Atlanta Injury Law Blog

A a trucking safety attorney in Atlanta, two of the federal agencies I watch most closely are the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The President’s nominee to head the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is Charles A. Hurley, CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). Mr. Hurley as previously…

My learned colleague and fellow Atlantan, Jonathan Wilson, writing on the Manhattan Institute’s PointofLaw.com blog, has responded to my earlier comment about the “stay of discovery” provision of the legislation recently passed as HB 29. I had commented earlier, in part, that the legislation as passed would prompt a “rash of frivolous motions to dismiss as…

As an attorney representing people with serious injury cases in Georgia, I have to keep an eye on the solvency of the insurance companies that are contractually obligated to pay legitimate liability claims against their policyholders.  For most of my career, the solvency of insurers was seldom if ever a big concern. In today’s economy, however,…

In March 2007, a tour bus carrying the Bluffton University baseball team from Ohio to Florida mistakenly took the Northside Drive exit from the left HOV lane on I-75 in Atlanta and crashed off a bridge at the top of the ramp. The National Transportation Safety Board issued a report that blamed the tragedy on…

The US Department of Transportation has announced a new data warehouse and web portal that enables government agencies to share information about hazardous shipments throughout the country. The new Hazardous Intelligence Portal will compile data from 26 different sources about hazardous materials shipments by truck, rail, air, pipeline, barge and ship. Agencies such the Federal…

On March 30th, President Obama signed legislation that includes the Christopher and Dava Reeve Paralysis Act (CDRPA).  Though it had been blocked by a single Senator last year, it ultimately passed both houses of Congress with broad bipartisan support. The legislation was named in honor of “Superman” actor Christopher Reeve who became a quadriplegic in…

Today’s Los Angeles Times carries an article by Scott Glover reporting that the FBI suspects that serial killers working as long-haul truck drivers may be responsible for murders of hundreds of prostitutes, hitchhikers and stranded motorists whose bodies have been dumped near interstate highways over the past 30 years. The FBI has compiled a database…

The New York Times is running a feature on “Voices of Spinal Cord Injury,” with feedback from lots of folks who are SCI survivors.  Here are a few excerpts from the feedback: Ken Shigley is  currently Secretary of the nearly 40,000 member State Bar of Georgia.  He is a  trial attorney in Atlanta, who has been…

Representing people with traumatic spinal cord injuries, I have learned to see them not as “cripples stuck in wheelchairs” but as survivors valiantly striving to get on with their lives despite a harsh new reality.  Every one of them has inspired me. Among the most inspiring is former metro Atlanta resident Alyson Roth, who became a…

“Independent” medical exams are commonplace in personal litigation, workers compensation, and disability insurance contexts.  Experience has made us cynical so that we now refer to these as “defense medical exams” or “insurance medical exams.” The New York Times on 3/31/09 carried an investigative article, “Exams of Injured Workers Feed Mutual Mistrust,” detailing abuses of such exams in…