Atlanta Injury Law Blog

As an Atlanta trucking accident and wrongful death attorney living in Sandy Springs, I was saddened a couple of weeks ago to hear that a woman had been killed when she was struck by a tractor trailer a couple of exits up from my home, near the high school from which my son graduated.

Rosario Velez, 44, was making a phone call from her minivan stopped in the I-285 emergency lane  at Riverside Drive when she was struck by an 18-wheeler. Police reported that the trucker crossed over into the emergency lane to strike her vehicle.

Today, Sandy Springs police arrested the truck driver, Joseph Leon Golden, 43, of El Paso, Texas. He has been charged with  second-degree vehicular homicide and a lane violation, and is being held at the Fulton County Jail on $5,500 bond.

As a trial attorney handling catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases in Atlanta, I continue to see how jurors are able to separate the wheat from the chaff and do substantial justice in serious cases.  Frivolous and trivial cases, by contrast, don't carry much weight with jurors.

This week in the State Court of Fulton County, a jury returned a wrongful death verdict against a drunk driver who killed a young mother, in the amount of $5,830,000 ($5,115,000 for the value of life and $715,000 for her  suffering before death).

Since the nineteenth century, under Georgia law the measure of damages for wrongful death has been the full value of the life of the deceased. This is consistent with our prevailing respect for the sanctity of human life. 

The economic component of the value of the life includes a projection of lifetime income and benefits, with no deduction for living expenses or income taxes, value of services, etc.).   This figure is be reduced to present value under Georgia wrongful death law, often based on the testimony of an economist or accountant.

The intangible aspect of value of the life includes factors such as the enjoyment of the experience of living and relationships with loved ones. In the case of the death of a young parent, the jury may consider the value to the mother of being around to raise and nurture her children and to grow old with her husband.

The full value of the life is determined only by the enlightened conscience of an impartial jury based on the evidence presented. Under Georgia law, there is no arbitrary formula or cap on the value of a human life. 

The decedent's husband, parents, siblings, etc., testified about various aspects of the value of her wonderful life. My colleagues Charles McAleer and Nelson Tyrone did a fine job of putting it all together.

As a personal injury and wrongful death trial attorney in Atlanta, Georgia, I see a lot of the bad things that happen to good people.

But sometimes we see some good news.

Georgia's fatal traffic wrecks declined from  1,729 in 2005 to 1,507 in 2008. The rate of Georgia road fatalities per miles traveled decreased 4 percent between 2005 and 2007, the most recent statistics her agency has. In the same period, seat-belt use increased nearly 9 percent, making Georgia's usage the highest in the Southeast at 89 percent.

There are several possible reasons for the improvement:

• less driving due to higher fuel prices in 2008
• less driving due to the decline of the economy
• increased use of seatbelts
• improved safety features of cars and roads

Let's hope that the fatality rate does not just back up when the recession finally ends.  No matter how long or deep, all recessions do eventually end. Even the recession after the fall of the Roman Empire eventually ended -- in about 500 years.

In my work as a catastrophic injury trial lawyer in Atlanta, Georgia, I have often worked with clients who have lost a loved one in a sudden traumatic event.  To see a video of me talking about wrongful death case, click here.

In working with grieving survivors, we must be sensitive to the stages of the grief process.  Elizabeth Kubler-Ross defined five stages of grief, while others break it out into seven stages.  Of course, the sequence is not the same for everyone, as the stages overlap, some people skip over some stages, others get stuck in a stage, and others keep looping back.

Generally, the stages of grief according to include:

1. Shock stage: Initial paralysis at hearing the bad news.

2. Denial stage: Trying to avoid the inevitable.

3. Anger stage: Frustrated outpouring of bottled-up emotion.

4. Bargaining stage: Seeking in vain for a way out.

5. Depression stage: Final realization of the inevitable.

6. Testing stage: Seeking realistic solutions.

7. Acceptance stage: Finally finding the way forward.

I want to make it clear that I am not a psychologist or a mental health counselor.  I'm a trial lawyer. While I understand some of this stuff, my role is that of the gladiator, not the pastor or counselor. 

When we represent people who are necessarily dealing with grief, we sympathize. But we may suggest that clients seek professional grief counseling from a psychologist or pastoral counselor. I am on the board of an excellent non-profit counseling center in Atlanta, but that is not the only one to which we make referrals.