Atlanta Injury Law Blog

On 11/8/05, the Georgia Court of Appeals reversed an order of summary judgment in favor of the Georgia Department of Transportation in a case where there was circumstantial evidence that a young driver’s wheels had dropped off the edge of the pavement, causing the driver to lose control and fatally strike a tree. The court…

The Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), outlined a new effort on the part of the agency to concentrate more on truck driver-related issues. As part of this shift of emphasis, FMCSA plans to start work on the following in 2006: Development of a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) learner’s permit with a…

According to a report from the General Accounting Office, states fail to report one-third of commercial trucking accidents that they are required to report to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Large trucks make up 3 percent of the nation’s registered vehicles, but they were involved in 11 percent of all fatal crashes in 2003.…

Santa Maria, CA, 11/27/05. A Greyhound bus driver apparently fell asleep and ran off a road, killing two passengers, one of whom was seven months pregnant. Forty-one other passengers were injured. A witness said the bus suddenly drifted over the fog line without signaling or braking and plunged over an embankment. See CNN story. The…

Today has been proclaimed “Drive Safer Sunday” in Georgia as part of a campaign begun by the family of an Atlanta college student killed by a speeding trucker in Viginia three ywars ago. Cullum Owings was returning to Washington & Lee University with his younger brother after a visit home to Atlanta. He planned to…

From 2001 to 2004, commercial vehicle wrecks in South Carolina increased 39%, from 2,264 to 3,147, while truck safety enforcement staffing remained at the same level. The number of trucks licensed to haul cargo in SC increased over the four-year period by about 6 percent to 862,879,while the number of tractor-trailer rigs involved in collisions…

Gorman, CA, 11/25/05. On the I-5 freeway in the Los Angeles area, a tractor trailer struck the rear of a stalled pickup truck, overturning the smaller vehicle and killing a man and teenage boy inside. The tractor trailer driver left the scene with a ruptured fuel tank, took the next exit, and proceeded until the…

The Georgia Court of Appeals recently upheld a trial court decision to deny summary judgment in a premises liability case where a customer tripped over gasoline hoses at a convenience store gas station. The defendant had superior knowledge that the length of the non-retractable hoses attached to its gasoline pumps could create a tripping hazard…

The Georgia Court of Appeals has held that an anesthesiologist committed negligence per se by allowing nurses who did not have advanced skills or training to administer narcotics to patients without consulting with a physician prior to administration in violation of O.C.G.A. § 43-34-26.1. See Groover v. Johnston, below. The Shigley Law Firm represents plaintiffs…

Once again the Georgia Court of Appeals has demonstrated willingness to support a trial court’s imposition of extreme sanctions for discovery abuse. In Gropper v. STO Corp., the plaintiffs established a long pattern of failure to cooperate in discovery. The trial judge ultimately lost patience and dismissed the complaint. The Court of Appeals found no…