Atlanta Injury Law Blog

As a Georgia attorney litigating hard-fought trucking accident cases, I often get into cases after the trucking company claims to have discarded driver logs and other records that they are only required to routinely keep for six months. Then when we try to get driver logs, trip receipts, inspection and maintenance records, etc., in discovery,…

As a lawyer handling both sides of injury and death cases for decades, I can’t count the times I have searched for sufficient insurance coverage to cover a client’s loss. In trucking, there is at least an endorsement on the trucking company’s insurance policy that protects the public, even though the insurer may have a…

As Georgia attorney working on trucking accident cases, I often seen why truck drivers’ paper logs are often called “comic books.” In one recent case, for example, a truck driver from Croatia who was trained by some unidentified Russian guy in North Carolina, worked for a trucking company owned by a Bulgarian in Florida, and…

As a Georgia attorney handling trucking accident cases, I often see cases where crashes occurred in bad weather. While most state laws define the standard of negligence liability as “ordinary care,” when a motor carrier driver is driving in adverse weather, an “extreme caution” standard under 49 C.F.R. § 392.14 should preempt any lower standard…

For attorneys representing plaintiffs in trucking accident cases in Georgia, the claim for punitive damages is an important but not always crucial part of the case. Punitive damages under Georgia law are designed to “penalize, punish or deter” conduct that shows “willful misconduct, malice, fraud, wantonness, oppression, or that entire want of care which would…

As a Georgia trucking attorney, I sometimes see motor carriers create a shell game in which they claim after a tragic accident happens, to have been acting as a broker or logistics company, rather than as a motor carrier. Of course, when you dig into their marketing materials, they usually represented to shipping customers they…

As a trucking accident trial attorney in Georgia, I’ve become acutely aware of how often a truck driver’s medical condition and even perfectly legal prescription medications can impact safety. Recently the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued a warning on the anti-smoking drug Chantix, advising medical examiners “to not qualify anyone currently using this medication…

Over the past year I have had the pleasure of serving, along with some folks who are clearly smarter than me, on the advisory board of Georgia Court Watch, which is a project of Georgia Watch, a nonprofit and nonpartisan group committed to consumer rights in Georgia. We recently issued an annual report on Georgia…

As a trucking accident trial lawyer representing both occupants of passenger cars and truck drivers who are badly injured in trucking collisions, I have been thinking a lot lately about the implications of rising oil prices on the trucking industry in general, and trucking safety in particular. If truckers are in financial distress, many will…

As a trucking accident trial lawyer in Georgia, frequently lecturing at trucking litigation seminars around the country, I try to keep up with the latest in trucking safety technology. One recent development is DriveCam, about which my friend Morgan Adams in Tennessee recently wrote on his blog. DriveCam utilizes a camera mounted in a truck…