Georgia Personal Injury Law Blog

In the State of Georgia, all resident drivers are required to minimum liability insurance to be allowed to drive legally. The minimum amount of insurance every driver must carry in Georgia is at least $25,000 per person in each accident and $50,000 total per accident. This mandatory amount of basic insurance covers personal injuries and property damage that a driver causes someone else to suffer up to the limited proscribed in the policy.

If the number of fatalities in any given year is a fair gauge of the safety of driving in a state, then Georgia is indeed a dangerous place. In 2016, Georgia ranked as the 4th highest state in the country for deaths on its roadways, with more than 1,500 people dying in motor vehicle accidents.  Since the beginning of this year, there have been more than 160 fatalities on Georgia roads. According to the Georgia Department of Transportation’s statistics, the number of fatalities was up in 2015 and 2016 after a steady decline between 2007 and 2013.

Workers’ compensation insurance is meant to provide support for individuals who suffer work-related injuries. Employees do not have to prove fault when they have a workers’ compensation claim. However, it is not unusual for claims to be denied by the employer or the insurance company. Insurance companies do not enjoy paying out for claims, and employers do not like the possibility of increasing insurance premiums. If you have filed a claim for workers’ compensation and it was denied, here are some of the reasons that this might have happened.

Atlanta personal injury attorneys would like to discuss a recent jury verdict in a low-speed traffic accident case. The plaintiffs, who are husband and wife, were seeking approximately $1 million in damages. The jury awarded them just over $11,000. It is difficult to say what happened in the case and why the jury decided the way it did. Notwithstanding the uncertainty, many lessons can be learned from the case.

A massive crash involving a tractor-trailer truck killed one person and injured 17 others, according to AJC.com. One woman who was involved in the crash described her hair-raising, near death experience. She told the local news outlets that she kicked her way to freedom out of fear of becoming trapped in her car and fled her vehicle mere moments before a tractor-trailer slammed into her.

Social network sites are growing at a phenomenal rate and the trend toward detailing one’s daily activities for the world to see is starting to have a significant impact on car accident and personal injury claims. According to Pew Research Center, 68% of all U.S. adults are Facebook users, while 28% use Instagram, 26% use Pinterest, 25% use LinkedIn and 21% use Twitter.

Apple's iPhone will soon have the capability to block text messages while driving. This technology is not new for phones, including the iPhone. However, the development will help drivers to avoid distractions created by the need to read incoming text messages and the corresponding desire to respond to or initiate a text.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that investigators are not seeking criminal charges at this time for any of the motorists involved in the tragic bus crash that killed a 17-year-old girl. The bus and two other vehicles were involved in the crash that occurred on Thursday, June 8, 2017, in Fulton County. Investigators were waiting for the medical condition of the bus driver to improve so they could conduct a thorough investigation.

Jay Inslee, the Governor of the Washington State believes that autonomous automobiles should be on the road sooner rather than later. The governor signed an executive order in early June 2017, declaring that it is the policy of Washington to use autonomous technology to eradicate human error when driving. The governor wants testing to begin before the summer is over on both driverless and human back up versions of autonomous vehicles. 

The future may be here before we know it. A fully autonomous vehicle, a car that operates without human back up or intervention, could be tested on the road as soon as next year. Automakers have made great strides recently in improving autonomous technology. However, no fully autonomous vehicles have been tested on the road among other vehicles.

A Georgia homeowner's insurance company has asked a Bibb County Superior Court judge for guidance relating to the company's responsibility to indemnify the owner for shooting another. The Telegraph is reporting that the company filed a complaint in Bibb County Superior Court seeking declaratory relief on the issue. The judge's decision could have wide-ranging implications and open the door for indemnification to homeowner's for their criminal behavior despite contractual language that excludes coverage for criminal acts. We will watch the developments in this case closely as it plays out in court because of its significance.

Law enforcement officers from the Savannah-Chatham police department have started roving patrols to increase safety on local roads. Authorities say that the heightened enforcement program dubbed "Operation Rolling Thunder" is a "crackdown" on unsafe and illegal driving in the Savannah area. The aim of the project is to reduce fatal crashes and injuries on the roads. So far the program is working.

Many of us have had a loved one who resided in a nursing home or elder care facility. Sometimes as people age their mental or physical health can result in them needing frequent medical care and constant supervision that would not be possible if they stayed in a private home. Unfortunately, many nursing homes do not manage to live up to the standards that we would hope for, and reports of abuse and neglect in these facilities are far more common than we would hope. In fact, more than 90% of residents state that they or another resident in their facility has suffered from neglect. These numbers are frighteningly high, especially because the real numbers are likely much higher, as many residents of nursing homes cannot communicate due to their conditions, and others are afraid of being retaliated against if they speak out. So what can you do if you have been subjected to this form of abuse or if you see signs that your loved one has been the victim of nursing home abuse or neglect? The law gives you the opportunity to seek compensation from nursing homes that have been negligent or abusive, and to hold those facilities accountable for their actions.

We act as consumers nearly every day, purchasing food, clothing, medications, electronics and many other products. We put our trust in the companies that manufacture the things we purchase that they will be carefully manufacturing the goods that they sell so that they are safe for use. We expect food manufacturers to sell us food that is free from contaminants, car companies to manufacture vehicles that are safe to drive, and pharmaceutical companies to make drugs that have the proper dosages. Of course, sometimes products fail to meet these expectations and the results can be devastating. Product liability law is a body of law that exists in order to protect consumers from suffering injuries as a result of defective products. The laws governing product liability are governed by the states, meaning that the way these cases are handled might differ from state to state.

In recent years the number of motorcycles sold in the United States has been on a steady rise. People who choose to ride motorcycles may explain the appeal as a feeling of more freedom and a better appreciation of one's surroundings. Of course, the same reasons that motorcycles are considered fun and exciting to riders also create certain risks that are unique to these vehicles. Motorcycles leave riders exposed in ways that they would not be in cars, they are smaller and not always as easy for others on the road to see, minor problems on the road create greater hazards to motorcyclists than to cars, and riding a motorcycle requires more skill than driving a car. All of these factors create a situation where motorcyclists are more likely to be seriously injured in the event of an accident. Motorcyclists are actually about 27 times more likely to die as the result of an accident than are individuals riding in cars. The severity of these incidents often leads to questions of legal liability. In the vast majority of vehicle accident or collision cases, the question of liability will come down to the theory of negligence.

Personal injury law covers a wide range of scenarios. You may have heard the term "tort." Tort cases are a form of civil case, and they often involve situations where an individual was injured by or as a result of the actions or omissions of another person or company. The classic example would be a car accident, but many other cases fall into this category as well, including product liability cases, where a manufacturer is responsible for an injury. Other cases involve medical malpractice, where a medical practitioner has caused harm to a patient. If you were injured by circumstances that were not your fault, but can be attributed to the intentional or negligent actions of someone else, then you might be considering pursuing compensation from the person or entity that was responsible for your injuries.

The most common remedy in a civil lawsuit is damages. Damages are monetary compensation granted to a plaintiff. Damages are divided into several categories, including economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages can usually be itemized, such as medical expenses or lost wages. For instance, hospital bills, rehabilitation, or the cost of having your car fixed after an automobile accident are examples of economic damages. Non-economic damages are the ones granted to a plaintiff in compensation for the pain and suffering that the accident caused, or for emotional suffering. Unlike economic damages, which can be calculated by looking through documents such as medical bills and repair receipts, non-economic damages can prove difficult to quantify. It is not uncommon for a jury to reward a plaintiff with very high non-economic damages because they feel sympathy for the injured person on account of the pain caused by the accident. However, many states have placed "caps" on what a plaintiff can collect in terms of non-economic damages. These caps are typically in the range of several hundred thousand dollars.

Product liability cases arise when a product reaches a consumer and causes injury or damage to that consumer as a result of a defect in the product. Manufacturers, both of component parts, as well as the assembling manufacturer, as well as wholesalers and retailers can all be held liable for defective products. The defects may arise in one of three broad areas: a design defect, a manufacturing defect or a marketing defect.

According to The Atlantic, a new lethal dose of opiate-based narcotic has infiltrated regions of Georgia. Health officials issued a warning earlier this week that a pill is in circulation at this time which is believed to have caused two deaths and numerous other overdoses for which several people were hospitalized. Officials are not certain whether the pill is produced by a pharmaceutical company or homemade and they are investigating the dryg's origins.

Punitive damages, sometimes called exemplary damages, may be awarded Georgia to car accident victims in rare instances. A jury may award punitive damages to a car accident victim as punishment of the motorist who caused the crash for reckless behavior such as driving while intoxicated or fleeing the scene. The potential for punitive damages is an issue which must be thoroughly discussed between car accident victims and their car accident attorneys. Car accident victims need to understand that punitive damages are not available in every case. However, a skilled and experienced Georgia car accident attorney will know how to perform an exhaustive investigation to discover whether there is any justification for seeking punitive damages.