Atlanta Injury Lawyers Blog

Published on: July 31, 2010

Dog Bites Focus at Georgia Veterinarian Meeting

Over the weekend, about 9,000 veterinarians from all over the country and world will assemble at the Georgia World Congress Center for the annual convention of the American Veterinarian Medical Association. The event kicked off on July 31st, and is expected to run through August 3rd. Atlanta will play host to thousands of animal experts from around the world, who will discuss animal welfare issues, including food safety, behavior modification, and advances in veterinary medicine. They’re also expected to focus on dog bite prevention.

Earlier this month, an Atlanta woman suffered serious injuries in a dog bite attack involving pit bulls. She was merely walking down the street when the dogs jumped at her. The owner of the dogs has been cited for about 20 violations, including improper restraint, canine on public property, canine on private property, failure to display rabies and vaccination tags, and failure to provide adequate water and shelter. The owner of the dog had been out-of-town, and a friend had been caring for the animals. Under current Georgia law, many of these violations will be sufficient to hold the dog owner (and possibly the person who was caring for the dogs while the owner was away) liable for the injuries caused by the dog attacks. It is important that the legal process be allowed to play out and that the dog owner’s have a hearing in court to determine whether they are guilty of the leash laws and other statute violations fo which they have been cited.

With some of the best animal and dog experts around the country gathering in Atlanta over the next couple of days, as a Georgia dog bite lawyer, I would like these vets to bring more attention to the problem of dog bites in Georgia. There’s definitely a need for greater awareness, especially when it comes to the care of certain breeds, such as pit bulls, german shepherds, chow chows and Doberman Pinschers, to name a few. I notice that too many people jump at the chance to rear these animals. However, very few possess the resources and the skills necessary to train these dogs.
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Published on: July 29, 2010

New Test to Diagnosis Georgia Brain Injuries

by Robert J. Fleming

Brain injuries are some of the most catastrophic injuries, and usually occur in traffic accidents, or as a result of falls in premises liability cases. There may be other causes like violence and workplace accidents. These injuries are, unfortunately, also some of the most difficult to diagnose.

Typically, a brain injury is diagnosed by checking the patient’s vital signs, and testing his thinking and memory. With such symptomatic testing, doctors often tend to mis-diagnose a brain injury, or don’t diagnose one at all. This can have serious consequences for patients, because late treatment can have a severe impact on a patient’s chances of recovery.

However, there has been some progress in developing a blood test to determine the presence of biomarkers that can confirm brain injury. A Florida-based company called Banyan Biomarkers Inc., is conducting a series of studies into brain injury biomarkers. When a person is injured, the process of damage to the brain can be spread out over a few days, and over a period of time, there may be a number of proteins produced in the blood. The presence of these proteins, or biomarkers, can indicate that there has been a brain injury. Blood tests will focus on detecting these proteins, thereby making it much simpler, quicker and easier to diagnose and injury.
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Published on: July 28, 2010

$1M Settlement in Georgia Drunk Driver Wreck

by Robert J. Fleming

An Atlanta area bar has agreed to pay the surviving widow of a man killed by a drunken driver $1M to settle her claims. The bar’s liability stems from the bar’s staff over-serving the drunken patron, when they should have known that he was highly intoxicated and likely to drive home from the bar. This type of case is known as a dram shop act case.

Our firm has successfully handled many dram shop act cases. Under Georgia law, a bar, restaurant or other establishment which sells liquor to a customer who they know is intoxicate and who they have reason to know will be driving become liable for injury, death, or damage caused by or resulting from the intoxication of such person, including injury or death to other persons. The most common scenario is a bar customer who becomes drunk and shows obvious signs of intoxication, yet the bartender continues to serve him until he finished at the bar and gets into his car. Once in the car and on the road, the drunk driver causes a wreck. Usually, due to the level of intoxication of the at-fault drunk driver, the collision is severe and the resulting injuries are often catastrophic. Many times, the at-fault drunk driver does not have sufficient insurance of assets to fully compensate the victims. In this situation, the bar or restaurant is a potential defendant. The law is outlined in O.C.G.A § 51-1-40 which states, in pertinent part:

O.C.G.A. 51-1-40 (2010)

Published on: July 27, 2010

What Causes Dental Nerve Damage?

by Robert J. Fleming

The vast majority of the Atlanta Dental Malpractice cases that we litigate involve damage to the Lingual Nerve or the Inferior Alveolar Nerve (or both). Recent studies in dental journals have identified common factors that contribute to the incident of nerve damage. Most are secondary to a dental procedure such as installing dental implants (when the nerve is crushed due to the implant being installed too deep), oral surgery (usually when a tooth is extracted and the nerve is damaged by a dental instrument of the root of the tooth itself or severed during wisdom tooth extraction).

The factors identified as substantially increasing the risk of lingual nerve damage are: increased age of the patient undergoing the dental procedure; un-erupted wisdom tooth extraction; raising the lingual flap; and lingual split technique (splitting the bone to remove the tooth), drilling the osteotomy for a dental implant too deep, drilling past the root end and into the underlying inferior alveolar nerve or negligent extraction techniques which traumatize the nerve from excess force or contact of the nerve with dental instruments.

The factors identified as substantially increasing the risk of Inferior Alveolar Nerve damage are: the depth of impact; the difficulty of the surgery; and radiographic signs that the wisdom tooth root is lying in close proximity to the Inferior Alveolar Nerve or, similarly, that the nerve has grown into and created a groove into the wisdom tooth root.

When any of the above factors are present, there is much greater risk of injury and permanent dental nerve damage.

As an Atlanta dental malpractice lawyer who frequently meets with patients suffering from these injuries, I know how important it is to properly evaluate patients before oral surgeons extract teeth or install dental implants. Sometimes, dental malpractice occurs in the form of over treatment because the procedure is not warranted. Other times, the malpractice occurs because the dentist is not properly trained to perform the procedure that caused the injury. Still other cases are the result of a failure of the dentist who caused the nerve injury to properly chart the injury and timely refer the patient to a competent nerve specialist to timely treat the injury caused by the malpractice.
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Published on: July 19, 2010

Understand the Symptoms of Traumatic Brain Injury (“TBI”)

by Robert J. Fleming

As an Atlanta car accident lawyer, I find it surprising that so many people are unaware of the symptoms of brain injuries, considering the seriousness of these. A brain injury does not have to involve a person blacked out for hours, or bleeding from the head and nose. In fact, symptoms of brain injury can vary, depending on whether it’s a mild, moderate or severe TBI.
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Published on: July 19, 2010

Truck Driver Arrested In Accident That Killed Atlanta Woman

by Robert J. Fleming

The driver of the truck that was involved in a fatal Atlanta accident last week, has been arrested and charged. The driver of the truck, Joseph Gordon was driving his tractor-trailer on Interstate 285, when his vehicle crossed the fog line, and hit a minivan parked in the emergency lane. In the minivan was a 44-year-old woman, who had stopped her car in the emergency lane to make a call. She sustained fatal injuries. Golden has now been arrested and charged in her death.
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Published on: July 15, 2010

Do I Need a Lawyer For Georgia Personal Injury?

by Robert J. Fleming

Do I need a lawyer? This is a common question many people ask after being seriously injured in a car wreck or other personal injury accident. In order to properly answer this question, I think it is helpful for an injured person who is wondering whether they need to hire an experienced Georgia injury lawyer to read the following actual post which recently appeared on a Georgia Personal Injury Lawyer list-serve:

Help!
A potential client has $22,000 in medical expenses and needs surgery, but she just signed and faxed off a General Release to the other driver’s insurance company today for $25,000 policy limit on her own and she now wants to hire me to peruse the $100,000 in remaining available Georgia Uninsured Motorist Coverage Insurance.
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Published on: July 13, 2010

Three Pit Bulls Attack Atlanta Woman

by Robert J. Fleming

An Atlanta woman was brutally attacked by three pit bulls in Douglas County earlier this week while taking her morning walk on a public sidewalk. Although the dogs’ owner was out of the state at the time his three dogs attacked, Douglas County’s Solicitor-General has cited him with 20 misdemeanor charges. The Solicitor General is contemplating whether to also criminally charge the caretaker, whom the owner claimed was in charge of the dogs while he was away.

Dogs display three types of aggression: prey, pack, and defense. When dogs are in packs, especially if not adequately socialized when they are young, they can become aggressive towards people, whether provoked or not. The “pack-mentality” is simply the social attitude of dogs and how they fit in the group, but carries with it the danger that one member of the pack may become aggressive simply because of actions by other dogs in the pack. Perhaps as this incident shows, the three dogs could quickly have been led to jointly act aggressive because of an act of the other.
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Published on: July 5, 2010

How to Buy a Car for a Georgia Teen Driver

by Robert J. Fleming

This summer, thousands of parents across Atlanta will be faced with the all-important question -what kind of car to buy their teenager who has just got a driving license. New Jersey personal injury attorney Scott Grossman has a few tips on buying a first car for your child.

In April this year, Consumer Reports brought out its list of the best cars for teen motorists. If you’re a parent looking for a choice of car for your child, this list would be a good place to start. While a car, no matter how safe, cannot insulate you from a catastrophic accident, a well-equipped car with safety features can certainly reduce the chances of you being severely injured if you are in a wreck.
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Published on: June 30, 2010

Georgia Case Upholds Non-Compete and Non-Solicitation Agreements

by Robert J. Fleming

Non compete clauses or non-solicitation clauses are governed by O.C.G.A. 13-8-50 to 59. Under Georgia law, restrictive covenants in employment agreements are subject to strict scrutiny and will be enforced only if they are reasonable as to the duration, territorial coverage, and scope of activity of the covenant.

In H&R Block v. Morris, No. 09-11184 (11th Cir. 2010), the Eleventh Circuit addressed a dispute between the well-known tax services company and a former employee who allegedly violated the terms of her employment agreement. The employment agreement contained two restrictive covenants–a non-competition clause and non-solicitation clause. A restrictive covenant in an employment contract, whether a non-solicitation covenant or a non-competition covenant, is considered to be in partial restraint of trade and will be enforced only if it (1) is reasonable, (2) is supported by consideration, (3) is reasonably necessary to protect the restraining party’s interest, and (4) does not unduly prejudice the interests of the public.
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