Atlanta Injury Lawyer Blog

Recovering Damages after a Biking Accident

January 3, 2021 | Robin Frazer Clark

Between the push for citizens of the world to be more environmentally conscious and the limited options for recreation during the COVID-19 pandemic, cycling has almost never been more popular. Drivers of cars and trucks must pay extra close attention now to more bicycle riders than usual. After all, bicycles are considered vehicles in most contexts of Georgia law, so drivers are responsible for sharing the road with cyclists—and vice versa.

Of course, an accident between a car and bicycle is completely different than an accident between two cars. Cyclists have much less infrastructural protection, for one, meaning that injuries sustained on a bicycle that collided with a car have a good chance of being catastrophic. As a result, many drivers who hit cyclists panic and quickly drive away from the scene.

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage

What to Know About Ride-Sharing Accidents in Georgia

December 20, 2020 | Robin Frazer Clark

Gone are the days of standing perilously close to a busy city street and hailing a yellow taxi to take you to some other location uptown or downtown. Now, you can “hail” a cab from the comfort of your own home and convenience of your smartphone. The two most popular applications for ride-sharing services are Uber and Lyft, and each app handles millions of transactions each day.

With so much traffic (vehicular and digital) flowing through these apps, auto accidents associated with the apps are bound to happen. In a typical fender-bender, the at-fault driver typically has to pay up through his or her insurance carrier—usually a fairly straightforward process. What happens, though, when a driver for one of these ride-sharing companies (classified as an independent contractor) is involved in a serious car wreck? The fallout is fairly complicated, but we lay out below what you should expect.

What Happens if you are Injured by a Ride-Sharing Driver?

A Loch Ness Monster Spotting: Qualified Immunity Denied to Texas Correctional Officers

December 7, 2020 | Robin Frazer Clark

I was checking the newly released opinions from the United States Supreme Court and Taylor v. Riojas (11/2/2020) caught my eye. I’m not sure why. I must have seen “qualified immunity” somewhere in the summary. Taylor v. Riojas was one of the bunch of qualified immunity cases coming up at the same time before the Supreme Court and on which there was much speculation over whether the Supreme Court might overturn the qualified immunity doctrine. “Qualified Immunity” is a judicially-created doctrine that gives police officers and correctional officers the benefit of the doubt when someone under their control has suffered injury. This Judge-made doctrine shields an officer from suit when she/he makes a decision that, even if constitutionally deficient, reasonably misapprehends the law governing the circumstances she/her confronted. Excuse the pun, but it is a get-out-of-jail-free card to officers.

I call the Taylor v. Riojas opinion a Loch Ness Monster because it denied correctional officers in Texas the usual qualified immunity. Thus, like the Loch Ness Monster, you have heard of cases in which (hypothetically) qualified immunity was denied but you have never actually seen one. Well, now you have. The United States Supreme Court reversed the 5th Circuit and remanded the case for trial. Before we take stock of that, you need to know the facts of the case. I am quoting directly from the 2 and 1/4 page opinion, perhaps the shortest in Supreme Court history.

“Petitioner Trent Taylor is an inmate in the custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Taylor alleges that, for six full days in September 2013, correctional officers confined him in a pair of shockingly unsanitary cells. The first cell was covered, nearly floor to ceiling, in “ ‘massive amounts’ of feces”: all over the floor, the ceiling, the window, the walls, and even “ ‘packed inside the water faucet.’ ” Taylor v. Stevens, 946 F.3d 211, 218 (CA5 2019). Fearing that his food and water would be contaminated, Taylor did not eat or drink for nearly four days. Correctional officers then moved Taylor to a second, frigidly cold cell, which was equipped with only a clogged drain in the floor to dispose of bodily wastes. Taylor held his bladder for over 24 hours, but he eventually (and involuntarily) relieved himself, causing the drain to overflow and raw sewage to spill across the floor. Because the cell lacked a bunk, and because Taylor was confined without clothing, he was left to sleep naked in sewage.

Remembering a Great Jurist and a Dear Man: Justice George Carley

November 30, 2020 | Robin Frazer Clark

We received some sad news this Thanksgiving weekend about a dear friend. Justice George Carley had died.

Many tributes are now coming in about Justice Carley. One, from Judge William Ray, (U.S.D.C.,Northern District of Georgia) touched me and let me know we had similar relationships with Justice Carley. The Georgia Supreme Court, from which he retired, also paid tribute to him and I urge you to watch it. These tributes reminded me of my relationship with Justice Carley that I now share with you in memory of him.

Justice Carley was a proud “Double Dawg,” meaning he graduated from both undergraduate school and law school at The University of Georgia, often referred to as just “The University,” as if there were no others. He is the only person to have served as both Presiding Judge and Chief Judge of the Georgia Court of Appeals, and the Presiding Judge and Chief Judge of the Supreme Court of Georgia.

See You In Court

November 3, 2020 | Robin Frazer Clark

Friends:

I am happy to share with you that I have recently begun co-hosting a podcast called “See You In Court.” “See You In Court” is a podcast sponsored by the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation, on which I sit as a Board Member. My co-host is Lester Tate, partner and owner of the law firm Akin & Tate in Cartersville, Georgia. Lester is also, as I am, a Past President of the State Bar of Georgia and is also a Board Member of the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation.

“See You In Court” podcast is a joint project of the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation and the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Literature, Media and Communication. The Georgia Civil Justice System is a nonprofit foundation whose mission is to educate the public about the Georgia Civil Justice System and its value to the public in enforcing rights and holding negligent actors accountable for injuries they have caused. The Georgia Institute of Technology School of Literature, Media and Communication defines new models of intellectual inquiry and practice that bring diverse humanistic perspectives to bear on technological invention and innovation. The School’s mission is to lead the region, the nation, and the world in researching and teaching the ways the humanities shape and are shaped by science and technology. Understanding technologies in their cultural contexts is fundamental to invention and innovation. The School’s diverse faculty and students assess and inform technological and scientific change by creating, analyzing, and critiquing a broad range of media forms and cultural practices.

4 Possible Defenses in a Personal Injury Case

October 20, 2020 | Robin Frazer Clark

Through all the pain, turmoil, stress, and financial distress you go through after suffering a serious personal injury due to someone else’s negligence, you would think that getting compensation for your troubles is easy. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. Defendants in personal injury cases will try anything (within reason) to either avoid paying you, the plaintiff, or, at the very least, decrease the amount they have to pay you. This blog will cover four common ways defendants may contest their liability in a personal injury case.

You didn’t take actions to mitigate the damage to your health and wellbeing. The defendant, more or less, admits that their negligence or actions caused harm to you. However, this defense is activated when the defendant claims that you didn’t take reasonable actions to mitigate, or lessen, your injuries. For instance, you might encounter this defense if you waited a day or two to get medical attention after a serious car accident.
You assumed the risks involved (assumption of risk). To successfully use this defense in a personal injury case, the defendant must convince the judge or jury of three things:

After a Serious Car Accident, What Can You Recover?

September 20, 2020 | Robin Frazer Clark

Most car accidents result in either minor injuries or no injuries at all to the drivers and passengers involved. This information is useless to individuals who, unfortunately, are involved in serious crashes that require urgent medical care. Even worse, more than 100 people in the U.S. die every day due to negligence on the road.

If everything goes as it should after an accident, the insurance company of the at-fault party will pay out the amount that victims (or their families) are entitled to. Sometimes, though, if the insurance company isn’t being fair, litigation may be necessary. If you have to pursue justice in court, you need to be aware of the types of damages (compensation) you may receive.

Economic Damages

Should Your Child’s University Take Steps To Make Their Bunk Bed Safe?

September 17, 2020 | Robin Frazer Clark

Should your child’s university or college take steps to make sure his or her bunk bed is safe? Either by lowering the upper bed or, if that cannot be done, by providing railings to keep the child from rolling out of the lofted bed? This not a trick question. It may seem like common sense to you. The simple answer should be an easy “yes.” Right? But as Coach Lee Corso says on “College GameDay,” “Not so fast!”

College students’ being injured by falling out of their bunk beds is, apparently, a fairly common and significant problem. You may remember the story of Clark Jacobs, a Georgia Tech student who fell out of his lofted bed in his fraternity house. He fell 7 feet from his bed to the hard floor of his room. He was diagnosed with a fractured skull and a brain bleed which then led to a stroke. Five years later and hundreds of hours of therapy, including in-patient rehabilitation at Shepherd’s Spinal Center, Clark graduated from Georgia Tech this summer.

The life-changing episode motivated Clark’s parents so much to try to make dorm rooms safe for students they started the non-profit Rails Against The Danger, whose mission is to educate the public about the danger of lofted beds in dorm rooms and to let students they have the right to demand the university make the bed safe by lowering it or providing safety bed rails. It is estimated there are approximately 71,000 cases of loft bed/bunk bed-related injuries annually among children and young adults up to 21 years of age. Let that sink in. Some of these falls result in the death of the student. For example, at Miami University in Ohio, a 20 year old student died from a 6 foot fall from his bed in his fraternity. For a risk with potential outcomes so catastrophic, it is truly difficult to understand why universities just don’t simply provide bedrails and ladders with every bunk bed. As Clark Jacobs’s mother points out: “It is ridiculous to take a chance when the danger is so easily avoided. Many campus bunk beds don’t even have ladders, requiring the students to climb up the bed frame to get into bed,” she said.

Ignition Switch Design Can Lead to Carbon Monoxide Death

September 1, 2020 | Robin Frazer Clark

You may have heard of the recent death of a Milton high school teacher due to carbon monoxide poisoning while she was in her town home. At least seven people in the connected town homes were injured, some seriously, by this carbon monoxide poisoning episode. It was so tragic and unexpected. The situation is still under investigation, but officials say they believe the exposure at the town homes was caused by an unoccupied vehicle left accidentally running in one of the town home’s garages. Investigators have since determined someone left their car running in their garage, sending the carbon monoxide through the adjoining homes.

Although this tragedy invoked the call for more people to have carbon monoxide detectors in their homes, I was surprised it didn’t also create an outcry that automobile manufacturers change their faulty design of ignition buttons. This is referred to as “keyless ignitions.” It has been well known for some time now that ignition buttons like the ones shown above have a faulty design that doesn’t allow the driver to know easily whether they have successfully turned off their car. There have been numerous instances of people dying from carbon monoxide poisoning in their homes due to their car still running in their garage that is attached to their home. It is no secret that these ignition “buttons” are defective in design and utilization.

The photographs above are from a rental car I drove recently. The only visible difference from these two buttons is that one has the very small “OFF” that appears to be illuminated in yellow and the other one has a very small “RUN” that appears to be illuminated in yellow. The one on the right is when the car engine is running. The one on the left is when the car engine is off. Do you see how hard it is to tell the difference? Sometimes these engines are so quiet the driver cannot tell whether he or she has correctly pressed the button all the way in to turn off the car. And because these cars have “fobs” now rather than actual keys, you may be carrying the fob in your pocket or in your purse and you may be still close enough to the car even when you are in your home that the car “thinks” the fob is still in the car and it will continue to run. When the garage is attached to the house, carbon monoxide fumes can quickly and easily travel into the home, sickening anyone inside. This is even more likely and foreseeable when the garage is attached to a town home, as it was in the recent tragedy in Milton. Not only did the carbon monoxide travel into the first town home where the running car was garaged, it continued to leak into the attached town homes, sickening others.

5 Steps to Take After a Car Accident

August 20, 2020 | Robin Frazer Clark

In the hazy aftermath of a car accident, it can be difficult to determine how to behave and what steps to take. Besides getting to safety, you also have to worry about preserving your eventual claim with your insurance company. This blog will cover some of the important details you need to know if you are involved in a serious auto accident in Georgia.

Call the authorities and get necessary medical attention. This is crucial even if you haven’t suffered any visible injuries. Many health problems, like traumatic brain injuries and other internal wounds, are often not immediately visible. Besides taking care of your health and wellbeing, getting medical care for any injuries is important for your eventual claim (documenting medical expenses). Generally, it is also against the law to leave the scene of an accident.

Take pictures, interview witnesses, gather (and preserve) evidence. Unless it is unsafe to do so, take out your cell phone and take a copious amount of pictures at the scene. Be sure to get closeups of the damage to your car and any visible injuries. When emergency vehicles get to the scene, they will clean everything up fairly quickly, so time is of the essence. Get contact information for anyone you think may have witnessed the accident; you don’t necessarily have to put them on the spot and interrogate them about what they saw. It can be useful to get a binder or folder so all documents pertinent to the accident can be in one place.