Many personal injury actions involve car or other motor vehicle accidents. Typically, the drivers’ insurance companies get involved to help settle and resolve the matter. The importance of knowing and understanding the local laws applicable to a personal injury claim cannot be overstated. In a recent case, Kemper v. Brown, Ga. Ct. App. (2014), the court threw out a purported settlement agreement, concluding that the insurance company’s response to the settlement offer constituted a counteroffer, instead of a mutually agreed upon settlement. To ensure that someone with experience and dedication handles your case, you are encouraged to contact a local Atlanta personal injury attorney with a proven success record representing victims in car accident cases.
In the case mentioned above, the plaintiff, Kemper, was injured when a vehicle driven by Brown struck her motorcycle. Kemper sustained serious injuries and was taken to Atlanta Medical Center to receive emergency treatment for her injuries. Law enforcement charged Brown with several traffic violations, including driving under the influence and reckless driving. Each party had automobile insurance: Kemper was insured by Progressive Insurance Company and Brown was insured by Equity Insurance Company, who later assigned the claim to its third-party carrier (claims administrator), Statewide Claims Services. The policy under Equity contained a $25,000 per person bodily coverage limit.
Kemper sent a demand letter to Statewide, requesting that it send the maximum amount under the insurance policy, and in response, Kemper promised to sign a limited release. She set forth a deadline and information concerning to whom the check should be made payable. In response, Statewide sent the $25,000 check attached to a letter to Kemper, agreeing to settle the claims, but adding a demand that the money received be placed in an escrow account with respect to any liens pending. Due to this language in the letter, Kemper considered it a counteroffer, rejected the terms and filed suit against Brown.
Brown filed a motion to enforce the settlement agreement. The trial court granted the motion and Kemper appealed, arguing that the purported settlement agreement was not enforceable because Brown’s response (via Statewide Insurance) was not unconditional or identical to the terms of her offer. The key element rendering Brown’s response a counteroffer was Statewide’s demand that Kemper place the settlement funds into an escrow account. The court of appeals agreed and reversed the trial court’s decision.
Essentially, the court reviewed the evidence in light of contract formation principles, and found the new terms to be a counteroffer. Statewide used the term “demand” with the respect to the escrow account, indicating that that was a condition that Kemper was required to satisfy in order for acceptance to be effective. The demand was interpreted as a mandatory direction, construed as a counteroffer rather than an unequivocal and unconditional acceptance. Based on this reasoning, the court held that no binding settlement agreement was formed.
As one can see from this case, it is important to be represented and advised by an injury attorney with experience handling settlement negotiations and communications in personal injury matters.
If you have been injured in an automobile accident due to another’s negligence, the first thing you should do after seeking medical treatment and contacting law enforcement is to contact an experienced Atlanta injury attorney as soon as possible. Stephen M. Ozcomert has over 20 years of experience handling personal injury cases, representing individuals who have been injured as a result of another’s negligent driving in Atlanta and throughout Georgia. Call us today at (404)-370-1000 to schedule your free initial consultation, or you can reach us through our website.
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State by state, the number of bikers meeting their death on the road is on the rise. In fact, one state, Indiana, recently completed a comprehensive survey of the number of motorcycle accidents in 2012.
In 2011, 118 were killed on the road. In 2012, that number was 152 – a cause for concern for traffic safety officials in Indiana, but also a bellwether for other states. Across the nation the death toll for bikers was 2,850 in 2011 and 2,935 in 2012.
There are several things at the top of the list when it looking at what causes motorcycle accidents. The most likely culprit is alcohol consumption, either by the bike rider or by an automobile or tuck driver who hits them. Another issues which causes the majority of accidents is motorcycle riders who hit the road while not legal to ride – they took no training and had no proper motorcycle endorsement on their license. They just hopped on their ride and took it out on the road.
With the price of gas slowly creeping up in response to the warmer weather, more people are opting to buy motorcycles, because they are easy on gas, compact, responsive, take up less space and go fast – all factors that make them virtually sitting ducks on the road. Drivers just do not see them.
While it is a fact that bikers may be their own worst enemy when it comes to riding safely, other statistics show that the cause of most accidents between a biker and another vehicle is the driver making a sudden and unexpected move in front of the motorcycle rider. For instance, a left hand turn, a lane change without looking or crossing right in front of an oncoming rider.
It has also been recently demonstrated that drivers have a poor sense of judgment when it comes to determining how fast a biker is going and how much time they have to drive in front of them. This has something to do with the brain’s spatial abilities.
Riders that have been involved in an accident with another vehicle and survive the injuries need expert legal counsel to obtain fair and just compensation. If you have been injured in a Georgia motorcycle accident, contact an Atlanta personal injury attorney for help.
Stephen M. Ozcomert is an experienced motorcycle accident lawyer in Atlanta Georgia. To learn more, visit http://www.ozcomert.com/ or call (404)-370-1000.
The post Motorcycle Fatalities Are On the Rise Across the Nation first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>State by state, the number of bikers meeting their death on the road is on the rise. In fact, one state, Indiana, recently completed a comprehensive survey of the number of motorcycle accidents in 2012.
In 2011, 118 were killed on the road. In 2012, that number was 152 – a cause for concern for traffic safety officials in Indiana, but also a bellwether for other states. Across the nation the death toll for bikers was 2,850 in 2011 and 2,935 in 2012.
There are several things at the top of the list when it looking at what causes motorcycle accidents. The most likely culprit is alcohol consumption, either by the bike rider or by an automobile or tuck driver who hits them. Another issues which causes the majority of accidents is motorcycle riders who hit the road while not legal to ride – they took no training and had no proper motorcycle endorsement on their license. They just hopped on their ride and took it out on the road.
With the price of gas slowly creeping up in response to the warmer weather, more people are opting to buy motorcycles, because they are easy on gas, compact, responsive, take up less space and go fast – all factors that make them virtually sitting ducks on the road. Drivers just do not see them.
While it is a fact that bikers may be their own worst enemy when it comes to riding safely, other statistics show that the cause of most accidents between a biker and another vehicle is the driver making a sudden and unexpected move in front of the motorcycle rider. For instance, a left hand turn, a lane change without looking or crossing right in front of an oncoming rider.
It has also been recently demonstrated that drivers have a poor sense of judgment when it comes to determining how fast a biker is going and how much time they have to drive in front of them. This has something to do with the brain’s spatial abilities.
Riders that have been involved in an accident with another vehicle and survive the injuries need expert legal counsel to obtain fair and just compensation. If you have been injured in a Georgia motorcycle accident, contact an Atlanta personal injury attorney for help.
Stephen M. Ozcomert is an experienced motorcycle accident lawyer in Atlanta Georgia. To learn more, visit http://www.ozcomert.com/ or call (404)-370-1000.
State by state, the number of bikers meeting their death on the road is on the rise. In fact, one state, Indiana, recently completed a comprehensive survey of the number of motorcycle accidents in 2012.
In 2011, 118 were killed on the road. In 2012, that number was 152 – a cause for concern for traffic safety officials in Indiana, but also a bellwether for other states. Across the nation the death toll for bikers was 2,850 in 2011 and 2,935 in 2012.
There are several things at the top of the list when it looking at what causes motorcycle accidents. The most likely culprit is alcohol consumption, either by the bike rider or by an automobile or tuck driver who hits them. Another issues which causes the majority of accidents is motorcycle riders who hit the road while not legal to ride – they took no training and had no proper motorcycle endorsement on their license. They just hopped on their ride and took it out on the road.
With the price of gas slowly creeping up in response to the warmer weather, more people are opting to buy motorcycles, because they are easy on gas, compact, responsive, take up less space and go fast – all factors that make them virtually sitting ducks on the road. Drivers just do not see them.
While it is a fact that bikers may be their own worst enemy when it comes to riding safely, other statistics show that the cause of most accidents between a biker and another vehicle is the driver making a sudden and unexpected move in front of the motorcycle rider. For instance, a left hand turn, a lane change without looking or crossing right in front of an oncoming rider.
It has also been recently demonstrated that drivers have a poor sense of judgment when it comes to determining how fast a biker is going and how much time they have to drive in front of them. This has something to do with the brain’s spatial abilities.
Riders that have been involved in an accident with another vehicle and survive the injuries need expert legal counsel to obtain fair and just compensation. If you have been injured in a Georgia motorcycle accident, contact an Atlanta personal injury attorney for help.
Stephen M. Ozcomert is an experienced motorcycle accident lawyer in Atlanta Georgia. To learn more, visit http://www.ozcomert.com/ or call (404)-370-1000.
The post Motorcycle Fatalities Are On the Rise Across the Nation first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>The story began in July, when a man was reported standing beside a major roadway, swearing and yelling at passing cars. Someone called the police, and a deputy was sent to the scene. The man was not armed, and reports do not indicate whether or not he was under the influence of something at the time to make him act out.
What is clear is that a struggle ensued and the first responding deputy fired a fatal shot into the man’s abdomen. The female deputy stated she was afraid for her life, despite the fact that the man had apparently broken no laws, was not under arrest, was not armed and did not appear to be a threat to anyone, including himself. She called for backup, and that is when things went horribly wrong.
His family filed a wrongful death lawsuit to recover medical and funeral expenses, punitive and compensatory damages, accorded under the state’s wrongful death act and survival act. The statement of claim on filing alleged excessive force was used without any justification by the two deputies, who ultimately ended up killing the man.
Faced with two large police officers, the man reacted by pushing them off him. At this point, the female officer opened fire. The male officer used a Taser on the man at least eight times as he lay on the ground, face down, handcuffed and bleeding. No medical aid was rendered, and the man bled to death while the two officers stood by.
A grand jury indicated the use of lethal force was within legal boundaries and therefore no criminal wrongdoing had taken place, and they further noted the officers had not used the proper handcuffing technique. The family attorney argued that such excessive violence and force was not reasonable and violated the man’s constitutional rights.
Not all wrongful death lawsuits end like this one did. The reasoning behind the grand jury’s decision remains questionable, as it relates to lethal force being within legal boundaries in the case of an unarmed man. There may be other factors at play in this case that were not articulated in the jury’s decision as well. Nonetheless, in most wrongful death cases, if negligence is proven, then the defendant is held responsible for their behavior.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Unarmed Man Shot and Tasered To Death by Police Results in Wrongful Death Lawsuit first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>We’re so used to seeing road work being done all over America, we tend to just shrug our shoulders and grumble about yet another delay in getting from point A to point B. Construction is considered to be royal nuisance, best avoided wherever possible. Very few people think of construction zones as being dangerous, after all, drivers are to slow down when passing workers.
Many drivers do not slow down. Many more ignore the lower speed limits for a construction zone and push on through to get to the other side as fast as they can. Everything is at the side of the road, and the workers are in ditches, and the equipment is on the shoulder – no worries. Think again. Construction zones are a threat to workers on site and truckers.
Taking a look at statistics produced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration tell a revealing story. Construction zones are hot spots for a high number of fatal and catastrophic injury accidents. Every year people are seriously maimed or killed in road construction areas. Just because the traffic may be slower in the work zone, does not reduce the severity of an accident between a big rig and a passenger vehicle.
Consider the case that involved a line of cars, all stopped at the lip of a work zone, waiting for the flagger to wave them through when a tractor had cleared the road. Suddenly, a big rig trucker, who had not been paying attention to the warning signs, slammed into the last car in the line of seven, shoving it forward, like an accordion. Only one person survived that wreck.
Or the case where a fully loaded gravel hauler was leaving a roadside work site, to dump his load in the nearby gravel pit. He thought the road was clear and did not stop to look before entering the highway. He broadsided a small vehicle, sending it into oncoming traffic, where it collided head-on with another car. No one survived that accident, but the trucker. He had not paid attention to the safety rules in place for those working the construction site – stop, look, listen – and but for his negligence, three people would still be alive today.
If you have been involved in an accident with a large truck, do not wait to call an experienced Atlanta injury lawyer. Their job is to pursue reimbursement for you for future and current medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages, and so forth. If the accident resulted in a death, a wrongful death suit may be filed to recover compensation.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Construction zones are dangerous for drivers first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>The day started out in a normal way for the couple in this story: They ate breakfast, talked about their plans for the day, and the man then went outside to spend some time in his front yard. He enjoyed puttering about. His wife later found her 71-year-old husband dead on the front lawn, perhaps not an unusual discovery, given the gentleman’s age. However, it was clear that he had been run over by a vehicle of some sort.
When the shock of the discovery wore off, the wife contacted an injury lawyer about filing a wrongful death lawsuit. As it turned out, the suit was filed against a city worker who had been driving a sewer truck at the time the elderly man was killed. The 46-year-old driver was charged with felony hit-and-run, resulting in death, and misdemeanor death-by-a-vehicle once the police department had completed an accident scene reconstruction.
The evidence in the police report indicated the truck driver had hit the elderly gentleman with the right front portion of the sewer truck, and although the initial charges were significant, the man had the charges reduced subsequent to a plea bargain. Ultimately he was charged with unsafe movement and failure to yield to a pedestrian – a fact that did not go over too well with the dead man’s wife, as the man only had to pay a $50 fine and less than $200 in court costs.
This was a difficult situation for the plaintiff, as the trucker did not even stop at the scene of the accident. He kept driving, while the man lay on the lawn, dying. The wrongful death lawsuit stated that the sewer truck driver knew, or should have known the accident had happened, as he failed to pay attention to what he was doing while driving. Since the driver was a city employee, the city was also named as a defendant in the case.
Was the driver negligent? Was the city negligent in entrusting the driver with their vehicle? These are all questions that the court will entertain when the case moves forward. The plaintiff is asking the court for expenses for her husband’s funeral and for punitive damages from the driver and the city. The main question will be whether or not the city was negligent in hiring the trucker and whether the trucker was incompetent or inexperienced to safely operate the sewer truck. The court will also need to determine if the truck driver’s actions were so egregious as to merit punitive damages.
Cases like this are complex and best handled by an experienced Atlanta injury lawyer. Typically, in situations such as this, there is more than one party named to the suit, depending on the circumstances of the case, and what insurance companies may be involved. Of concern will also be the details surrounding how the man was hit while on his front lawn. It raises a number of questions the court will want answers to before reaching a decision.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Sewer Truck Hits and Kills Elderly Man In His Own Yard first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Why sports bikes? It has to do with their size and construction, meaning they are typically lighter and smaller than the traditional “ride,” thus making them an easier target. In terms of handling, sports bikes are also considered to be more skittish, making them harder to handle in a dangerous situation.
There are a large number of cons to riding a motorcycle of any kind, not the least being death, but this does not seem to stop bikers from taking to the roads. Many have a sense that nothing could happen to them, that they are good bikers, safe drivers and know the ropes. They may well be all those things, but that does not mean the other guy on the road is safe. These days, with more and more people texting while driving, and even surfing the web while behind the wheel, safety is an issue for everyone on the road.
Consider the case of a university student on his way home from a football practice, doing the posted speed limit and just about to turn left into his driveway. From behind him, an impatient, speeding drunken driver pulled out to pass the young man, T-boning him. The force of the impact ejected the biker head-on into a light pole. He died instantly. The drunk was not just driving while under the influence, either. He was surfing the ‘net with his mobile device, looking for a late night spot for pizza.
The NHTSA has found that just about 55 percent of all fatal motorcycle accidents did involve several other vehicles, including the bike. Of the 55 percent, close to 90 percent were collisions between a vehicle and a biker, with over 85 percent being bikers being hit by a passenger vehicle. Those are startling numbers, and bring home the reality of the risks of biking.
More often than not, any biker involved in an accident, if they survive, has significant, if not catastrophic injuries that change their life forever. Injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident tend to be ones that take a long time to recover from, if ever. For instance, ruptured lungs, severed spinal cords, traumatic brain injury, road rash to the bare bone, crushed pelvis, amputation of various limbs and crushed bones. Many bikers never fully recover physically. Many more have cognitive difficulties for the rest of their lives.
For these reasons, and others, such as the ability to pay their medical bills, anyone involved in a motorcycle accident that was the fault of the other person, needs to speak to a qualified and competent Atlanta injury lawyer. Negligence in causing an accident by, for example, texting while driving, is often cause for a settlement to assist the plaintiff with the medical expenses.
These cases are rarely open and shut, and need the experience of an injury lawyer to deal with the insurance companies, who swarm the plaintiff, trying to get them to settle quickly, and for less than they may be entitled to should they go to court. It’s your life and your future. Do not hand it over to an insurance company trying to push you into a settlement too soon.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Sports Bikes Are More Often Involved In Motorcycle Accidents first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>The day started out just like any other day, but with a hint of excitement in the air, because it was game day. The Cleveland Indians were ready to play ball, and the crowd was loving every moment in anticipation of a great game. And then, the unthinkable happened. A man was hit by a Kids Fun Day inflatable slide, just outside the ballpark. He was taken to hospital with three broken bones in his back, and expected to recover. Nine days later, he was the victim of a deadly pulmonary embolism as a result of the fractures.
The man’s wife chose to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the Cleveland Indians, the ballpark and the company that erected the slide, citing negligence in setting up the slide. National Pastime Sports representatives did not make an appearance in court, which resulted in a default judgment against them for $3.5 million. The Cleveland Indians denied they were liable for the accident that subsequently killed the sports fan outside their park, indicating the slide was the sole responsibility of National Pastime Sports. Ultimately, they did offer to settle with the widow, as it was the right thing to do, and saved the expense of a two week trial.
Evidently, National Pastime Sports did not set the slide up properly, and did not secure it in the proper manner, which caused it to collapse due to the weight of nine kids in a corner of the apparatus. The government department that inspected the slide after the accident also ended up citing the company for operation of the slide in a negligent and unsafe manner.
Would this case have been successful in court? Most definitely. The evidence is persuasive, despite the finger-pointing by those named in the suit as defendants. The bottom line is a man who just wanted to watch the ball game ended up being seriously injured and dying; a major shock to his family. If the slide had been setup correctly and with safety in mind, a family would not be missing its main breadwinner.
Personal injury wrongful death lawsuits can be complex and take a fair length of time to get to court. There are many instances where defendants will settle, rather than go to court and risk a higher jury award. While this is good for the plaintiff, it is not something they can do with the aid of a skilled Atlanta personal injury lawyer. Insurance companies want to reduce their liability, not offer a plaintiff more money. An Atlanta injury lawyer knows how to deal with situations like that on behalf of a client.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Collapsing Slide Kills Man, Resulting In Wrongful Death Lawsuit first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>No one knew for sure what happened just prior to this accident. The facts are spare: The driver of a large flatbed rig lost control of his vehicle and was ejected from the cab. He died at the scene. What happened after his ejection was horrific.
The driverless truck continued to barrel down the highway before engulfing a white Acura. The smaller car did not stand a chance, as the behemoth truck ended up on top of the car, completely crushing it. The Acura’s driver was dead at the scene; his female passenger made it alive to a local hospital, with undetermined, but serious injuries.
On the face of things, this accident could have happened while the trucker was texting while driving, reaching down to pickup something or was distracted by a laptop or other mobile device. Whether this is the case or not will ultimately be decided as a result of the police investigation into the wreck.
If the accident was not caused by something the trucker was doing, such as texting while driving, but instead was the result of a blown tire, shifted load or mechanical problems, this may mean there was a different kind of negligence present. For instance, if the tire was defective, and its maker knew it had flaws, there may be a defective product or wrongful death lawsuit filed.
If there was a mechanical issue or the load shifted, this may be related to how closely the load was inspected before hitting the road. Improper maintenance would be negligence on the part of the individual doing the inspection, or on the part of the trucker who did not check thoroughly. It may also involve the trucker’s employer for allowing him to haul without the proper safety checks.
Two people died in this bizarre crash. Was it an accident that should not have happened? Most accidents should never happen, but for the negligence, inattention, distraction or inexperience of the drivers involved. It is rare that an accident just happens without an underlying cause.
Should the female passenger in the white Acura survive her injuries, she would have cause to file a personal injury lawsuit against the trucker and his employer. Her suit would be asking the court for compensation to pay for her lost wages, medical expenses, and perhaps money for 24/7 care, if her physical condition after the wreck left her with little expectation of ever having a normal life again.
If you have been in an accident with a big rig, do not try to deal with insurance companies on your own. Make a call to an experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer. Get the facts straight. Know your rights. Your future depends on it.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Big Rig Crushes Smaller Car first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>A 20-year-old man was recently charged by police with homicide by vehicle (his motorcycle) by driving while inebriated, and operating a vehicle without the consent of the owner. These are, respectively, a Class B felony and an aggravated misdemeanor in the state of Iowa. Other states would lay their own applicable charges.
According to the police report, biker number one was heading southbound about 10:00 p.m. He came up behind another biker, a 19-year-old young man, and slammed into him. The force of the impact ejected both from their rides. The 19-year-old was killed. The 20-year-old survived, was taken to hospital for treatment and released.
The 20-year-old waived a preliminary hearing and will wait until another court appearance is booked for him. In the meantime, police are attempting to determine if the man was also under the influence of drugs, in addition to alcohol. They also want to determine, through an accident reconstruction, if the man was speeding at the time he rammed into the first biker.
The family of the 19-year-old biker will likely seek the legal counsel of an experienced personal injury lawyer with a demonstrated track record in handling wrongful death lawsuits. There is clear negligence here in that the second biker was allegedly driving while drunk. Additionally, the man was driving the motorcycle without the owner’s permission. There aren’t a whole lot of excuses that would cut it in a case like this one, either with the police or the courts.
Have you been in a motorcycle wreck and have been injured? If you want fair and equitable compensation, and justice to be done, make contact with an Atlanta personal injury attorney. Find one that specializes in motorcycle accidents.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Two Bikers Collide, One Dies, One Is Later Charged With Murder first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>In this tense story of love possibly gone wrong, the police and other family members are suggesting that the woman at the center of their investigation shoved her husband out of a window, where he fell 25 stories to his death. While theories still swirl, the woman has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the apartment complex where they were living at the time of the alleged crime.
The woman was seven months pregnant at the time of the incident, and insists her husband tripped over something, stumbled wildly and unable to recover from his forward momentum, fell through the living room window. Facts filed in the wrongful death lawsuit point to a window that consisted of single pane glass, which is a flagrant violation of building codes and existing safety standards. Because it was only a single pane, it could be shattered with a minimum of pressure. If someone fell into it head first, with even a modicum of force, it would easily crack and give way.
The plaintiff’s attorney suggests that the thin-paned, unsafe glass had no business being in the frame of a 25th floor living room. If the proper glass had been installed, the woman would not have witnessed her husband fall to his death, and become a widow at such an early age.
In this wrongful death lawsuit, there are several defendants named, including the company that owns and operates the building where the death happened, the owner’s limited partnership company and the real estate company that managed the building. It is alleged that they should have known the window was not safe and that they should have had the proper safety glass installed.
Does the lady stand a chance of winning her lawsuit? It is possible that she could, provided there is sufficient evidence that clearly indicates her husband tripped and was not bodily pushed out the window. There were only two people present at the time he went through the window, and one of them cannot speak for himself, leaving only what other evidence may help make a case for a wrongful death.
Most cases that go to trial face a jury, and it will be the jury’s job to determine fact from fiction. If the plaintiff is able to prove, or create the impression that the husband may have tripped, they may find in her favor. Cases with twists and turns like this one are hard to call.
If you have lost someone as the result of a wrongful death situation, do not hesitate to contact an Atlanta personal injury lawyer for assistance. You need to know your rights and what to expect should you go to court. Your Atlanta personal injury lawyer will explain the process, allowing you to make an informed decision to move forward.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Murder or wrongful death is the question in this tough case first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>It’s hard to imagine that someone could be just two blocks from home, and die in a hit-and-run accident. A 26-year-old man, whose day had started out like any other, was on his way home, and had only had two blocks to go, when he was hit in a crosswalk, clipped by a large, white box truck. He saw it, but is appears questionable if the trucker saw him.
The young man was left bleeding in the street while neighbors called 911 for help. EMS crews arrived quickly, and were able to transport him to hospital, where he died as a result of his injuries. Friends and those who saw the accident reported that they could not understand how the trucker could just hit the young man and leave the scene, when it was clear the victim was seriously injured. Many were heard to say that they thought the trucker belonged in jail for his actions.
Unfortunately, no one was able to get the truck license plate number: the accident happened so quickly, and no one was close enough to see it. The kid that grew up in the neighborhood was suddenly gone, and no one could help with information to track down the truck driver who hit him. The police spent hours trying to find the truck and the driver.
Wrongful death lawsuit? Yes, highly likely. It is incumbent on drivers to pay attention to what is going on around them, and that includes watching for people in a crosswalk. Was the driver texting? Was he on his cell phone? Was he under the influence? Until he is found, that is all speculation, but it is assumed that he was not paying attention on the night when he clipped the young man crossing the road. He was likely negligent by not paying attention to what he was doing. His actions ultimately killed someone who was in the right place, at the wrong time.
If you think you may have a wrongful death lawsuit, contact a skilled Atlanta personal injury lawyer. You need to know your rights, what to expect if you file a lawsuit and what types of damages may be sought through the courts.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Hit-and-Run Trucker Kills Pedestrian first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Not all wrongful death cases are the result of negligence on the part of the named defendant. This case may well be one of those. Evidently, the man who died was out night-clubbing with his friends at a well-known downtown entertainment venue. It was popular with folks, as it was on a boat; a yacht, in fact. The club was named after the owner in an artful play on words involving his last name, which was Knight.
Apparently, the man had been at the club for some time, socializing with friends, when he decided it was time to leave. As he was attempting to disembark to the dock, he plunged into the water instead. Despite that fact that his friends jumped in after him, and pulled him out, he was unconscious, and subsequently died.
The police files showed that the man had a blood alcohol content of .239 and he had cocaine on board in his system as well. Both substances would have acted to impair his ability to judge distances. The man’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the club’s owner, stating that the connecting gangplank from the boat to the dock was intrinsically dangerous, because it did not have railings on both sides.
Cases like this one pose a problem for a jury, in that the man was impaired by drugs and alcohol, and misjudged his footing while attempting to leave the club. While it may be arguable that the gangplank should have had railing on both sides of the gang plank, it is difficult to completely fault the night club owner because the plaintiff was also negligent in drinking too much and being additionally altered on other substances. There may well be an argument made to apportion liability for this death.
If you or a loved one has been in a similar situation, reach out to seek experienced legal counsel from an Atlanta personal injury lawyer.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Drunk Nightclub Patron Falls off Boat to his Death first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>It was a normal day of getting up and going to work for the oil company, and a 21-year-old worker was looking forward to day’s end when he could pursue what he loved best, working with horses. However, something went wrong that day, and he did not make it home. His mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit on his behalf.
Apparently a co-worker found the man on a catwalk on an oil storage tank, unresponsive. The tank cover was open. Certain wells in the oil field where the man worked were known for producing high levels of hydrogen sulfide and other noxious, toxic gases. The wrongful death lawsuit alleges that the company the man worked for was negligent about its inspections and maintenance of their oil wells, equipment and the tank where the young man was found dead.
The company indicated their analysis of the location did not suggest any equipment malfunctions or pinpoint any other abnormalities that may have resulted in the man’s death. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspector also found no violations of federal safety standards. This is not to say that the company may not have been negligent in properly outfitting their personnel with the right kind of safety equipment for working around toxic and deadly gases and/or that safety equipment malfunctioned, causing the man’s unexpected and sudden death.
The state medical examiner determined that the man died as a result of hydrocarbon poisoning, which affects the heart. If worker’s compensation is involved in a death, each state has different rules and regulations. If you do not know what happens in the state where you live, find out by asking an Atlanta personal injury lawyer.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Well Worker Dies of Hydrocarbon Poisoning first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>It’s a fact of life that people get into car, truck and motorcycle accidents all over the state of Georgia. The lucky victims are close to a Level 1 Trauma Center, and if they make it there in enough time, one of those centers will save their life. Georgia is fortunate enough to boast five of these centers, put to good use by accident victims with severe trauma injuries.
Level 1 trauma care handles all kinds of severe injury accident trauma, whether it is the result of an accident or another mishap such as head trauma from a fall, electrocution and so forth. Hospitals covet this title, as it is the highest trauma center rating they may attain. Basically, the facility needs to prove it staffs the ER and trauma operating room 24/7/365 with a full team of medical personnel who have a wide variety of specialties.
Additionally, they must have only the best in equipment and resources to take care of catastrophic injuries and must make caring for those victims their number one priority throughout the year. Those badly injured in a car wreck stand an even higher chance of survival by making it to a Level 1 Trauma Center, a 25 percent greater chance of living.
While many people may complain about the way their tax dollars are spent, if they ever need the care offered by these specialized facilities, they will see where their money is going. Their lives may depend on the people and resources they have helped to fund. There are two Level 1 Trauma Centers in Atlanta, one in Macon, one in Augusta and one in Savannah.
If you have been badly injured in an accident and land in one of these trauma centers, your life is in good hands. Your journey back to wellness does not stop there. Make a phone call to an experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer and discuss your case. You need to know what rights you have, how to pursue them and what to expect if your case should go to settlement or court. Most accidents involve negligence, and if you are injured because of someone else’s negligence, you are often entitled to damages.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Hurt In Georgia? Hope for a Level 1 Trauma Center Nearby first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>This accident just about takes the cake in terms of the biker’s irresponsibility. A biker, whipping about town on his ride, a blue Suzuki, was doing so while carrying a suspended license and a 13-year-old passenger. He lost control and ran into a fence and a bunch of garbage cans, just a short distance from the young boy’s house. Rather than go for medical help or call police, the biker told the boy to walk home.
After sending the boy on his way, when he was obviously injured and in pain, the man then attempted to remove the bike from the scene of the accident by towing it away with an ATV and hiding it in his garage. His attempts to hide the bike didn’t matter, as someone called the police. The police located the boy and found out he had suffered a lacerated spleen. The biker was a habitual offender known for driving under the influence and was on parole. The 13-year-old ended up in a trauma center, admitted for observation and possible surgery.
The biker was taken to police headquarters and read his rights, and then slapped with at least 13 criminal charges that ranged from endangering the welfare of a child to driving with a suspended license. He ended up in jail. Will the mother of the teen file a personal injury lawsuit? She may well do that, given the nature of what happened and the negligent behavior the man demonstrated after the accident. Her son could have died had he not been taken to the hospital to attend to his injuries.
Motorcycle accidents happen in many ways, and their outcome is just as different as the cause. Where there is negligence involved, and it clearly was in this case, the person who caused the accident and thus directed harm to the victim is held responsible for the victim’s injuries, medical expenses and so on. If you have been in a similar situation and don’t know what to do, call a knowledgeable Atlanta personal injury lawyer.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Biker Attempts to Cover Up Crash that Injures Boy first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Despite the fact that the trucking industry is striving to make the roads a safer place for other motorists, Georgia has always managed to maintain the dubious distinction of ranking among the top five states across the U.S. for trucking fatalities. The unfortunate part is that, even though there are rules and regulations, they do not seem to be enough. The rules and regulations must be followed. Often they are honored more in the breach than in the execution, and the ones who pay for that are the innocent victims who end up severely injured or dead.
Rather than decreasing in Georgia, fatalities have consistently increased every year since 2002, according to the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). With this disturbing trend of fatal big rig accidents on the rise, it is no surprise that they affect a large number of lives, and not just in Georgia but in every state.
If you have been involved in this kind of accident, don’t wait too long before you contact a competent Atlanta personal injury lawyer. If you want justice and funds to pay your medical bills, this is the only way you will accomplish that, because the insurance company will not go out of its way to help you. The trucking company has no vested interest in owning up to liability. The trucking firm’s insurance company has no vested interest in paying out a high claim amount either. Therefore, they work hard to diminish or deny claims.
Not all accidents involving an 18-wheeler end in a fatality. In fact, there are approximately another 5,200 accidents every year that are non-fatal but instead result in serious life-altering injuries. These devastating accidents are, by and large, preventable, which makes them seem even more senseless. Driver error, improperly maintained vehicles, reckless driving, texting while driving, using an e-device while driving, falling asleep at the wheel… these are all causes of preventable accidents.
Interestingly enough, most of the big rig accidents happen in rural parts of the state, as opposed to urban areas. However, no matter where the behemoths go, accidents do follow. The only real protection is to be alert at all times and drive defensively. It doesn’t hurt to give those big trucks a wide berth on the highway. It could mean the difference between life and death.
If you have been involved in an 18-wheeler accident, do not wait until you are approached by the trucking firm’s insurance company and/or lawyers. Call an experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer as soon as you can, or have a family member do it for you. You can’t afford to delay in getting legal representation, not if you want justice and the ability to claim compensation for your injuries.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Georgia Ranks High for Fatal Trucking Accidents first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Wrongful death cases are about loss, grief, fear and anxiety for the future, but they are also about social justice. In many cases, the family of the deceased is hoping to change something for the better of others. They do not want what happened to their loved one, to happen to anyone else. It is a strong motivation for change when someone who caused the death of another is sued for their negligence.
In this case, a 32-year-old man was killed when a 17-year-old drunk driver slammed into his car in the middle of an intersection. It turned out the 17-year-old had obtained his liquor from a local food mart. The teen’s blood alcohol content was in the stratosphere, at .136. The man’s family sued for wrongful death, a suit that was dealt with after the driver had served his five year prison sentence for pleading guilty to negligent homicide.
In the civil wrongful death lawsuit, the family was awarded $716 million. While it was a victory of sorts for the family, they were only interested in stopping local food marts from selling alcohol to children. The family wanted the suit to send the message that parents were not going to put up with that kind of irresponsible conduct from any store selling booze. The very thought that storeowners were selling alcohol to underage teens, struck a cold note of fear in parents in the area.
At trial, the store denied selling alcohol, but the plaintiff’s attorney was able to prove otherwise. It turned out the store owner had a sneaky underground system for selling liquor to minors. He would tell them they had to pay more, in cash and once they produced the money, he would take them into the back of the store, hand them the booze and a plain bag or box and let them out the back door. The victory is bittersweet for the family, knowing their son, if he were still alive today, would be playing hockey and other sports.
Wrongful death lawsuits are often a way to find closure for a grieving family, but they are not something that can be undertaken alone. You would need the assistance of a qualified Atlanta personal injury lawyer to get you through the mazes of the court system, and obtain a just and equitable settlement or verdict. Call an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with any questions you may have about your case. It’s his job to help you assess the situation and let know you what your options are to move forward.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Many Wrongful Death Lawsuits have More than Compensation Awarded first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>New sleep apnea regulations are slated to be put in place, sometime this year, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). Sleep apnea causes truckers to have accidents, and the long and short of it is this condition may be deadly, as the outcome of a truck hitting a smaller vehicle is a foregone, horrific conclusion.
Sleep apnea, also referred to as obstructive sleep apnea happens when a person’s breathing temporarily stops. This affects the exchange of oxygen in the lungs, due to the fact that throat muscles have relaxed so much, they block your airway while sleeping. The logical conclusion of a night of sleeping, starting awake, sleeping and starting awake is that the next morning the individual is extremely tired. For truckers suffering from sleep apnea, the extreme fatigue heightens their risk of falling asleep at the wheel, losing control of their rig and getting involved in an accident.
According to statistics released by the FMCSA, there is an average of approximately 750 deaths every year, and close to 20,000 injuries sustained in wrecks caused by a trucker drifting off behind the wheel. In order to reduce the number of preventable collisions, the FMCSA is working to understand how sleep apnea works, and what factors contribute to it.
For instance, studies to date have indicated that truckers with small airways, a body mass index of 35 or higher, a recessed or smaller jaw, with necks more than 17 inches for men and 15.5 inches for women, treated or untreated hypertension and Type 2 diabetes and untreated hypothyroidism may be at risk for sleep apnea.
Once the federal government understands more about this issue, their plan is to write rules relating to truckers and how they are expected to treat it. The most common treatment for this condition is using a Constant Positive Airway Pressure that directs an uninterrupted flow of oxygen to the lungs while the person is sleeping.
The interesting thing about this move towards understanding and dealing with sleep apnea in truckers is the industry’s disenchantment with the proposed rules and regulations. One would think they would welcome a way to reduce the number of accidents, injuries and deaths.
Instead, they consider them to be too expensive and don’t see how they would cut down the number of accidents. If they think medications, or other methods of dealing with sleep apnea, are ‘more’ expensive than a wrongful death lawsuit or a personal injury lawsuit with catastrophic, life-altering injuries, they are on the wrong planet.
Getting into an accident with a big rig is deadly – period. If this has happened to you, do not wait to talk to an experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer. Time is of the essence in accidents of this nature, and you want to make sure the scene is preserved and documented properly, before evidence may mysteriously vanish.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Truckers with Sleep Apnea are a Menace first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>This wasn’t just any old car accident. This was a six vehicle collection of twisted metal and parts, strewn around the intersection where the accident took place. It was ten to eleven in the morning, and it had started out as pretty much a regular day for those involved in this accident, even the trucker who caused the mess.
Evidently, according to eyewitnesses and the initial police report, the trucker passed out behind the wheel of his vehicle while stopped at the intersection. This caused his foot to tamp down on the accelerator, driving into the intersection and hitting five cars, toppling over a tree and shoving a car up against a building. Even though the accident happened at a fairly low rate of speed, there were still injuries requiring trips to the local hospital for treatment.
One can only shudder to think what would have happened had the trucker been speeding, and passed out while entering the busy intersection. The carnage would have been even worse, which leads us to mention that the trucker’s employer is liable for the accident, as well as the trucker. The employer had to have known about the driver’s medical condition, and should have made a decision to not allow him to drive. Since the trucker was driving, and likely with the knowledge of his boss, he too must take responsibility for his negligence in driving with a dangerous medical condition.
It is not enough to figure that nothing would happen because the trucker may have been on medications, or was just recently diagnosed with his condition or thought that he would be okay. It is not enough for the employer to go on the word of a driver with a medical condition that causes him to pass out, that he is fine to drive. It is the responsibility of the trucker, and the employer to be safe, drive safe, and not put a ticking time bomb on the road.
The consequences of this accident could have been much worse, which is cold consolation, given the fact that six vehicles were damaged and several people sustained injuries. Victims involved in accidents like this need to reach out to an Atlanta personal injury lawyer and find out what their rights are, what they need to do about the insurance company hounding them, how to file a lawsuit and what they may expect if they go to settlement or court.
Accidents are not something the average citizen should try handling on their own. There are too many things that may be overlooked in the rush to get compensation. For true justice, done right, stick with an experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Trucker with Medical Condition Passes Out behind the Wheel first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>It was early in the morning, a perfect night to take the bike out and go for a spin. The 44-year-old man and his 45-year-old girlfriend thought it would be fun to take a late night ride. The motorcycle was thrumming along without a hitch, heading east on an avenue. Just to the biker’s right, a PT Cruiser was coming out of the parking lot of a local bank.
The impact was bone crushing, as the biker and his passenger slammed into the side of the car. Both were thrown from the motorcycle and died at the scene. Even though they were wearing helmets, the way they impacted and were tossed into the air and landed, meant instantaneous death. The car’s driver, in shock, was not hurt, but was examined at the scene and released.
According to the initial reports, the police do not suspect drugs or alcohol played a factor in this wreck. They are also ruling out speed. Nonetheless, both victims will be autopsied and toxicology reports conducted on both. Sadly, accidents like this one are all too common, particularly with the advent of better weather. The police in this one area alone had attended over six bike wrecks since the beginning of April.
The unfortunate thing about motorcycles is that other drivers on the road tend not to see them. This raises the stakes for an accident sky high. Often drivers will turn right in front of a biker, pull out in front of them or cut them off, somehow not seeing them, and their motorcycle, until it is too late for the biker to either survive a crash, or become a statistic.
Why do motorcyclist enthusiasts keep riding, even knowing the dangers that lurk out there on the road? It is because they love being out on the road, enjoying the scenery up close and personal. They also tend to think that they are vigilant and careful drivers. Many bikers are extremely careful riders. The problem isn’t the biker. It is the car driver who does not pay attention to the road space around them. More often than not, the cause of a motorcycle and vehicle wreck is the driver’s fault, and the first thing the drivers say is, “I didn’t see the bike.”
While that may be hard to believe, it is the underlying factor in a great many bike crashes. If you have been in a wreck with your bike, do not wait to talk to an experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer, and above all else, do not sign any documentation or papers an insurance company tries to get you to sign. Call your Atlanta personal injury lawyer first – period.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Helmets Do Save Lives in a Motorcycle Accident, but not All the Time first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>This case was shocking, as it was pivotal to pending regulations to change the hours of service a trucker may put in on the road. A woman who was driving home from a family reunion was killed instantly when she and her son were hit by a triple-trailer truck. The driver drifted off to sleep behind the wheel. The consequences? The needless death of the woman and her 12-year-old son was left permanently disabled.
The trucker was sentenced to five years in prison, a fact that brings no joy to those who were left behind after her sudden, untimely death. He pled guilty to two counts of aggravated vehicle assault and one count of aggravated vehicular homicide. The story spread around the country, acting as a wakeup call for those campaigning to lower service hours on the road in the trucking industry. The group wanted 10 hours. The hours remained the same, set at 11, but they did not go up as most trucking outfits would have preferred.
Trucking for 11 hours a day is causing horrific accidents in every state, and yet, the driving force behind the industry is not to make the truckers or those on the roads with them safer, but to make more money by campaigning for even more hours. Along with going to sleep at the wheel, texting, using a cell phone or other mobile device while driving, watching a laptop movie or picking up something from the floor of the cab, all these reasons and more, are the cause of 18-wheeler accidents that maim and kill.
Big rig accidents are highly complex due to the nature of the industry and who is insured. The industry will fight tooth and nail to keep any settlements low, as that is what is best for the bottom line. Do not let an insurance company guide you in making any decisions if you have been seriously hurt in an accident. Consult with an Atlanta personal injury lawyer and get the real facts about what happens in a case like this. You will come to understand that part of the case strategy is focusing on the number of hours a trucker is behind the wheel.
It is not unheard of for truckers and their companies to falsify their service records. They do that by keeping two sets of books. More time on the road is what drives the trucking companies, as the loads are money when they are delivered on time and in good shape. If that means driving more hours in a day, then the almighty dollar dictates a trucker to keep on trucking.
This is negligence. It’s just that simple, and this is a discussion you will have with your Atlanta personal injury lawyer about what way the case will roll, why, and what arguments will be used to make a point for more compensation for injuries. While lawyers cannot restore your complete health, they can make sure you have sufficient compensation to care for yourself for the rest of your life.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Deadly Accident Shows Trucker Drove More Hours than Legally Mandated first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>This reported case did go to settlement largely because if it had gone to court, the family of the deceased would likely have been awarded more. As it was, the city approved a half million dollar settlement for the family of the dead teens and an unborn baby.
Although the city did step up and make a settlement offer, they also added that just because they were considering a settlement did not mean they were admitting guilt on their part or on the part of the officer involved. It’s hard to assume that if they are willing to pay out a settlement that they do not assume some degree of guilt.
Most cases where settlements are offered are resolved because one party knows the other one has enough to mount a substantial case against them. Rather than face a possibly significant jury verdict, offering a settlement gives the defendant some control over their financial liability. In some instances, and this may happen in states with damage caps, a family may sue for a maximum of $250,000 per person.
In this case where the accident killed two teens and an unborn child (considered in that jurisdiction to be a person), the jury total could be $750,000. However, it is capped at $500,000 for one incident. In other words, where this accident happened, whether the case did make it to court or not, the half million dollars would be the ceiling for wrongful death damages. This is why it is so important to consult with an experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer to find out what you need to do to file a wrongful death lawsuit in Georgia. Every state has different rules when it comes to wrongful death claims.
Was this accident caused by the police officer’s negligence? On the face of the evidence, the answer is yes. Accident reconstruction technicians proved that he was travelling 80 mph in a 45 mph zone, and he was not responding to a call. He was suspended without pay indefinitely, just shortly after the police department learned he had not told his supervisor he was on medication that could impair his ability to work.
The rest of the facts of the case will not see the light of day, thanks to the settlement. However, it is worth considering those details when it comes right down to the wire. There was obviously negligence here based on the speed the officer was doing when he hit the teen’s car. Factor in the medical issue, and you have an accident looking for a place to happen. It did happen and three people died. It could be said the settlement is not enough, considering the circumstances.
These factors and many others play an integral part in any wrongful death case handled by an Atlanta personal injury lawyer. If you have been in a similar situation, or are dealing with a wrongful death claim, find out what your rights are, when to file, whether or not there are damage caps in your state and what to expect when the case is resolved.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Speeding Cop Kills Two Teens and Unborn Child first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Often in cases like this one, there are two elements you need to keep in mind: the criminal side and the civil side. In this reported case, there was the criminal element of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter, driving without a license and felony hit-and-run causing a death.
The 22-year-old man, driving through a crosswalk, hit and killed a four-year-old pedestrian. Rather than stopping and remaining at the scene of the accident for the police to arrive, the driver left the area. The man probably knew he was going to be in deep trouble, compounded by the fact he was driving without a license and left the scene of the accident.
While the criminal side of this case will come first, the family can most definitely file a wrongful death lawsuit. Was there negligence involved? Yes. Here is a man driving without a license that gets involved in a hit-and-run accident, kills a small child and flees the scene. Whether or not the individual was also under the influence, distracted, speeding or whatever other reason he may have offered for why he hit the child is not relevant. The facts speak for themselves, or in the words of the law, “Res ipsa loquitur.”
While criminal accountability is vitally important, the other element, the civil wrongful death lawsuit, is equally as important. It is a way for the family to seek some form of compensation for that gut-wrenching loss of a family member; a toddler who had his whole life before him, but for the negligence of the 22-year-old driver who hit and killed him. Criminal courts decide if a person intentionally committed a crime. Civil courts figure out if wrongful conduct should be accountable, financially speaking.
The fact is that in civil wrongful death cases, the whole focus of the case is obtaining compensation for those wrongfully harmed. If you have been in a similar situation, seek expert legal counsel to handle your case. Only an experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer has the requisite skill to ensure you get the compensation you deserve to move on with your life. While cases like this are never easy, a seasoned Atlanta personal injury lawyer has the strength and compassion to help you make it through your ordeal.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Hit and Run Accident Kills Toddler and Family Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>No one wants to hear that there are more accidents every year on the highways involving semis. Unfortunately, though, it is a hard, cold fact. In 2010 alone, close to 500,000 commercial trucks were in wrecks in the U.S. That overall figure includes at least 100,000 injuries and more than 5,000 deaths. In 2009, there were only 3,200 fatalities, says the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
If these figures were not dismal enough on their own, the Institute predicts an increase in commercial trucks on the roadways by 20 percent by 2012. You do not have to think too hard about what that means in terms of accident statistics. What causes trucking accidents?
This is a question that many people ask when they see this kind of a wreck; the same question hundreds of police officers, lawyers and victims ask in the ugly aftermath of this kind of accident. Interestingly, and not an astounding surprise, the biggest issue in big rig accidents can be traced directly to the behavior of the trucker. If you are interested in finding out more information on this issue, do an online search for the results of the Large Truck Causation Crash Study.
This particular study closely examined 120,000 18-wheeler accidents between 2001 and 2003, ultimately selecting 963 that involved a large truck and one passenger vehicle. The 963 crashes included 243 deaths and 1,654 injuries. As a part of this study, the timing and what was happening at the moment the inevitable crash took place was put under a microscope. The conclusion? That there were at least three catalysts for the wrecks:
– The big rig drifted out of the travel lane and either went into another lane, or off the road entirely
– The trucker lost control of the rig
– The truck rear-ended another vehicle in the truck’s path
The study went several steps beyond these initial classifications and identified the critical event, or cause, of an accident: the trucker, the vehicle and the environment. One could likely surmise that an accident could also be caused by all three of the critical events at the same time.
What do all these events have in common? The driver. Thus the study broke out the driver category into other classifications that included:
– The driver was impaired in some way, physically or mentally, i.e. alcohol or sleep deprivation
– The driver was inattentive or distracted
– The driver made a poor decision
– The driver did something like overcompensating after a turn
The statistics are very clear, and the researchers concluded that truckers were at fault at least 55 percent of the time, which is a frightening conclusion. That means your life is in the hands of the person behind the wheel of an 80,000 pound behemoth, and you had better hope they make the right decisions to keep that rig on the road.
18-wheeler wrecks can be catastrophic. There is no other word to describe them. Their impact on people’s lives is never-ending, often fatal, and if a victim survives, their life is often altered in unimaginable and devastating ways. This is the main reason you need qualified legal counsel to handle your personal injury case. Without the assistance of a skilled Atlanta personal injury lawyer, you may not get the compensation you need to live out the rest of your life.
Do you want to take the chance of trying to deal with an insurance company on your own when an Atlanta personal injury lawyer knows how to handle them and get you the compensation you need to live? If you have been in a big-rig truck accident, do not second guess your future. Call an Atlanta personal injury lawyer right away.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post It Is No Surprise that 18-Wheeler Accidents Are on the Increase first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>This reported case may sound like just another drunk driving conviction, but this one has a twist to it. This story started when a young 24-year-old man doing duty as a designated driver was taking his friends home from an evening out on the town drinking. After dropping the last one off, he headed home, but never made it.
In the middle of an intersection, another car driven by a 26-year-old woman ran a red light and slammed into the side of the man’s car. His family was in deep shock when they heard the news. That shock also turned to anger when they found out that her blood alcohol level was 0.229, and the legal limit was 0.08. The family sought legal counsel and filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
Before the civil action was launched in court, the woman was criminally charged and convicted o driving under the influence, first-degree vehicular homicide and reckless driving. The court ordered her to begin serving a five-year prison term, with another five-year term spent on probation. The unusual twist to this case is that the mother of the deceased requested the court to order the woman to always carry a picture of her dead son with her during her sentence, and the court acquiesced to the request in the hopes it would drive home a point – that her negligence killed someone.
It never ceases to be a source of disappointment that people still drink and drive. It has been proven over and over again that driving while drunk kills. Sadly, those who drink and drive, and think that they will get home alive are being thoughtless, and may also wind up as dead as the innocent victim they run over because they wanted to get drunk.
Have you been in a wreck with a drunk driver? If you have, contact an experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer and start asking questions about how you can recover compensation for your injuries. You will need to know your legal rights and how a case may proceed should you file a lawsuit with the assistance of an Atlanta personal injury lawyer. Do not wait to make that call. Your recovery may depend on it.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post DUI Charge in Wrongful Death Case Results in Unusual Sentence Provision first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>The devastated family elected to file a wrongful death lawsuit, which was settled out of court by the dentist’s insurance company and negotiated by the state’s Dental Board. The most interesting aspect of this case were the remarks made by the Dental Board once the settlement had been negotiated, commenting, among other things, that it was the task of the Board to ensure unsafe dentists, or those that were likely a threat, either took further training to remediate deficient areas in their practice or, in the alternative, stop practicing.
The upside of this case was, in addition to the negotiated settlement, that the doctor agreed to retire. On the surface, this may have been a stunningly good idea, given the man’s age. Digging deeper revealed that it was not the first time that the doctor had been sued for wrongful death. In 1997, a 57-year-old woman died from similar complications with anesthetic. At that time, the dentist would have been 67-years-old. That case was also settled out of court.
The state Dental Board was also heard to say that this case was a prime example of how hard it was to regulate dentistry, an admission that makes one cringe when thinking about their next dental procedure. For the most part, dentists are careful, skilled and caring, and provide their patients with excellent care. And then, there is always the odd bad dentist. This of course raises some very serious questions about the liability of the Board and the dentists they license, as they do not appear to regulate all that closely or well.
Did the family of the 13-year-old girl have a good case? Yes, and the sad fact is that her death may not have happened had the state Dental Board taken action about the dentist’s license in 1997, and made sure he was safe to be licensed and still practice. Certainly “what if’s” will not bring the girl back, but they may raise this issue to a level where someone does something about it, so that questionable dentists do not keep practicing.
It is quite likely that this was one of the reasons this case settled out of court as well.
If you feel you have been the victim of dental malpractice, seek legal counsel from an experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer. If you want justice and compensation for injuries you may have suffered, the only way to get your case settled or into court is with the assistance of a knowledgeable Atlanta personal injury lawyer.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Dentist Sued for Wrongful Death of Teen first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Just because the second group of riders was younger and not as experienced does not necessarily mean they lacked good judgment. Unfortunately, however, one rider did not follow the rules of the road and was speeding while heading south on the highway. He lost control of his bike, crossed the median into opposing traffic and hit the lead biker from the church group. Both riders died an unnecessary death, because of the negligence of the biker who was speeding.
Certainly the 19-year-old rider likely thought he could do anything and be just fine, no matter what. Chances are he had never seen a bike accident and had no concept of death. However, he miscalculated on this ride and lost his life because of it. The tragedy is a double one because two lives were lost due to speeding when the young man did not having the skills to handle a bike at such high speeds.
It is highly likely that the man’s wife, who was badly injured but survived the wreck, will want to consult with a personal injury lawyer to find out what her rights are in this situation. If she were to talk to an Atlanta personal injury attorney, she would find out that she likely had a case and could sue the 19-year-old’s estate for compensation for the death of her husband.
She should be able to recover, among other things, compensation for pain and suffering, lost wages, loss of companionship, loss of benefits, loss of inheritance, funeral burial expenses and (in some instances) punitive damages. An Atlanta personal injury lawyer will also explain the differences in jurisdictions and awards to the family, as wrongful death laws vary greatly from state to state.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Rare Head-On Crash Between Two Motorcycles Kills Two and Injures at Least Four Others first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>This reported case is another example of a death that should have never happened. The admissions staff at Western Carolina University did not take the time to properly read each student’s admission form. Because they did not read the forms closely enough, a young football athlete died.
The wrongful death lawsuit filed by the young man’s family pointed a finger at the university and the coaching staff, stating that they were negligent in regards to the death of their son.
The young man was only 20 years old when he arrived at the university and played as a defensive back. He was told by the university doctor that it was ok to take part in weightlifting and conditioning drills without any limitations. One day later, the young man died during practice. Autopsy results showed he died due to acute lethal cardiac dysrhythmia with other contributing factors such as sickle cell trait and overexertion.
The lawsuit stated that his admission questionnaire relating to athletics indicated he had sickle cell trait. The student signed that form as did his mother. Thus, the university doctor and coaches knew or should have known he had sickle cell trait. Oddly, the university denied the allegations in one breath, and then in another, said the student had completed a form that listed sickle cell trait, which raises the question why they did not make themselves aware of what the disease meant to their athlete.
In this case, the student’s workout was weight lifting, 160 yards of striding two 60-yard sprints, two 70-yard sprints, two 80-yard sprints and two 90-yard sprints. He got into trouble on the last of his 90-yard sprints and subsequently collapsed and died.
When an athlete with sickle cell trait trains intensely, the red blood cells form into a shape like a sickle, which blocks the flow of blood to the muscles, causing lactic acidosis and ischemic rhabdomyolysis with hyperkalemia. The acidosis directly affects the heart by causing ventricular fibrillation, causing a heart attack. While athletes with this condition may play sports, there need to be the right kind of accommodations in place for them to deal it such as longer recovery times between repetitions, a gradually increasing drill time and oxygen on hand.
Will this family succeed in their wrongful death lawsuit? There is a good chance that they will, as the evidence shows the university: failed to make sure coaching and medical staff knew about and understood what exertional sickling was and how to work with it; failed to tell the student how to train safely; and failed to put safety measures in place, among other things.
Families that lose a family member like this should seek legal counsel in the form of an experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer. Wrongful death lawsuits are civil cases and subject to a statute of limitations. Calling an Atlanta personal injury attorney as soon as possible will mean justice may be served promptly.
Robert Webb is an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in Atlanta personal injury, malpractice, criminal defense, and business law. Learn more at Webbdorazio.com.
The post Wrongful Death Suit Filed Over University Failure to Read Admission Questionnaire first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>This reported case is very odd for a number of reasons. The main reason for this is that the victim was lying in the middle of the road; drunk but alive until the defendant ran over him and killed him. The defendant is a former state trooper, who, one would think, would have a higher degree of awareness about driving safely and would not leave the scene of the accident.
The trooper was off duty at the time of the accident, was in the car with his girlfriend, and heading home from a party when he struck and killed John Doe. For reasons only known to him, he chose to leave the scene and continue on his way home. His girlfriend did however speak to the police after the man was hit. Investigators on scene were able to determine the dead man had been alive prior to being hit and had a blood alcohol content of 0.20.
As it turned out, John Doe had a substantial record for alcohol offenses, including a two-year prison sentence for DWI, his third in four years. He had hit a 14-year-old girl on her bike in 2000 and an 11-year-old child in 2004. He stopped driving when he was let out of prison in 2006, likely figuring it was safer to walk home drunk to his wife and two small kids. It was a decision that cost him his life.
Other sheriffs that went to the trooper’s home to conduct interviews noted that the sheriff agreed to take an alcohol prescreening. It was determined he had not been drinking. Ultimately, after the investigation was complete, there were no criminal charges and the felony charge for leaving the scene of an accident was dismissed by a grand jury.
The reason the criminal charges were dismissed is that the district attorney indicated the purpose of the law is to ensure drivers who get into personal injury accidents call the police and admit their guilty by giving their name and contact information. The off duty trooper’s girlfriend did call them from the road and both met law enforcement at the trooper’s home later on.
Evidently, the interpretation of the statute does not outline, specifically, the amount of time a driver has to report the crash if there is no one at the scene to report to, and the law does not mandate a driver to remain at the scene if there is no one present to get into details about how a report should be made. While this may deal with the criminal charges, this does not mean the family of the dead man might not wish to file a wrongful death lawsuit.
Would they be successful in filing a wrongful death lawsuit? It is likely that they would, given that it is hard to miss a body lying in the road when you are driving, given that the man was a trooper and subject to a higher standard of conduct and care and should not have fled the scene.
If you ever find yourself in a situation like this, do not wait to call an experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer. Time is of the essence in cases like this, and in order to ensure all the relevant evidence is collected and understood in its proper context, your Atlanta personal injury lawyer needs to act fast.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Drunk Pedestrian Ran Over and Wrongful Death Suit May Follow first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>You would think that someone who was drunk and could not walk straight, let alone see properly, would not go ahead and hop on his motorcycle, invite a passenger to travel with him and then take off figuring nothing could possibly happen to him. Yet this biker did just that and caused his passenger severe, life-altering injuries, including brain shearing, a dislocated shoulder and a broken femur.
As it turned out, the biker in this reported case, had a lengthy rap sheet when it came to having his name on the police blotter. At 32 years old, the man had already been charged by police, just a month prior to this wreck, with three counts of DUI involving crashes that resulted in the death or injury of another and aggravated assault with a vehicle.
Apparently, the man was heading east on the interstate at about 10 p.m. when his bike hit a pile of debris that he had not seen. He lost control of the motorcycle and as it started to slide sideways toward the ditch and flip, the passenger, a 26-year-old woman, was thrown off the bike. EMS crews got her to the nearest hospital for treatment, where doctors said she was lucky she had been wearing a helmet, or the brain injury she sustained could have been worse.
Evidently the man’s charges for this accident will also involve driving without proper vehicle registration, driving without insurance and driving with an expired license. One of the questions involved here is whether or not the woman was aware the biker did not have insurance or an expired license and still chose to ride with him. She certainly chose to ride with him drunk.
Many juries are less than enthusiastic about plaintiffs filing lawsuits against drunk drivers if they voluntarily rode with them, despite being aware they were inebriated. In this instance though, there are more than enough other charges and evidence to prove the biker was reckless with his behavior, and that it is likely the woman would not have a clue about his license issues.
If you have ever been in an accident like this one and want to know what your rights are, call an experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer. You need to know where you stand, how you may recover compensation for your injuries and what to expect should you proceed to settlement or the courts.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Drunk Biker Wrecks Motorcycle and Severely Injures His Passenger first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Many people love riding a motorcycle because they are less expensive to operate than a car, and you feel the freedom of the road even more. But in this instance, a motorcyclist was out for a ride, and saw a speeding Volkswagen that lost control and hit a power pole.
If that is not bad enough, when the car hit the pole it snapped in two and the power lines landed in the street – but not before they slapped the biker across the neck and chest, causing him to lose control of his motorcycle.
Interestingly enough, the police on the scene of this reported accident decided to treat each accident as being separate. The biker might just want to pursue a case with a personal injury lawyer.
If the car was not speeding, then the accident would likely not have happened, unless the driver was texting, talking on his cell phone or fiddling with something on his dashboard. Given those various scenarios, it is entirely possible that the car driver was distracted while driving and the biker’s severe injuries would have been prevented.
The police report would give an Atlanta personal injury lawyer details on what was found at the scene of the accident. This could be a live cell phone with an open connection to someone or a partially completed text message. And, if booze was involved, this would be a whole other issue. Nonetheless, the plaintiff motorcyclist has the right to file a personal injury lawsuit to recover costs for his medical and other expenses as a result of the accident.
Have you been in a similar accident and do not know what to do? Call an experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer who knows what it is like to recover from an accident and what injuries may affect you in the long-term.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Car Accident Causes Bizarre Motorcycle Crash and Serious Injuries first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>This great helmet debate has been around just about as long as motorbikes have been, although some states do not have helmet laws or age based helmet laws. Michigan, for example, just passed a law that would make it illegal for bikers under the age of 21 to ride without a helmet. The ramifications of that will certainly make an impact in ERs across the state.
What is at the root of this debate? On one side are the bikers who see being forced to wear a helmet as a personal affront, treating it as their right to strike a blow against insurance companies and medical groups who both insist that repealing the helmet law would result in more fatalities. In actual fact, the number of accidents may remain the same, but the outcome of those accidents may vary according to the safety orientation of the biker.
Closer to the truth is a nugget of biker wisdom that says helmets or not, bikers are still dying and getting hurt and the only way to really not meet the Grim Reaper is to not get into an accident. That is a bit of a “duh” statement, as it is a well-known fact that if a motorcycle gets into a crash with another vehicle, the biker is not going to fare well in the outcome, helmet or not.
This is not to say that helmets do not reduce the severity of brain trauma, because they do. It just means, accidents will still happen, helmets or not. People will still die, helmets or not. However, the severity of the head injuries may be reduced, thus offering a biker a second chance. Often that is worth gold to the surviving biker.
Nationally there were more than 2,000 bikers still alive at the end of the year thanks to a helmet. On the other hand, in states where the motorcycle helmet law was repealed entirely (Texas, Arizona, Florida, Kentucky and Louisiana,), bikers deaths rose.
Will medical costs rise as a result of a repealed helmet law? Will insurance companies pay out more money as a result of more crashes involving bikers without helmets? These are interesting questions to take into consideration. Perhaps the true key to this conundrum is slowing down, taking care to avoid accidents and be alert at all times. Unfortunately, not everyone drives safely.
Have you been in a motorcycle accident and do not know what your rights are? Do not wait to find out. Get on the phone and contact a skilled Atlanta personal injury lawyer. You can ask as many questions as you like in the first consultation. It is the best thing you could possibly do for your peace of mind.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Motorcycle Helmet Debate Continues as Injuries and Deaths Still Occur first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>There are normally two outcomes after a motorcycle accident – death or life-altering, catastrophic injuries. For the fortunate few who walk away from a bike crash, they are very lucky. Certainly, there is the odd case where the biker sustains injuries they can and do recover from, but they are never quite the same again. It is hard to imagine any other kind of result when something as unprotected as a motorcycle ends up tangling with another vehicle. For instance, take the case of Johnee B (names have been changed to protect the victims).
Johnee B was cruising on a Friday night when the unthinkable did happen. He slammed into the side of a car in the middle of an intersection. He made it to the hospital alive, but did not leave their care. He died the next day. The two people in the car were rushed to hospital with injuries. It is hard to imagine a biker hitting a car so hard that it injured those inside, but it shows the seriousness of these collisions.
Police at the scene of the accident were able to interview eyewitnesses to the crash who indicated the biker was speeding and had zipped through two stop signs without looking or even slowing down. Was this the deliberate choice of the biker or was the throttle stuck open? The answer to this question is important, not only for the dead biker’s family but for the two occupants in the car he hit. It highlights the question of negligence (of the biker) for the injuries of the two in the car or the negligence of the manufacturer in the case of a stuck throttle (wrongful death filed by the family).
Or, consider the case of Clifton A (name has been changed to protect the victim) who was heading into the city to visit his girlfriend. He was going at highway speed when an elderly man turned right in front of him from a side road. He had no place else to go but right into the side post of the car on the passenger’s side. He hit so hard, he sustained severe traumatic brain injury, lost a part of his face, suffered a ruptured spleen, and damage to his liver and kidney, not to mention collapsed lungs, broken ribs and a crushed pelvis. His parents made it to the hospital in time to say goodbye. Was there negligence here? Yes, definitely when the man turned in front of oncoming traffic.
Would the biker’s family have grounds to file a wrongful death lawsuit? Yes. Even though the man may not have seen the biker, there was a duty incumbent on him to drive with the safety of all others in mind. That did not happen and the biker died.
Have you been in a similar situation to either of these cases? Do not waste time trying to figure out if you have a case or whether or not you are entitled to compensation for injuries – call an experienced Atlanta personal injury attorney. Find out what your rights are, find out if you do have a case and find out if you would be entitled to recover compensation. It is a phone call that is well worth making.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Motorcycle Accidents Typically Result in Death first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Bikers face the very real consideration that every time they go out for a ride, they may never come home. There are too many things that can happen out on the road; things that may be fatal. That’s what happened in this case.
The police report indicated that a black Nissan Versa 4-door sedan was heading south on the highway in the second lane from the left in an area where there were four southbound lanes. In the next lane, which would be lane number three, there was a Kawasaki motorcycle. This means that the biker was in the lane to the right of the Nissan and therefore just about parallel to the car’s passenger door.
Suddenly, the Nissan went to change lanes and hit the biker on the left side. The impact sent the bike, and the 48-year-old rider, straight into an exit ramp area, where the bike slammed into an interchange exit sign. There were motorcycle parts and debris all over the road when the first responders arrived. While the biker was alive at the time, he died later in hospital; a victim of his injuries.
In the Nissan driver’s favor, he stayed at the scene of the accident and the police feel there were no drugs or alcohol involved. This is not to say that there may not have been something else that caused the 61-year-old driver to veer into the biker; for instance, driving while distracted or a mechanical failure involving the steering wheel or tires.
What caused the accident will certainly be under investigation, until the police get a good sense of what happened that deadly day. In the meantime, the biker’s family will likely want to talk to a personal injury lawyer about filing a wrongful death lawsuit.
If this accident had happened in Georgia, the family would most likely speak to a seasoned Atlanta personal injury lawyer; someone with significant experience dealing with motorcycle accidents. They know all about drivers who claim they did not see the victim. An Atlanta personal injury lawyer also has the skills and knowledge to garner the required evidence and deal with the insurance companies.
When it comes to wrongful death actions, the lawyer will guide the family through the process with sensitivity and explain to them what they can expect when their case does go to court. These lawsuits are never easy, but if the family has any hope of moving forward, they may need financial compensation to do so.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Driving Without Due Care and Attention Kills Biker first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>The family in this case chose to file a wrongful death lawsuit to set the record straight and to try and improve things for others at the nursing home where their relative died. Shockingly, the nursing home in question had an established track record of being on a federal watch list as a special focus facility. This was not for good reasons. It was because it had an awful record and needed to be watched carefully. Unfortunately, that did not help the victim in this story.
The elderly gentleman in this nursing home developed bedsores and a variety of other skin conditions that led to necrotic tissue, breathing difficulties, osteomyelitis and ulcers. Any one of these medical conditions on their own would have been bad enough, but cumulatively, they caused the man’s death. This should not have happened, as these conditions are highly preventable with proper care. Rather than getting that care, the man got substandard and lackluster nursing from staff that led to his demise.
The man’s wife filed a wrongful death lawsuit and ultimately named not just the nursing home staff and management, but the owners of the facility, who turned a blind eye to what was happening there and did nothing to stop the rampant abuse. The really sad part about this story is that there are more nursing homes just like this one across the country. One may even be just down the road from where you live. One of them may even be where your loved one is currently living.
Do you know what is going on in the nursing home where your family member is living? If you do not know, it is time you made it your business to find out what is going on there, before it may be too late and you are dealing with the death of your relative. There is no way that our seniors should be allowed to live in conditions like that because those tasked with their care fail to keep them safe.
If you have suspicions about what is going on in a local nursing home, or you have lost a loved family member due to neglect and abuse, speak to a compassionate and skilled Atlanta injury lawyer. If you want justice for the suffering of your loved one, an Atlanta injury lawyer will guide you through the process of filing a wrongful death lawsuit.
While many lawsuits such as this tend to take time to make their way through the courts, if the suit acts as a comeuppance to the owners and staff at the nursing home and helps others still residing there, you have accomplished something to be proud of in memory of your lost family member.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Nursing Home Abuse Leads to Death and a Wrongful Death Lawsuit first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Call this a “hot button issue.” At what age should teens be allowed to drive? There are so many answers out there, it would be hard to discuss them all and cover the reasons why some feel teens need more experience before getting a license to drive a potentially lethal weapon. This case is no exception to that rule and points out that when teens, hormones and inexperience behind the wheel are involved, the results may leave people dead. Those harmed or killed will need the services of a competent Atlanta personal injury lawyer.
Our office read about this case, a horrific wreck between a school bus and a pickup truck that snuffed out two promising young lives. The pickup truck driver was 18 years old. His passenger and girlfriend was only 17. Despite both the driver and front passenger being belted in, their multiple injuries spelled death. The other two passengers in the truck were listed in critical condition when they were taken to hospital by EMS crews.
What happened to cause this wreck? The police report was not completely clear on the cause and they plan to investigate further to find out what made the driver lose control, crossing the median and slamming into a school bus after sheering too close to the rear end of an 18-wheeler. While there is certainly speculation as to why he lost control, a definitive answer was not readily available aside from the fact that the roads were slippery that day.
The prevailing theories mostly involve the use of a cell phone and texting while driving, along with the driver wanting to show off by speeding and driving carelessly in spite of poor road conditions. It is not too much of a stretch of the imagination to think that this type of accident could happen to anyone, but more so to younger individuals lacking experience in handling a vehicle safely.
If you have been in a similar situation, contact an experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer for advice on what to do to claim compensation for personal injuries or wrongful death.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Teen Driver Loses Control Of Truck And Kills Two first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Wrongful death lawsuits are not always filed against another person. They may be filed against a city, town or municipality or company. The best example of that is the fiasco that was the New York blizzard in December 2010. The city did not know what hit it and citizens in distress found out about that the hard way.
Unfortunately, there were at least two wrongful deaths as a result of that major storm. The second lawsuit was just brought recently by a family in Brooklyn who waited an hour and a half for an ambulance crew to come and help their mother. The woman had chest pains and before the EMS crews could get to her, she died.
She was only 63 years old at the time of her death and the family cannot understand why emergency medical help took 90 minutes to arrive. But for the slow response time, the woman may well have survived her heart attack. The ambulance could not get through the snow-packed streets any quicker. Or could they? This was the question the family took to their personal injury lawyer to discuss a wrongful death lawsuit.
Once the attorney knew the full scope of the case, his response to the family left them no doubt that they would file a wrongful death lawsuit stating that fire, police, transportation and the sanitation departments were at fault for the deadly delay that cost a woman her life. The lawsuit is seeking $20 million in damages. In part, the papers filed with the wrongful death lawsuit state that there is no excuse for a 90-minute delay when it comes to emergency response personnel.
The second wrongful death lawsuit was on the behalf of a 75-year-old woman who waited for three hours for an ambulance. She did not make it, either. The finger of blame was then squarely pointed at the city and its lack of organized response to the unholy dump of snow that turned New York into a living nightmare.
Things could have been worse, but in retrospect, no one would have wanted that to happen. It was a series of horrific events that cost two women their lives, when EMS crews could not reach them in time. And of all things to cause a delay, it was a severe snowstorm that the city did not know how to handle and could not seem to get on top of. What was the department responsible for snow removal thinking?
Ultimately, the person in charge of handling the snow removal was demoted. Sadly, that will not bring either of the dead women back, but the courts may well find negligence and award compensation for each family’s devastating loss.
This kind of thing could happen in another state, city, town, municipality or county, and that is why, if you have been in a situation similar to this and someone you loved died as a result, you should take the time to contact an Atlanta personal injury lawyer and discover what your legal rights are in that situation.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Wrongful Death Lawsuits May Be Filed Against A City first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>While numerous states have mandatory helmet laws and some do not, the whole argument about wearing or not wearing a noggin protector mostly boils down to whether they prevent death. The interesting answer is not likely. The helmets protect the skull from serious injury, but often the cause of death in a motorcycle versus car accident is due to other reasons. In fact, existing federal data shows that most bikers who die would have been killed even if they had been wearing helmets.
On the other side of the coin, if a biker lives to tell his Atlanta personal injury lawyer about the crash, you can assume they have sustained some fairly serious injuries that would lay them up long-term or permanently. This brings us back to the argument about wearing helmets to prevent death. In reality, the risk a rider takes, whether they wear a helmet or not, is crashing. If you get into a head-on collision while doing 80 mph, your head is not the only part of your body that will take a beating.
This is not to say that wearing helmets will not help you, because they will. But remember, helmets are not magic medallions that can save you from catastrophic injury or death. Unfortunately, those in power, including insurance companies, seem to lump all the evils of the world on the biker, pointing to motorcycle accidents as the reason for higher health care costs because the injuries are, in a sense, self-inflicted by taking the risk to ride. Don’t look now, but smoking causes self-inflicted cancers, drinking causes self-inflicted liver failure and unprotected intercourse causes STDs and/or AIDS. All of those behaviors/actions result in costs to the health care system. Why focus on motorcycle riders and accidents?
If people have the self-determination to smoke, drink or have unprotected sex, then surely the biker has the choice to ride or not. Freedom is what America is all about. It is our choice to do what we do, our choice to live with the consequences, our choice to live or die.
Should you live after a wreck, hiring an Atlanta personal injury lawyer is the only way you will secure enough compensation to pay for your medical bills, pain and suffering, property damage and a host of other wreck related expenses. Do not assume you can settle with the insurance company on your own. Their only goal is to settle fast and low. If you take a lesser amount of money than you may actually be entitled to, you may not be able to pay your bills or live a relatively normal life.
You have the choice to obtain the settlement you deserve, just as you have the choice to try and deal with the insurance company. An experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer can lay out the advantages and disadvantages for you when you make your first appointment for a free consultation.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Investigating Whether Helmets Prevent Death in a Motorcycle Crash first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>You know what it is like driving a smaller vehicle near an 18-wheeler. It makes a lot of people pretty squeamish, and with good reason. Even if you haven’t been in an accident with one of these gigantic death traps, you may have seen one or read about one.
It would be hard not to hear about a fatal big rig accident, since just about one in every eight traffic deaths involves a collision with a tractor-trailer. The causes? Typically, they range from trucker negligence to mechanical flaws and from driver distraction to manufacturing defects.
You have to hope in your heart of hearts that the rig you’re driving beside is in tip top operational shape and that the driver is alert, safety conscious and courteous about his half of the road, as opposed to wanting to share yours. You’d like to know if the steering, tires and brakes all check out.
If they don’t, you can count on the trucker losing control of a vehicle in a tense situation. If those tires are mushy, expect a blow out and possible roll over or jackknife, and if that happens, steering control is shot. If the brakes are questionable, there’s little chance they will stop the behemoth.
You need to remember at all times that handling a big rig is not like driving a car or other smaller vehicle. There are huge blind spots for these rigs, an incredibly wide turning radius, load on considerations and stopping factors to take into consideration. For instance, 18-wheelers can’t stop on a dime. Be smart when you’re in their presence, as it never pays to pick a grudge with something that big.
Never assume that the trucker is good to go and has had all his mandated breaks. Unfortunately, many truckers don’t honor their down time requirements and drive until they are exhausted. A dead tired trucker is almost worse than a drunk driver. Stay away from the rigs, give them road space and above all else, stay out of the “no zone” blind spots right in front of them, to the rear and on either side of the truck.
The bottom line is if they can’t see you, you stand the chance of being obliterated, crushed, run off the road or worse. Travel in the presence of big rigs with due care and attention.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post 18 Wheelers Virtually Own the Road with Deadly Consequences first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Anyone who has ever been in a motorcycle accident and who has not hired a skilled Atlanta personal injury lawyer to assist them with their claim will likely have stories about how long it took for the insurance company to settle. There is a reason for that and chances are you will not like what you hear. However, it is the truth and you will understand why it’s a strategic and smart move to get legal counsel.
It’s a no brainer that motorcycle accidents are just about the worst kind of wrecks on the road today, largely because the biker has very little in the way of protection. That usually means some significant injuries. If the claim for those injuries were to be settled the right way, as in the insurance company paying out what the injuries are really worth, this would cost the insurance company a chunk of change.
If the insurance company kept paying out large amounts of money to reflect the true value of many accident claims, including car wrecks, they would either go out of business or raise the premiums so much that nobody could afford them. Since it is a given that insurance companies really like their money, as it lets them stay in business and make a profit, they have to cut corners somewhere.
They cut corners when they can get away with it by trying to get motorcycle accident claims and others reduced or denied, or at the very least try and pay out a minimal sum that won’t cover much. The less they pay out, the more their profits and the higher their bonuses. You’d be right if you said profit comes before people when you’re dealing with an insurance company.
If you do not have a lawyer by your side while you are filing for compensation for a motorcycle accident, watch your back. Without a capable and knowledgeable Atlanta personal injury lawyer, there is no reason for the insurance company to pay you quickly. With an attorney, they often settle much faster, for far more than you would get trying to handle things alone. In addition, the presence of a lawyer may mean them having to go to court. This is not a good thing in their eyes, as that may cost them even more.
Here’s the underbelly of another insurance stalling tactic: The more they delay, the more desperate the claimant becomes. In many instances, a desperate claimant will settle for less money. The second rather infamous tactic is to put words in your mouth about things you said or alluded to in conversations with you on the phone.
Do not think for one minute that they aren’t taking notes. They will use what you say against you when the occasion arises. If they have to deal with an Atlanta personal injury lawyer, you don’t get this doublespeak and actually stand a chance of getting a fair deal and better compensation.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Why Insurance Companies Really Delay Paying on Motorcycle Crash Claims first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>It is hard to be invisible on the road when you are in a car, but being invisible on the road when you are on a motorcycle is all too common. The most often repeated phrase when the police arrive at a bike wreck is the driver of the car repeating over and over: “I just didn’t see him.”
Kind of makes you want to think twice about being a biker, doesn’t it? Along with the risks of being creamed by another vehicle, there is virtually zero rider protection. The physical injuries sustained in motorcycle crashes are legion, usually ugly and often life-altering or terminal. Many Atlanta personal injury lawyers see some horrific crashes in their practices. A motorcycle versus car wreck and happen any time, any place and the results aren’t going to be good.
Take the cases of two Florida residents who were involved in motorcycle crashes three hours apart; one 58-year-old rider died and the other 47-year-old female biker sustained serious injuries. The man died after he was hit by a Nissan, driven by a senior. The driver didn’t see him and turned right in front of him. Since he had nowhere else to go, he slammed into driver’s door. He died at the hospital.
In the second case, the female biker collided with a Toyota. The setting sun blinded the car driver, and she said she didn’t see the biker. The biker was transported to a local hospital with serious injuries. In both cases, the police will be charging both drivers with violation of right-of-way.
As you can see, there were different outcomes in each case, but the common factor was that neither driver saw or heard the motorcycle. If you or someone you know has been in a serious motorcycle accident like the two mentioned above, you will want to discuss your case with a skilled Atlanta personal injury lawyer. If you want compensation for your injuries or compensation for a wrongful death, the best route is to hire legal help; help that will win you fair and equitable compensation.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Motorcycle Riders Are Virtually Invisible To Others On The Road first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>No matter what way you look at it, if you are injured in a car wreck, and the injuries are severe, this is not good. One thing to remember though is that medically and legally speaking, there are various degrees of suffering. While it may sound cold to base compensation of the severity of the injury, it’s about the only way that makes sense when money is handed out to the victim.
In other words, in accident cases, if the injuries are severe, the amount of money a plaintiff may receive is higher to cover that severity. This is sometimes a difficult concept to grasp. If you are dealing with a severe injury case, have your Atlanta personal injury lawyer explain how damage awards are calculated.
You have to remember that it’s not just that the injuries are bad, but that the recovery process for those injuries is exceedingly long, painful, debilitating, depressing, daunting and may also be permanent; a definite monkey wrench in the fabric of what used to be a normal life. The important thing to note here is that how long the injury lasts is also a factor taken into consideration when accident compensation is calculated.
For example, if a victim is confined to a bed for months on end and can’t work, those lost wages play a part in the final award calculations. Or if someone’s injuries are so severe they will never work again or have a normal life, this too is factored into the final award. When bad things happen to good people as the result of the negligence of someone else, this is an injustice that needs to be dealt with, and it’s dealt with by fair and equitable compensation. It’s dealt with by hiring an Atlanta personal injury lawyer to represent you in court.
For those accident victims that will spend the rest of their lives being cared for by someone else, their needs right now must be met, but their needs for future also need to be met. As you can imagine, those with around the clock care will have higher damage awards in order to allow them to pay for the care they need. These are some of the reasons you will see very high awards – usually in the millions – in the papers or hear about them on the radio or TV.
Claimants usually receive their compensation in one of two ways: a lump sum payment placed in trust, or enforced yearly payments made by the liable party. Generally speaking, the yearly payment route is taken if there is the possibility of unanticipated costs or if it’s just about impossible to settle on a figure that will care for the person for the rest of their life. All these details are things that need to be discussed with an Atlanta personal injury lawyer if you find yourself in a situation like this.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com
The post Auto Injury Compensation Greater The Longer The Damage Lasts first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>“This case that we read about recently involved a young girl who suffered severe birth injuries – brain injuries. It was interesting in that it proves that these kinds of cases are always radically different, just sometimes similar, and that to get justice, a plaintiff needs the assistance of a seasoned personal injury lawyer,” said Stephen M. Ozcomert, who handles personal injury cases, accidents, and malpractice law in Atlanta, Georgia.
The first jury that heard the initial case in 2008 handed down a “shockingly low” award, particularly given the extreme severity of the girl’s injuries, Ozcomert said. The first medical malpractice lawsuit was filed against the hospital in 2002. It took six years for a verdict.
The parents of the young girl stated that their obstetrician, an anesthesiologist and a nurse were negligent for not properly monitoring and managing the mother’s labor. This ultimately resulted in a delayed C-section, which in turn caused severe and permanent neurological injuries to the baby because she was deprived of oxygen.
The baby was 6 years old when the case went to court and the mother provided testimony that the child could not crawl (only wiggle and kick her feet), feed herself (she is intubated to be fed), speak or walk and that she would be in diapers her whole life. The child’s assessed cognitive age was set at between two and three months. The girl was diagnosed with permanent brain damage, cerebral palsy, spastic quadriplegia and developmental retardation. She couldn’t hear very well and had regular seizures. The pediatric expert witness at trial said no improvement is expected and that she may live until the age of 28 years old.
“The defense in this case tried in another state insisted the condition happened due to a prior in utero event that was so severe that earlier delivery wouldn’t have made any difference. While that may be hard to believe that something so drastic would have happened without the mother knowing, it was what the defense argued. In the final analysis, the jury found the doctor negligent and that her negligence was a significant factor that caused the baby’s injuries,” Ozcomert said.
“Here’s where things got a bit hazy as to reasoning for the award. The child was awarded $3,807,832 for future life care expenses, zero for the loss of future earning capacity and $150,000 for her pain and suffering and disability. The parents were awarded $527,284 for past expenses and $150,000 for past and future loss of their child’s companionship and society. These are very low awards, and both sides appealed,” Ozcomert said.
On appeal, the court agreed with the parents that the damage award was unreasonably low and shocking and a new trial was ordered. The child in this case is effectively frozen in time and unable to move forward and will never be more than an infant. The $150,000 award(s) were painfully low and abhorrent, as was the jury decision to not award money for lost earnings, according to Ozcomert. The new trial is yet to be scheduled.
“This type of case happens more often than you might think and in situations like this, it’s vital to have a skilled Atlanta personal injury lawyer handle your case. The family will need maximum compensation to care for their child. It’s just that simple and obvious. If you are in a situation like this and your child has been injured due to medical malpractice, you will have questions about your case. If you choose to call my office, I would be happy to explain the law to you and what your rights are,” Ozcomert said.
To learn more visit http://www.ozcomert.com.
The post Medical Malpractice Cases May Be Tried Twice, Malpractice Attorney Ozcomert Says first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>It’s obvious what kind of physical repercussion an attack can have on a victim, but most people have no idea how dog bite laws can affect them, too, such as the “first bite” or “one bite” rules.
Most states follow the “one bite rule,” which says that owners are not liable for a dog’s first attack provided the owner was not negligent in some manner. The rule, however, does not apply if the owner had previous knowledge that the dog was aggressive or dangerous, or had a propensity to harm people.
In Georgia, it can be difficult for dog-bite victims to prove that an owner was negligent. To do so, the incident must pass a two-part test.
“First, it must be proven that the dog had a previous tendency to bite or attack people and, second, that the owner had knowledge of such behavior,” said Robert Webb of the Atlanta-based personal injury law firm Webb & D’Orazio.
The other way to prove liability against a dog owner under the state statute is to show that the owner violated a local or county leash law when the event occurred.
Statistics show that when dogs attack, the most common victim is a child. Dog attacks cannot only bring physical scars to youngsters, but emotional ones too that lead to a fear of animals for the rest of his or her life.
“In the wake of a dog attack, it is important to understand the particular procedure that may follow, in regard to filing a dog bite lawsuit and seeking financial compensation for your injuries,” Webb said. “If you would like to discuss whether you may have grounds for a civil lawsuit against the owner of the dog that was responsible for your injuries, you should seek the advice of an experienced Atlanta personal injury attorney.”
To learn more, visit http://www.webbdorazio.com.
The post Webb Says Dog Bites a Common Problem first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Each state in the United States sets its own statute of limitations, which can vary from one to six years. Here in the Peach State, the limit is two years from the date of injury. For a minor, however, the situation is different: The statute of limitations does not begin until the minor has reached 18 years of age. That means if a youngster is injured at age 14, he or she may file to recover damages up until the age of 20.
“Sometimes after an accident, it is immediately clear whether you are injured,” said Robert Webb, of the Atlanta-based personal injury law firm Webb & D’Orazio. “At other times, it is not. It is in your best interest to retain an attorney to help you settle your claim in a timely and efficient manner.”
Personal-injury accidents can be physically and emotionally damaging so it is important to find a lawyer who shows both zeal and compassion.
When considering filing a formal claim, there are several steps that one can take to help the claim process along. Many of these actions can be taken by the injured person’s attorney, too, of course. The steps include:
•Making notes of the incident. What happened? What are the injuries? What were the circumstances and conditions surrounding the incident? When did it occur?
•Keeping evidence of what caused the accident, if possible, and taking pictures to illustrate important details about the incident.
•Taking note of important witnesses who can verify what happened and help the injured person prove his or her case. Find out how an attorney can get in touch with them at a later date.
“If you or someone you know has experienced a personal injury, you should seek the advice of an experienced Atlanta personal injury attorney who can help you seek justice for your injuries,” Webb added.
To learn more, visit http://www.webbdorazio.com.
The post Don’t Waste Time To File A Claim After Being Injured, Webb & D’Orazio Firm Says first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Just when you think you may have heard everything, you hear about a fairly graphic term that happens in certain accident cases called underriding. Underriding refers to a wreck where a vehicle or a motorcycle drives under the trailer of a big rig. These accidents are not pretty, are mostly fatal and if they aren’t, the survivors sustain catastrophic injuries such as brain injury, spinal cord injury, shattered bones and severe crush injuries.
In underriding cases, there is no question you will need a highly experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer to help you get the proper compensation to care for you for the rest of your life. If you do not survive your injuries, then that same lawyer may help the family file a wrongful death lawsuit.
What causes underriding? There are a number of reasons for underriding accidents. They usually have to do with a truck driving without lights or the lights are so dirty they can’t be seen. There have also been cases where the reflective tape and the lights have been damaged and not replaced.
Another reason for a fatality of this nature is if the truck is moving much slower than the posted speed limit, or it has been left too close to the road and does not have warning cones. As you may imagine, if it is dark outside and the truck can’t be seen that well, it’s hard to judge distance or even be able to see the rig.
There have also been instances when a truck has jackknifed across a fairly narrow road and they have no warning lights or cones out or the truck is missing the usual rear guard that is specifically designed to stop underride wrecks. An underride accident may also happen if the guards on the rear of the truck are defective or not properly attached. There have even been situations where a big rig backs into a smaller vehicle, causing an underride accident.
What this all boils down to is that there are any number of ways to fall victim to an underride accident. Survivors are usually in desperate need for compensation to pay for their medical expenses for the rest of their lives. Most survivors will not be able to work, may not be able to walk, speak or even communicate that well. They may have been horribly burned as their vehicle burst into flames.
The point is that those with debilitating injuries like burns, spinal cord injury or brain damage will need long-term care, and that is expensive. Only a skilled Atlanta personal injury lawyer will be able to get you the kind of compensation you need for the care you require.
If you’re not sure if you have a case, don’t hesitate to contact an Atlanta personal injury lawyer and start asking questions. Your life and your care may depend on it.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Underriding involves one vehicle driving under a semi first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>“No one expects they’re going to go to the store and come home with a defective product, especially one that will harm you. You go to buy something that you trust will do the job. Say, for instance, a chainsaw. You want to take down some trees in your yard. You didn’t expect that the hand guard on the chain saw was so poorly attached that it could come off by accidentally banging it. That product ‘flaw’ just about cost you your hand,” said Stephen M. Ozcomert, who handles personal injury cases, accidents, and malpractice law in Atlanta, Georgia.
Unfortunately, defective products seem to take the lead in the marketplace. Goods made to last a lifetime were replaced by goods made to last for the shortest period of time possible. Thanks to inferior components, cutting corners, altering trustworthy designs and products made with cheap materials, the number of defective product cases in the U.S. is on the rise.
Granted, getting home and finding out a certain product doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do isn’t a big deal; after all, one can go get a refund. But what if the product is something used to seal caulking in the bathroom and the instructions on the spray can don’t mention it should not be used in a closed room?
“You use the product and wind up in ER with severe lung damage, having just squeaked by being dead instead. That product was not properly labeled and you have a right to sue the company for compensation for your injuries,” Ozcomert said.
“Would you want to talk to a lawyer about your accident and who would pay for your hospital bills? No doubt you would and while we’re at it, we would cover what your legal rights are with regard to compensation and what you may expect from manufacturers and defective products,” he said.
The bottom line in most, if not all, product liability cases is that if a manufacturer is providing a service or product to the marketplace and millions of consumers, they must stick to very strict guidelines for safety when making, labeling, selling and distributing their goods/services. If they fail in this task, they might well expect to be sued for compensation for medical bills, etc.
“More often than not, defective products tend to fall in to several categories. Consumers need to be alert and aware when it comes to product hazards and product recalls. Perhaps reading a product recall list is about as exciting as watching paint peel, but it may save a life – yours or someone in your family. Be on the lookout for defective products in the categories of surgical supplies, food contamination, medical equipment, cars, toys and cosmetic enhancements. An alert consumer is a safe one,” Ozcomert said.
To learn more visit http://www.ozcomert.com.
The post Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyer Ozcomert Advises Clients to Inspect Recall Lists first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>However, the flipside to the story is that some patients have dealt with lasting injuries brought on by negligence and malpractice from surgeons.
What is LASIK?
LASIK, which stands for Laser-Assisted in Situ Keratomileusis, is a procedure that was developed about 20 years ago to combat astigmatism, myopia and other common vision issues. The surgical procedure is relatively simple and is undertaken by cutting a flap in the corneal tissue of the eye before a laser is used to correct the visual condition.
Typically, any complications disappear within a couple of weeks of surgery. Unfortunately, this is not the case for some patients. These patients have to deal with long-term complications ranging from pain to dry eye to light sensitivity to, in some cases, blindness.
How do you know if you have legitimate malpractice suit? Many of the complications have arisen not because of a botched surgery, such as an errant cutting of the flap in the corneal tissue, but because of poor pre-surgical screening. Some patients simply should not have been allowed to receive the procedure.
For example, people with thin or cone-shaped corneas are not good candidates for LASIK surgery, yet some patients were still OK’d for LASIK.
Complications from LASIK surgery can lead to a lifetime of problems and “visual exhaustion.” Sometimes victims can have difficulty driving or working as a result. Sometimes it affects their personal and social lives, too.
If you or someone you know has experienced a serious LASIK surgery complication, you should seek the advice of an experienced Atlanta personal injury attorney who can help you seek justice for your injuries.
Robert Webb is an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in Atlanta personal injury, malpractice, criminal defense, and business law. Learn more at Webbdorazio.com.
The post A Simple LASIK Surgery Can Lead to a Lifetime of Problems first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>While some people may think that filing a wrongful death lawsuit is all about getting even with the person or company who killed your loved one, it isn’t. Primarily, it is about getting financial compensation for the family for their future. When a loved one suddenly dies, the economic and emotional shock is truly devastating.
If you lost a loved one whose income supported the family, would you wonder where the next dollar to pay the bills would come from? You sure would. It’s for this reason that those left behind seek legal counsel and want to find out what their rights are by asking a lawyer what will happen next and what can the family do to obtain compensation.
Unfortunately, wrongful death cases happen far too often in the U.S. Everyone is in such a hurry to get places, put out defective products or cut corners (usually to make money at the expense of others) that life is just not the way it used to be. The thing with most wrongful death cases is that they never should have happened in the first place.
They are considered wrongful because, in most instances, the fatality could have been prevented but for the negligence or recklessness of another. This isn’t to say there isn’t bad luck, bad chance or fate, as that does indeed happen at times. However, the vast majority of wrongful death cases had no reason to happen if it hadn’t been for someone being reckless. It isn’t just the victim that has been harmed, so has their family.
Revenge isn’t the usual motivating factor for wrongful death lawsuits. In fact, many families are highly reluctant to bring suit because they don’t want any more trouble or hassles. However, they do want someone to be held accountable for their actions. That only makes sense, given the death of their family member. After all, the legal system is founded on holding others responsible for their personal actions.
Families seeking legal redress and financial compensation do not get rich from their wrongful death lawsuits. They get just about enough to replace the income they’ve lost with the death of their loved one. If the person who died was the sole breadwinner, the family needs to be able to keep a roof over their heads and eat. This is one of the reasons those needing money to continue to live should speak to an Atlanta personal injury lawyer. Personal injury lawyers deal with wrongful death cases.
If you have lost a family member due to the negligence of another and are not sure what to do or how to claim financial compensation, contact a lawyer with experience in this area. Your family needs justice, but they also need financial compensation to replace what they lost, as life is for the living.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Wrongful death lawsuits are about economic security for the future first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>If the world were as simple as it once was, things might be straightforward and easy when it comes to lawsuits. However, in this complex day and age with multiple property owners, international property owners, lessees, holding companies and other entities who own land, who to sue in a premises liability case is not always clear. It isn’t always the person who caused an accident due to negligence that is directly responsible for a victim’s injuries in a premises liability/slip and fall case.
Some lawsuits in this area may directly involve the person who caused the accident or anyone who refused to render aid, or the property owner and not the manager. The ownership of the land where the accident took place is another issue that comes with its own set of liabilities. Ultimately, that means if a landowner wasn’t around when the accident happened, it doesn’t matter. The person still owns the property and has certain standards he or she needs to adhere to that keep it safe for those who use/visit the location.
What do clients need to prove in a premises liability case? First and foremost, it is necessary prove that the owner or occupier of the property had a superior knowledge of a hazardous condition and also that the plaintiff was exercising ordinary care for his or her own safety. There are other issues as well that determine the duties of the owner/occupier of the property, depending upon whether the plaintiff is considered an “invitee” or a “licensee”. This can be a confusing distinction, as many people consider premises liability law to be hazy. This is one of the major reasons people injured in premises liability cases should take their cases to a skilled Atlanta personal injury lawyer.
Premises liability isn’t really that difficult to understand in and of itself, as it simply means, with all the legal jargon stripped away, that a person needs to keep his or her property safe so others don’t get injured. That’s pretty straightforward. Where the rubber meets the road at times is in figuring out who actually owns a piece of property in order to name them as a defendant.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Identifying defendants in premises liability cases first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>In a criminal case, the person charged goes to a criminal court and is dealt with accordingly. They may be found guilty or not guilty. Either way, once that process is concluded, the person can also be sued again, but civilly. For the best example of a situation like that, think the O. J. Simpson case.
“Let’s say we’re dealing with the wrongful death of a loved one as a result of vehicular homicide. The criminal case has been dealt with, but the family wishes to recover compensation for the loss of their loved one. A wrongful death lawsuit is filed under a wrongful death statute and is the civil recourse for families whose loved one was killed because of the negligence/intentional acts of another. It is their route to justice outside of the criminal courts,” said Stephen M. Ozcomert, who handles personal injury cases, accidents, and malpractice law in Atlanta, Georgia.
While filing a wrongful death lawsuit will not bring the deceased back, it is a step in the grieving process that may help the family deal with their loss. By changing their focus to economic recovery, they may be able to handle the loss in a different light. Wrongful death suits also try to quantify the value of the deceased’s life by examining things like loss of inheritance, loss of earnings and potential earnings and medical and/or funeral costs.
“At best, the process to calculate the worth of a life is difficult, as there are things that defy being pegged successfully, such as the value of loss of comfort and companionship, emotional support and guidance. Thus, typically speaking, the compensation you would get from a wrongful death action may not be as complete as one would like, but it comes close in most cases,” Ozcomert said.
Most, if not all, wrongful death lawsuits need the assistance of qualified counsel. The process is complex and the lawyer knows how to proceed to get a family the most compensation possible given the circumstances of the case.
“Don’t wait too long to call a lawyer and ask about your case, as you may miss the deadline for the Statute of Limitations. If that happens, you lose your right to sue,” Ozcomert said.
To learn more visit http://www.ozcomert.com.
The post Ozcomert suggests civil litigation in wrongful death cases to recover economic compensation first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>“Most people, when they hear the words ‘professional malpractice,’ think it refers to lawyers or doctors. While it may well refer to them, it is also a term used when talking about accounting malpractice. Simply put, accounting malpractice happens if any accounting professional is negligent in the performance of their duties,” said Stephen M. Ozcomert, who handles personal injury cases, accidents, and malpractice law in Atlanta, Georgia.
To further explain professional standards for various individuals who are certified to practice, it’s vital to know that the institutes that certify these professionals have a list that outlines what the standard of care is for their members to provide to their customers. The list says what standards of care need to be met to protect the public from harm, deceit, malfeasance, etc.
This isn’t to say that all accountants, lawyers or doctors will abuse their positions, because most professionals are trustworthy and reliable. If the standard of care is not met in a profession, this may be considered negligence.
“In a case involving accounting malpractice, the plaintiff has to show the defendant was negligent and didn’t meet the level of care expected – the common or customary care – in the accounting profession. An example of that would be the accountant not filing a client’s tax return on time or not properly filling out the return and it results in a financial penalty to the client,” Ozcomert said.
Generally speaking, there are four elements a plaintiff needs to meet to be successful in an accounting malpractice lawsuit. It must be shown that the accountant had a clear responsibility to the client; that the accountant didn’t act responsibly; that the client was injured and that the accountant’s actions were the proximate cause of the injury.
Not all cases are clear cut and straightforward and for this reason, if someone feels they have been financially harmed by the misdeeds of an accountant, talk to an Atlanta malpractice lawyer.
“You need to know your rights, what options you have and whether or not your potential case is actually malpractice or not, as some cases may not be malpractice. If you have questions about what you feel is a malpractice case, call me and we can discuss the details,” Ozcomert said.
To learn more visit http://www.ozcomert.com.
The post Professional malpractice also refers to accountants first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>There is no question that riding a motorcycle is one of the greatest thrills on planet Earth. It is a super-charged rush to get on the open road and boot it. While you might be a very safe rider, it’s the people in other vehicles that you have to watch out for, because they often just don’t see you, no matter how big your bike happens to be.
In fact, not seeing you is the most commonly cited cause of motorcycle accidents. Unfortunately, it also means that bikers get hit more often than other vehicles and sustain severe injuries and may ultimately lose their lives. Education is a good start to reduce the number of motorcycle crashes on the road. Improving others’ driving skills and alertness would help. The problem is, some drivers just don’t seem to understand that bikers are smaller vehicles of which they need to be aware. Sadly, just about 70 percent of the wrecks involving bikers are due to the negligence of a motorist.
Driving down a country road can also be a high-risk activity for motorcyclists. Country roads are infamous for being poorly maintained. They’re often full of potholes, uneven gravel ridges, debris and other surprises dropped on the road by farm trucks. In an effort to get out of the way of a hazard or swerve around something, a biker sometimes finds himself wiping out. This often results in lower body injuries that may include spinal cord injuries. Traumatic brain injury is another possibility.
Speed is also a factor in crashes – either too fast or too slow – meaning the speed of nearby cars relative to a motorcycle. For instance, a car in front of a biker suddenly stops and because of its speed, the biker can’t stop and rear-ends the car. Or, the biker may be stopped and the car rear-ends the biker. Bikes stop faster than cars and most drivers don’t realize that. Consequently, the faster the speeds of the vehicles involved in a crash, the worst the resulting injuries.
There are numerous other factors that can cause a wreck that are related to the motorcycle itself. Improper maintenance, the use of after-market parts (some of which are taken from bike crashes and recycled), wrong tires on the front or back – the list goes on. The bottom line tends to be that motorcyclists need to be aware of the risks, handle their vehicles to the best of their abilities and keep a sharp eye out for potentially dangerous situations.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post The dangers of riding and enjoying a motorcycle first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>All too often during the summer months, children become the victims of drowning. Parents of a child who has drowned may have a claim to recover wrongful death damages for the child’s death. In order for this to be feasible, the circumstances surrounding the death need to clearly show that someone other than a family member was negligent in allowing the child to drown. For example, if the child drowns in a pool that provides a lifeguard service, there may be a question as to whether the lifeguards on duty were providing adequate protection for the swimmers. There may also be issues regarding the slope of the pool and whether a safety line is in place. In addition, another swimmer could be held responsible for the accident.
A wrongful death claim that involves a drowning can be difficult to pursue successfully. The circumstances surrounding a drowning are essential to proving liability, so involving a lawyer in the matter immediately will allow for proper investigation of the facts surrounding the incident. Preserving evidence, such as witness statements, is important to do immediately, as memories fade rapidly and can be influenced by outside factors. Also, physical evidence tends to be lost and destroyed quickly, so hesitating to hire an attorney may actually prevent the claimants from discovering who is at fault for causing the drowning. Hiring an attorney right away ensures a proper investigation that includes conducting witness interviews and searching for physical evidence.
Pursuing a drowning case will require an experienced wrongful death attorney because expert testimony is often required to properly prove both liability and damages issues, and an experienced wrongful death attorney will have extensive knowledge of gathering and presenting expert testimony. For example, expert testimony is usually required to determine whether or not the slope of a pool is appropriate. In addition, wrongful death damages can be difficult to calculate as they are measured by the full value of the life of the deceased individual. Determining this value often involves complicated expert testimony about what a person might earn during a normal life.
To learn more, visit http://www.webbdorazio.com.
The post Wrongful Death Claims for Drowning Can Be Difficult to Prove first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>“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.
Many accidents involve just two vehicles; others are multi-vehicle chain collisions and every party involved in that would need to file their own separate claims. Once the claims hit the insurance company, it’s time to figure out fault and start assessing the damages. In most instances, fault is calculated by percentages and the negligence of the driver(s).
“There are four things used to figure out negligence: driver’s duties, the cause of the accident, breaches in the driver’s duties and the negligence of the driver(s). Sounds rather complicated, doesn’t it? Interestingly enough, every insurance company has their own way of arriving at a final fault percentage to assign to drivers,” Ozcomert remarked.
One really clear sign that someone was at fault is if one driver, or both of them, were breaking the rules while driving. Despite that method of determining fault, just because one driver was clearly in the wrong doesn’t mean the other driver was paying attention and if they had been driving defensively, could have avoided the accident or mitigated damages. Needless to say cases like that, where two drivers are ostensibly at fault, are nightmares for opposing insurance companies to sort out.
“If you throw DUI into this mix, that’s a problem as well. Witness statements may not be of much use, which leaves the insurance company relying on the police report – if one is filed. Don’t expect action on your claim to happen overnight, as it usually takes weeks or months. If you haven’t spoken to an experienced attorney about your accident, you might want to think about doing that quickly. Having a lawyer on your side usually speeds things up,” added Ozcomert. It’s always a smart move to find out what your rights are when it comes to auto accidents.
To learn more visit http://www.ozcomert.com.
The post It’s the Other Guy’s Fault first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>We’ve likely all done this: slipped on something and taken what we laughingly refer to as a “prat fall.” We may have gotten up off the floor and been just fine, aside from bruised ego and some cuts and scrapes. Not everyone is that lucky though. Some slip and fall accidents end up with serious consequences, such as traumatic brain injury.
Consider the case of the woman shopping at her local grocery store where they had a garden section just outside the main doors. She wanted some flowers for her garden and as she was walking along one of the outside aisles, covered with linoleum, she slipped in an unseen puddle, fell and struck her head on the floor. The floor under the linoleum is concrete. She was knocked unconscious and by the time she came to in the hospital, she was told she had a serious concussion.
Where do things go from here? Generally speaking, she may be able to battle her way through her injury and come out the other side still mostly functioning well enough to live her life. On the other end of the spectrum, she may not be able to live the life she had prior to her fall because her brain doesn’t function like it used to anymore. Does she get damages from the store for leaving the water on a linoleum floor and not cleaning it up? Chances are she does, and they may be substantial, depending on the extent of her injuries.
It’s not “just” that the store left the puddle in the middle of the floor and it caused an accident that is at issue here. The main point is that the store, being a property owner, is responsible for keeping their premises safe for those who do business there. In other words they are responsible for making sure people “do not” fall and injure themselves.
The thing to remember when it comes to slip and falls is that embarrassment isn’t the only injury that may hurt. There may be bumps, bruises, concussion, coma, broken bones, ripped muscles, sprained joints, internal injuries and in some cases, death. Any one of these injuries can take a long time to recover from and cost thousands in medical expenses; expenses which may include not just the doctor’s bills and medications, but ongoing therapy, tests, surgery and rehabilitation. Sadly, some of the injuries, while treatable to a certain extent, may not be curable, meaning the person is facing a long-term disability for life.
If you’ve slipped and fallen in a public place and are struggling with injuries, speak to a personal injury lawyer about what your options are in recovering compensation for your medical costs and pain and suffering.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Falls May Cause More Harm Than Just Bruises first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>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.
Does this usually involve a fair degree of “interpretation?” Fair question and a valid one and yes, your definition of someone not living up to their expected level of expertise may not be what others think that same level happens to be. There is a “usual” accepted standard of performance for various professionals used as a rule of thumb when it comes to assessing any deviation from that standard.
Some examples may be architects, accountants and dentists who know more than the man on the street corner about doing certain things. If you hire someone “professional,” you expect they’ll do the job right, based on their education and the amount of experience they have in their field. In other words, you trust they will do right by you. Malpractice may also be applicable in the case of lawyers.
For a multitude of reasons, you want the advice your lawyer gives you to be right on the money. If it isn’t, you may be in some really sticky situations with no way out. On the extreme end of legal representation, you would consider a murder charge to be critical and hire someone that knows how to defend you within an inch of your life – and in some cases (capital ones) that may be just what happens. In others, to a lesser degree, you want legal advice to be accurate; e.g., you want your assets divided a certain way and not have the family fighting over them – you need a solid will.
Accountants must follow really strict standards. After all, they’re working with someone else’s money. If they mess up and you are audited and found in non-compliance, you can lose money, face damages or face legal problems. When it comes to other professions, like engineers and architects, they too need to know what they’re doing and make sure it works, as the buildings they design and build have to stay erect and not collapse.
Professionals go to school for training that teaches them how to build buildings, balance money, be good doctors and build cases against defendants in court. If they act negligently and don’t do what they’re supposed to do, it’s the client that suffers. If you’ve been in a situation like this or are in one now, speak to a lawyer that has worked in the area of dealing with malpractice cases of all kinds.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Malpractice Applies to More Than Just Medical Professionals first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>“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.
“No one is sure why the 71-year-old man driving the Chevy Silverado pickup truck was driving the wrong way on the highway. Eyewitnesses only recall seeing the head-on crash, but not what the driver was doing prior to the crash. There will be a full investigation into this crash to determine why the man was some place he should not have been,” added Ozcomert, a veteran auto accident attorney.
On the surface, it’s fairly obvious that the elderly man was at fault for driving the wrong way. Perhaps all that really matters now is that the police are able to find out why. “Was the gentleman driving while distracted? Was he using a cell phone at the time? Was he not wearing glasses as prescribed in order to drive? Was he suffering from dementia and didn’t realize where he was? All those things are relevant in terms of a wrongful death lawsuit,” Ozcomert explained.
When the Marine’s wife is able to contact an attorney, it’s fairly certain she will be asking questions about filing a lawsuit based on the facts as they stand and any further information that turns up as a result of the police investigation. Even if charges are laid, a civil action (personal injury wrongful death lawsuit) may still be filed.
“If you find yourself in a situation like this one, or any other kind of auto accident that results in serious injuries or a fatality, get to a competent personal injury lawyer as soon as you can. It’s important to start an action as soon as possible before the evidence is either destroyed, removed or altered. Time is critical in cases like this and to get justice, whether that may be through a settlement or a jury verdict, the case needs to move forward quickly,” added Ozcomert.
To learn more visit http://www.ozcomert.com.
The post Marine Dead in Head-On Collision in Georgia first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Evidently, nursing malpractice statistics have started to increase sharply over the last five years or so. The evidence of this is provided by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, whose figures reveal that registered nurses are now, more than ever, being held accountable for malpractice and negligence. The types of errors they are being held accountable for include medication errors, documentation errors and failure to assess or intervene.
It may be helpful to understand just what negligence actually means on the part of a medical professional from the point of view of an Atlanta personal injury attorney. A medical professional may be a doctor, EMT, RN, LPN, dentist, physiotherapist, radiation technician or anesthetist, etc. Negligence means they fail to perform a medical duty or obligation according to the “normal” standard of care. In many cases, nurses are also present when patients are injured mentally or physically.
In looking for an explanation for the drastic increase in nurse malpractice cases, one only has to look at the current nursing shortage in the US. Those that are working are overworked, overloaded and overwhelmed. They often don’t have enough rest time to enable them to stay on the ball; something that is the result of longer shifts. It’s a no-brainer that lack of sleep makes a person inattentive and easily distracted, and this may cause harm to patients.
Other causes of nursing malpractice relate to under qualification. There are a fair number of nurses who didn’t finish the full nursing education program and some don’t even have the proper training. It would follow that in those cases, medical malpractice may happen. Nurses are vitally important to the care and recovery of patients in the hospital or other medical settings. If malpractice happens, it is significant and may cause serious injury or death.
Those who have been the victim of nurse malpractice may be able to file a claim for compensation for pain and suffering, medical expenses and other things such as lost wages and benefits. In order to find out if you do qualify to file a medical malpractice case, speak to a competent Atlanta personal injury lawyer. If a death resulted from the malpractice, as a family member you may be able to file a wrongful death suit and claim for loss of companionship, loss of support, and funeral and burial expenses – to name a few.
Tim Anderson works with Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Nursing Malpractice on the Rise first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>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.
There are some advisors that get their money from commissions on the purchase or sale of securities. It’s not hard for some of them to over-buy and sell to get more commissions. This shady activity isn’t easy to spot if the advisor is being overly flagrant about it. On the other hand, this activity, called churning, is obvious if an account happens to be small.
Another thing to watch out for is breach of fiduciary responsibility. Because of the nature of the advisors’ job, advising clients on investments, etc., they have a greater level of responsibility to live up to or a legal fiduciary duty. This means they must act with their client’s best interests in mind and not have any conflict of interest. In the past, there have been cases of financial advisors doing things like investing a retired client’s money into highly volatile stocks. This is a recipe for disaster and considered a breach of duty.
Although many people who work in the securities industry don’t often talk about this, it does happen – financial advisors misrepresenting the facts about an opportunity. They may slightly fudge a company’s earnings or potential to get you to buy stock. The other situation that may arise is if you (or another client) have a hefty investment in a particular security, the advisor chooses to “not” tell you about a potential problem the company may have.
If you happen to catch a financial advisor doing some of the things mentioned above, you may have legal recourse. Keep in mind that in cases like this proving professional misconduct is sometimes difficult to do. Along with that observation comes the added caution that figuring out what kind of conduct is illegal and what isn’t may be a challenge. Why is this? This may turn out to be the case because the SEC lets brokers that sell investment vehicles avoid registering as licensed investment advisors. No doubt you can immediately understand how that would confuse things legally.
If you suspect you have been a victim of professional misconduct, it’s best to talk to an experienced lawyer who works in this area. They will be able to give you some kind of idea as to whether or not you will be able to recover any losses.
Tim Anderson works with Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Bilked out of Money – Professional Misconduct first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>This is quite possibly a groundbreaking development in terms of trying to handle the number of dangerous drivers in the State of Georgia. The “Super Speeder Law,” also formally recognized by the designation HB160, went into effect January 1, 2010. Its main thrust is to try and cut down on the number of speed-related accidents.
The new law dings all drivers convicted of doing speeds of over 75 mph on two lane roads and all drivers convicted of doing speeds of 85 mph and over on other Georgia roadways. This isn’t the end of the fines though. In addition to paying local fees, illegal speeders will have to fork out an additional $200 state fee for driving like demons.
For those speeders who figure they can get away with not paying the state fee, there is a surprise waiting in the wings for them. “Non payers will face an additional $50 fee and have their licenses suspended,” explained Stephen M. Ozcomert who handles personal injury cases, accidents, and malpractice law in Atlanta, Georgia.
None of this process is exactly easy, and convicted speeders will be required to make two separate payments. “For instance, the local citation is paid normally – meaning in the jurisdiction where the ticket was issued. The Super Speeder fee gets paid to the Georgia Department of Driver Services,” added Ozcomert.
The interesting thing here is that the new violations won’t mean additional points added on to an offender’s license. While this may be something lawmakers might want to revisit in the future, for now the penalties are hefty fines and license suspension.
The major benefit of this law is that the fees collected from the speeders go toward a general state fund used in Georgia’s trauma care hospital system. Unfortunately, some of the super speeders may find themselves benefiting from the fund at a later date if they don’t curb their penchant for driving too fast.
It’s already been estimated that close to 60% of the patients in Georgia trauma care centers were taken there as a result of sustaining serious injuries in car crashes that often involved speed. In fact, in 2008 alone, speed was a related factor in roughly 21% of all road fatalities in Georgia.
“It will be interesting to see the year end statistics for this new program. Frankly, if the money goes toward caring for badly injured people, it is a step forward in social responsibility,” commented Ozcomert an Atlanta personal injury lawyer who has seen his fair share of car crashes as a result of speed demons.
To learn more visit http://www.ozcomert.com.
The post Super Speeder Laws Support Trauma Care first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>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.
Some of the laws aimed at protecting people include protective equipment use where the biker is required to use protective headgear and eyewear, unless they are over 21 years old, have had a license for two years, and have completed a safety course. What difference the age of the rider makes when it comes to wearing safety helmets and eye protection is a bit baffling, since older riders are at risk for accidents as well, but this is one of the reasons you need to know the law.
The laws for lane use for motorbikes are the same as those for cars. In other words they may use the whole lane and must not pass a vehicle using the same lane as the car being overtaken. What is different is that motorbikes are allowed to drive two abreast in a single lane of traffic for added safety.
Headphones and earphones are not allowed unless it is a hearing aid or a single cell phone earpiece. Any passengers may only ride on a permanently attached seat on the motorcycle and the biker may not carry anything that would interfere with the bike’s safe operation. In many states as well any bikes built after 1982 must have lighted headlamps on at all times and when it comes to insurance, all bikes are required to have liability insurance to deal with any injuries or property damage sustained by another person in a crash. Interestingly, in some states bikers aren’t mandated to carry medical insurance to cover their own personal injuries.
If faced with a motorcycle accident, speak to an experienced personal injury attorney to answer any questions that have come up and discuss legal options.
To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Motorcycle Madness Seizes the Nation first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>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.
Let’s further posit that there was no damage to your vehicle because you immediately washed it after the incident and it was fine. Now, depending on which state you happen to be in, negligence law may be different. This is one of the major reasons to consult with an experienced personal injury attorney for assistance. Knowing your rights is the first thing you need to do for yourself.
This type of an accident is not common, and assuming the hose was indeed “clearly” defective and that may be proven, then you will, as mentioned above, need to prove the station owner did know about the problem, or should have known about it. Nozzles don’t have a habit of separating from the hoses, so it’s likely the owner should have known about the problem, have seen it or had it mentioned to him or her by other patrons filling their vehicles.
The other argument in your favor would be the fact that the standard of care or maintenance at a service station would seem to dictate that the hoses be checked for faults on a regular basis. Given those factors, you may be entitled to some form of compensation depending on the severity of your injuries.
If they are not that serious, you may not get a lot of money in return. Many personal injury cases are expediently evaluated on the basis of the degree of liability the station owner has, the exact nature of the injury, the type and amount of medical bills you may have incurred now, and perhaps in the future and any pain and suffering you struggle with now and in the future. In addition, you may be able to claim lost wages now and in the future.
Based on the fact that there were no serious injuries but there was severe pain from gas in your eyes, you may have a claim for the pain, stress and inconvenience as a result of the nozzle separating from the hose and dousing you with gas. Contact an attorney as soon as you can and make sure that the attorney not only handles personal injury claims, but premises liability. You never know, this kind of thing might have happened at the same gas station before and this would be good for your case. If the facts of your case merit a lawsuit, your attorney will begin to preserve evidence, examine maintenance records, get photographs and determine what kind of liability insurance the station has. Don’t delay contacting an attorney, as time is of the essence.
Tim Anderson works with Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Gas Nozzle Accidents May Be Negligence first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>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.
While your home may very well be your castle it is also a place that must be safe for visitors. Other locations that people have a reasonable expectation that they will be safe are airports. Witness a recent case where a passenger was walking through O’Hare airport and slipped and fell as the result of an oily substance on the floor. The passenger sustained a broken kneecap and was unable to work for a long period of time. The settlement in that particular case was $800,000 for her injuries and damages. It was alleged in that case that the management of the airport should have known about the oily substance on the floor, as there was a high likelihood of spills of that nature happening in an airport.
Every case and accident is unique which means that in every case the circumstances of that particular case play a huge role in what the eventual outcome may be. A good example of this may be an injured construction worker who took a fall at the mall, slipping on spilled coffee, will have different needs to resolve his case than an office worker in the same situation.
While a slip and fall injury may be just around the corner in a lot of people’s lives, there are certain fairly common instances where premises liability comes into play. They include a porch collapse, stair collapse, elevator and escalator injuries, fires, swimming pool injuries, lead paint poisoning and mercury poisoning, and what is considered to be a “typical” garden variety slip and fall such as a wet spot on the floor in the vegetable section of a store.
Generally speaking, if there is existing case law for an accident a person has, this will assist the premises liability attorney in recovering any damages due to the victim for medical care, suffering, pain and other incidental damages.
To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Premises Liability Applies in Public Places first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>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.
When you do submit a claim to an insurance company, every one of the above factors will be taken into consideration before the company works out how much they are going to offer you for a personal injury claim. At this point, if you have not spoken to a personal injury lawyer, then you should in case you get a lowball offer as settlement for your injuries. The thing with a great many injuries is that although they may not look serious on the surface, and may not hurt that much right now, they could develop into something potentially deadly later, e.g. neck and head injuries.
Figuring out how much your injuries are worth is just about the most important aspect of a personal injury claim, and it is also the hardest part to calculate. This is yet another reason why you need to be consulting with an experienced personal injury attorney who is able to assess your injuries and figure out what they may be worth if your case is taken to court.
Keep in mind that insurance companies will only offer you what “they” think your claim in worth and you can bet that what they think it’s worth and what you think it’s worth don’t agree. Let’s face it, an insurance company is in business to keep its claims to a minimum, not offer large sums of money to settle personal injury claims.
In most cases the person who was negligent and caused the accident (liability) has to ante up money to the injured person for things like permanent physical disability, disfigurement, lost wages, medical and rehabilitation care and other expenses, loss of educational, social and family experiences (missed school, training, recreation, vacation, etc.) and emotional damages such as stress, depression and damaged property.
Even though the insurance company has a formula to figure out damages, they may be right out of the ballpark when it comes to fair compensation. Always speak to a highly skilled personal attorney and find out the real scoop on how much your personal injuries may be worth if you are successful in court.
Tim Anderson works with Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Personal Injury Car Crashes and Assessing Damages first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>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.
Some states are getting downright innovative in trying to address the problem of texting teens. For instance, New York recently voted to bring in a bill that not only bans texting while driving (statewide) but kicks up the license requirements for younger drivers. For instance, the practice driving that teens do with an adult prior to a road test and getting a junior license has been substantially increased. It went from 20 hours to 50 hours and added in 15 hours of night driving. In addition, a learner’s permit must be held for six months before a junior license is issued.
When it comes to the infamous Blackberries and various assorted pagers, personal digital assistance, laptops, gaming devices and other two-way messaging systems, they are simply banned outright, with the exception of being used for “emergency” situations. Of course, what constitutes an emergency for one person may not be an emergency for another. Fines run to $150. Interestingly enough, there is one odd exclusion and that is iPods. We’re not sure why those weren’t banned either, as listening to an iPod while driving means emergency vehicles can’t be heard and the driver can’t react appropriately to allow them to pass.
There is no doubt that text and driving don’t mix. Even in the state of Georgia there is a problem with this kind of irresponsible activity. Unfortunately Georgia only has a cell phone ban, but nothing in place for texting. Would a texting ban be a good piece of legislation to bring into effect in Georgia? Undoubtedly it would be; the question is what would it take to make that happen?
In many instances new legislation addressing problems like texting while driving doesn’t come into being until there have been a number of fatal accidents that highlight the behavior as a problem. While that’s a rough way to introduce lifesaving legislation, it may be what happens in Georgia’s case unless someone wants to advocate for change now.
Tim Anderson works with Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Texting While Driving a Major NO NO first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>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.
Most large rigs should really be looked at as accidents waiting to happen given their size and the number of things that may go wrong when they are traveling at high speeds on a highway. Aside from trucker negligence, there may be vehicle maintenance problems, tire problems, bad weather that makes it hard to drive or even uneven load distribution.
Whatever the cause of the accident, it’s a sad fact that roughly every 16 minutes there is a large rig accident in the US that takes a life or severely injures or disables another person. Large rig accidents cause some very traumatic injuries that include spinal cord injuries, brain injuries (coup and contre coup), broken bones, scars, acute bruising, paralysis, amputation and disfigurement.
While it may be the trucker at fault for the accident, or his employer, it’s best to discuss your case with an expert personal injury lawyer. Big rig accidents are never easy on the victim as they are complex and require a lot of groundwork to make a solid case. These cases are incredibly complex because of the nature of the liability and the number of people involved from the insurance company to the trucker and from the employer to the crew who maintained the road where the accident happened. Suffice it to say that there are a multitude of factors that need to be considered in big rig cases and only an experience personal injury attorney will be able to handle them.
Unfortunately, it’s a fact that many road rules go by the wayside when tired truckers attempt to meet often unrealistic delivery deadlines. Fatigue plays a significant role in accidents, as does the condition the driver and the truck itself, prior to the accident.
It’s the little details that count in preparing a personal injury lawsuit. Trust your attorney to do his job and make sure you obtain justice.
Tim Anderson works with Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post 80,000 Pounds and Rolling first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>It’s cool to own and ride a motorbike or some other mode of transportation like that these days. It’s also economical because there isn’t as much gas being used, not to mention parking is a breeze. The point, however, is that despite the fact that motorcycles are cool in a lot of people’s books, they have the potential to be deadly – more deadly than a car if the truth were known.
Part of the truth lies in the number of accidents over the last few years involving motorcycles has increased by a staggering 50%. Throw in sales stats and it’s evident motorcycle sales are hopping. It’s the latest rage to beat the cost of gas. The latest rage has also cost over 4,700 deaths in the U.S.
The other truth that will hit home with a nasty shock is that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offers numbers that show motorcyclists are approximately 35 times more likely to be killed in accidents as compared to car drivers. Many of the deaths happen in the first year of owning a bike because of inexperience.
Generally speaking, the major causes of motorbike crashes include, but are not limited to, road conditions such as unexpected rumble strips, potholes, loose gravel, wet pavement and road debris. Driving errors rank second and include actions such as driving too closely to others, tailgating, swerving in and out between cars and not signaling properly. The thing that compounds a motorcycle accident is the lack of protection for the rider. Part of the lack of protection relates to not wearing a proper helmet.
Even though it would seem to be smart to ensure a rider’s head is protected from contact with the pavement and averting traumatic brain injury, there are still those who choose not to wear them. This seems to fly in the face of common sense when studies show that wearing a helmet cuts the risk of brain injuries by up to 88 percent. This is critical information, as a vast majority of motorcycle crash deaths are due to head injuries. Despite these statistics, less than 50 percent of motorcycle riders choose to wear their helmet, even if they happen to own one. In many instances, the helmet winds up being a decoration on the bike.
Motorcycle crash victims and their families need the expert legal representation that only a fully qualified personal injury lawyer is able to provide. If the victim survives, the attorney will be able to fight for compensation for their long-term care. If the victim died at the scene and this becomes a wrongful death suit, the attorney is able to obtain justice and compensation for the loss.
To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Helmet Hair May Save a Life first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>These days when people read about medical malpractice in the media, they assume that the story will be about a doctor doing something negligently that severely injured or caused the death of someone. Not many people realize that malpractice law includes not only medical malpractice, but legal, dental, accounting, real estate and other types of malpractice.
The difficulty here is in knowing if a professional did act negligently. While it’s true that trying to pinpoint negligence when dealing with a doctor or lawyer, etc., is like trying to capture the wind at times, there are some signs and red flags that will indicate something is amiss.
Attorneys are required to live up to certain ethical standards, as they are in a position of great authority. People trust their legal counsel to provide the best advice for them. When legal advice is knowingly given that is not in the best interests of the client, there may be grounds for a malpractice lawsuit.
The sticking point here is proving the “poor” advice was given with the knowledge that it would be detrimental to the client. What is required to file a legal malpractice lawsuit is a verified attorney/client relationship and that the information given to the client had a direct adverse effect on that client and that the act of giving that poor advice was foreseeable as causing harm.
For doctors and dentists, the standard of care they should offer patients is of the very highest. After all, they are supposed to do no harm and act in a patient’s best interests. Mistakes covered up or not admitted to despite being fairly obvious, may be grounds to ask for damages for injuries suffered as a result of the mistakes.
The law dealing with this area of malpractice varies from state to state when it comes to the criteria to be met to file a lawsuit. To find out what is applicable in each state, contact an experienced medical malpractice attorney. In some instances it may also be necessary to find out how the state defines medical malpractice.
The bottom line in all malpractice suits is that the professionals handing out advice have trained for years to become what they are today. They are not supposed to make mistakes that harm or hurt others. Unfortunately however, professionals are human, and humans do make mistakes no matter how well they are trained.
Professional ethics aside, if a situation has occurred that caused injuries, death, legal or financial harm to befall an individual; they need to seek the advice of a malpractice attorney with a solid reputation for handling cases like this. Find out what rights the plaintiff has and then pursue them to obtain justice.
To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Med Mal May Be Tricky first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>To put this simply, premises liability is all about someone falling and injuring themselves due to the carelessness or negligence of a business or property owner. If this happens, the victim has a right to pursue compensation for those injuries.
Typically, the person who owns a business or operates it, is liable for dangerous conditions that they know about and either don’t deal with them, and/or don’t warn people about the potentially dangerous situation. The other side of the coin is that they “should” have known about the dangerous condition by regularly inspecting the property.
There is such a big emphasis on knowledge because it is critical to the imposition of liability. So in the above example, the notice a landowner/business gets may be constructive or actual. For instance, if the owner of the property is the one who creates the dangerous situation, they are deemed to have actual notice of it, because they created it.
On the other hand, if the owner/operator or the workers don’t create a dangerous situation, they may still be liable for constructive notice of the danger. This means that the bad situation was there for such a long time they should have seen it or done something about it by doing regular inspections.
Let’s use the example of someone spilling hot coffee on a floor and it is not cleaned up. The actual proof of how long that spill has been there lies in the condition of the spill. If it’s partially dry or has footprints tracking through it, it’s obviously been there for some time, and therefore, the owner/manager should have known and done something about it. This is a good example of constructive notice.
Of interest, is that the most common mistake a business owner makes is in not warning people that come to his or her property that there may be an unavoidable danger. Some businesses, just because of the nature of what they do, are considered to be inherently dangerous.
Those businesses need to have the premises posted with warnings. If the venture is something like a swimming pool and they have a wet deck all the time and warn people about it, then they are not necessarily required to fix the situation (difficult to do if it’s a pool deck).
There are many other rules and exceptions when dealing with premises liability law, including third-party liability, so it’s best to speak to an attorney who is intimately familiar with the ropes. They will help you build a solid case.
Tim Anderson works with Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Whoops – that Fall Hurt first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Medical malpractice/medical errors don’t just happen in the hospital, although this is the association that many people have when they think about this term. In addition, it’s not just physicians that may make the errors. Those who may make an error in medical management include surgeons, dentists, nurses, hospital workers, eye doctors and general practitioners.
If you have questions about the statistics, then make it a point to check out the Journal of the American Medical Association. One of their most notable articles indicates that roughly 12,000 deaths happen yearly thanks to unnecessary surgery. Close to 7,000 fatalities were the result of medication errors in hospital and nearly 20,000 deaths were the end result of other errors in a hospital setting. The dollar amount that goes along with these errors is astronomical.
You may be wondering what kinds of errors happen in a hospital setting besides medication errors, which typically leads the list of mistakes. In fact, a recent study done by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies shows that at least 1.5 million people a year are harmed as a result of errors in medication.
There are actually a large number of things that may go wrong in a hospital, including surgical errors, medical experimentation, anesthesia errors, birth errors, misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis, wrongful death, and failing to take the correct medical action deemed appropriate. This is just the tip of the medical error iceberg too.
If you’ve been the victim of a medical error, you may stand to lose your job, lose wages, perhaps suffer a permanent disability which may affect the quality of your life, loss of future income, ever increasing medical bills, chronic pain and much more. These are also some of the things you may be able to seek compensation for when you speak to a qualified medical malpractice lawyer.
An experienced med mal attorney will strive to ensure you recover appropriate compensation for the various losses we have discussed in this article.
Tim Anderson works with Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Medical Errors May Cost Lives first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>The most crucial thing is to be able to distinguish between malpractice and other kinds of negligence. “Generally speaking the term malpractice refers to a set of circumstances when a professional (doctor, lawyer, dentist, accountant, etc.) fails to use the proper level of skill, diligence or care to perform their professional services. In failing to perform properly, this causes harm to patients or customers,” said Stephen Ozcomert, an Atlanta personal injury lawyer.
In general, a professional may be sued if s/he fails to perform their “professional” duties using the accepted standard of care, level of learning and skill one should reasonably expect from a person in their particular position. “Or to put this in simpler terms, the professional’s performance is held up in comparison to the performance standards of other professionals in the same field. So, if the level of performance is of a lesser standard than others, that person may be accused of malpractice,” added Ozcomert, who practices Atlanta personal injury law.
What a patient or customer needs to do to prove malpractice is show that they suffered an injury, damages or a loss because the person didn’t do their job properly. Malpractice charges may be laid against those practicing in a profession that is licensed or regulated by the state, which would include lawyers, surgeons, dentists and accountants. “There are other categories of professionals that cannot be held liable for malpractice, but may be held accountable for negligence,” outlined Ozcomert.
If someone feels they have been a victim of either malpractice or negligence, contact a highly qualified malpractice attorney and discuss the details of the case. “The lawyer will know the rules and regulations that need to be followed to file a proper malpractice lawsuit against another professional, even if it does happen to be another attorney,” commented Stephen Ozcomert, an Atlanta personal injury lawyer.
To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Malpractice Versus Negligence first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>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.
Most accident claims do require some work to obtain compensation, but if the injuries are serious enough, the work will be well worth it. The first thing an attorney will need to do is be able to prove that the other person in the accident was the party “at fault.” Use a cell phone at the scene of the accident, if need be, to get clear pictures of the damage. They may come in handy in court.
Remember to get all the information needed from any eyewitnesses, report the accident to the police, and also get a copy of the accident report. Don’t assume there are no serious injuries, as many of them may be silent and not manifest themselves until a later time with drastic consequences. If an ambulance is needed, call one immediately and then contact an Atlanta personal injury attorney.
While the accident may have been partially the fault of both drivers involved, the party laying the claim for compensation may still claim and receive some damages. “The proportion or percentage of negligence in cases where both drivers are at fault is usually determined by the courts using the doctrine of contributory negligence. That may mean compensation won’t be 100%, but instead a proportion thereof,” explained Stephen Ozcomert, an Atlanta personal injury attorney.
There a great many other details that go into mounting a personal injury claim, so ensure the lawyer hired is big on aggressive representation for their clients to obtain justice.
To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Claim It, It’s Your Right first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>At the very heart of the matter of premises liability law is the question “Who is to blame?” This isn’t the easiest thing to figure out, and that is why many premises liability lawyers will comment that each and every case is unique and has very little in common with any other case of the same nature. The circumstances of the case are what tend to make each one different.
“In a nutshell, the concept of premises liability boils down to this: a person who owns or occupies land (controls it) is responsible to make sure that the land is safe and hazard free for other people,” explained Georgia super lawyer Stephen M. Ozcomert of Atlanta.
This also isn’t easy when those slip and fall accidents happen right out of the blue. For instance walking down the sidewalk in front of a merchant’s store and accidentally tripping over a broken piece of pavement, or while in the hair dresser’s shop, someone slips on a pile of freshly clipped hair lying on a linoleum floor.
These seem like accidents that could have been avoided if only the owner of the premises had done something to warn customers about a hazard (cut hair on a linoleum floor) or had fixed an accident waiting to happen (the broken pavement). “If there had been a sign that warned customers about the hazards of slipping on cut hair, and someone wasn’t paying attention, it’s questionable whether or not there would be grounds for a lawsuit,” added Ozcomert.
This is where hiring a premises liability lawyer comes into play. They are there to help those who feel they have been a victim of a slip and fall injury by explaining the concept of negligence and liability. Only a skilled premises liability attorney is able to ascertain if there is a case worth pursuing.
“If there is a case and it proceeds to court, one of the things the court takes into consideration is how long an unsafe condition existed and if the owner was careless in leaving it unrepaired,” said Ozcomert. They also look to see if the owner did have posted warnings on the premises and they were ignored. The other component of a court’s assessment of a slip and fall case is whether or not the person who sustained the injuries was a reasonable person.
“Being a reasonable person in part means the plaintiff was not trespassing on the owner’s property or wasn’t doing something they were not supposed to do on that property. In other words, the victim’s own actions play a big part in the disposition of a slip and fall case,” outlined Georgia super lawyer Stephen M. Ozcomert of Atlanta.
To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post The Blame Game first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Every year thousands of Americans buy products that cause them personal injuries. Every year there are also thousands of product recalls for a variety of glitches ranging from annoying to capable of causing severe harm or death.
The last thing consumers expect when they buy a product is that it will harm them, and the last thing they also expect is that a company they rely on would ever put out a faulty product. “Unfortunately, this happens a great deal with everything from medical devices to baby car seats,” explained Georgia super lawyer Stephen M. Ozcomert of Atlanta.
While one gets used to hearing about vehicle recalls, toy recalls, food recalls and drug recalls, one rarely ever hears about a recall for laptop computers. “Apparently the problem was overheating which subsequently caused fires and other various injuries,” said Ozcomert. Hard to imagine that happening with something so seemingly innocuous, however, technology evidently does have bad days as well.
The apparent source of the problem was the rechargeable battery that got too hot, hotter than the normal operating temperature of the machine. “Most of the injuries that resulted from this disturbing development were personal burns, however, there were instances when the computer was left on and no one was using it. The battery overheated and started a fire,” outlined Georgia super lawyer Stephen M. Ozcomert of Atlanta.
While there have been more recalls since this was first discovered, the focus of the recall events has been a certain laptop battery used in the computers. The battery in question managed to garner a fair amount of negative press during a Sony major laptop battery recall.
Certainly there are things that may go wrong with any of the equipment we use during the day. “However, the real question in this instance deals with the manufacturer of the defective battery who knew (or should have known) it had the potential to harm people,” added Ozcomert.
Proving that the battery manufacturer did have knowledge of the faulty battery is not always an easy thing to do. It would involve, at the very least, the company having received complaints from other laptop users about the battery, and then doing nothing about it, unless however, they were motivated to do something later.
“Defective product law is challenging to say the least, and often the trail followed to get to the end of the story involving negligence on the part of someone in the chain from manufacturer to retailer is quite interesting. In cases such as this, the smart move is to hire a defective product attorney with an excellent track record in this area,” said Georgia super lawyer Stephen M. Ozcomert of Atlanta.
To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Unusual Defective Products Resulting in Personal Injury first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>It’s tough enough to get up the courage to face major surgery without also having to worry if the surgeon is in top form and able to do the job. Unfortunately however, surgical medical malpractice results in approximately 98,000 deaths a year. These statistics, courtesy of the Institute of Medicine, further suggest that total does not include patients who have wound up with life altering injuries due to surgery.
What is surgical medical malpractice? Most commonly it is the result of a surgeon failing to give their patient proper care, and that failure ends up causing serious injuries or death. Typically, this would have to do with a surgeon not adhering to accepted medical standards or not properly utilizing their skills.
Sadly, surgical medical malpractice is often due to very simple errors that should not have occurred had the surgeon been paying close attention to the surgical field, things such as using improperly sterilized instruments, a wrong incision, the puncture wound or a cut to an organ, anesthesia errors, surgery on the wrong organ or side, and instruments left inside a patient on closing.
Errors during surgery are one thing, negligence in diagnosing the right kind of operation necessary is another, and that is also classified as surgical medical malpractice. The three most often encountered classifications of surgery are emergency, urgent and elective. In the case of emergency surgery, it needs to be done post haste, not delayed. Urgent surgery needs to be done within a two-hour time frame, and elective surgery may be put off for some time.
Many procedures are prone to surgical malpractice, some more so than others. The ones that seem to be the most susceptible to errors are operations involving thoracic surgery, cosmetic surgery, gastric bypass, cardiothoracic and child delivery. While it is true that surgical medical malpractice is a reality of life, this isn’t to say that the majority of surgeries don’t go precisely as planned, and were deemed a success.
If you suspect you have been a victim of surgical malpractice, contact a medical malpractice attorney and find out what your rights are in this situation. Your attorney will be able to advise you of how cases such as this are handled.
Tim Anderson works with Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Surgical Malpractice first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Basically the law of premises liability is a branch of personal injury law that covers injuries sustained as a result of dangerous or hazardous conditions on a piece of property. The major premise here is that a person who owns property – homeowner or commercial property – is (to a certain extent) responsible for what happens on that property. This means the owner is obligated to make sure the property and/or any buildings on that land are in safe condition for others.
The other name for cases in this area of law — perhaps you don’t recognize the term premises liability — is slip and fall cases. The bulk of cases in this area usually do deal with falls on slippery surfaces, trips over various hazards and other things, such as stairs in poor repair. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that this area of law is connected to several others as well.
Other injuries that may be covered by the doctrine of premises liability are porches collapsing, lead poisoning, mercury contamination, elevator malfunctions or drops, stairs that collapse and property fires. No two premises liability cases are alike and each one must be considered on its own merits. However having said that, there is one common element in most of these cases, and that would be negligence. The courts need to know if a property owner or manager is liable for a plaintiff’s injuries.
Proving responsibility for someone else’s injuries requires three components or elements. The first is a showing of duty, meaning that the owner did know or should have reasonably known about a hazard on his or her property. The second element refers to a breach of duty, in that it must be proven that the property owner failed to act “as a reasonable person” to remove or fix the danger.
Element three is that the plaintiff must show a causal link. In other words, prove that the defendant did not follow a reasonable standard of care and that this failure was the “direct and proximate cause” of the plaintiff being injured. If you have had an accident on someone’s property and want to know your legal rights, contact a premises liability attorney to discuss your situation.
Tim Anderson works with Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Are Your Premises Safe? first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Oddly enough, Plavix, considered to be the second best-selling drug in the world, was supposed to be a terrific alternative for aspirin to prevent heart attacks and strokes. This “super aspirin” does the exact opposite, and more than doubles the risks for bleeding ulcers, heart attacks and strokes.
Plavix increases the risks of bleeding in patients with peptic ulcer disease making them 12 times more likely to suffer from ulcers and stomach bleeding than patients who took a heartburn pill and an aspirin. The bleeding results in severe consequences or death due to the blocking of the formation of platelets in blood.
This drug also triggers platelet and protein blood clots in some individuals that are fatal once they reach the brain or kidneys. The sad thing is that an aspirin likely does a better job, but not taken with Plavix. Combining Plavix with aspirin virtually doubles the risk of death or stroke even in those with no history of heart disease.
Accusations were made that the drug company behind Plavix deliberately misinformed doctors and the public about the efficacy of Plavix to make a profit. The drug became the sixth top selling drug in the USA with profits of $3.8 billion dollars. At this point, it might be good to ask who the drug companies are really supposed to represent and help. If the answer isn’t clear, that’s quite the damning indictment of drug companies.
Plavix lawsuits are being filed frequently across the States and many law offices are asking people who have had a bad experience with this drug to contact them. This drug is still being marketed. The lawsuits already launched as well as those to come haven’t seemed to harm Plavix sales.
If a loved one suffered serious Plavix side effects, contact a fully qualified litigation attorney with experience in this area to assess the potential claim and advise how to proceed. There is the possibility of being able to recover damages for pain and suffering, lost income and medical bills.
To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Dangerous Products – Drugs first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Every day the cash registers ring across America, signaling the purchase of a wide variety of items from clothing to chain saws, etc. While many people don’t really think about it at the time, they may have just bought a defective or dangerous product. Think that would never happen? “Don’t be so sure, as product accidents are very common,” commented Georgia super lawyer Stephen M. Ozcomert of Atlanta.
Over 10,000 complaints are filed every year due to defective products and thousands of people who used them died or sustained serious injuries. We’re not talking small numbers. The deaths each year resulting from the use of defective or dangerous products is over 22,000 and the numbers of injuries are close to 29 million. Those are staggering numbers, and ones that tend to creep up every year.
“While there are numerous agencies that act to regulate product liability, it often becomes a real circus trying to figure out who is responsible for what and where to report a claim. This may well become an issue in court during a defective product lawsuit,” outlined Ozcomert.
The whole intention behind product liability laws is to protect all consumers from badly made products. But more than that, the laws are designed to ensure retailers, corporations and manufacturers be held responsible for negligent behavior. In instances such as this, negligent behavior is letting a defective or dangerous product into the marketplace. “Often the question of whether or not the company who made the product knowingly released it, and it harmed or killed someone, becomes the focal point of a product liability case,” added Georgia super lawyer Stephen M. Ozcomert of Atlanta.
The nice thing about product liability law is that the standard of proof in this area happens to be a bit more lenient than in other areas of law. However, these are still difficult and expensive cases to pursue as often manufacturers vigorously defend claims brought by injured persons, and often one must retain expert witnesses to prove the case against the manufacturer.
The bottom line is that there are so many different areas of product liability law that it only makes sense to speak to an attorney with experience in this area. “Act quickly, because time is of the essence in cases such as this,” said Ozcomert.
To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Act Quickly in a Product Liability Case first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Although there are regulations in place to prevent lead poisoning, it remains a chronic health issue for kids. It is so prevalent that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have provided the rough estimate that over 300,000 children suffer from elevated levels of lead in their systems. One in six children are reported to have a “high” level.
If you’re wondering why the rate of lead poisoning seems to be higher for children, it’s because their absorption rate is a great deal higher than that of an adult. For instance, the rate of absorption (gastrointestinal) in adults is 3% to 10%. In children it is 40% to 50%, which is alarming and explains why children have such difficulty with lead poisoning symptoms.
Lead poisoning creeps up on a person over a long period of time; meaning long exposures to minimal concentrations of lead (such as lead based paint) may result in a toxic level of lead in the body. This is often referred to as chronic lead poisoning, and seems to be the most common.
Even though lead paint was banned in 1978, older buildings that predate that ban still have lead paint on the premises. There may also be landlords or building owners who chose not to remove the hazard from their properties. Imagine the potential consequences for children living in such buildings.
The poisoning seems innocuous if you aren’t aware of what is going on, or don’t know that you live in a home or apartment with lead-based paint. Over time, the paint begins to disintegrate and winds up becoming lead dust.
This is particularly bad on doorframes and windowsills. If the dust stayed in one place and was easy to clean up, the problem might not be as bad. However, it tends to settle on everything in the home, including toys and other objects to which children are exposed. Of course when children play, they put things in their mouth. Lead paint chips are also quite attractive to children who often will experiment by eating them.
What are the consequences? Over time lead poisoning may result in anemia, hearing loss, mental retardation, kidney malfunction, headaches, learning disabilities and hyperactivity. If you happen to be pregnant, the baby may experience retarded growth, delayed sexual maturation (females), low birth weight and gestational age.
If you suspect lead poisoning, get a blood test to confirm your suspicions and then immediately speak with a competent attorney who will assess your case to file a lawsuit for damages.
Tim Anderson works with Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Elevated Lead Levels first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Once it was discovered that Oxycontin had the ability to turn people into drug addicts, doctors started to hunt for something else to hand out instead to act as an effective painkiller. Their next drug of choice turned out to be methadone and, in hindsight, it might have been a worse choice than Oxycontin.
Methadone has crept in quietly and taken over one of the leading roles in today’s drug addiction problem. The overdose statistics are frightening. Would you believe that they increased by a whopping figure of 500% between 1999 and 2005, and that was prior to doctors switching to prescribing it instead of Oxycontin? It seems likely that the numbers will have increased since then.
Using methadone as a short-term painkiller is one thing, particularly if is used to aid recovery from a serious injury or accident. Using methadone precisely as prescribed and only for the specified period of time, will most likely avoid addiction problems. Using methadone for the long haul is asking for trouble of the worst kind.
Generally speaking, methadone is normally handed out for severe pain, or at least it used to be. It seems that more and more it is also being favored for moderate pain. Ask the people who died using methadone if it was worth the risks. There are definitely other viable options the medical community could champion instead.
Methadone is noted to be an extremely addictive drug and it is, like smoking, very hard to stop. The withdrawal symptoms are tough both mentally and physically and most people in withdrawal need medical drug detox in addition to a full drug rehabilitation program in a treatment center. This is not a drug to mess around with.
This drug is so dangerous because it causes changes in breathing (slower respiratory rate) and changes in a person’s heartbeat that a patient might not feel. The real kicker is that although the pain relief lasts for a few hours, the drug stays in the system longer. Adding more methadone to what is already in the body may cause problems such as coma and death. It also metabolizes slowly and pain relief does not come as fast as people expect, so they take more which compounds the problem.
If you or a loved one has faced serious consequences after taking methadone, or if a family member has died because of a methadone overdose, immediately contact an experienced attorney and discuss your options for filing a methadone lawsuit.
Tim Anderson works with Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Prescription Drug Injuries or Death first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Eating out these days is almost like playing a game of Russian Roulette, where no one really knows if what they eat will harm them or not. At one time fears like this were mostly limited to improper handling and preparation of a meal in restaurants, not at home. “Now, the CDC estimates there are roughly 76 million cases of food poisoning in the U.S. yearly, with about 5,000 ending in death,” outlined Ozcomert.
Lately there has been a phenomenal increase in the number of large-scale food poisoning events globally; e.g. salmonella tainted peanut butter, cold cuts harboring the deadly bacteria Listeria monocytogenes, and spinach contaminated with E Coli. It’s not just human food that has become a cause for concern; pet food has been under the microscope for containing deadly melamine.
With these kinds of concerns floating around, people are beginning to wonder about the safety of food they buy and consume. And, rightly so, however, we can’t stop eating, although that thought might have occurred to more than just a few people who contemplated becoming vegetarians.
This information won’t decrease anyone’s level of concern, but it is something people need to know. “The U.S. government has a very limited ability to inspect foods arriving from overseas, which means various outbreaks will continue to happen. Factor in the improper handling of food at local restaurants and there is the potential for some real harm to consumers,” explained Ozcomert.
If there is cause to believe that a person is the victim of an incident of food poisoning, contact a highly skilled dangerous product attorney and discuss the details of the potential case. Only an attorney with a track record in this area of the law, such as Georgia super lawyer Stephen Ozcomert of Atlanta, has a full understanding of the elements needed to settle such a case and will be able to advise how to proceed to a just settlement.
To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post When Eating Out Becomes a Danger first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>While they might look fairly harmless, all hunched over on the back porch waiting for the steak or corn on the cob, if the gas flame and tank are not handled properly, these gas grills are an accident looking for a place to happen.
Just taking a look at the media coverage for the last year is enough to give one pause for thought about using a gas grill without a pilot’s license. No, seriously, these grills have their pros and their cons, but it’s the cons that may result in an explosion or fire. Handle with care or be prepared to have the unexpected happen.
What may happen, and has happened, is something called external ignition, when due to a manufacturing flaw the gas tank ignites outside. This, while a rare occurrence, happens often enough that consumers need to be aware of the dangers of gas grills. “They also need to be alerted to the fact that there have been many cases of home accidents and explosions due to manufacturing flaws in the gas grill propane tanks,” said Georgia super lawyer Stephen M. Ozcomert of Atlanta.
If in doubt about your gas grill, look up the number of gas grill recalls on the Internet;that will be a major eye opener. For instance: 1,170 Jenn-Air Downdraft Gas Cooktops (Maytag) were recalled because the switches were too close to the gas tubing leading to the grill burner. This was a fire hazard. There are many more examples such as this, which is dismaying to say the least.
“The real question is how these defective products made their way to the market in the first place?” added Ozcomert. If someone has been injured due to a gas grill explosion or fire, contact a defective product attorney, such as Georgia super lawyer Stephen M. Ozcomert of Atlanta, who will assess the case and ensure justice is done.
To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Grilling May Be Dangerous to Your Health first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Guidant, who is now under the wing of Boston Scientific, took off like a rocket when they first brought out their implantable cardiac defibrillators. When they started to fail and the products were recalled, the company took a nose dive in public confidence, not to mention it became the target of widespread lawsuits for marketing defective medical products.
Guidant began life as a small company in 1972 and was successful enough that Eli Lilly bought them out in 1978. Their specialty was finely crafted cardiac defibrillators, and they continued making them without a problem until 2005 when there were 26 reported cases of their product failing. Rumors abounded that the company had known about the problem prior to 2005 yet did nothing about it.
2005 was a bad year for Guidant as they issued safety advisories regarding 7 models of their defibrillators and also had to advise doctors to discontinue using 4 of those models. The disaster knew no bounds when another nine models were called into question in subsequent weeks. The problem was tracked to 3 models of the Guidant defibrillators where the insulation on the wiring shorted out.
Finding this out is one thing, doing something about it was another, and nothing was done in terms of halting production or recalling the defective medical products. The company actually continued to sell them and tried to fix the short-out problem in later versions of their product. Evidently, other problems also surfaced at the same time, but this time included memory-programming errors. By the time these errors were exposed, over 50,000 people had the potential to be affected by this defective medical product.
Cardiac defibrillators are used for patients with ventricular fibrillation and irregular heartbeats that sometimes cause the heart to quit. Defibrillators need to be absolutely top quality to prevent fibrillation and death.
The problem is that although there have been lawsuits filed against Guidant; there are still patients out there with potential time bombs implanted in their chests. While it’s a patient’s decision to have one replaced, the process is risky and expensive.
If you or a loved one has one of the potentially defective Guidant cardiac defibrillators implanted, contact a defective medical product attorney and discuss your case.
Tim Anderson works with Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Defective Medical Products – Implantable Cardiac Defibrillators first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Most people have had the safety message drummed into their heads that wearing a seat belt saves lives. There are numerous commercials on TV, the radio, in magazines and newspapers that tout the effectiveness of using a seat belt. “Buckle Up” campaigns in some form or another have been launched in just about every state in effort to reduce the number of traffic fatalities. Every state, but New Hampshire, has laws mandating seat belt use in some form or another.
Traffic safety stats show that the lowly seat belt has been credited with saving at least 9,500 lives per year. These same statistics are also showing that virtually 60% of those who die in car crashes were not wearing seat belts. So what is going on here?
Again, it’s the statistics that show some individuals are more likely to buckle up than others – for instance, young male drivers from age 16 to 25 – who believe they are immortal. Immortal isn’t exactly the word that comes to mind, but high-risk driver does.
You might find it interesting to learn that over the years seat belts have changed from lap belts to three point belts, from shoulder to hip to waist. The whole point of a seat belt is to spread the impact of a sudden, wrenching stop across the chest and over the stronger shoulder and hipbones. The idea is to minimize any injuries, not including the bruises and, at times, fractured ribs from the force of the impact.
Wearing seat belts is so ingrained in the law, that in most states not wearing a seat belt ranks as either a primary or secondary offense. Interestingly, there are also 14 states where people who sue for damages after an accident may have their award reduced for not wearing a belt. So with all of this information, what is the hang up with seat belts? The hang up appears to be that some people feel that being made to wear a seat belt in infringing on their rights; their primary argument is that not wearing one isn’t hurting anyone but themselves.
Sure there is some credibility lent to these particular arguments in the form of stats that tell the story of seat belt induced deaths – cardiac arrest and life threatening injuries to the chest, neck and abdomen. Frankly more people’s lives are saved by wearing a seat belt than not, however, there is an element of choice involved here. If someone feels strongly enough about not wearing a seat belt, it is their choice – and they must pay whatever consequences may follow in the event of an accident.
Tim Anderson works with Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post The Seat Belt Controversy first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Over the last decade or so, the media in the U.S. have had a field day when it comes to reports detailing the number of deaths each year attributed to medical errors. The numbers are in the millions for deaths and for medication mistakes. If that doesn’t throw up a few red flags, then I don’t know what will.
Medical malpractice or medication errors (med mal) isn’t within the exclusive domain of just doctors. Nurses have similar high standards to live up to when caring for patients, and for the most part they do their jobs with skill and precision. Unfortunately, things happen and a nurse may be negligent on the job causing an oversight that leads to an injury or death. This kind of a situation is usually referred to as nurse malpractice.
Nurse malpractice is on the rise, more so over these past few years than it was previously. Many pundits point fingers at the medical system and decry the deplorable shape it is in, citing shortages in manpower as being the major reason for nurse malpractice. Keep in mind that nurse malpractice isn’t something that is done on purpose. It happens for several reasons.
A nursing shortage isn’t really news, but what happens as a consequence of a shortage may be. For instance with fewer nurses on duty, staff works longer hours (sometimes over 12 hours and double shifts) and the error factor increases dramatically. Fatigue may be a killer in a nurse’s uniform. Thanks to the shortage of RNs, non-licensed Nurse’s aides are also hired to fill the duty rosters.
The most frequently seen nurse malpractice situations deal with nurses not following doctor’s orders, performing medical procedures without the proper qualifications, giving the wrong dose of medication to someone, or giving the wrong medicine to the wrong patient and not keeping a close enough watch on a patient that needs extra care.
In the cases that I have handled, the consequences of nurse malpractice have been organ damage, death, coma, infections, cardiac arrest and a toxic reaction to drugs. None of these cases were pretty and none of them happened on purpose. They happened because of a variety of factors. Nonetheless, if a patient has been harmed by nurse malpractice, they are entitled to take legal action.
Tim Anderson works with Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Nursing Malpractice on the Rise first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>It’s a given that in our health system the patients expect their doctor has certain obligations to them. They expect good service, good care and that the doctor knows what they are doing and will not harm them in any way. Unfortunately when a patient happens to fall victim to medical malpractice (med mal), those same patients who viewed their doctor as a hero may now take action to file a med mal lawsuit.
When patients have experienced a medical injury and feel that it is related to something that their doctor did or did not do, this is the time to immediately contact an experienced med mal lawyer like Georgia super lawyer, Stephen Ozcomert in Atlanta. Ozcomert knows his stuff and one of the first things he asks his clients is if they were given the wrong medication or an incorrect dose.
“I also ask if they received their treatment in a timely manner or they feel their problems are the result of being misdiagnosed,” said Ozcomert. It’s not just adult patients that may be eligible to file a med mal lawsuit. There may be a good case for med mal if a child sustains an injury during the labor and delivery process and it happened because of negligence.
“Negligence is difficult to prove and this is why I need access to complete medical records and all documentation related to a patient’s potential case,” stated Ozcomert. Ozcomert will assess the information provided and make a decision if there is enough there to proceed with a med mal lawsuit. “Don’t just assume it was an honest mistake if you wind up with injuries that alter your life. Honest mistakes in medicine are still classified as medical malpractice,” he said.
If you aren’t sure what the circumstances of a particular injury may be, or if there was negligence or malpractice, make a beeline to see an experienced med mal attorney such as Stephen Ozcomert of Atlanta, Georgia. “I will be more than happy to sit down with anyone who feels they have been the victim of medical malpractice and assess their case,” he indicated.
To learn more about Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney or Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post The Do No Harm Ethic first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Jackknife situations can have several outcomes, many of them resulting in injury to the driver, the rig and to other people who happened to be near the truck when things went awry. In situations like this it is very difficult to find out who is responsible for the accident. This is why anyone involved in a scenario like this needs to contact an experienced big rig attorney, like Georgia super lawyer, Stephen Ozcomert of Atlanta.
“A jackknife means the back end of the rig whips around towards the truck cab, and the driver has no control over it. It becomes a huge steel projectile traveling down the road at highway speeds,” explained Ozcomert. This means that anything in its path, from trees to guardrails and ramps to other vehicles, has the potential to suffer serious damages.
While this may not happen every day, it does happen often enough that there are many lawyers who specialize in this area of law. “This kind of an accident can happen in the blink of an eye, and there isn’t much time to get out of the way,” said Ozcomert. Add to this mix an overloaded truck whose driver is over-tired and you have a recipe for disaster.
This is particularly the case when the big rigs are travelling at highway speeds.
In most instances weather may be cited as the cause of a jackknife, but there are other reasons such as inattention, talking on a cell phone, overly aggressive driving to make a deadline, and improper maintenance of the rig or its tires. “It’s the little things that all add up to make an accident looking for a place to happen,” outlined Ozcomert.
With so many things that can and do go wrong resulting in a serious or deadly outcome, it only makes sense to deal with an experienced big rig attorney, like Georgia super lawyer, Stephen Ozcomert of Atlanta. “I go to work right away to collect the evidence needed to make a court case. Time is of the essence in cases like this,” added Ozcomert.
To learn more about Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney or Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Deadly Jackknife Action first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Across America, hundreds of people were having hernia surgery and being implanted with a hernia patch. Sounds fairly straightforward, but apparently something went terribly wrong with the Kugel mesh hernia patches. They had a nasty habit of rolling up and wrinkling after being inserted.
The problems with the Kugel mesh hernia patches didn’t start to come to light until 2001 when reports of its failure after implantation started appearing. Some of those noted side effects included bowel obstructions, because the memory coil ring broke, and fistula development. There were other complications as well, such as the patches were folded, shriveled, buckled and curled. Obviously this was not the optimal result hoped for after hernia surgery.
The patch was recalled in 2005 and physicians were asked not to use certain lots. However this time the reason was due to the high risk that part of the plastic component of the patch could break off and cut the patient’s organs or tissues with the potential for a fatal outcome. Many people and their defective drug lawyers wondered why the product hadn’t been recalled prior to 2005. The answer was the company felt they didn’t get that many complaints.
The whole mess escalated into a subsequent Class 1 Food and Drug Administration recall, which is considered to be very serious. These particular patches are used in over 700,000 hernia repair surgeries every year, so if you have any concerns about the hernia repair surgery you may have experienced, or have suffered any serious side effects, make it a point to contact a highly qualified defective medical devices attorney.
Many people don’t realize this kind of a situation may be classified as medical malpractice, particularly if a surgeon used a hernia patch that was in a lot that was recalled. Take your potential case to an experienced lawyer and have it assessed. You may wish to file a defective medical device lawsuit, but you need to consult with your attorney first. Be sure you have your medical records and the lot number of the Kugel hernia patch used and ask about your legal rights.
Tim Anderson works with Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney or Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Defective Medical Devices Lurk in Waiting first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Botox first hit the market 30 years ago when the eye care company Allergan boasted about its rejuvenating properties. Of course many of you will recall that Botox was derived from botulinum toxin A. This was once injected into eye muscles of people with crossed eyes. The science behind these injections was that the botulinum created a protein that would override muscle spasms and block nerve impulses that relaxed muscles on a temporary basis.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took a liking to what it could do and gave it approval in 1978, however their original idea was to only use it for clinical applications. Turns out once plastic surgeons discovered its uses in cosmetic surgery, the Botox market took off exponentially. Due to the pressure of people demanding the Botox miracle, the FDA finally approved it for use in cosmetic surgery for getting rid of the fine lines between the eyes and around the mouth.
People were in wrinkle free heaven when they heard about this latest way to stay younger looking for longer periods of time. Botox cosmetic injections were an instant success and consumers were excited to think it had a low side effect ratio. Then the joy ride came to an abrupt halt when adverse incident reports were filed with the FDA.
Many of the reports focused on ‘off label’ uses not approved by the FDA and most frightening of all was the discovery that it migrated to other locations in the body and could be aspirated and cause pneumonia. Botox lawsuits started to surface all across the nation. Many lawyers with extensive experience in dangerous drug litigation got to see firsthand the side effects of Botox gone wrong, and they weren’t pretty.
Over the years since the drug was first approved for use in cosmetic applications the occurrences of deadly side effects has risen dramatically. So much so that the FDA insisted that Allergan add a black box warning informing consumers of the risks of using Botox, including death. Nice idea, but it was never done. This is one of the facts that is referred to in dangerous drug litigation, that the company failed to adequately warn product users of the known risks of this drug.
Botox product litigation stories littered the media with more and more horror stories and accused the drug company of misleading the public. There were even references to clinical trials that were minimized despite the fact that 50% of the people involved suffered a bad reaction to Botox.
Botox is still in use and the produced risks are still present. Be very aware of what you are doing if you choose to submit to Botox injections. In cases that have gone to court across the U.S. there have been instances of long-term muscle paralysis, suffocation, Bell’s Palsy, and permanent cornea damage.
If you feel you have been a victim of Botox injections, do the smart thing and contact a highly qualified dangerous drug attorney. Get your case assessed and find out how justice may be served in your case. Don’t wait until you are sure you are dealing with a Botox side effect, as there is a statute of limitations in every state.
Tim Anderson works with Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney or Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Deadly Botox – More Than Just a Cosmetic Boost first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>Oddly enough, premises liability deals with personal injuries. On the surface one would think it is about a landowner, and obviously the conduct of the property owner needs to be examined. However, this area deals with cases involving injuries to others while on the property owner’s premises.
These injuries are most commonly slip and fall, or trip and fall incidents, but may also involve cases where the property owner has failed to provide adequate security against known hazards; for example, criminal conduct – where there is a history of criminal activity that the property owner knew about or should have known about.
The key to dealing with premises liability is that a property owner (public or private) is, to a certain extent, responsible for what happens on that particular property. The bottom line is that the courts hold that landowners have a duty/obligation to make sure their premises and the approaches to the premises are safe for their business customers (often called business invitees).
Property owners owe a lesser duty to licensees, who are often social guests, which normally consists of a duty to warn them of known dangers. While this may sound fairly straightforward, it rarely is, as Georgia super lawyer, Stephen Ozcomert of Atlanta, knows fully well.
“Premises liability cases are actually referred to as slip and fall cases; or slip, trip and fall cases,” explained Ozcomert. Certainly a large number of the cases Ozcomert handles deal with falls on wet floors, diving head first down a set of faulty stairs or tripping over uneven sidewalks. However, just as many of his cases deal with other aspects of this area of the law.
“Premises liability could just as well deal with an old residential building whose apartments have been painted with lead based paint,” said Ozcomert. Lead paint is dangerous and has been known to cause physical and developmental defects in children. In this instance, a premises liability lawsuit would be likely if the landlord or manager knew about the danger, but did nothing about it – in other words, was negligent.
To prove negligence in these cases there must be three elements present: that the property owner had a duty (knew or should have known about a property hazard), that they breached that duty (didn’t fix the hazard), and there was a causal link between the defendant’s negligence and the plaintiff’s injuries.
“Personal injury cases deal mostly with negligence, and premises liability is no exception to that rule,” commented Ozcomert. Negligence in premises liability cases would be a test of whether or not the landowner or property owner was indeed responsible for a plaintiff’s injuries.
To learn more about Stephen M. Ozcomert and Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Premises Liability – A Common but Challenging Area of the Law first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>It’s thoroughly frightening to realize that each year over 40,000 people will die on the roads. That would work out to about 115 fatalities a day. Think about those numbers and then think about the high cost of auto crashes both in terms of lost lives and in damages.
Auto accidents, on average, cost Americans over $150 billion each and every year. Think of how that kind of money could be put to good use in the economy instead of cleaning up after accidents.
The end results of auto crashes are devastating to those left behind as well as those who have been seriously injured and are facing a lifetime of rehabilitation. No one knows this better than Georgia Super Lawyer, Stephen Ozcomert of Atlanta, Georgia. A highly regarded personal injury lawyer, Ozcomert has many years of experience dealing with car crash victims. “An accident isn’t ‘just’ an accident, it has many other ramifications and consequences,” stated Ozcomert.
“The chances are that everyone will be involved in at least one accident in their lives. They should know their rights, and we work to ensure they get justice,” added Ozcomert. Justice isn’t the only thing that Ozcomert works for. He makes it a point to educate his clients in the process they are facing when they have a court case. Noted for being highly detail oriented, Ozcomert is a hands-on kind of lawyer who gets totally involved in his cases.
Ozcomert knows how to assess medical situations in a split second and bases his advice on what he knows the courts are willing to award in certain instances. Those involved in a serious crash with life-altering disabilities are usually eligible for damages for things such as lost wages, medical bills, the cost of rehabilitation and loss of consortium among other things.
“We also deal with the insurance companies who are trying to get our clients to settle for less than they would be entitled to in a court of law. This is another reason why those involved in a car crash need to speak to a competent attorney,” explained Ozcomert, of Ozcomert Law in Atlanta, Georgia.
To learn more about Stephen M. Ozcomert and Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post The High Cost of Auto Accidents first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>In general, all types of vehicles use tires of one sort or another, and really, anyone is vulnerable to tire problems from time to time. However, big rigs (those large semi tractor-trailers) have more than their fair share of tire blowouts simply due to the enormous amount of weight they haul. Usually, if they’re going to experience a tire problem, it will be with a blowout or tire tread separation.
It’s not only heavy-duty wear and tear that causes tires to go bad. Blemished tires are often the culprits. In fact, unsound tires have been the cause of some really serious personal injury accidents and deaths. What usually happens is the driver experiences a sudden and unexpected blowout, skewing the car sideways and ripping the wheel out of their hands.
Rear tire blowouts are particularly difficult when the vehicle is travelling at highway speed. The loss of control usually means the rear of the vehicle swings around and winds up being perpendicular to the direction of travel. Unfortunately, due to a design flaw – a high center of gravity – found in light trucks, SUV’s and vans, the end result is a roll over.
It’s common knowledge that there have been numerous defective tire recalls over the past few years. This has not solved the safety problem, as these tires continue to cause fatalities and serious injury accidents. Be aware that the tread on your vehicle is on its way out when small cracks develop on the side of the tire (by the serial number).
This failure is directly due a design and manufacturing defect. The small cracks, hard to see with the naked eye, turn into larger ones that develop in the tire’s belts, causing premature fatigue and tread failure.
Interestingly, even though there were tire replacement/reimbursement programs offered by some of the larger tire manufacturers, there was a push by consumer safety groups to have the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration find out if these programs are truly effective or just a band-aid approach to a serious problem.
Despite the fact that tire manufacturers are legally responsible to let consumers know about a defective product, they still continue to make and sell flawed tires. The whole point of letting people know about a bad product is to prevent accidents. If the manufacturers keep making bad products, nothing is accomplished to save lives.
If you have been in an accident and feel that the cause of your mishap was subnormal tires, be sure to contact a defective product lawyer as soon as you can. Discuss the facts of your case with him or her and find out if there is enough evidence to proceed with a court case.
Tim Anderson works with Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Stephen M. Ozcomert and Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post When It Blows It May Be Deadly first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>If you take a good look at some of the traffic accident statistics, the first thing you will notice is when it comes to a “car meet motorbike collision,” it is usually the fault of the car driver. There are a variety of reasons for this, ranging from the bike was in the driver’s blind spot to the car driver wasn’t able to accurately judge the speed of the motorbike.
The most interesting facts and figures have come forth from a study done by the University of Southern California. They found that in nearly three quarters of motorcycle collisions, the other vehicle was – you guessed it – a passenger automobile. In most instances it was the car driver that infringed on the rights of the motorcycle’s right-of-way. Other factors are bad road conditions, alcohol, speeding, undivided roads and riding skills.
This study is actually the one that made more people realize that drivers have trouble noticing motorbikes in traffic, hence the comment many people make that “I just didn’t see it until it was too late.” This is an often-repeated refrain to both the police and insurance companies when dealing with the aftermath of such accidents.
Speaking of insurance companies, this is where the bike rider should definitely contact an experienced motorcycle collision lawyer or Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyer; one who knows how to assess the myriad of details needed in crashes of this nature. While it might seem pointless to hire a lawyer when the insurance company has come up with a nice offer, make that call and talk to an attorney. Insurance companies are not in the business of offering you a fair settlement and your lawyer will tell you that right away.
Know your rights by discussing your case with a competent motorcycle crash lawyer. S/he will put a stop to the insurance company trying to make the accident your fault just because you were riding a motorcycle. The lawyer will also ensure you get fair treatment and a just settlement from the justice system.
Tim Anderson works with Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.
The post Deadly Motorcycle Crashes first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>