July 2005

july 26 2005 fatal wreck on I-285.jpg
At least one person was killed Wednesday afternoon, July 26th, when four tractor trailers, a utility-style truck and two passenger vehicles collided on I-285 in Cobb County, shutting northbound lanes for seven hours and sparking an inferno. The cause of the crash and names of trucking companies and victims were not immediately available. See coverage in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, WSB TV, and WXIA TV.
The drivers and their vehicles were later identified:
65-year-old Jean Hardnett of Atlanta died at the scene. Hardnett was driving a 2003 blue Chevrolet Tahoe.
A 1997 brown Mack semi tractor/trailer was driven by 43-year-old Gregory Garrison of Buford.
A 1999 white Freightliner semi tractor-trailer was driven by 22-year-old Brent Sauer of Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was treated and released from Emory Hospital.
A 2004 maroon Western Star semi tractor-trailer was driven by 31-year-old Mark McKay of Huntington, W. Va. He was transported to Grady Hospital for treatment.
A 2004 maroon Freightliner semi tractor-trailer was driven by 30-year-old Joseph Henson of Calhoun.
A 2003 Ford F-550 utility truck was driven by 40-year-old Hugh Ruphard Martin Jr. of Gainesville, Ga.
A 1997 white Freightliner semi tractor-trailer was driven by 43-year-old Grady Longino of Mableton.
A semi tractor-trailer that was broken down and parked on the emergency shoulder caught fire along with others as a result of the crash.
Investigators said they expect to file charges in the fatality crash and asked anyone with information to call 770-499-3987.

It has been a very rainy July in Georgia. All over the state we have seen news coverage of flooding in places that never flooded before. Countless Georgians have seen enormous flood damage to their homes and businesses, and living outside what was normally considered a flood zone, they probably did not have flood insurance.
Why? Look at what has been happening upstream. Unfortunately, too many developers and the local governments which are supposed to regulate them have not learned how to develop land without damaging downhill/downstream neighbors.
For more than a hundred years in Georgia, folks damaged by such a “nuisance” have had the right to recover not just “special” (out of pocket) damages, but also damages for the “loss of use and enjoyment” of their property. The measure of such damages is the enlightened conscience of a fair and impartial jury. What’s the value of being forced out of your home, as your home and all your worldly possessions drowned in nasty flood water?
The common excuse is “act of God”, e.g., ‘these hurricanes are doing it’. Sometimes that is true. But rain — sometimes very heavy rain — is foreseeable. When there is flooding where no flooding has been before, and uphill/upstream woods & pastures have been converted to rooftops, paving and lawns, there is no doubt what has caused the flooding. An expert + aerial photos proves the cause, and the developer has no defense.
Sadly, despite the fact local governments are supposed to regulate development and protect their own existing taxpayers who already live there, many local governments do not protect their citizens against this abuse. Too often, local governments are under the control of the development community. EPD can’t do the job. It has been starved of funds and restricted for decades, and the DNR Board is largely controlled by the development community.
In many such instances, an expert aided by aerial photos can prove the case against an upstream developer who creates a “nuisance” that needlessly exposes downstream neighbors to flood risks. If flooded neighborhoods band together to seek recovery, they can prevail.

This year the Georgia General Assembly adopted a $350,000 cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases. Noneconomic damages include physical and mental pain and suffering, permanent impairment, intangible value of life in a wrongful death case, etc. Today the Supreme Court of Wisconsin released a decision holding a similar Wisconsin statute unconstitutional, as there is no objectively rational basis for the cap. The full text of the decison appears below. Key quotes:
“Based on the available evidence, we cannot conclude that a $350,000 cap on noneconomic damages is rationally related to the objective of ensuring quality health care by creating an environment that health care providers are likely to move into, or less likely to move out of, in Wisconsin. The available evidence indicates that health care providers do not decide to practice in a particular state based on the state’s cap on noneconomic damages.”
“The evidence does not suggest that a $350,000 cap on noneconomic damages is rationally related to the objective of ensuring quality health care by preventing doctors from practicing defensive medicine. We agree with the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office’s finding that evidence of the effects of defensive medicine was ‘weak or inconclusive.’”
“The court must presume that the legislature’s judgment was sound and look for support for the legislative act. But the court cannot accept rationales so broad and speculative that they justify any enactment. ‘[W]hile the connection between means and ends need not be precise, it, at least, must have some objective basis.’”
The rationale used by the Wisconsin Supreme Court would appear fully applicable in Georgia. We have some strong, principled Supreme Court justices in Georgia. Whether a majority of them will have the political courage to make such a forthright and sensible decision remains to be seen. But since Governor Perdue’s House floor leader made an impassioned speech about the unconstitutionality of the cap, maybe we shouldn’t expect the worst even from Gov. Perdue’s recent appointee to the Supreme Court.

A developer of Global Positioning System (GPS) software has developed a time-tracking system that would let truckers use a cell phone to log their Hours of Service. However, the FMCSA requires tracking systems for HOS purposes to be connected to the truck’s engine. Xora, a Mountain View, Calif.-based developer of wireless technology software, has requested a waiver. According to data on Xora’s Web site, some carriers are interested in using such a system to let drivers go “paperless” as an alternative to Qualcomm or black boxes. Xora spokesmen say it would be a simpler solution for truckers, since more than 90 percent of them use cell phones already. The deadline for the 30-day comment period on the waiver request was July 8. DOT officials are now considering the comments before making a decision.

A thoughtful article in RedNova fairly explores the complexity of medical economics that the tort reform advocates in the legislature often overlooked. One quote from an Atlanta physician:
“My problem with [Georgia’s tort reform] is doctors have been pitted against lawyers, when it’s really a case of insurance companies against patients. If anything, doctors should be teaming up with the lawyers to fight insurance companies. There are plenty of examples of doctors who think they’re being screwed by a health care insurance company when it comes to claims, but when a malpractice insurance company raises rates, it’s basically the patients’ and the lawyers’ fault. Sure, I do know there are plenty of frivolous lawsuits, but there must be a better way of keeping them out of the system, something better than a blanket rule to prevent patients who are severely injured from receiving fair compensation.”

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has launched a Spanish language web site. With a shortage of truck drivers, young Hispanics a rapidly growing portion of the work force, and Mexican truckers coming into the US under NAFTA rules, it makes sense. See article and web site. By law, truck drivers must be able to speak English in order to earn a commercial driver’s license. However, many Hispanics who speak English indicate they are more comfortable reading in Spanish.
Globalization affects everything in the economy. See Thomas Friedman’s book, The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, which I read over the weekend. If industry could figure out how to outsource truck driving to India or China, it would. I guess I need to get back to the long-deferred project of learning Spanish.

As often as I call attention to news stories of horrible crashes caused by the negligence of trucking companies and their drivers, I must point out that they are not always at fault.
At 2 AM today, July 5th, a tank truck driver was shot in the head with a bottle rocket by one of a gang of juveniles on Donald Hollowell Parkway (formerly Bankhead Highway) in southwest Atlanta. Others in the gang apparently threw bricks and chunks of concrete at the truck. The truck, carrying 7500 gallons of diesel fuel, flipped over and began leaking. The truck driver has serious face and head injuries. Police evacuated nearby apartments. See news story. While he lay injured in his overturned truck, these thugs broke the truck windows, pulled him out, beat and robbed him. He required seven hours of brain surgery, and apparently has a long road to recovery.
I am too familiar with the mean streets in the area where this happened due to work on a negligent security / carjacking & murder case a few years ago. Having examined criminal incident reports for a single convenience store in the area and interviewed police officers, I have warned my family members to never get off I-285 at any exit in that vicinity, even in daytime.
Given the usual performance of the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, the savage animals who attacked the trucker will probably be on the street long before their victim gets out of the hospital. I could go on a riff about men who sire children but don’t raise them, leaving it to welfare moms to raise fatherless sons and daughters in crack-infested public housing projects, but that’s a subject for another forum.

On I-4 in Tampa, a tractor trailer crossed the median of I-4 and killed an occupant of an oncoming vehicle. The news story does not tell the reason the trucker crossed the median. Investigation should include possible violations of Federal Motor Carriers Safety Regulations related to fatigue , possibly related to hours of service violations, alcohol, drugs, and equipment issues, etc.

When an Illinois mom pulled her minivan off on the shoulder of I-24 to attend to a colicky baby, a trucker from Tennessee drifted out of the traffic lanes and stuck the minivan. Two siblings, aged 11 years and 7 weeks, were killed. The mom and two other children were injured. The truck driver was charged with improper lane usage.
The news article says nothing about why the trucker left the roadway and slammed into the family’s minivan. He was charged with improper lane usage, and blood and urine samples were taken. Investigation should include possible violations of Federal Motor Carriers Safety Regulations related to fatigue , possibly related to hours of service violations, alcohol, drugs, and equipment issues, etc.