For decades, I have represented the victims of catastrophic car and truck crashes. The most seriously hurt among them, with brain and spinal cord injuries, owed their survival in the days and weeks after injury to treatment in trauma centers and Intensive Care Units (ICU). Only later were they even eligible to benefit from excellent rehabilitation programs such as those at Shepherd and Emory.

Now ICU capacity at Georgia hospitals is virtually exhausted due to treatment of Covid-19 patients, about 97% of whom are unvaccinated. Both the physical capacity of hospitals in terms of ICU

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Ethylene oxide

Sterigenics plants in Smyrna and Covington, Georgia, have long used ethylene oxide in sterilization of medical equipment. The Environmental Protection Agency air assessment from last year found several census tracts around those plants had significantly increased cancer risks due to ethylene oxide. The EPA recently concluded that the gas is dangerous at lower levels than previously believed.

Ethylene oxide is an organic compound with the formula C2H4O. A colorless and flammable gas with a faintly sweet odor, it has many uses in industry but is not safe for household

child carseatEvery summer there are far too many instances of children dying when left in a hot vehicle. One such tragedy involving a child care center without adequate insurance led to a claim against a city government for negligent licensing of the child care center.

Many child care centers in Georgia have no liability insurance because child care centers in Georgia are not required to carry any specific amount of liability insurance. The regulations governing Family Child Care Learning Homes require only “notification of the absence of a liability insurance policy sufficient to protect its clients,” though the amount of

georgia-county-mapWhen younger lawyers ask me for advice on their cases, among my first questions are, “What is the venue?” and “Who is the judge?”   Often the response is, “Uh, I’ll get back to you.”

Facts and law are vitally important. But the identity of the decision makers – judge and jury – are crucial too. While phenomenal verdicts may occur in conservative rural counties in great cases, and the plaintiff will likely recover nothing in a rotten case even in the most generous venue, in average cases the identify of judge and county are crucial. For example, in a fatal

facebook-iphoneMost of us today carry cell phones in our pockets with more processing power than the computers aboard the Apollo moon missions. Frequent news reports illustrate the dangers of thoughtless use of smartphones and social media. It has ensnared politicians and celebrities, sometimes crashing promising careers. This technology has created similar hazards for both plaintiffs and defendants in litigation who are careless about online social media privacy. While we are quick to look for the other side’s vulnerabilities, we must also play defense in protecting our clients from their own electronic blunders.

Many people today, especially younger ones, think

Georgia_State_Patrol_patchThe leadership of the Georgia State Patrol deserves credit for openness in promptly taking disciplinary action and publicly disclosing that a State Trooper’s reckless conduct caused the deaths of two west Georgia  teenagers and injuries to two others last week.

State Trooper Anthony J. Scott, 26, was fired Friday after investigators determined he was driving 91 mph five seconds before a crash that killed Kylie Hope Lindsey, 17, and Isabella Alise Chinchilla, 16, both of whom were back seat passengers and students at South Paulding High School. Front seat occupants Dillon Lewis Wall, 18, and Benjamin Alan Finken, 17, both

route-guidance-system-navigation-satnav-gpsGPS technology is one of the great conveniences of life in the 21st century. When it works right it enables us to find our way through unfamiliar areas with ease.

Other times it can lead us terribly astray.

But at all times we should follow the device directions by entering destination information while safely parked and use the “human override” of common sense is following the driving directions.

Today in Atlanta, we have a tragic example of the importance of keeping those principles in mind.

Police report that King Fareed from North Carolina was focused on his phone’s GPS

There is a new budget proposal pending in the legislature to cut health insurance benefits for school bus drivers in Georgia. I know that state budgets are awfully hard, and that the Governor and his team mean well. No matter what Gov. Deal’s political critics may have said in the campaign, I know the man and know he is a good guy.

The rationale for cutting health insurance for 11,500 school bus drivers and cafeteria workers are part-time employees who work less than 30 hours a week, while other part-time state could not get health insurance benefits. The State Health

For the second time in three weeks, the Governor has declared a “state of emergency” due to winter storms. The second, related to prediction of an impending major ice storm, looks more significant than the first. If predictions of power outages are accurate, you may have to read this on your phone or iPad that you charged up beforehand.

Georgia law defines a “state of emergency” as a “condition declared by the Governor when, in his judgment, the threat or actual occurrence of a disaster, emergency, or energy emergency in any part of the state is of sufficient severity and

Tractor trailer drivers are required to exercise “extreme caution” in snow and ice, including getting off the road when necessary. Their employers are required to make sure they do exercise “extreme caution.” However, I seldom see many who take that seriously. That was driven home in Tuesday’s winter storm.

When Atlanta’s winter storm (#snowjam2014 #snowcalypse2014) hit metro Atlanta on Tuesday, causing an epic icy gridlock, I was taking depositions in Macon on a truck crash wrongful death case. We finally got through to our judge’s office to get an extension of a deadline for completing depositions, then headed back to