Atlanta Injury Law Blog

A coalition of trucking, environmental and safety organizations has filed suit seeking an injunction against implementation of the Bush Administration’s decision to allow up to 100 Mexican motor carriers – with an unlimited number of trucks – to perform long-haul operations within the U.S.  The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, Sierra Club; Public Citizen; the Environmental…

Wisconsin jurors heard testimony this week about a trucker who stayed out all night with friends the night before a fatal crash, and had his truck on cruise control in tenth gear when he fell asleep and overturned in 2005.  A bus carrying a high school marching band collided with the overturned big rig on…

4/15/07.  The  doctrine of respondeat superior has been deeply ingrained in Anglo-American common law tradition since long before the American Revolution.  The origins of respondeat superior are disputed. Compare Holmes, Agency I, 4 HARV.L.REV. 345 (1891) (respondeat superior developed from Roman law) with Wigmore, Responsibility for Tortious Acts: Its History, 7 HARV L.REV. 315 (1894)…

OCGA 9-11-68, the rather overbearing version of an offer of judgment / offer of settlement statute that was enacted as part of Senate Bill 3 in 2005, has been held unconstitutional by several trial courts. Now the constitutional challenge is reaching the Georgia Supreme Court.  In light of the fact that a plaintiff won $4…

Despite the political surge to tort “reform” and the distinctly conservative tone we see in jury panels these days, when serious cases are well tried jurors repeatedly show the willingness to award adequate verdicts.  We experienced it a couple of weeks ago with a $2.3 million verdict in rural Gordon County for a young man…

We were pleased to get word today that a federal court in Georgia denied a motion for partial summary judgment to exclude a claim for punitive damages against a trucking company that had chosen to turn a blind eye to drivers’ hours of service violations.  For discussion of legal issues involved, see previous posts on…

Three people were killed and two injured this morning when a state vehicle struck the end of logs protruding from the rear of a log truck in Folkston, some of which entered the vehicle passenger area.  Timber hauling is governed by the Georgia Forest Products Trucking Rules. Any load that projects more than four feet…

Fri., 3/9/07, Calhoun, GA.  In a scene reminiscent of the 1982 Paul Newman movie, “The Verdict,” the jury after three hours of deliberation Thursday afternoon sent a note to the judge asking if they were limited by the amount the plaintiff asked for.   In closing argument I had asked for a verdict of approximately…

A new study reports that surgeons who play video games at least three hours per week made about 37 percent fewer mistakes in laparoscopic surgery and performed the task 27 percent faster than their counterparts who did not play video games.Laparoscopic surgery — using a tiny camera and instruments controlled by joysticks outside the body…