Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Published on: October 15, 2009

Big Rig Accidents Present Legal Challenges

Any collision with a big rig causes untold damages, usually severe injuries or death, and many legal challenges.

Any case involving a semi is typically very complex, much more complex than a “typical” car versus car accident. For starters, the kinds of injuries sustained are catastrophic and the damages are monumental. This means when all is said and done that the stakes in 18-wheeler crashes are way higher for insurance companies; more particularly the insurance company that has the trucker’s insurance policy.

And one thing is as sure as the sun rising every day – the trucking corporation will pull out all the stops to reduce or deny any liability they may have in the accident. After all, they are in business to make money, not put it out to cover lawsuits. Anyone who has the misfortune to try and deal with a trucking company will find out soon enough that stall, delay and deny are three of the favored approaches to dealing with any accident claims.

Published on: October 2, 2009

Fentanyl Patch Potentially Deadly

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

Just when you thought you were going in for routine dental work or a simple day surgery, you are issued a Fentanyl (Duragesic) patch for pain and either suffer drastic side effects or overdose and die.

Modern medical science has advanced at light speed over the years and when pain patches were introduced to the market, there were cheers from pain sufferers the world over.

Much like the idea behind the stop smoking patches, Fentanyl patches are loaded with a powerful pain killer that is supposed to be dispersed in the body in a controlled manner. This doesn’t always happen and the results have the potential to be deadly.

Published on: October 1, 2009

Hands-Free Yakking Still Deadly

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

It doesn’t matter if you hold the cell phone in your hand and talk while driving, or have hands-free access to talk all you want; both ways may cost you your life.

No matter which way you add it up, yakking on a cell phone held in your hand or one that happens to be hands-free still amounts to a deadly distraction. All it takes is one split second of not paying attention to your driving and you could wind up in a very nasty accident.

Consider the case of young John Stenner, on his way home from picking up a car with his tow truck. He had hands-free cell phone access in his truck. While talking on the phone to his base office about his next pickup, he was too distracted to see the semi heading his way and coming through the intersection. John died at the scene of the accident.

Published on: September 21, 2009

Motorcycle Madness Seizes the Nation

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

When a recession hits those who want to downsize their cars or give them up to save on gas, they usually opt to buy a motorbike. Not a bad idea, but with that choice comes an increased risk of serious personal injuries or even death.

In Georgia alone in 2008 there were over 390,000 motorcycles registered. That shouldn’t come as any great surprise in light of the state of the American economy. Gas prices are ridiculous and people are hunting for alternative methods to get to work and other places. In other words, they want a cheaper ride. On the other side of the fence, even though the ride is indeed a whole lot less expensive than owning a car, there are a lot of distracted (cell phone and texting) drivers out there. Add reckless drivers into the mix and this is a guaranteed recipe for disaster.

Know the laws of the state chosen to bike in, as every state does have different laws passed that are intended to help protect vehicle drivers and motorcyclists. In most states the law reads that bikers have many of the same rights and duties as other vehicles on the road.

Published on: September 10, 2009

Gas Nozzle Accidents May Be Negligence

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

If you’ve ever been totally soaked by gas while filling up your vehicle because the hose separated from the nozzle, you may have cause to file a personal injury claim.

Getting gasoline all over yourself including in your eyes and all over your face, not to mention your clothes, is an upsetting experience. It may also be one that causes serious harm unless you get help immediately. Depending on the circumstances of the gas splash, you may have grounds to file a personal injury claim against the gas station for having a defective gas nozzle. If you do find yourself in a position like this, make sure you speak to a skilled personal injury lawyer for advice.

Let’s say there was no emergency eyewash station or other solution on hand at the gas station and the painful experience of having gas in your eyes was only alleviated by using the washroom and washing it out with water. Let’s also say that the hose was very clearly defective and that the management of the gas station knew or should have known the hose was in such a bad state – bad enough that they would have reasonably expected your type of accident could and would happen.

Published on: September 9, 2009

Premises Liability Applies in Public Places

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

It’s the law that property owners must take every reasonable precaution to make sure there are no serious hazards that would harm or kill anyone coming on the property.

Premises liability applies to personal and commercial property and any owner or manager looking after property is legally bound to make sure the premises are safe for the public. If the property is poorly maintained and an injury, illness or death happens as a result of being on another person’s property, the plaintiff may be awarded compensation by the courts against the negligent property owner.

It doesn’t matter what kind of property is being discussed, although some properties are inherently more hazardous than others, e.g. industrial sites with power tools, toxic chemicals and heavy machinery. Commercial locations such as stores have high pedestrian traffic and anything may happen in a crowded store; for instance, items falling from shelves or items on display in the patio furniture department falling apart when someone sits on it.

Published on: September 4, 2009

Personal Injury Car Crashes and Assessing Damages

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

It’s hard to try and set an amount of damages that you may have sustained in a car crash. The sheer overwhelming number and type of wounds may totally confuse you, not to mention having to repair your vehicle.

During the summer the highways and by-ways across America are jammed with holiday and regular travelers, add into this mix 18-wheelers, road construction, detours and unpaved roads waiting for upgrading, and you have the potential for accidents. It’s often bad enough traveling in an area you are familiar with, never mind going out of state to a place you have never been to before and have no idea how their traffic patterns will affect you. This makes it tough to know if you have enough insurance to take long distance road trips.

The inevitable may strike your first trip or your fifteenth trip, and when it happens those injuries are put into a category that will tell you the approximate dollar amount that may be awarded for those injuries. There are so many factors that need to be dealt with, not the least of which is determining who is at fault in the accident, the percentage of culpability, medical bills, down time from work, pain and suffering, the continual stream of medical rehab expenses you may face and yes, vehicle repair costs.

Published on: August 20, 2009

Texting While Driving a Major NO NO

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that texting while driving a vehicle is a remarkably bad idea. The results may be deadly for both the texter and the person they hit.

Adults don’t generally try to text while they are driving; most likely due to the fact they realize it’s not a very smart move. Teens and inexperienced younger drivers, however, have a disturbing record for attempting to text while handling a car on the road. The consequences are not pretty. Consider the statistics that show 5,000 teenagers killed annually in traffic accidents. This isn’t to say they were all caused by the drivers foolishly texting while driving, but a significant proportion of that number were doing precisely that at the time of the collision that killed them.

Even more disturbing than those figures, another 2,500 people were also killed by vehicles driven by teens doing a variety of things like talking on a cell phone, yakking to their friends in the backseat or attempting to reply to an email with their Blackberry. Inattention kills. It’s just that simple. This nationwide problem is being dealt with in various ways by each state. If you’re unsure what the law says in your state, consult with an experienced personal injury attorney.

Published on: August 15, 2009

80,000 Pounds and Rolling

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

If you’ve ever spent any time on an Interstate Highway in the US, you will have had an up close and personal experience with sharing the road with a big rig.

There is no doubt that our highways are teeming with all types of vehicles, and some of the largest ones happen to be trucks and trailer units. Thanks to their massive size, these rigs are exceptionally deadly if involved in an accident. You’re looking at close to 80,000 pounds of steel hurtling down the road and it is unable to come to an immediate stop.

In fact, it takes three times the amount of time for an 18-wheeler to stop compared to a normal vehicle. This is a factor that people should keep in the back of their minds when they cut in front of a rig and then do something incredibly stupid like slow down or suddenly stop.

Published on: August 10, 2009

Claim It, It’s Your Right

By Stephen M. Ozcomert

Many people choose not to pursue an accident claim. The reasons range from knowing the insurance company will settle; to they don’t want the legal hassles and expense.

The bottom line is that putting in a claim for compensation for personal injuries after an accident is pretty much an accepted right in the U.S. “While it may take some work to get the compensation for damages, it may well be worth it in the long-term, particularly if serious injuries have been sustained and a person’s life has been significantly altered because of it,” commented Stephen Ozcomert, an Atlanta personal injury attorney.

“Keep in mind that even though an insurance company may settle on a claim without anyone having to do too much to get it done, the settlement is generally much lower than it could be if the case were taken to court,” explained Ozcomert. This is why most lawyers will advise their clients not to take the first settlement offer that comes along. Insurance companies want to accomplish one thing, closing the case and spending as little as they can to accomplish it.