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How to get paid fairly for a broken nose in Atlanta, Georgia.

Car and truck accidents, as well as falls, can cause a wide range of injuries, some of which can be particularly severe. One area of the body that is often affected in these types of accidents is the nose. Nasal trauma can vary in severity, from minor bruises and cuts to severe fractures and permanent impairment.

The mechanism of nasal injury typically involves a sudden impact to the face, which can occur in a number of ways. For example, in a car or truck accident, the nose can…

A car crash can be one of the most traumatic events most people are likely to experience. It is an unexpected event that can be instantly life-changing for you and your family. There are 10 very important things that you need to do after a wreck in order to protect you, your family, and the compensation relief that you deserve.

1)                     Stay at the scene – The shock and trauma of being in an accident can cause you to not think clearly. However, it is very important that you stay at the scene of the accident and that you…

If you wait for the two year statute of limitations to make a claim for serious personal injury or wrongful death against a state agency in Georgia, you will be out of luck.

The Georgia Tort Claims Act waives sovereign immunity up to  $1 million per person and $3 million per occurrence, subject to a long list of limitations that are beyond the scope of this post. Suit must be against the state agency rather than the individual state employee or official.

Where the Georgia Tort Claims Act applies, written notice of a claim must be provided within 12 months…

Cruise ships are like floating cities with thousands of passengers on board. Usually a lot more fun than the typical workaday city, but probably no less likely to involve accidents and injuries.

Cruise ship lines cannot guarantee that no one will get hurt aboard, but they do have a responsibility to prevent dangerous conditions on board that can cause serious injury to its passengers. When a cruise ship accident occurs because of poor maintenance, incompetent or  improperly trained employees, inadequate safety equipment or emergency precautions, the cruise  line can be held accountable.

Cruise ship tickets typically have a provision that…

Today, after 25 years of labor by countless volunteers on a succession of hard-working bar committees, the new Georgia Evidence Code was passed.  Unless I’m in court somewhere, I expect to be present when it is signed into law by Governor Nathan Deal. Appropriately enough, he sponsored an earlier version of the bill in the State Senate in 1990.

The new Evidence Code replaces a hodgepodge of case law largely derived from the Code of 1863. It is based upon the Federal Rules of Evidence which were enacted in 1975 and have been adopted in some form in 42 states including all states contiguous to Georgia.

The politics of this has been fascinating and totally inappropriate for me to detail in a blog post.

Kudos to House Judiciary Committee Chair Wendell Willard and Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Bill Hamrick, a heavy majority in both houses of the legislature, and current State Bar President Lester Tate, who carried the ball over the goal line despite a pair of last minute "poison pill" amendments. Georgia State Law School professor Paul Milich, who has served many years as Reporter of the Evidence Study Committee, has done much of the heavy lifting and deserves credit. I would be remiss to overlook the roles played by Ray Persons and Tom Byrne as chairs of the Evidence Study Committee and by nearly every State Bar president since the late 1980s.

Of course there are those of us who are happy to practice law with or without the new evidence code, and some who late in their careers don’t want to learn anything new. However, it is based upon the Federal Rules of Evidence which nearly all lawyers under 60 studied in law school. With its incorporation of several features unique to Georgia law, I think it is an improvement upon both the hodgepodge of Georgia evidence law and the Federal Rules of Evidence. All in all, it is a net gain for the justice system in Georgia.

Click here for Professor Milich’s summary of the new Evidence Code.