Legislation
Category RSS FeedTough on Crime, Smart on Crime
(The following President’s column appeared in the December 2011 issue of the Georgia Bar Journal.)
My first job after law school was as an assistant district attorney in the small town where I had graduated from high school. I was 26 but in blue jeans rather than a suit could have passed for a decade younger. … Continue Reading
Trial preparation – propose stipulation that attorneys can issue deposition subpoenas
My law practice is focused on personal injury, wrongful death and commercial trucking law practice. As president of the State Bar of Georgia, I have many occasions to speak to groups, both in and out of my practice area. The following is excerpted from my presentation — “Trial Preparation: 30 tips in 30 … Continue Reading
A Truck Wreck Lawyer Faces the ‘Truck Wreck’ of the Judicial System After Years of Court Budget Cuts
The following profile article about me was written by Linton Johnson and published in the August 2011 issue of the Georgia Bar Journal. While it briefly touches on my practice as a personal injury and wrongful death trial attorney focused on commercial trucking accidents, the focus is more on background for bar leadership.
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A Truck … Continue Reading
A Lawyer’s Calling
The following was published in the August 2011 issue of the Georgia Bar Journal, as my president’s column. (If you want to see the end notes, go to the online version of the Journal.) It does not deal with my practice as a personal injury and wrongful death trial attorney focused on commercial trucking accidents. … Continue Reading
When drunk bought 12 pack, then killed 6, convenience store accountable under Georgia dram shop law
The Georgia Supreme Court issued a landmark decision today, in FLORES et al. v. EXPREZIT! STORES, holding that a convenience store that sold a 12 pack of beer to a visibly intoxicated customer could be accountable for the injuries and deaths that resulted.
The Georgia dram shop statute, OCGA § 51-1-40, provides:
(a) The General Assembly finds … Continue Reading
Georgia Evidence Code passes after 25 years
Today, after 25 years of labor by countless volunteers on a succession of hard-working bar committees, the new Georgia Evidence Code was passed. Unless I’m in court somewhere, I expect to be present when it is signed into law by Governor Nathan Deal. Appropriately enough, he sponsored an earlier version of the bill in the … Continue Reading
True Constitutional conservatives hold 7th Amendment right to jury trial sacred
I applaud the decision of the Republicans newly in control of the United States House of Representatives to read the entire United States Constitution on the first day of the new Congress. Everyone in government should keep the Constitution firmly in mind.
The commitment of constitutional conservatives’ to our country’s founding principles is widely known. That … Continue Reading
Georgia DOT considers three new intersection designs
Road design is a big factor in preventing auto and truck accidents, personal injury and wrongful deaths in Georgia and around the world. In my practice as a personal injury trial attorney in Atlanta, it is clear to me that prevention is the best approach.
According to an article by Ariel Hart in today’s Atlanta Journal … Continue Reading
“Vision Zero” in Sweden seeks elimination of traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2020
As personal injury and wrongful death trial attorney in Georgia, I have always assumed that highway carnage – auto and truck accidents, injuries and fatalities – were as inevitable as death and taxes. As long as humans are capable of fatal errors, these tragedies would be with us.
But Sweden, where one of my cousins now … Continue Reading
Might the corporate world begin to recognize the problem with mandatory binding arbitration?
For years folks who represent individuals vis-a-vis corporations have bewailed the evils of mandatory binding arbitration procedures being required by consumer and employment contracts.
Buried in the fine print of an employee handbook, health insurance plan, credit card billing insert, or franchise agreement, binding mandatory arbitration clauses eliminate a consumer’s access to the courts, … Continue Reading
