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On a warm October afternoon two years ago, wearing one of the yarmulkes that Jewish funeral directors provide for non-Jewish attendees, I helped shovel red Georgia dirt into the open grave of an old client and friend. As I did so, I pondered the unanswered question whether long-term side effects of her food poisoning a quarter century earlier had contributed to her death after years of internal organ illnesses.

A recent decision of the Georgia Supreme Court on what is required to get a food poisoning case to a jury brought that grim saga back to mind.

In Patterson v.

A chain reaction crash involving four big rig tractor trailers on I-285 near Camp Creek Parkway in south Fulton County, GA, killed a woman in a passenger car on June 19, 2018.

According to the Georgia State Patrol, A tractor-trailer was traveling northbound when it struck three other big rigs and the rear of a car, pushing the car underneath another tractor-trailer.

News photos showed that at least one truck’s cab was badly crushed and the roof of the passenger car was caved in.

In addition to the one fatality, five others were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. It…

Georgia State FlagOur home state of Georgia has been ranked #1 in business climate, according to Site Selection magazine’s annual ranking of states’ attractiveness to corporate facility investors. The selection criteria included a survey of corporate site selectors, the states’ competitiveness, qualified projects so far in 2013 on a per capita basis and state tax burdens on new and mature firms.

Georgia  is now more economically competitive than states such as Texas that have enacted draconian measures to block access of injured people to their court systems.   Georgia has also become more attractive to businesses than North Carolina  and Tennessee…

BUI - Georgia cracks down on boating under the influence
Georgia cracks down on boating under the influence

Every summer thousands of metro Atlanta residents take to the surrounding lakes in boats. And every summer we see fresh cases of boating accidents, often collisions between watercraft in which someone is drinking alcohol, often at night, killing or injuring people involved. Boating under the influence is a major hazard on Georgia lakes.

Last July on Lake Lanier, a fishing boat collided with a pontoon boat at night, immediately causing the deaths of two young brothers.The operator of the fishing boat failed a field sobriety test and refused…

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…

Advocates of tort reform often call for “loser pays” legislation. Georgia already has five different “loser pays” rules. In earlier posts I have discussed OCGA § 9-11-68, enacted as part of tort reform legislation in 2005, which includes both the offer of judgment / offer of settlement rule and the frivolous claims and defenses rule.

O.C.G.A. § 9-15-14, enacted in 1986, provides for a motion for award of fees and expenses against a party that had asserted a claim or defense “that lacked substantial justification or that the action, or any part thereof, was interposed for delay or harassment, or…

We hear talk of another round of “tort reform” legislation including a “loser pays” rule. But some of the folks talking about it may not realize that Georgia already has five different “loser pays” rules.

One of the five forms of “loser pays” rules in Georgia is in O.C.G.A. § 9-11-68. Passed as part of the 2005 tort reform legislation, it provides for an award of attorney fees and expenses against a party that refuses to accept a settlement  offer and at trial does not improve upon the rejected offer by at least 25%. See Smith v. Baptiste, 287…

Bankruptcy bad for personal injury plaintiffsPeople who have suffered a serious personal injury, and families that have lost the breadwinner due to wrongful death, may be  tempted to file for protection of a Bankruptcy Court. However, we  warn clients that it is generally a very bad idea. Why is that?

Upon filing of a petition for bankruptcy, control of the personal injury action passes to the bankruptcy trustee for benefit of creditors of the injury victim. 11 U.S.C.A. § 541(a)(1).

Failure to list an injury claim as an asset in a bankruptcy may result in the injury claim being barred under the equitable doctrine of…

Year in and year out, most lawyers handling back injury cases see a lot of herniated discs and fractured vertebra.  A less common and for many lawyers poorly understood back injury is syringomyelia.

Syringomyelia is a condition in which a cyst or cavity forms within the spinal cord. While it may be congenital or caused by illness, when there are no symptoms and then it immediately shows up on an MRI after a truck folds up the rear of the person’s car, there is a good chance it is caused by trauma. Motor vehicle collisions are the most common traumatic cause of syringomyelia.

This cavity or cyst, called a syrinx, expands and elongates over time, destroying the center of the cord. Since the spinal cord connects the brain to the nerves in the extremities, this damage may result in pain, weakness, and stiffness in the back, shoulders, arms or legs. Other symptoms may include headaches and loss of the ability to feel extremes of hot or cold, especially in the hands and disruption in body temperature. SM may also adversely affect sweating, sexual function and bladder and bowel control. In extreme cases it may lead to paralysis.

Conservative treatment may involve multiple pain medications. In some patients it may be necessary to drain the syrinx, which can be accomplished using a catheter, drainage tubes, and valves. Surgery is usually recommended for syringomyelia patients, though the rate of success for surgery is not as high as with, for example, ruptured intervetebral discs.  However, surgery is only recommended when the condition is severe enough, and doctors may choose to defer surgery as long as appears safe.

I’ve been in St. Louis for the past couple of days serving on the faculty of the first national continuing legal education program sponsored by the new Association of Interstate Trucking Lawyers of America.  As usual, I’ve learned more than I’ve taught.  After all, if I can give everyone one new idea, but 20 other speakers give me one new idea each, it’s well worth the trip. This new organization of trial lawyers from coast to coast specializing in trucking litigation is an immeasurably valuable resource.