Atlanta Injury Law Blog

In my truck and bus crash practice in Atlanta, I have worked on some horrible crash cases. One was the Bluffton University baseball team bus crash several years ago. In that Atlanta case a tour bus carrying 33 members of the college baseball team en route to a spring tournament in Florida crashed off an…

Over the years in my Atlanta based trucking litigation practice, I have had truck drivers tell me – reluctantly in deposition testimony, and sometimes voluntarily in confidential talks over coffee at roadside Waffle Houses – how paper logs of their hours of service are easily fabricated “comic books.” Often I have gone behind those records…

This year the Georgia legislature enacted a statute to make the second offense of using a runner to solicit a personal injury case a felony. It’s at least a step in the right direction. It now awaits Governor Deal’s signature. Too many times during my career, I have been asked to take over cases that…

The news this week is filled with reports about General Motors’ cover-up of an ignition switch defect that has caused numerous deaths and serious injuries. Congressional hearings have highlighted allegations that people died because GM failed to fix a 57-cent problem that the company had known about since 2005. One might say what GM did…

In 2011, as I prepared to take office as president of the State Bar of Georgia, this was the topic of brainstorming with lawyers and judges. After discussing it with then Chief Justice Carol W. Hunstein, we decided to form the Next Generation Courts Commission. I appointed judges, court clerks, court administrators and practicing lawyers…

Several years ago I handled a products liability case against an auto manufacturer that had designed its braking system on one model so that a poorly designed sensor would turn off the antilock braking system without warning. As a result, our client was a brain damaged quadriplegic. It took much expert analysis and discovery of…

When a commercial truck driver is killed or seriously injured due to the negligence of the driver of a smaller vehicle, it is important to find out whether the insurance policy on the commercial truck includes uninsured / underinsured (UM/UIM) coverage. If so, that UM/UIM coverage would be available to compensate the truck driver or his/her…

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…

Keyless ignitions, introduced in the late 1990’s, were intended to offer drivers convenience. Instead, they have disrupted a well-established set of driver behaviors and expectations, and introduced rollaway and carbon monoxide poisoning hazards that have resulted in injuries and death. Since 2010, there have been eight publically acknowledged deaths and two serious injuries from carbon…

Occasionally we see a report of a commercial vehicle crash in which the alleged cause of the wreck perfectly matches the company’s poor safety record. Today, a bus en route from Brooklyn, New York to Doraville in metro Atlanta, operated by Indianapolis-based Princess Tours, Inc., ran off a road in Virginia.  The bus driver, Qilong…