Drinking and driving is ridiculously stupid, but drinking and driving on a motorcycle is even riskier.

You would think that someone who was drunk and could not walk straight, let alone see properly, would not go ahead and hop on his motorcycle, invite a passenger to travel with him and then take off figuring nothing could possibly happen to him. Yet this biker did just that and caused his passenger severe, life-altering injuries, including brain shearing, a dislocated shoulder and a broken femur.

As it turned out, the biker in this reported case, had a lengthy rap sheet when it came to having his name on the police blotter. At 32 years old, the man had already been charged by police, just a month prior to this wreck, with three counts of DUI involving crashes that resulted in the death or injury of another and aggravated assault with a vehicle.

Apparently, the man was heading east on the interstate at about 10 p.m. when his bike hit a pile of debris that he had not seen. He lost control of the motorcycle and as it started to slide sideways toward the ditch and flip, the passenger, a 26-year-old woman, was thrown off the bike. EMS crews got her to the nearest hospital for treatment, where doctors said she was lucky she had been wearing a helmet, or the brain injury she sustained could have been worse.

Evidently the man’s charges for this accident will also involve driving without proper vehicle registration, driving without insurance and driving with an expired license. One of the questions involved here is whether or not the woman was aware the biker did not have insurance or an expired license and still chose to ride with him. She certainly chose to ride with him drunk.

Many juries are less than enthusiastic about plaintiffs filing lawsuits against drunk drivers if they voluntarily rode with them, despite being aware they were inebriated. In this instance though, there are more than enough other charges and evidence to prove the biker was reckless with his behavior, and that it is likely the woman would not have a clue about his license issues.

If you have ever been in an accident like this one and want to know what your rights are, call an experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer. You need to know where you stand, how you may recover compensation for your injuries and what to expect should you proceed to settlement or the courts.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit http://www.ozcomert.com.

Tim Anderson writes for <a href=”http://www.ozcomert.com/”>Atlanta Personal Injury</a> attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about <a href=”http://www.ozcomert.com/”>Atlanta personal injury lawyer</a>, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.

The strangest things happen when you least expect them. This accident caused people to shake their heads at the reckless driving involved.

Many people love riding a motorcycle because they are less expensive to operate than a car, and you feel the freedom of the road even more. But in this instance, a motorcyclist was out for a ride, and saw a speeding Volkswagen that lost control and hit a power pole.

If that is not bad enough, when the car hit the pole it snapped in two and the power lines landed in the street – but not before they slapped the biker across the neck and chest, causing him to lose control of his motorcycle.

Interestingly enough, the police on the scene of this reported accident decided to treat each accident as being separate. The biker might just want to pursue a case with a personal injury lawyer.

If the car was not speeding, then the accident would likely not have happened, unless the driver was texting, talking on his cell phone or fiddling with something on his dashboard. Given those various scenarios, it is entirely possible that the car driver was distracted while driving and the biker’s severe injuries would have been prevented.

The police report would give an Atlanta personal injury lawyer details on what was found at the scene of the accident. This could be a live cell phone with an open connection to someone or a partially completed text message. And, if booze was involved, this would be a whole other issue. Nonetheless, the plaintiff motorcyclist has the right to file a personal injury lawsuit to recover costs for his medical and other expenses as a result of the accident.

Have you been in a similar accident and do not know what to do? Call an experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer who knows what it is like to recover from an accident and what injuries may affect you in the long-term.

Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit http://www.ozcomert.com.

Tim Anderson writes for <a href=”http://www.ozcomert.com/”>Atlanta Personal Injury</a> attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about <a href=”http://www.ozcomert.com/”>Atlanta personal injury lawyer</a>, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.

The debate over whether to wear a helmet on a motorcycle never ends. Some want wind-tousled hair, others desire safety. It does not matter who you talk to as everyone has an opinion about motorcycle helmets. They save lives. They do not save lives. Largely, the question boils down to what kind of helmet the biker was wearing and the nature of the accident, because honestly there will be some accidents that leave a biker dead, helmet or not. The most important thing to remember though is that there are solid statistics that show helmets do reduce the severity of brain trauma if they are the safety rated and approved ones.

This great helmet debate has been around just about as long as motorbikes have been, although some states do not have helmet laws or age based helmet laws. Michigan, for example, just passed a law that would make it illegal for bikers under the age of 21 to ride without a helmet. The ramifications of that will certainly make an impact in ERs across the state.

What is at the root of this debate? On one side are the bikers who see being forced to wear a helmet as a personal affront, treating it as their right to strike a blow against insurance companies and medical groups who both insist that repealing the helmet law would result in more fatalities. In actual fact, the number of accidents may remain the same, but the outcome of those accidents may vary according to the safety orientation of the biker.

Closer to the truth is a nugget of biker wisdom that says helmets or not, bikers are still dying and getting hurt and the only way to really not meet the Grim Reaper is to not get into an accident. That is a bit of a “duh” statement, as it is a well-known fact that if a motorcycle gets into a crash with another vehicle, the biker is not going to fare well in the outcome, helmet or not.

This is not to say that helmets do not reduce the severity of brain trauma, because they do. It just means, accidents will still happen, helmets or not. People will still die, helmets or not. However, the severity of the head injuries may be reduced, thus offering a biker a second chance. Often that is worth gold to the surviving biker.

Nationally there were more than 2,000 bikers still alive at the end of the year thanks to a helmet. On the other hand, in states where the motorcycle helmet law was repealed entirely (Texas, Arizona, Florida, Kentucky and Louisiana,), bikers deaths rose.

Will medical costs rise as a result of a repealed helmet law? Will insurance companies pay out more money as a result of more crashes involving bikers without helmets? These are interesting questions to take into consideration. Perhaps the true key to this conundrum is slowing down, taking care to avoid accidents and be alert at all times. Unfortunately, not everyone drives safely.

Have you been in a motorcycle accident and do not know what your rights are? Do not wait to find out. Get on the phone and contact a skilled Atlanta personal injury lawyer. You can ask as many questions as you like in the first consultation. It is the best thing you could possibly do for your peace of mind.

Tim Anderson writes for <a href=”http://www.ozcomert.com/”>Atlanta Personal Injury</a> attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about <a href=”http://www.ozcomert.com/”>Atlanta personal injury lawyer</a>, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.

It is a sad statistic that
motorcycle accidents usually end in death. If they don’t, the
alternative is not always the best result either.

There are normally two
outcomes after a motorcycle accident – death or life-altering,
catastrophic injuries.  For the fortunate few who walk away from a
bike crash, they are very lucky. Certainly, there is the odd case
where the biker sustains injuries they can and do recover from, but
they are never quite the same again. It is hard to imagine any other
kind of result when something as unprotected as a motorcycle ends up
tangling with another vehicle. For instance, take the case of Johnee
B (names have been changed to protect the victims).

Johnee B was cruising on a
Friday night when the unthinkable did happen. He slammed into the
side of a car in the middle of an intersection. He made it to the
hospital alive, but did not leave their care. He died the next day.
The two people in the car were rushed to hospital with injuries. It
is hard to imagine a biker hitting a car so hard that it injured
those inside, but it shows the seriousness of these collisions.

Police at the scene of the
accident were able to interview eyewitnesses to the crash who
indicated the biker was speeding and had zipped through two stop
signs without looking or even slowing down. Was this the deliberate
choice of the biker or was the throttle stuck open? The answer to
this question is important, not only for the dead biker’s family
but for the two occupants in the car he hit. It highlights the
question of negligence (of the biker) for the injuries of the two in
the car or the negligence of the manufacturer in the case of a stuck
throttle (wrongful death filed by the family).

Or, consider the case of
Clifton A (name has been changed to protect the victim) who was
heading into the city to visit his girlfriend. He was going at
highway speed when an elderly man turned right in front of him from a
side road. He had no place else to go but right into the side post of
the car on the passenger’s side.  He hit so hard, he sustained
severe traumatic brain injury, lost a part of his face, suffered a
ruptured spleen, and damage to his liver and kidney, not to mention
collapsed lungs, broken ribs and a crushed pelvis. His parents made
it to the hospital in time to say goodbye. Was there negligence here?
Yes, definitely when the man turned in front of oncoming traffic.

Would the biker’s family
have grounds to file a wrongful death lawsuit? Yes. Even though the
man may not have seen the biker, there was a duty incumbent on him to
drive with the safety of all others in mind.  That did not happen and
the biker died.

Have you been in a similar
situation to either of these cases? Do not waste time trying to
figure out if you have a case or whether or not you are entitled to
compensation for injuries – call an experienced Atlanta personal
injury attorney. Find out what your rights are, find out if you do
have a case and find out if you would be entitled to recover
compensation. It is a phone call that is well worth making.

Tim Anderson writes for
Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm
specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents,
and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury
lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit http://www.ozcomert.com.

Following too close on the highway is obviously a terrible idea. In this case, both truckers involved in this crash were charged.

“These two rigs were on the highway, one of them carrying a heavy load of steel beams and the other carrying an unknown cargo, when the unthinkable happened. The trucker hauling steel beams lost control of his rig on snow covered roads. He skidded sideways across the highway and promptly jackknifed,” said Stephen M. Ozcomert, an injury lawyer in Atlanta, Georgia, who practices personal injury, accidents and malpractice law.

The truck crashed, and the semi ended up blocking all westbound lanes on the highway – not an ideal position to be in, to say the least. Then, to compound the problem, the second rig happened along, and although the trucker supposedly tried evasive maneuvers, he was not able to avoid ramming into the jackknifed rig. The force of the impact snapped the restraints on the steel beam load and they tumbled off the truck, scattering across the westbound lanes of the highway.

When emergency rescue crews got there, they helped the truckers get out of the cab sections of their units. “It was quite amazing that neither of them sustained much more than minor injuries. Although having said that, minor injuries often have a way of turning into something worse later,” Ozcomert said.

The accident scene was quickly populated with other rescue equipment whose task it was to remove the disabled trucks and collect the scattered steel beams off the highway. Thankfully, because it was a weekend, highway traffic was lighter than usual and there were no further mishaps or crashes.

Since both truckers were saying it was the other guy’s fault, the police brought in an accident reconstructionist, and as a result of that investigation, both truckers were issued with citations: failing to operate within a single lane and following too closely.

“On the surface, this 18-wheeler accident, although messy, did not seem to have harmed anyone very much. However, should one of the truckers, over time, develop a serious mobility problem as a result of a spinal cord injury or whiplash, etc, one of the options open to them to recover any costs for medical treatment is to file a personal injury lawsuit,” Ozcomert said.

Not every case results in a lawsuit, but in cases such as this one, where the potential exists for a silent injury to manifest itself later, there is good reason to talk to a lawyer. In this case, the truckers did not adjust their speed to take the ice and snow covered roads into consideration. Because of that negligence, there was an accident.

“Trucking accidents are not just two trucks or a truck and another vehicle colliding. They don’t just involve the trucker and the other driver. There are a whole host of unseen participants in the accident, ranging from the trucker’s employer to insurance companies. This is one of the major reasons why trucking accidents are so complex; the number of defendants and their primary wish to avoid liability for the accident and to avoid or diminish any payouts,” Ozcomert said.

In accidents involving big rigs, an Atlanta injury lawyer needs immediate access to the accident scene to begin collecting evidence. They will want to lay their hands on the black box and its hidden treasure of information, police records, driving records, company records, hiring records and log books. And thus begins a case that may take a long while to get to court. However, for justice to be done, a competent Atlanta injury lawyer will painstakingly put together all the information, to show how the accident happened and that it caused the plaintiff’s injuries. For this reason, the immediacy of justice, do not wait to speak to an Atlanta injury lawyer to find out what options are available to recover compensation for injuries.

To learn more visit http://www.ozcomert.com.

A biker is killed, thanks to the inattention of another driver. He never stood a chance.

Bikers face the very real consideration that every time they go out for a ride, they may never come home. There are too many things that can happen out on the road; things that may be fatal. That’s what happened in this case.

The police report indicated that a black Nissan Versa 4-door sedan was heading south on the highway in the second lane from the left in an area where there were four southbound lanes. In the next lane, which would be lane number three, there was a Kawasaki motorcycle. This means that the biker was in the lane to the right of the Nissan and therefore just about parallel to the car’s passenger door.

Suddenly, the Nissan went to change lanes and hit the biker on the left side. The impact sent the bike, and the 48-year-old rider, straight into an exit ramp area, where the bike slammed into an interchange exit sign. There were motorcycle parts and debris all over the road when the first responders arrived. While the biker was alive at the time, he died later in hospital; a victim of his injuries.

In the Nissan driver’s favor, he stayed at the scene of the accident and the police feel there were no drugs or alcohol involved. This is not to say that there may not have been something else that caused the 61-year-old driver to veer into the biker; for instance, driving while distracted or a mechanical failure involving the steering wheel or tires.

What caused the accident will certainly be under investigation, until the police get a good sense of what happened that deadly day. In the meantime, the biker’s family will likely want to talk to a personal injury lawyer about filing a wrongful death lawsuit.

If this accident had happened in Georgia, the family would most likely speak to a seasoned Atlanta personal injury lawyer; someone with significant experience dealing with motorcycle accidents. They know all about drivers who claim they did not see the victim. An Atlanta personal injury lawyer also has the skills and knowledge to garner the required evidence and deal with the insurance companies.

When it comes to wrongful death actions, the lawyer will guide the family through the process with sensitivity and explain to them what they can expect when their case does go to court. These lawsuits are never easy, but if the family has any hope of moving forward, they may need financial compensation to do so.

Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.

The nursing home in this case had a long history of providing poor treatment to its residents. The outcome was the death of patient.

The family in this case chose to file a wrongful death lawsuit to set the record straight and to try and improve things for others at the nursing home where their relative died. Shockingly, the nursing home in question had an established track record of being on a federal watch list as a special focus facility. This was not for good reasons. It was because it had an awful record and needed to be watched carefully. Unfortunately, that did not help the victim in this story.

The elderly gentleman in this nursing home developed bedsores and a variety of other skin conditions that led to necrotic tissue, breathing difficulties, osteomyelitis and ulcers. Any one of these medical conditions on their own would have been bad enough, but cumulatively, they caused the man’s death. This should not have happened, as these conditions are highly preventable with proper care. Rather than getting that care, the man got substandard and lackluster nursing from staff that led to his demise.

The man’s wife filed a wrongful death lawsuit and ultimately named not just the nursing home staff and management, but the owners of the facility, who turned a blind eye to what was happening there and did nothing to stop the rampant abuse. The really sad part about this story is that there are more nursing homes just like this one across the country. One may even be just down the road from where you live. One of them may even be where your loved one is currently living.

Do you know what is going on in the nursing home where your family member is living? If you do not know, it is time you made it your business to find out what is going on there, before it may be too late and you are dealing with the death of your relative. There is no way that our seniors should be allowed to live in conditions like that because those tasked with their care fail to keep them safe.

If you have suspicions about what is going on in a local nursing home, or you have lost a loved family member due to neglect and abuse, speak to a compassionate and skilled Atlanta injury lawyer. If you want justice for the suffering of your loved one, an Atlanta injury lawyer will guide you through the process of filing a wrongful death lawsuit.

While many lawsuits such as this tend to take time to make their way through the courts, if the suit acts as a comeuppance to the owners and staff at the nursing home and helps others still residing there, you have accomplished something to be proud of in memory of your lost family member.

Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.

No one could figure out why this fatal motorcycle accident happened. The biker swerved off the road and hit a ditch.

“Even though the biker in this fatality was alive when emergency response crews got to him, he died within minutes after reaching hospital,” said Stephen M. Ozcomert, an injury lawyer in Atlanta, Georgia who practices personal injury, accidents and malpractice law. At the scene, police and accident reconstructionists were trying to piece together how the accident happened.

The police had trouble finding anything that could definitely provide a reason as to why the biker went off the road. They know he lost control of the motorcycle, but not why he lost control. In fact, this case has far more questions than it has answers. Some of those questions need to be answered in order to determine if the biker’s family can file a wrongful death lawsuit.

“For instance, what condition was the road in at the time of the accident? Was there a deadly pothole the county had not fixed? Did another driver run the biker off the road and then leave the scene? Did the bike have a defective part, such as an incorrectly installed tire or wobbly suspension?” Ozcomert asked.

If there was a defective part involved in this deadly wreck, the maker of the part may be held accountable. If someone installed that part improperly, they may also be held responsible. If the road was in disrepair and that caused the accident to happen, the county responsible for looking after the roads may be held liable for their negligence in not fixing the road.

“The key here,” Ozcomert said,” is that negligence is present and if there is negligence, the family may file a wrongful death claim asking for compensation for a variety of things, such as lost future wages, medical expenses, funeral and burial expenses, etc.” It is the job of a highly experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer to fully advise any client facing a similar situation what to expect should they file a claim and it proceeds to court.

“If you want justice, compensation and closure, call my office for a free consultation and we can discuss what happens in situations like this,” Ozcomert said.

Call your best friends in the legal industry after a fatal Orange County motorcycle accident. Call 866-971-2345. The call is free. The advice may be priceless.

To learn more visit http://www.ozcomert.com.

Riding a bike is cool. Dumping that bike, laying it down or losing control means spinal cord and other injuries.

Let’s face it, for those who ride a motorcycle, it is what they want to do and they are not going to stop. It is their choice to do what they want with their lives. Unfortunately, they often don’t have a choice over what happens to their lives if they are involved in a collision. For those that survive, they may have to deal with spinal cord injury; something that will be with them for the rest of their lives. Call it a life-altering event that never gets better.

There is some good news on the horizon for those who do suffer from spinal cord injury as a result of a wreck. It appears that just recently a drug in development to treat Alzheimer’s may be effective in re-growing ends of injured nerves and alleviates pain and paralysis. This latest breaking news may turn the world of ER medicine on its head and be a real boon for bikers.

The drug was actually designed to fight a protein that builds up in the brains of those with Alzheimer’s and the exciting discovery is that it appears to make cut or crushed nerve endings grow back faster. You have to know that would be great for anyone involved in a motorcycle or other vehicular crash, who sustained spinal cord injuries. The drug has a daunting name and is referred to as “b-Site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme 1,” or BACE1.

It is just good science to anticipate that a major potential breakthrough like this one will be hugely important to people with nerve injuries and that could include those with diseases ranging from diabetic neuropathy to motorcycle accidents. The potential is actually quite stunning when you stop to think about it. Modern science is making tracks where no one has gone before and if the results translate from mice to men with as much success, patients needing this type of therapy will benefit greatly.

What typically happens with things such as a spinal cord injury is that the area around the nerves and the tissues disintegrate, before the nerves get a chance to heal. This means it quashes the chances of the nerve being able to re-grow. The faster a nerve regenerates, the better it is for the patient. With some luck, further tests will prove this new drug may have a significant potential for others, in addition to Alzheimer’s patients.

Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.

It is not rocket science to figure out that bikers will suffer horrendous injuries or death, if they are involved in a wreck. The lack of protection is the main reason.

“If you’ve been in a motorcycle accident and actually walked away, albeit in rough shape, don’t think twice about hiring an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with experience to help you get compensation for your injuries. You have rights and those rights need to be protected. Most of all, you have the right to claim for compensation for your injuries, more so if your injuries were catastrophic and your life will never be the same again,” said Stephen M. Ozcomert, an injury lawyer in Atlanta, Georgia, who practices personal injury, accidents and malpractice law.

Not all personal injury lawyers specialize in or even handle motorcycle accidents, and this is why anyone needing assistance to file a personal injury lawsuit needs to make sure their choice of lawyer can handle this type of case.

“Typically, litigation of this nature is complex, full of twists and turns and based largely of the evidence remaining at the scene of the crash. The parties to the suit may be legion and involve an insurance company or two, a manufacturer, an after parts supplier, a city, town or municipality and more than one driver. In other words, a complex cast of characters that may bear various levels of responsibility for the accident causing the injuries,” Ozcomert said.

Without a doubt, every person, agency or company named in a personal injury lawsuit will have a full slate of lawyers at the table; all of them wanting to mitigate, eliminate or diminish a claim. The last thing in the world they want is for the employer to have to fork out any compensation for their negligence or their employee’s negligence. Insurance companies want to stay in business and the only way they can do that is to keep the payout on claims down or to not pay out at all.

“Every motorcycle accident is different and all crash sites need to be investigated. Injuries are never the same, the way the accident happened is different and who is involved is different as well. We know this and know how to build a winning case for justice for you, including using experts to testify for you about your injuries, their severity and your recovery time. This all goes to the amount of compensation you may be awarded by the jury,” Ozcomert said.

The average person does not have the ability or resources to go up against an insurance company in court. This is why people need personal injury lawyers with experience, compassion and the attitude of a pit bull who is determined to get justice for their client.

To learn more visit http://www.ozcomert.com.