5/23/05, Pooler, GA – Two tractor trailer drivers have been charged in connection with a series of wrecks on I-16 near I-95 last week that snarled traffic for hours. Nineteen vehicles were involved in seven crashes, injuring seven people, in a one-mile section of road within less than an hour on May 17. One truck…
Continue reading ›5/23/05, Henry County, GA – A tractor trailer overturned and burned , closing down southbound lanes of I-75 during afternoon rush hour. The truck driver was taken by helicopter to Atlanta Medical Center. Neither his condition or the cause of the crash has been announced. See story. The Shigley Law Firm represents plaintiffs in wrongful…
Continue reading ›An article by the Clarke County Tax Commissioner, published in the Athens Banner-Herald on May 15th lambasts the breakup of the Georgia Department of Motor Vehicle Safety. Gov. Sonny Perdue signed House Bill 501 last week to dismantle DMVS. The stated purpose of the bill was to end long lines at driver’s license sites. However,…
Continue reading ›“A major new report released…by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) offers more evidence that the insurance industry is intentionally using faulty data to make claims that the tort system leads to increased economic costs. EPI, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, analyzed in detail the alleged cost estimates of the U.S. tort system…
Continue reading ›The Interland Spring 2005 Business Barometer of Small Business Activities reveals a disconnect between the concerns of small business owners and the overheated rhetoric of tort reform lobbyists. The Interland survey found that 66 percent of small businesses “rarely or never” consider the cost of litigation when making decisions. Forty-five percent of the respondents were…
Continue reading ›A new study by Washington D.C.-based think tank Economic Policy Institute undermines the economic arguments for “tort reform.” The report by Economist Lawrence Chimerine and Ross Eisenbrey shows there is no evidence that lawsuits brought by consumers harmed by dangerous products and services have had any negative effect on the economy or on insurance rates.…
Continue reading ›Near Boston on 5/12/05, a burning truck driver was forced to leap 60 feet into the water below after his tractor-trailer truck smashed through the guardrail of an Interstate 495 bridge over the Merrimack River, causing the truck to explode into flames. State police said the driver managed to swim to an island in the…
Continue reading ›Senate Bill 3 says that the offer of judgment rule should apply to pending cases. However, a Florida case found that similar “loser pays” rule was substantive rather than merely procedural. See Timmons v. Combs, 608 So.2d 1 (Fla.1992) If followed in Georgia, that would exclude retroactive application in cases arising before the effective date…
Continue reading ›At least two trial judges have declined to apply the newly enacted Daubert rules for expert witnesses retroactively. Both Judge Melody Clayton in the State Court of Cobb County (Marietta) and Judge Hermann Coolidge in the State Court of Chatham County (Savannah) reached the same conclusion. Applying the new standards for expert testimony in an…
Continue reading ›Arguments have been raised to the effect that the enactment of Daubert standards in Senate Bill 3 is unconstitutional on grounds of violation of separation of powers, equal protection and due process. The constitutional arguments set forth below are from a brief filed by David E. Tuszynski in the case of Mason v. Home Depot,…
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