Spinal cord injuries (SCI) are among the most devastating physical injuries one can suffer. We have had SCI clients whose first reaction was to wish for death rather than life with paralysis.

In our law practice over several decades, we have represented numerous spinal cord injury survivors. Most had benefited from rehabilitation services at Shepherd Center or Emory Rehabilitation Hospital, both of which are near us in Atlanta. All these clients were injured in motor vehicle crashes or falls. One client who had been a high-powered government executive before an accident made him quadriplegic initially wanted to just turn his

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that was long used in insulation, fireproofing, and a variety of industrial applications. Thousands of years ago, it was used for candlewicks, mummy wrappings, table cloths. By the 19th century, its use exploded because  resistance to chemicals, heat, water and electricity made it an excellent insulator for the steam engines, turbines, boilers, ovens and electrical generators. Asbestos mining was done all over the world, often employing child labor to extract the mineral.

As early as ancient Roman times, people began to notice lung ailments among slaves who wove asbestos fibers into cloth.

The minimum liability insurance required for large trucks in interstate commerce was set at $750,000 forty years ago in 1981 at the beginning of the Reagan Administration. Everything else has gotten more expensive in the past forty years. Nothing costs the same since then–not the truck, the repairs, the gas, or the tolls, so it is completely unrealistic for the truckers to have the same insurance as they did forty years ago.

If adjusted for the Consumer Price Index, it would be $2,203,415.84 today. People who are injured by trucking negligence need to pay their medical bills so trucking safety

Ken Shigley
Shigley on board of Institute for Continuing Legal Education

Kenneth L. Shigley , an Atlanta personal injury attorney, continues on the board of the Institute for Continuing Legal Education(ICLE), on which he has served since 2008. Mr. Shigley previously served as Chairman of the Board. He is also a former president of the State Bar of Georgia and received the “Traditions of Excellence” Award from the Bar in 2019.

The Georgia Institute of Continuing Legal Education is a not-for-profit educational service of the State Bar of Georgia and is responsible for providing continuing legal education for

History is replete with episodes of epidemics  that devastated cities, nations, and civilizations. Bubonic plague, cholera, smallpox and influenza have killed untold hundreds of millions in waves of devastation over the millennia. Now we see the approach of a Category 5 hurricane of a pandemic called COVID-19, praying that it will not be as bad as predicted.

The worst effect will the many deaths and serious but not fatal illnesses. Prediction vary wildly of how many Americans will be infected, how many of those will become ill, and how many will die. But it is becoming clear that for at

On June 7, 2019, Ken Shigley was presented the Tradition of Excellence Award by the State Bar of Georgia General Practice and Trial Section. It is a lifetime achievement award given annually to four lawyers and judges with long experience. Many  prior recipients of the award were more illustrious and deserving. Mr. Shigley’s acceptance remarks follow:


The Calling to Become a Virtuous Lawyer

Good morning and thank you. Those of us receiving this award may have one thing in common. We have outlived our severest critics as well as many dear friends and loved ones.

Forty-two years ago yesterday, Judge

The Georgia Supreme Court ruled on 11/7/2016 that outgoing text messages found in a cell phone are admissible in evidence as admissions of the person who sent them. However, incoming text messages are inadmissible hearsay, though their admission in evidence was “harmless” under the circumstances of the case. Glispie v. State, decided November 7, 2016.

This ruling arose in the context of the criminal prosecution of an alleged drug dealer. That would have been a great interest in my past life as a prosecutor, though of course cell phones had not been invented when I was sending criminals to

Few people recall that my undergraduate alma mater, Furman University in South Carolina, once had a law school. In the depths of the Great Depression, Furman closed its law school in 1932.  A North Carolina school that was well-funded by a tobacco magnate, bought the library of Furman’s law school. It was rolled into Duke University Law School, which is now rated number 11 among U.S. law schools.

In the past two decades a boom in enrollments led to a glut in the law school market. Some of this was fueled by easy availability of government-guaranteed student loans.

Moving from

No words can ever be adequate when a young child is killed. For the child’s parents, grandparents and other family members, it is like having a hole punched in the heart. That wound never really heals. For parents, in the words of Willie Nelson, it’s something you don’t get over but you get through.  The tasks of mourning after death of a family member are all too familiar.

This week in Paulding County, GA, there was a car crash in which a 20-year-old driver was distracted by dropping his cell phone and water bottle. Leaning over to retrieve


A fiery crash on I-95 at Richmond Hill near Savannah in Chatham County on July 26th caused the wrongful death of a woman and sent her husband to a specialized burn unit in Augusta. It appears all too typical of other truck accident cases we have handled throughout Georgia, including those in the Savannah area and along I-95 and I-16.

According to news reports, as a southbound tractor trailer approached the exit the driver moved from the center lane to the right lane. Approaching a line of cars slowed in traffic, the truck driver then tried to get