Articles Posted in Legislation

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…

This morning on her way to work, a paralegal in our office was injured when someone rear-ended her car on the way to work. When she was waiting for a CT scan in the hospital emergency department, she sent us a text reporting that she had already been called on her cell phone by two…

Proposed new Georgia Judicial Building, future home of Supreme Court and Court of Appeals It appears that by time he leaves office at the beginning of 2019, Governor Nathan Deal will have: Fortunately, he will have done all that without harming the civil justice system. Some conservative politicians condemn trial lawyers and are drawn to “tort…

GPS technology is one of the great conveniences of life in the 21st century. When it works right it enables us to find our way through unfamiliar areas with ease. Other times it can lead us terribly astray. But at all times we should follow the device directions by entering destination information while safely parked…

Atlantans were shocked a couple of weeks ago by the story of a home invasion robbery attempt in which teenage males approached a young father on his front porch, forced their way into the house and shot the father twice. His wife fled out the back door with their six-month-old infant while the invaders fired shots…

Ken Shigley of Atlanta, who was president of the State Bar of Georgia in 2011-12, is now chair of the largest practice area section in the American Association for Justice (AAJ), the national organization of plaintiffs’ trial attorneys. Shigley took the helm of the Motor Vehicle Collision, Highway & Premises Liability Section of AAJ and…

If you are the parent of a teenage driver, the idea of your “invulnerable” teen texting while driving may be among your greatest fears. Now “there’s an app for that.” Although texting and driving is not illegal in all states yet, it certainly is a dangerous activity anywhere you go especially on touchscreen phones that…

We have all seen drivers distracted by their electronic devices behind the wheel. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations now forbid interstate truck drivers from texting or talking on a hand held cell phone while driving. But recently we were hired in a multiple fatality crash on a Georgia interstate highway in which the truck…

Injuries to children are going to happen.  In fact, according to the CDC, injury treatment is the leading cause of medical spending for children equaling about $11.5 billion in the United States.  A serious injury to a minor child touches the heart more than a comparable injury to an adult.  Because young children lack the…

A few days ago, I wrote about a Georgia Supreme Court decision that left a lot of uncertainty about which legal malpractice claims could be assigned to people or companies other than clients. Most states do not allow assignment of legal malpractice claims to others for substantial public policy reasons related to protection of the…