Atlanta Injury Lawyer Blog

$650,000.00 Verdict in DeKalb County, Georgia Against Likely Suspect, GDOT

November 20, 2008 | Robin Frazer Clark

I am tickled to report a verdict this week in DeKalb County, Georgia against the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) in the amount of $650,000.00 for the DOT’s negligence is causing a collision that resulted in a fractured hip and hip replacement of the plaintiff. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving defendant. My readers have known for years now what utterly ridiculous stances the GDOT takes in its litigation, at Georgia taxpayer expense. And this is after they have injured a Georgia citizen!

The plaintiff in the DeKalb County case was the driver of a van that was struck by a DOT truck as the truck crossed the gore on I-20, resulting in a hip replacement. Defendant DOT contended that the truck was stopped in the gore and that the plaintiff drove into the back of it. It is illegal for a car or truck to cross through the gore. Can you believe the silly position the GDOT took in this case, that the plaintiff drove into the back of the DOT truck? The DeKalb County jury saw through this smokescreen and insured justice prevailed for this poor injured Georgia citizen. This case probably could have been settled for well less than the verdict prior to trial…but the GDOT and its insurance carrier, the Department of Administrative Services (DOAS), continue to show its extreme hardheadedness in refusing to admit fault where the DOT is at fault and refusing to try to mitigate the damages and the impact to the pockets of Georgia citizens. What is wrong with the Georgia Department of Transportation?

Once more the GDOT thumbed its nose at the Georgia Rules of the Road, that we all have to follow, and then when the DOT got caught, cried “I didn’t do anything wrong.” Leave it to a good ole DeKalb County jury to set the DOT straight. The jury system is a wonderful thing indeed and the best thing we have to level the playing field against the likes of the Georgia DOT.

United States Supreme Court to Hear Federal Preemption Case Today

November 3, 2008 | Robin Frazer Clark

It might not be readily apparent how a case being argued in the United States Supreme Court regarding the Federal Preemption Doctrine has a tremendous effect on the rights of Georgia citizens, but it does. The United State Supreme Court is hearing arguments today in Levine v. Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and the high Court’s decision has far-reaching implication, even to the point of potentially limiting every Georgian’s right to recover against a drug manufacturer for negligent manufacture and distribution of all kinds of drugs we Georgians have come to believe are safe and therapeutic.

Not so fast I say. The first realization every Georgia citizen must come to is that simply because a drug has been approved by the Federal Drug Administration (the FDA) does NOT mean it’s safe nor does it mean it has been fully and accurately tested. One of the problems is that the FDA is way too close to drug manufacturers, which has resulted in lack of complete arms length transactions. For example, from 1992-2002, the drug companies paid $825 million dollars to the FDA In the Wyeth case, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a drug manufacturer who made a drug called phenergan, which is used to combat nausea. On its label is a small warning that says if the drug was improperly injected it could lead to the onset of gangrene and the necessary amputation of a limb. Now you probably know where this is headed, right? Diana Levine, a professional guitarist, had the drug injected in her IV in her arm, which caused gangrene, which ultimately led to the amputation of her arm. Ms. Levine sued drugmaker Wyeth, claiming that the company had given insufficient warning of the possible severe effects of its product. A Vermont jury awarded her $6.7 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

Ms. Levine says the FDA is protecting the drug companies from lawsuits, rather than protecting consumers from dangerous drugs. “I had no idea what the risks were,” she says of her ordeal with the Wyeth-produced antinausea drug.

Warning for Georgia Parents: Simplicity Bassinets Recalled But Distributor Ignored Recall

October 30, 2008 | Robin Frazer Clark

I want to alert all Georgia parents of infants who may own a Simplicity bassinet. Do not use it any more. These bassinets have been recalled because they may lead to strangulation death of the infant. It has come to light, however, that the distributor of these deadly bassinets, SFCA, Inc., ignored the recall and did not notify bassinet owners of the danger. The Illinois Attorney General has filed suit against SFCA, Inc. for ignoring the recall and subjecting more families to a needless risk of death by using these bassinets. The Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) is considering changing its rules covering crib defects. Congratulations to Attorney General Madigan for showing the courage to go after these manufacturers for putting our children at risk.

I would like to see the Georgia Attorney General, Hon. Therbert Baker, do the same thing and file suit against SFCA, Inc. Until then, check the manufacturer of any bassinet you may have in your house and if it is manufactured by SFCA, Inc., do not continue to use it and return it to SFCA, Inc. Also, you might want to alert the CPSC. Keep your babies safe!

Georgia Consumers’ Alert: Baby Crib Recall

October 22, 2008 | Robin Frazer Clark

I want to pass this very important information to Georgia consumers, particularly parents and grandparents of infants, about a new crib recall. Federal regulators have ordered the recall of nearly 1.6 million cribs following the deaths of two infants. The Consumer Product Safety Commission and crib manufacturer Delta Enterprises announced the recall Monday citing problems with a mechanism known as a ‘spring peg’ as the defect which posed a risk to children. The recall, believed to be one of the largest in history, covers cribs and produced in China, Indonesia and Taiwan between 1995 and 2005.

Please check your crib NOW to see if it was manufactured by this crib maker, Delta Enterprises. If so,take it out of use immediately! Although the name “Delta Enterprises” makes it sound as if it is a U.S. manufacturer, the reality is these cribs were manufactured in China and other countries that simply do not have the same regulations and quality control as U.S. manufacturers. If you have experienced a problem with one of these cribs, please report it to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) right now! Here is a link to reach the CPSC. http://www.cpsc.gov/

Georgia Trial Lawyers Association Height of Excellence

September 26, 2008 | Robin Frazer Clark

Below is an article that appears in today’s Fulton County Daily Report about last week’s Height of Excellence Gala, sponsored by Georgia Trial Lawyers Association in honor of Judge Anthony Alaimo. Judge Alaimo is an incredible American citizen and an amazing citizen of Georgia. We are lucky to have him on our Federal Bench and are lucky simply to have him with us here in Georgia. I hope you’ll get as much pleasure out this reading his speech as I did last week enjoying it in person.

Friday, September 26, 2008

The ‘pinnacle’ of a full career

California Bans Texting While Driving: Georgia Should Follow

September 25, 2008 | Robin Frazer Clark

Well, here we are again. I know I have been harping alot on this hot subject, texting while driving, but I have witnessed too many Georgians being needlessly injured because of a car wreck that happened because one of the drivers was texting while driving. I have personally experienced being cut off by another driver in DeKalb County because he was texting while driving, and it appeared to be a teenager driving mom’s car while he was doing it. I was able to avoid an accident narrowly.

Now, I am happy to see that the State of California has made it illegal to text while you are driving. Amen!! Georgia should be next! There are now plenty of studies that prove a person driving a car while talking on the cell phone is as impaired as a drunk driver. I can imagine that texting while driving, because you are required to be looking down at your cell phone, eyes away from the road, and you are using at least one hand (and I am sure some folks use both hands and steer with their knees) to type out a message, would even be worse than simply talking on the cellphone. Yet our government simply ignores this immense threat on Georgia roads.

You may have seen the news about the horrible commuter train wreck in Los Angeles, California recently. Turns out the conductor of the train was texting while driving the train! The engineer reportedly sent a text message a minute before the devastating crash to a teenage train buff he had recently befriended. Unbelievable! Twenty-five citizens lost their lives because of a text message. The repercussions for these poor families are enormous and tragic. And Georgia citizens are simply lucky something like this has not happened here yet. But it could, if we continue to ignore the threat of texting while driving. Hopefully, the Georgia Legislature in 2009, amidst all of their budget cuts, will take a look at this pressing issue and act.

Georgia Trial Lawyers Association’s Height of Excellence Tonight in Atlanta

September 18, 2008 | Robin Frazer Clark

Trial Lawyers Association names award after Alaimo

Thu, Sep 18, 2008

By ANNA FERGUSON

Should Driving Age in Georgia Be Raised?

September 9, 2008 | Robin Frazer Clark

This is a fair-minded debate about whether the driving age in Georgia should be raised. Today, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announced its position that the driving age should be raised in all states as a safety measure. It is a known fact that car wrecks are the number one leading cause of death among teenagers. The research shows that if the teen driving age were raised, teen deaths in car wrecks would go down. Simple math.

As a parent of a fourteen year who will be driving in a year and the parent of an 11 year old (who thinks she is 15 already), I say “Amen!” I kid my son and his teenage friends all the time asking them if they have read in the newspaper that the Georgia General Assembly has raised the driving age to 18. At first they fall for it, incredulous looks on their faces, then it dawns on them that I am, once again, “pulling their legs.” It’s a fun pasttime. Of course, my attitude now is a far cry from my attitude I had about the issue when I was a 16 year old growing up in rural Kentucky. I grew up surrounded by livestock and crop farms, where many youngsters drove a pick-up truck on and around these various farms as long as it had “FARM TRUCK” emblazoned on it somewhere. “FARM TRUCK” was the secret code to police officers there was no need to stop the driver for underage driving because he was driving the truck with full immunity because it was a “FARM TRUCK!”

Of course, that was also in a town of 1800 people, not a city like Atlanta of 5 million. Big difference!

Warning to Vytorin Users: It May Cause Cancer

September 4, 2008 | Robin Frazer Clark

The editors of a leading medical journal, the New England Journal of Medicine, cautioned Tuesday that, without more data, it’s impossible to rule out a link between the cholesterol-lowering drug Vytorin and cancer. The cancer link surfaced unexpectedly in July in three studies designed to show whether the drug prevents deaths from heart attacks and strokes. Researchers found evidence that patients who took Vytorin appear to have at least a 40% greater risk of dying from cancer than those who took a placebo. The same problem may exist with another drug, Zetia. The warning is clear not simply to brush this aside. At the very least, if you are one of the thousands of Vytorin takers in American or in Georgia, discuss this study with your prescribing physician. There may be other, better, less risky drugs you can take.

Georgia Hospital Death Ratings Not So Good

September 3, 2008 | Robin Frazer Clark

The Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Management have just released a startling study of death rates in our nations’ hospitals and Georgia hospitals didn’t fare so well. Nine Georgia hospitals rated worse than national norms on death rates for pneumonia or heart failure — a higher number than all states but California. The Atlanta Journal and Constitution this morning published a telling chart showing the dismal performance of our Georgia Hospitals. The good news for Georgia citizens is that now, when you may have a choice, you can access this study to help you make a better-informed decision about in which hospital you should have a medical procedure performed. You may access the hospital ratings here. As medical consumers, it’s the first time consumers are able to compare hospital death rates for patients admitted for three conditions: pneumonia, heart failure and heart attack.

This is a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done. Hopefully, one day we Georgians might be able to have available a hospital’s infection rate, which is a secret many Georgia hospitals have been hiding for years. These are numbers the individual hospitals have and know, but don’t discose to the public. It’s obvious to anyone paying attention that hospitals are worried about having to disclose infection rates, because the number would be terrifying to the general public. But if Georgia Consumers want real power in making decision about which Georgia hospitals to go to, we need to know a hospital’s infection rates.