Articles

Published on: June 30, 2010

Marine Dead in Head-On Collision in Georgia

When servicemen are killed in the U.S. in car crashes, it’s hard to accept. They survived Iraq only to come home and wind up dead.

“This case was really hard for the family,” said Stephen Ozcomert an Atlanta personal injury attorney. “The 21-year-old Marine hadn’t been home all that long when he and his wife were hit head-on by a wrong way driver,” he explained.

The wrong way driver was a 71-year-old man who was heading east in the westbound lane where the Marine and his family were driving. They met head-on. When EMS crews responded to this accident call, they immediately transported the young Marine, his wife and the other driver to the nearest hospital for treatment. Unfortunately, the Marine died at the hospital and his wife was flown to another hospital to be stabilized. The driver of the other car was also stabilized at the hospital.

Published on: June 30, 2010

It’s the Other Guy’s Fault

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

In most accidents, someone is at fault. The hard part is figuring out who that is in some cases.

“It’s one thing to be in an accident but quite another when you then have to argue with someone else over ‘who’ was at fault in the first place. I see this a great deal in auto accidents and motorcycle collisions,” said Stephen M. Ozcomert who handles personal injury cases, accidents, and malpractice law in Atlanta, Georgia.

In some cases, it will be painfully evident who caused the accident; in others, it may take a long time before the facts come to light to apportion blame. And yes, there are certainly some cases where both parties are to blame. No two accidents are ever alike, despite the fact they may look alike on the surface. “There’s something that a lot of people don’t realize about accidents. It’s not the police who determine who is at fault; it’s the insurance company after you file a claim. They use police information to decide who is at fault,” explained Ozcomert.

Published on: June 17, 2010

Malpractice Applies to More Than Just Medical Professionals

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

Malpractice can happen in just about any field. It’s not just exclusive to the medical profession.

When it comes to malpractice, people tend to automatically think medical malpractice. While there is a fair amount of medical malpractice happening these days, it isn’t just doctors and nurses that may be sued for malpractice.

In a nutshell, any professional with greater learning who makes a mistake and doesn’t treat you according to their level of higher learning, may be guilty of malpractice. Put another way, a malpractice case may involve those who have been specially educated or certified in some manner “not” doing their job up to the expected level.

Published on: June 11, 2010

Bilked out of Money – Professional Misconduct

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

Investment fraud is a form of professional misconduct that unsuspecting people need to be aware of these days.

Investment fraud or investment scams generally have the same outcome – someone loses money they can’t afford to lose. They have been bilked into investing their hard earned dollars in a scheme that sounds “great” but the information is often fake and gravely misleading. Too often in situations like this the person who lost their savings doesn’t have much in the way of recourse to recover their losses.

The unfortunate thing here is that the financial planning industry seems to have more than its fair share of brokers and advisors who would think nothing of scamming their customers just to get rich quick. This isn’t to say that the brokerage industry isn’t regulated, because it is, by federal and state laws. Professional misconduct and fraud is definitely illegal and you may be interested in knowing some of the things to watch for when dealing with financial advisors that walk on the wild side.

Published on: May 25, 2010

Another 18-Wheeler Death in the Nation

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

This accident was unusual, as it was a single vehicle 18-wheeler crash. It cost the trucker his life.

This 18-wheeler accident happened on I-95 in Oklahoma. The trucker was hauling equipment for country and western singer Carrie Underwood when his vehicle veered to the left shoulder and scraped along 400 feet of guardrail. During the impact, the fuel tank was torn open, igniting the diesel as it spilled. The flames consumed the driver side of the bus he was hauling, as his truck slammed into a bridge abutment.

The abutment was located right where the I-95 passes over another road. At that point, the trailer tumbled over the embankment and landed on the median of the road under the abutment, blocking both southbound lanes.

Published on: April 26, 2010

Wrongful Death on a Houseboat

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

In this case, a man died of a heart attack triggered by carbon monoxide poisoning. The family considered it a wrongful death.

This case involved a 62-year-old man who perished in June of 2008, as the result of a heart attack that was presumably triggered by carbon monoxide that pervaded the cabin of a rented houseboat.

“Apparently, other family members on the same boat were taken ill, but were able to recover,” recounted Stephen M. Ozcomert, who handles personal injury cases, accidents, and malpractice law in Atlanta, Georgia.

Published on: March 28, 2010

Standing Water on Concrete Floor Causes Serious Injury after Fall

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

Slip and fall accidents may be more than just embarrassing. They may cause serious injuries and even death.

“Premises liability is a tricky area of the law and there are several things that need to be in place before a good case is made to take to court. Let’s take a look at a case we heard about recently that involved an entrepreneur with her own business that badly injured her knee in a slip and fall at a grocery store,” said Stephen M. Ozcomert who handles personal injury cases, accidents, and malpractice law in Atlanta, Georgia.

The woman in question was shopping at a local grocery store where she slipped and fell in a high traffic area due to standing water on a concrete floor. The condition was made even worse because the water had plant food and organic soil in it, which made the surface of the concrete very slick. “In other words, this was not just standing water on concrete. It was standing water with additives that made the surface of the concrete slippery,” Ozcomert pointed out.

Published on: March 10, 2010

Indifferent Diagnosis Means Medical Malpractice with a Serious Price

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

Time is of the essence when it comes to a medical diagnosis in a great number of cases. One indifferent or missed diagnosis may cause serious complications or death.

Diagnosing men with prostate cancer is a challenging art, but one that can be done if the doctor follows the standard and well accepted usual protocol of having their patient screened. Screening involves a blood test that looks for something called the prostate specific antigen (PSA). So, the PSA test tells a doctor how much PSA is in the bloodstream as a result of changes in the man’s prostate. As a man ages, the levels of PSA in their blood usually increase and their prostate also gets larger.

This particular test can be used to detect other things such as inflammation or various kinds of trauma, but primarily it is used as an early detection test for prostate cancer; an invaluable test in terms of reducing mortality risks. In other words, if the presence of cancer is detected early enough, something can be done about it quickly and with far less stress and anxiety than if the disease progresses.

Published on: February 27, 2010

Keeping Eyes Forward Not on a Cell Phone Prevents Accidents

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

There is only one cell phone law in the State of Georgia; the one relating to school bus drivers. That may change if the Bill in the House dealing with this is passed.

Who hasn’t been behind a person on cell phone trying to drive at the same time and making a total mess of it? Cell phone use while driving and texting while driving are two new additions to what makes driving a real hazard in the 21^st century. That last brutal car crash on the Interstate, the one that took the life of a young teenage boy, was the result of the teen texting while driving. He never saw the 18-wheeler he slid under.

“While it may seem to be a no-brainer that people who use cell phones and drive at the same time are accidents looking for a place to happen, this isn’t easy to prove statistically speaking. I just recently read a study released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety that indicated bans on handheld cell phone usage while driving didn’t make a different to accident rates. This piqued my interest and I did some further research, knowing Georgia was about to pass a ban into law,” commented Stephen Ozcomert, an Atlanta personal injury and malpractice attorney.

Published on: February 10, 2010

Clipping a Rear Axle on Semi Causes Teen Death

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

This case could have had another outcome if negligence had been identified. Personal injury cases involving 18-wheelers are extremely complex.

Tangling with an 18-wheeler never has a happy ending. This particular case is even more tragic in that it appeared on the surface to be the result of driver error. Although the investigation is not yet complete, there may be other evidence that surfaces that will change the initial evaluation of the crash.

A young 17-year-old girl was killed when she and her passenger crashed into a 1992 Kenworth tractor-trailer. The young driver was pronounced dead at the scene and the passenger was transported to medical care at the nearest hospital. The truck driver made it out of the crash unscathed. The accident happened just after 11 p.m. at night.