries like spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, damage to vital organs, paralysis and other life-changing injuries.

If your child attends a birthday party, church event or local warm weather carnival, there is a good chance a bounce house, waterslide, moonwalk or other inflatable might be a major attraction.  While these inflatable are lots of fun for kids, they also can constitute a significant risk of injury.  Thousands of kids across the United States are treated in emergency rooms annually for injuries caused by inflatables, and the number of injuries appears to be increasing.

Rear-end collisions are one of the most misunderstood types of traffic accidents. Hollywood often features this type of collision in scenes designed to generate laughs with the so-called "victim" faking injuries. This imagery is promoted by the insurance industry because rear-end crash are the most common type of motor vehicle collision, and of course the insurance companies want to avoid liability or minimize what they have to pay. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a rear end collision occurs every eight seconds in the United States.

Trucking accidents differ substantially from other motor vehicle accidents because of the disparity in weight between 18-wheelers and passenger cars. Although the trucking industry is subject to state and federal safety regulations, compliance with these regulations is sometimes sketchy because of the motivation to increase revenue. While the majority of truckers are pofessssionl and responsible, when truck drivers ignore hours of service rules and fudge entries in driver logbooks, they pose a significant danger to everyone else traveling our roads and highways. While large trucks constitute a relatively small percentage of the total traffic on Georgia roadways, crashes involving tractor-trailers are more likely to result in severe injuries or fatalities because of their immense size.

Our Atlanta Personal Injury Attorneys at Montlick and Associates have been actively involved in efforts to help stop bullying, through the firm's Ambassador for Kids Anti-Bullying program (a4kclub.org) and various community activities.  News across the country regularly reports on kids being harassed and humiliated by their peers on social media sites. In some cases, the pattern of harassment and persecution is so intense that online bullying has resulted in physical confrontations and suicides. Some parents of bullied students have fought back by pursuing lawsuits against school districts and others responsible adults who fail to adequately intervene to stop a pattern of harassment before it has tragic consequences.

People take prescription drugs to cure illnesses, control symptoms and maintain health, but defective drugs can cause harm that outweighs the therapeutic benefits of a medication. Unsafe drugs and defective pharmaceuticals constitute a substantial percentage of all product liability lawsuits. Massive pharmaceutical companies that develop and market medications have a legal duty to conduct adequate research and testing to identify potential harmful side effects. Large pharmaceutical companies also have a legal duty to provide adequate warnings to doctors and consumers of adverse effects.

If you are injured in a motor vehicle accident because of the negligent conduct of another party, you may have the right to damages if you file a personal injury claim.  In some situations it can be necessary to file a lawsuit.  Although a personal injury lawsuit has many phases, the discovery phase is critically important but not necessarily well understood by many plaintiffs.  The discovery phase of a lawsuit involves using approved procedures to obtain information, documents, physical evidence, testimony and other forms of evidence from the other side.  There are a range of discovery tools that might be employed that include depositions, interrogatories (questions answered under oath), document demands, requests for admission and more.

Montlick & Associates encourages everyone to join in and support this year's Run for the Fallen, a 5K walk/run to benefit charities created in honor of Georgia's fallen soldiers. This is the firm's fifth year sponsoring this event, held in honor of Georgia soldiers who have lost their lives since 9/11 in service in Iraq and Afghanistan. This year's race will take place on March 14, 2015 at Lake Lanier Islands Resort in Buford. The race will begin at 8 a.m. Those interested in participating can register on Montlick & Associates website at: http://www.montlick.com/FallenHeroes.

If you are involved in a collision in Georgia caused by a distracted or speeding driver, your first concern will be seeking medical attention and treatment for your injuries. However, this medical treatment will not be free, so the financial impact of hospital bills, lost wages and vehicle repair is likely to provide an additional source of stress. When you are involved in a collision  the source of the funds to compensate you for the damages you suffer typically is paid from insurance coverage.  This article will be focused on discussing some of the types of insurance that can apply when you are injured in an accident that is caused by someone else's negligence.  Our Atlanta personal injury attorneys at Montlick and Associates recognize that many car accident victims are confused regarding the types of coverage that apply to their personal injury claim. We have provided an overview of types of insurance coverage that might be important if you are involved in an Atlanta car accident.

Charter buses provide transportation to many young people embarking on school trips, church youth group outings and sporting events. When young people who are traveling for a school or extracurricular function, a crash caused by an unsafe driver can cause harm to the many children or teenagers who are passengers on the bus. Drivers who engage in the most egregious forms of unsafe driving like driving the wrong way on a freeway often are alcohol impaired. These types of extremely egregious driving practices can justify punitive damages. Punitive damages are intended to punish such conduct and discourage similar acts in the future.

While cell phones can constitute serious distractions and contribute to potentially deadly crashes, a fatal plane crash raises the specter of a less obvious dangerous use of mobile phones by drivers. While you might not have considered the risk posed by "selfies" as a likely cause of an accident, a recent fatal plane crash demonstrates a reason that the growing obsession with selfies might be more than just an annoying habit. For those unfamiliar with the term, a "selfie" is a photo one takes of oneself which is often texted or uploaded to a social media site to be shared with others.