July 2011

On March 2, 2007, at 5:38 AM, a charter bus from Ohio carrying the Bluffton University baseball team to a tournament in Florida went off a confusingly marked HOV exit from I-75 at Northside Drive in Atlanta. When I traveled to Columbus, Ohio in July 2011,  I participated in the mediation that produced the final settlement of all claims arising from that crash.

A total of $25 million was paid to resolve the claims of all occupants of thes, settled in three stages:

  • First,  the insurer for Executive Coach, the bus company, tendered the $5 million policy limit

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Today the Supreme Court of Georgia held, in a 4-3 decision, that notwithstanding a moral obligation to do so, a motel manager has no legal duty to investigate the health of a guest on the request of a family member.

In the case of RASNICK v. KRISHNA HOSPITALITY, INC., a 77 year old man from Texas was staying at a motel in Jesup while on a work assignment in Georgia, and spoke with his wife several times per day. When his wife was unable to contact him in several attempts one evening, she repeatedly asked the motel staff to…

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 and declares that the consumption of alcoholic beverages, rather than the sale or furnishing or serving of such beverages, is the proximate cause of any injury, including death and property damage, inflicted by an intoxicated person upon himself or upon another person,

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It was a bittersweet  holiday weekend for bicycle riders in Georgia.

On Friday, July 1, a new state law went into effect, requiring car and truck drivers to keep at least 3 feet of distance from bicycles when passing them on the road.  Biking clubs across the state are holding group rides over the Fourth of July weekend to raise awareness among motorists.

But on Monday, July 4, in Sandy Springs, a man was riding his bike along with another bicyclist on Roswell Road near Hightower Trail  when he was hit from behind.

This sad coincidence caught my attention…

A truck driver  was pumping fuel into his tractor trailer rig  yesterday at Benton, NY, when the passenger side caught fire. He suffered severe burns to his head, face, neck, chest and arms. The news story caught my eye for these reasons:

  • He was flown to Strong Memorial Hospital at Rochester, NY.  While I am in Atlanta, my daughter attends the Rochester Institute of Technology and has been treated at Strong Memorial.
  • Most of my law practice focuses on tractor trailer wrecks, including representation of truck drivers who are injured.
  • I am all too personally  familiar with the surreal

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Douglas County, Georgia, where I graduated from high school and returned for a few years as a young lawyer, is known as a very conservative venue. However, Douglas Countians do not lack the ability to do the right thing when the facts call for it.

Today’s news includes a report that the State Court of Douglas County awarded $700,000 damages against the owner of a pit bull that mauled an 8 year old neighbor child. Before that incident, the owner had been cited at least 10 times over a four-month period and seriously attacked another neighbor in her driveway.

The…