Articles Posted in Civil Litigation

In nearly a half-century as a Georgia lawyer, starting when we had spittoons in jury boxes, bailiffs called greenhorn lawyers “Colonel,” and computers were just huge mainframes in large institutions, I have seen a lot of change. I have tried serious injury cases for over forty years. Years ago, I saw terribly low verdicts for…

COVID-19 has thrust us into a global crisis unprecedented in the century since the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918-19. It is not merely disruptive in our daily routines. It involves life, death and enormous hardship in massive scale, probably for a prolonged time.  In this new reality, some of the routines dealing with individual injury…

Transformation of  lives of clients and their families is part of my calling in law practice. While money is the quantitative measure of success, whenever possible I also try to guide outcomes in a way that will redirect the trajectory of life for clients and their families. A recent case is a good example. Recently…

Sterigenics plants in Smyrna and Covington, Georgia, have long used ethylene oxide in sterilization of medical equipment. The Environmental Protection Agency air assessment from last year found several census tracts around those plants had significantly increased cancer risks due to ethylene oxide. The EPA recently concluded that the gas is dangerous at lower levels than previously believed. Ethylene…

Though common in litigation, confidential settlements can be controversial. While confidentiality agreements had help expedite settlement, there are concerns that secret settlements can work against public safety by covering up health and safety hazards. As with much in life, the hardest choices are not between good and bad, but between good and good, and between…

You are a great lawyer in your area of practice. You are also smart enough to know when a big case may require prompt action outside your comfort zone. Just as a trial lawyer may not feel comfortable handling a complex real estate, divorce or estate planning matter, a great lawyer in those fields may not…

  The Georgia Supreme Court ruled on 11/7/2016 that outgoing text messages found in a cell phone are admissible in evidence as admissions of the person who sent them. However, incoming text messages are inadmissible hearsay, though their admission in evidence was “harmless” under the circumstances of the case. Glispie v. State, decided November 7,…

Much of our Atlanta-based litigation law practice is based upon referrals from other attorneys around Georgia and North America for catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases in Georgia. Most of these are not simple, slam-dunk cases. Often we have to contend with a rat’s nest of convoluted, multi-layered liability defenses. Among those is often the…

Property insurance policies typically include provisions that the policyholder must cooperate in investigation and adjustment. This includes an examination under oath (EUO) — answering a lot of questions from the insurance company’s lawyer. Failure of the policyholder to submit to the examination may preclude even an innocent insured from any recovery under the insurance contract.…

Merle Haggard sang, “The roots of my raising run deep.” So do Ken Shigley‘s. His rural childhood home was a modest cement block two bedroom, but full of love. His dad and uncle, WWII combat veterans, built it on weekends one pickup truck load of materials per payday. The house included an indoor toilet and…