Many truck wrecks involve violation of multiple Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. An attorney handling a truck wreck case must be familiar with these regulations, which are designed to protect public safety. A few of the significant Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations are: Ken Shigley represents plaintiffs in wrongful death and catastrophic injury cases statewide…
Continue reading ›Two cases decided in November 2004 help to clarify the often befuddling concept legal doctrine of “proximate cause” in Georgia jury instructions. In John Crane Inc. v. Jones, 278 Ga. 747, 604 S.E.2d 822 (2004), the Supreme Court of Georgia held that it is error to charge that each of multiple defendants must have been…
Continue reading ›An article in the Denver Post on 3/7/05 describes the inadequacy of truck driver training, pressure to falsify log books and drive far in excess of the legal hours of service, numbing fatigue, monotony, loneliness and fatigue that are all too common in the trucking industry. The Shigley Law Firm represents plaintiffs in wrongful death…
Continue reading ›A Georgia truck driver is one of the two people who died Thursday night, 3/4/05, in the fiery crash of three tractor-trailers near Shreveport, LA. See article. The circumstances sound like another of the drivers may have been fatigued. The Shigley Law Firm represents plaintiffs in wrongful death and catastrophic injury cases statewide in Georgia,…
Continue reading ›It has happened again on Georgia 400. Sunday evening, 3/6/05, a head-on, three vehicle crash on the Georgia 400 expressway in north Fulton County killed two people were killed and injured four. The 8 p.m. accident shut down both sides of the highway between Haynes Bridge Road and Old Milton Parkway for several hours. See…
Continue reading ›According to an article in the New York Times on 3/6/05, lawyers in states with caps on noneconomic damages have been largely successful in recasting damages to fit the available categories. The article is titled “Go Ahead. Test a Lawyer’s Ingenuity. Try to Limit Damages.” It cites a new study by Catherine M. Sharkey, a…
Continue reading ›Enforcement of manufacturers” legal accountability to consumers helps make products safer and better for all of us. With the U.S. economy the strongest in the world, protection of consumers does not restrain innovation and legitimate corporate profits. Under Georgia law, a manufacturer may be liable for injury or death caused by a defective product under…
Continue reading ›Nineteen years ago, the Georgia Supreme Court decided the case of Yost v. Torok, 256 Ga. 92, 344 S.E.2d 414 (1986), holding that any party who brings or defends an action, or any part thereof, that lacks substantial justification or is imposed for delay or harassment, could be liable for a common law tort of…
Continue reading ›On I-40 in Tennessee, a tractor trailer driver fell asleep, hit a guard rail, and crashed. His rig burned, shutting down I-40 for several hours. See news story. Fortunately, no one was injured this time. However, the incident underscores the chronic problem of driver fatigue in the trucking industry, compounded by hours of service violations…
Continue reading ›Injury law is primarily tort law. So what is a tort? (No, it’s not a French pastry.) A Georgia statute defines a “tort” as “the unlawful violation of a private legal right other than a mere breach of contract, express or implied,” and states that “a tort may also be the violation of a public…
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