Month: January 2010

When a car meets an 18-wheeler head on, the results are not pretty. In cases like this, it is critical to know who was at fault for the accident.

Let’s take a look at a real life case example. Picture a big rig barreling down the interstate heading west. On the other side of the highway route, a car is traveling east. The car, for some unknown reason, suddenly veers left of the centerline, causing the semi to swerve to avoid the car. While the intention was there to avoid an accident, in reality, the defensive driving maneuver the trucker took failed. The car was subsequently stuck under the big rig.

It will come as no surprise that the driver of the car was pronounced dead at the scene. An open and active cell phone was found by police lying on what was left of the front seat of the car. The accident also caused an oil and gas spill.

On the surface, it appears that the cause for this crash may have been that the driver of the car was either texting or talking on the cell phone just prior to the fatal collision. If that happens to be the case, and this is subsequently proven by the police, then the family of the deceased car driver will have a difficult time filing a wrongful death lawsuit.

If the car veered left of the centerline because the semi was not in his own lane and the car driver was trying to avoid hitting him, this would be another matter entirely. This is just one of the reasons why it is critical to know what happened to cause accidents like this in the first place.

Generally speaking, if you have any questions about a big rig fatality or severe injury, it’s best to speak to a highly skilled Atlanta personal injury attorney. The attorney will be able to assess the case and also determine where the fault may lie for the accident.

Big rig accidents are difficult cases for everyone involved and the personal injuries of the survivors can be catastrophic. If the car driver had survived in this example and was successful in proving the semi caused the accident, there would have likely been a good chance that a court would award damages for pain and suffering, medical bills, therapy, rehabilitation, and perhaps punitive damages if the negligence on the part of the truck driver was considered to be egregious.

The most important thing in determining liability in an accident is to make sure your attorney is fully aware of all of the details in order to be able to assess the case; start collecting evidence if necessary; gathering police reports; and getting photos of the accident scene, etc. Never underestimate the value of having a good attorney to fight for you if you are the survivor of a big rig accident.

Tim Anderson works with 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.

Just in case you don’t know this, you should if you live in the state of Georgia. Everyone must have car insurance.

If you’re a newbie just arriving in Georgia from another state or out of country, one of the first things you will want to know is that you need car insurance. If you think no one will know whether you have it or not, think again. In 2003, Georgia made an arrangement where the state police have access to the Department of Motor Vehicle Safety database. This information clearly shows the police who has expired insurance or no insurance.

Now you may be thinking that if you happen to be carrying an insurance card and have an accident that this is proof enough. It isn’t, and can’t be used as proof of valid insurance. Unfortunately, having the card could mean the driver is trying to pull a fast one on the police. While the vast majority of car owners would be honest enough to actually “have” the required insurance, there will always be exceptions to the general rule.

Now that you know you “must” have insurance, keep one other thing in mind; the Georgia liability limits. That means you will need $25,000 per person for body injury; $50,000 per accident/occurrence; and $25,000 property damage per incident. This insurance covers crashes where the insurance holder is at fault. In other words, if you have car insurance and you were at fault for an accident, then your insurance pays the freight.

Georgia has mandatory apportionment of liability.  While it is often the case that one person is deemed entirely at fault, there are situations where one side will only pay a portion of the damages due to comparative negligence.  Georgia is not a pure comparative negligence state, as you have to prove that the other side is more than 50% negligent in order to recover anything.  If you are 50% or more at fault, you recover nothing.

What does your insurance cover? The collision portion covers the actual physical damage to the owner’s car. Not to make things any more complex than they already sound, but collision insurance isn’t required under Georgia law. It is, however, mandated by most lending and leasing companies. Where this may cause you a problem is if your car is older than the hills you might not elect to insure it since the coverage does not exceed the value of your beater. For newer model vehicles, you may want to opt for comprehensive coverage.

One other form of insurance you may want to consider is uninsured motorist coverage. This offers you extra protection against damage to your car and passengers caused by uninsured drivers and insured drivers. While some people consider this to be an extra expense they don’t want to incur, consider the expenses you will face if you are involved in a collision with an uninsured motorist. You would be responsible to pay for all the damages because the other person could not. Uninsured motorist coverage, in most cases, may be added to your liability coverage in the event your damages exceed that of the liable party.

Tim Anderson works with 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.

Not a lot of people realize that they have the ability to sue their dentist for dental malpractice. If in doubt about a procedure that caused you harm, speak to a malpractice attorney.

Just about everyone realizes that lawyers generally carry malpractice insurance. However, not a lot of people realize their dentist also carries similar insurance for mistakes that they may make. Medical malpractice is fairly common and in most instances people will know immediately what that refers to when they see or read a news item. One doesn’t often read stories about dental malpractice, but it does happen. If you think your dentist has done something negligently and has caused you serious harm, speak to an experienced malpractice lawyer and find out what your rights are.

Statistically speaking, dental malpractice claims have held relatively steady for the last ten years or so. The one area where dental malpractice claims differ from medical malpractice cases is in the area of damages awarded. In other words, dental malpractice claims are usually smaller. Typically, when harm does occur, it happens due to improper treatment or services for the patient or the dentist failed to spot or correctly diagnose problems.

In many cases, dental injuries in a malpractice case deal with damage to the tongue, jaw, lips or the nerves affecting those areas. There may also be a failure to notice cancer or other diseases of the mouth, wounds caused by botched dental surgery/treatment, or death/injury from improper use of anesthetic.

When you go to a dentist for treatment, diagnosis, dental surgery or even just a check up, you expect them to be professional, properly diagnose any problems you may have, and prescribe the right treatment. Say for instance you have an infected tooth. You would think the dentist would put you on the right antibiotics to treat it before doing any work in your mouth. If something goes wrong here – say the dentist decides to work on your abscessed tooth or gives you the wrong antibiotic – you may have grounds for a dental malpractice suit.

Keep in mind that not everything that goes wrong is grounds for a lawsuit. However, if you suffer a severe injury that may or may not be permanent, speaking to a dental malpractice attorney should be high on your list of things to do. Your attorney will be able to tell you if you do have grounds to pursue a lawsuit or not.

Unfortunately, there have been cases of dental patients who have died as a result of seeing the dentist. Those cases involved improperly administered anesthesia or an infection that raged out of control because it was not properly treated. There are so many other things that have the potential to go wrong, including surgery that causes permanent damage where the patient can no longer eat, talk or swallow properly.

If something like this has happened to you, talk to a qualified attorney and find out what your right are.

Tim Anderson works with 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.

There’s a fairly prevalent myth going around that it is impossible to sue a lawyer. This is inaccurate, as you are able to sue a lawyer for legal malpractice.

If you don’t happen to be that thrilled with the work your attorney did for you, didn’t like the representation, questioned how things were handled and felt you were being misled, you may consider a legal malpractice claim. Of interest is that a claim may also be filed in instances of client-attorney disagreements over fees and in relation to ethical violations by the lawyer. As you can see, there are several alternatives open to you, each of course being a different case, mandating a different way to handle it.

Generally speaking suing an attorney would fall into one or more of three categories. One of those classifications is breach of fiduciary duty. This is a claim that you file if you have a conflict of interest with your lawyer. Keep in mind that this type of claim is only considered if the attorney’s breach harmed you in some way. For instance, you may file a malpractice claim if your attorney misused/mishandled monies while handling your case. If the attorney settled your case for less or misrepresented it and didn’t tell you about it because of their social or financial connections, this could be grounds for professional malpractice as well.

Other actions that your attorney may be sued for include representing a defendant in the same lawsuit, which would obviously make a difference in how your case turned out. If they concealed important information from you, would not talk about settlement offers or made sexual advances, you would also have a good case for malpractice.

If by chance your attorney has run afoul of the conditions and terms of any agreement with you, this may constitute a breach of contract lawsuit. An example of this could be that you get bills that are not in line with the fee agreement you signed.

If you feel that your lawyer has not put out a very good effort on your behalf, isn’t performing up to even the normal standard of skill for a competent attorney of a similar skill level, you may be able to sue your attorney for negligence. There are certain circumstances that must exist before a negligence claim is considered and they include the attorney not following court orders; case deadlines were missed and caused you harm; a case was not filed within the statute of limitations and/or there was no proper preparation for trial.

If you feel that your attorney has not represented you in a professional manner, speak to a lawyer who has experience in handling legal malpractice cases. They will be able to assess your case and determine if there is enough information to proceed to trial.

Tim Anderson works with 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.