November 2014

There is an old maxim that, “What big print giveth the fine print taketh away.” In a case involving a used car sale, our Georgia Supreme Court this week said, “not so fast.”

To make out a claim at common law for fraud, a plaintiff must show not only that he relied upon some misrepresentation, but he must show as well that his reliance was reasonable or justifiable.  In the case of Raysoni v. Payless Auto Deals, LLC, 2014 WL 6090438, decided by the Supreme Court of Georgia on November 17, 2014, the question was whether reliance upon a…

At least once a month for years, we have gotten calls from someone complaining about malfunction of an airbag in a motor vehicle collision. Usually it is a matter of an airbag not deploying in a situation in which it was never designed to deploy.

Most front airbags are designed to deploy in a direct frontal impact, and side air bags are generally designed to deploy in direct side impact. There are variations between models as to whether an oblique angle impact would cause an airbag to deploy, but generally a sideswipe collision will not activate an airbag.

Moreover, most…

As our mornings turn cooler and trees change from green to yellow and orange, memories of the sights, smells and pleasures of autumns past come flooding back.

Memories of sights, colors and smells can stir our emotions and a deep, instinctive level.

When I see trees changing colors and the first frost on a meadow, I go back in time to autumns in the forests and fields of Lookout Mountain where we lived and Shinbone Valley where I went to school as a child.

The smells of new mown grass, burning leaves and hot cider stir memories of playing pickup…

Most folks think of creativity in terms of art and music. But creativity is important to breaking new ground in any field.

Ancient people viewed creativity solely as divine inspiration. That is still as important as ever. But by modern times creativity was viewed as a form of human intelligence that bridges the gap between routine productive talent and the vision to develop something new.

Creativity requires the ability to approach problems with both solid knowledge and a fresh eye, combining old principles in new ways. Creativity can be highly productive if it is accompanied by hard work and perseverance.…