ambulanceinice

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Twice recently pedestrians died in predawn darkness on I-285 on the north side of Atlanta. Tragedy for the victims and their families led to massive morning traffic jams for hundreds of thousands of Atlanta area commuter.

On January 22, 2015, there was no clear explanation why a woman was walking on I-285. Several vehicles ran over her body before anyone apparently realized what had happened. That fatal incident remains a mystery.

Then on February 6, 2015, a collision at 4:30 AM led to one driver to get out of his…

STRETCHERNon-emergency medical transport crashes are often unnecessary causes of death and severe injury in Georgia. In a recent incident in Newnan, a Coweta EMS ambulance operated by American Medical Response employees, rolled over while transporting a chest pain patient to Piedmont Newnan Hospital. According to witnesses, the ambulance drove off the left side of the road, causing it to roll over. The patient, Tracy Thomas, 45, did not survive.

Failure of non-emergency medical transport personnel to follow safety rules has been the subject of serious claims in Georgia in recent years. Right next door to Coweta County, in 2013…

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As Georgia faces the prospect of a winter storm this week, we also face the prospect of truck wrecks caused by violations of an important trucking safety rule. Last year, for example, a Georgia DOT spokesman was quoted saying that every major accident in Georgia’s “Snowmageddon 2014” ice storm involved a tractor trailer.

The safety rule throughout the United States is that trucking companies and their drivers are required to exercise “extreme caution” in conditions adversely affecting traction and visibility.

truck on ice Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulation 392.14 which provides that, “Extreme…

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…

As past president of the State Bar of Georgia and a seasoned trial lawyer, I’m impressed by the recent string of jury verdicts in Georgia, two of which exceed $70 million. Several of these were won by lawyers who, like me, have attended Gerry Spence Trial Lawyers College programs and closed door, members-only seminars of the AAJ Trucking Litigation Group.

Some of these verdicts will be compromised or cut in post-judgment motions and appeals, and some will be simply uncollectable. Prudent lawyers know that there is no appeal from a settlement, and big verdicts usually result from someone guessing wrong…

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.…

Over years of representing clients with spinal cord injuries resulting in paraplegia or quadriplegia, I seize upon any new development that offers hope for improving the quality of their lives and function.

For several years I have seen articles about the use of stem cells to mend damaged spinal cords. One of the most promising ideas has been the use of olfactory nerve stem cells from the patient’s own nose.

Now there is a report of this idea moving from animal research to clinical implementation with a human patient. The effect on our representation of paralyzed clients is that we…