Tag: Atlanta personal injury lawyer

In most accidents, someone is at fault. The hard part is figuring out who that is in some cases.

“It’s one thing to be in an accident but quite another when you then have to argue with someone else over ‘who’ was at fault in the first place. I see this a great deal in auto accidents and motorcycle collisions,” said Stephen M. Ozcomert who handles personal injury cases, accidents, and malpractice law in Atlanta, Georgia.

In some cases, it will be painfully evident who caused the accident; in others, it may take a long time before the facts come to light to apportion blame. And yes, there are certainly some cases where both parties are to blame. No two accidents are ever alike, despite the fact they may look alike on the surface. “There’s something that a lot of people don’t realize about accidents. It’s not the police who determine who is at fault; it’s the insurance company after you file a claim. They use police information to decide who is at fault,” explained Ozcomert.

Many accidents involve just two vehicles; others are multi-vehicle chain collisions and every party involved in that would need to file their own separate claims. Once the claims hit the insurance company, it’s time to figure out fault and start assessing the damages. In most instances, fault is calculated by percentages and the negligence of the driver(s).

“There are four things used to figure out negligence: driver’s duties, the cause of the accident, breaches in the driver’s duties and the negligence of the driver(s). Sounds rather complicated, doesn’t it? Interestingly enough, every insurance company has their own way of arriving at a final fault percentage to assign to drivers,” Ozcomert remarked.

One really clear sign that someone was at fault is if one driver, or both of them, were breaking the rules while driving. Despite that method of determining fault, just because one driver was clearly in the wrong doesn’t mean the other driver was paying attention and if they had been driving defensively, could have avoided the accident or mitigated damages. Needless to say cases like that, where two drivers are ostensibly at fault, are nightmares for opposing insurance companies to sort out.
“If you throw DUI into this mix, that’s a problem as well. Witness statements may not be of much use, which leaves the insurance company relying on the police report – if one is filed. Don’t expect action on your claim to happen overnight, as it usually takes weeks or months. If you haven’t spoken to an experienced attorney about your accident, you might want to think about doing that quickly. Having a lawyer on your side usually speeds things up,” added Ozcomert. It’s always a smart move to find out what your rights are when it comes to auto accidents.

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

A slip and fall may cause far more than just bruises and embarrassment. Falling may cause traumatic brain injury.

We’ve likely all done this: slipped on something and taken what we laughingly refer to as a “prat fall.” We may have gotten up off the floor and been just fine, aside from bruised ego and some cuts and scrapes. Not everyone is that lucky though. Some slip and fall accidents end up with serious consequences, such as traumatic brain injury.

Consider the case of the woman shopping at her local grocery store where they had a garden section just outside the main doors. She wanted some flowers for her garden and as she was walking along one of the outside aisles, covered with linoleum, she slipped in an unseen puddle, fell and struck her head on the floor. The floor under the linoleum is concrete. She was knocked unconscious and by the time she came to in the hospital, she was told she had a serious concussion.

Where do things go from here? Generally speaking, she may be able to battle her way through her injury and come out the other side still mostly functioning well enough to live her life. On the other end of the spectrum, she may not be able to live the life she had prior to her fall because her brain doesn’t function like it used to anymore. Does she get damages from the store for leaving the water on a linoleum floor and not cleaning it up? Chances are she does, and they may be substantial, depending on the extent of her injuries.

It’s not “just” that the store left the puddle in the middle of the floor and it caused an accident that is at issue here. The main point is that the store, being a property owner, is responsible for keeping their premises safe for those who do business there. In other words they are responsible for making sure people “do not” fall and injure themselves.

The thing to remember when it comes to slip and falls is that embarrassment isn’t the only injury that may hurt. There may be bumps, bruises, concussion, coma, broken bones, ripped muscles, sprained joints, internal injuries and in some cases, death. Any one of these injuries can take a long time to recover from and cost thousands in medical expenses; expenses which may include not just the doctor’s bills and medications, but ongoing therapy, tests, surgery and rehabilitation. Sadly, some of the injuries, while treatable to a certain extent, may not be curable, meaning the person is facing a long-term disability for life.

If you’ve slipped and fallen in a public place and are struggling with injuries, speak to a personal injury lawyer about what your options are in recovering compensation for your medical costs and pain and suffering.

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.

When servicemen are killed in the U.S. in car crashes, it’s hard to accept. They survived Iraq only to come home and wind up dead.

“This case was really hard for the family,” said Stephen Ozcomert an Atlanta personal injury attorney. “The 21-year-old Marine hadn’t been home all that long when he and his wife were hit head-on by a wrong way driver,” he explained.

The wrong way driver was a 71-year-old man who was heading east in the westbound lane where the Marine and his family were driving. They met head-on. When EMS crews responded to this accident call, they immediately transported the young Marine, his wife and the other driver to the nearest hospital for treatment. Unfortunately, the Marine died at the hospital and his wife was flown to another hospital to be stabilized. The driver of the other car was also stabilized at the hospital.

“No one is sure why the 71-year-old man driving the Chevy Silverado pickup truck was driving the wrong way on the highway. Eyewitnesses only recall seeing the head-on crash, but not what the driver was doing prior to the crash. There will be a full investigation into this crash to determine why the man was some place he should not have been,” added Ozcomert, a veteran auto accident attorney.

On the surface, it’s fairly obvious that the elderly man was at fault for driving the wrong way. Perhaps all that really matters now is that the police are able to find out why. “Was the gentleman driving while distracted? Was he using a cell phone at the time? Was he not wearing glasses as prescribed in order to drive? Was he suffering from dementia and didn’t realize where he was? All those things are relevant in terms of a wrongful death lawsuit,” Ozcomert explained.

When the Marine’s wife is able to contact an attorney, it’s fairly certain she will be asking questions about filing a lawsuit based on the facts as they stand and any further information that turns up as a result of the police investigation. Even if charges are laid, a civil action (personal injury wrongful death lawsuit) may still be filed.

“If you find yourself in a situation like this one, or any other kind of auto accident that results in serious injuries or a fatality, get to a competent personal injury lawyer as soon as you can. It’s important to start an action as soon as possible before the evidence is either destroyed, removed or altered. Time is critical in cases like this and to get justice, whether that may be through a settlement or a jury verdict, the case needs to move forward quickly,” added Ozcomert.

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

Unfortunately, over the last few years, the number of nursing malpractice cases has been increasing. This is not good news.

Evidently, nursing malpractice statistics have started to increase sharply over the last five years or so. The evidence of this is provided by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, whose figures reveal that registered nurses are now, more than ever, being held accountable for malpractice and negligence. The types of errors they are being held accountable for include medication errors, documentation errors and failure to assess or intervene.

It may be helpful to understand just what negligence actually means on the part of a medical professional from the point of view of an Atlanta personal injury attorney. A medical professional may be a doctor, EMT, RN, LPN, dentist, physiotherapist, radiation technician or anesthetist, etc. Negligence means they fail to perform a medical duty or obligation according to the “normal” standard of care. In many cases, nurses are also present when patients are injured mentally or physically.

In looking for an explanation for the drastic increase in nurse malpractice cases, one only has to look at the current nursing shortage in the US. Those that are working are overworked, overloaded and overwhelmed. They often don’t have enough rest time to enable them to stay on the ball; something that is the result of longer shifts. It’s a no-brainer that lack of sleep makes a person inattentive and easily distracted, and this may cause harm to patients.

Other causes of nursing malpractice relate to under qualification. There are a fair number of nurses who didn’t finish the full nursing education program and some don’t even have the proper training. It would follow that in those cases, medical malpractice may happen. Nurses are vitally important to the care and recovery of patients in the hospital or other medical settings. If malpractice happens, it is significant and may cause serious injury or death.

Those who have been the victim of nurse malpractice may be able to file a claim for compensation for pain and suffering, medical expenses and other things such as lost wages and benefits. In order to find out if you do qualify to file a medical malpractice case, speak to a competent Atlanta personal injury lawyer. If a death resulted from the malpractice, as a family member you may be able to file a wrongful death suit and claim for loss of companionship, loss of support, and funeral and burial expenses – to name a few.

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.

Generally speaking, products are safety tested before they hit the marketplace. Now and then, something goes wrong.

“While it’s true that most products are safety tested before they are put on the market, there are cases where something goes wrong – either intentionally or unintentionally. When that happens, consumers may be at risk for serious injuries or death. Nowhere is this more critical than when it comes to products for babies and children,” remarked Stephen M. Ozcomert who handles personal injury cases, accidents, and malpractice law in Atlanta, Georgia.

“In many cases of product recalls, you might see the news release saying that there have been no reported injuries at the time of the recall and that the company was voluntarily recalling the product. That ‘may’ happen in rare cases, but frankly, most product recalls are product recalls because someone was hurt, and in reality, a product has to hurt someone before the maker recalls it,” observed Ozcomert.

Lately, there have been a whole lot of products made for children that have been recalled ranging from Hannah Montana toxic cadmium jewelry to wicker trunks with hinges that fall suddenly and strangle children. The world’s a very unsafe place to live and it’s become common place for parents to have to “vet” their children’s toys for safety.

Some things you might want to consider when buying toys for your kids are watching for what it is made with/of such as cadmium, lead paint or bisphenol A. Does it have small moving parts or parts that can break into small enough pieces to become a choking hazard? “Are there a lot of products from the same country that seem to be the focus of recalls? If so, you may want to avoid buying products manufactured in that particular country,” suggested Ozcomert.

Recalls become recalls for a wide variety of reasons and they may include chemical burn risk, a fall hazard, strangulation risk, laceration potential, burn hazards and choking potential, etc. Frankly, these days it just seems like they don’t make toys the way they used to when we were growing up. They seem to be aiming for mass production of a cheap toy that doesn’t last long and is made in a questionable manner. “Gone are the days when your children had a toy for years because it was well made and safe to play with, without it coming apart,” added Ozcomert.

“Has your child been injured by a defective product? Give me a call and I will take a look at your case and explain the issues involved in product liability law,” Ozcomert offered. “You may well be eligible for compensation for doctor’s bills, pain and suffering, lost wages, and if your case is more serious and involves the death of your child, compensation for that wrongful death,” he explained.

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

Malpractice can happen in just about any field. It’s not just exclusive to the medical profession.
When it comes to malpractice, people tend to automatically think medical malpractice. While there is a fair amount of medical malpractice happening these days, it isn’t just doctors and nurses that may be sued for malpractice.

In a nutshell, any professional with greater learning who makes a mistake and doesn’t treat you according to their level of higher learning, may be guilty of malpractice. Put another way, a malpractice case may involve those who have been specially educated or certified in some manner “not” doing their job up to the expected level.

Does this usually involve a fair degree of “interpretation?” Fair question and a valid one and yes, your definition of someone not living up to their expected level of expertise may not be what others think that same level happens to be. There is a “usual” accepted standard of performance for various professionals used as a rule of thumb when it comes to assessing any deviation from that standard.

Some examples may be architects, accountants and dentists who know more than the man on the street corner about doing certain things. If you hire someone “professional,” you expect they’ll do the job right, based on their education and the amount of experience they have in their field. In other words, you trust they will do right by you. Malpractice may also be applicable in the case of lawyers.
For a multitude of reasons, you want the advice your lawyer gives you to be right on the money. If it isn’t, you may be in some really sticky situations with no way out. On the extreme end of legal representation, you would consider a murder charge to be critical and hire someone that knows how to defend you within an inch of your life – and in some cases (capital ones) that may be just what happens. In others, to a lesser degree, you want legal advice to be accurate; e.g., you want your assets divided a certain way and not have the family fighting over them – you need a solid will.

Accountants must follow really strict standards. After all, they’re working with someone else’s money. If they mess up and you are audited and found in non-compliance, you can lose money, face damages or face legal problems. When it comes to other professions, like engineers and architects, they too need to know what they’re doing and make sure it works, as the buildings they design and build have to stay erect and not collapse.

Professionals go to school for training that teaches them how to build buildings, balance money, be good doctors and build cases against defendants in court. If they act negligently and don’t do what they’re supposed to do, it’s the client that suffers. If you’ve been in a situation like this or are in one now, speak to a lawyer that has worked in the area of dealing with malpractice cases of all kinds.

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.

Investment fraud is a form of professional misconduct that unsuspecting people need to be aware of these days.

Investment fraud or investment scams generally have the same outcome – someone loses money they can’t afford to lose. They have been bilked into investing their hard earned dollars in a scheme that sounds “great” but the information is often fake and gravely misleading. Too often in situations like this the person who lost their savings doesn’t have much in the way of recourse to recover their losses.

The unfortunate thing here is that the financial planning industry seems to have more than its fair share of brokers and advisors who would think nothing of scamming their customers just to get rich quick. This isn’t to say that the brokerage industry isn’t regulated, because it is, by federal and state laws. Professional misconduct and fraud is definitely illegal and you may be interested in knowing some of the things to watch for when dealing with financial advisors that walk on the wild side.

There are some advisors that get their money from commissions on the purchase or sale of securities. It’s not hard for some of them to over-buy and sell to get more commissions. This shady activity isn’t easy to spot if the advisor is being overly flagrant about it. On the other hand, this activity, called churning, is obvious if an account happens to be small.

Another thing to watch out for is breach of fiduciary responsibility. Because of the nature of the advisors’ job, advising clients on investments, etc., they have a greater level of responsibility to live up to or a legal fiduciary duty. This means they must act with their client’s best interests in mind and not have any conflict of interest. In the past, there have been cases of financial advisors doing things like investing a retired client’s money into highly volatile stocks. This is a recipe for disaster and considered a breach of duty.

Although many people who work in the securities industry don’t often talk about this, it does happen – financial advisors misrepresenting the facts about an opportunity. They may slightly fudge a company’s earnings or potential to get you to buy stock. The other situation that may arise is if you (or another client) have a hefty investment in a particular security, the advisor chooses to “not” tell you about a potential problem the company may have.

If you happen to catch a financial advisor doing some of the things mentioned above, you may have legal recourse. Keep in mind that in cases like this proving professional misconduct is sometimes difficult to do. Along with that observation comes the added caution that figuring out what kind of conduct is illegal and what isn’t may be a challenge. Why is this? This may turn out to be the case because the SEC lets brokers that sell investment vehicles avoid registering as licensed investment advisors. No doubt you can immediately understand how that would confuse things legally.

If you suspect you have been a victim of professional misconduct, it’s best to talk to an experienced lawyer who works in this area. They will be able to give you some kind of idea as to whether or not you will be able to recover any losses.

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.

Georgia has new penalties for dangerous drivers that support trauma care in the state.

This is quite possibly a groundbreaking development in terms of trying to handle the number of dangerous drivers in the State of Georgia. The “Super Speeder Law,” also formally recognized by the designation HB160, went into effect January 1, 2010. Its main thrust is to try and cut down on the number of speed-related accidents.

The new law dings all drivers convicted of doing speeds of over 75 mph on two lane roads and all drivers convicted of doing speeds of 85 mph and over on other Georgia roadways. This isn’t the end of the fines though. In addition to paying local fees, illegal speeders will have to fork out an additional $200 state fee for driving like demons.

For those speeders who figure they can get away with not paying the state fee, there is a surprise waiting in the wings for them. “Non payers will face an additional $50 fee and have their licenses suspended,” explained Stephen M. Ozcomert who handles personal injury cases, accidents, and malpractice law in Atlanta, Georgia.
None of this process is exactly easy, and convicted speeders will be required to make two separate payments. “For instance, the local citation is paid normally – meaning in the jurisdiction where the ticket was issued. The Super Speeder fee gets paid to the Georgia Department of Driver Services,” added Ozcomert.
The interesting thing here is that the new violations won’t mean additional points added on to an offender’s license. While this may be something lawmakers might want to revisit in the future, for now the penalties are hefty fines and license suspension.
The major benefit of this law is that the fees collected from the speeders go toward a general state fund used in Georgia’s trauma care hospital system. Unfortunately, some of the super speeders may find themselves benefiting from the fund at a later date if they don’t curb their penchant for driving too fast.
It’s already been estimated that close to 60% of the patients in Georgia trauma care centers were taken there as a result of sustaining serious injuries in car crashes that often involved speed. In fact, in 2008 alone, speed was a related factor in roughly 21% of all road fatalities in Georgia.
“It will be interesting to see the year end statistics for this new program. Frankly, if the money goes toward caring for badly injured people, it is a step forward in social responsibility,” commented Ozcomert an Atlanta personal injury lawyer who has seen his fair share of car crashes as a result of speed demons.

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

In another case of a driver not seeing a motorcyclist, this biker hit the back of a truck. He died shortly after the impact.

In this case a 57-year-old biker was out for a Saturday afternoon ride. About halfway along to his final destination, a teenager driving a pickup truck turned left right in front of the motorcyclist. The biker had no place else to go and couldn’t stop immediately and hit the right rear of the truck.
The force of the impact was so great that the biker was ejected and landed hard on the pavement. When the EMS crews arrived, they pronounced the man dead at the scene. The 18-year-old teen was not injured in this accident.

It isn’t clear why the teen turned right in front of the biker. Although if we had to guess based on the accident statistics involving cars and motorcycles, it would likely have been the fact that the teen driver didn’t even see the biker. Many car drivers don’t see motorcycles for a variety of reasons.
In this particular case, this accident may have happened because the teen just didn’t have the same amount of driving experience an older person would have had and was therefore not paying attention to the road or other traffic. The driver may have been distracted, talking on a cell phone, talking to a passenger, reaching for something in the backseat or picking something up off the floor. He may also have been speeding and driving in an unsafe manner.

On the other hand, the motorcyclist may also have been speeding or under the influence of drugs or alcohol. He may also have had a problem with the bike that caused him to lose control because his brakes were not working. He may have slid on debris on the road or swerved to miss a pothole.
Even though some accidents look like open and shut cases on the surface, they usually aren’t. This is why a good motorcycle accident attorney does a complete investigation on his own, even over and above what the police do. The true facts of the case determine liability and negligence and are crucial to know if the case has the chance of going to court.

If you’ve been in a motorcycle crash, you will need legal representation. You can count on the fact that the insurance company will have a phalanx of lawyers handing out advice. Make sure you have your own lawyer to fight for your rights and proper compensation.

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.

This accident was unusual, as it was a single vehicle 18-wheeler crash. It cost the trucker his life.

This 18-wheeler accident happened on I-95 in Oklahoma. The trucker was hauling equipment for country and western singer Carrie Underwood when his vehicle veered to the left shoulder and scraped along 400 feet of guardrail. During the impact, the fuel tank was torn open, igniting the diesel as it spilled. The flames consumed the driver side of the bus he was hauling, as his truck slammed into a bridge abutment.

The abutment was located right where the I-95 passes over another road. At that point, the trailer tumbled over the embankment and landed on the median of the road under the abutment, blocking both southbound lanes.

The driver, in his late 40s was charred beyond recognition and had to be identified through the use of dental records. Miss Underwood was thoughtful enough to sing a song at her performance that night in tribute to the trucker.

This was an awful accident, one that many eyewitnesses will recall with horror. It seemed to happen in slow motion, and while many onlookers could see what was happening, there was no way they could help the trucker as he burned to death. The chain of events that led the trucker to veer suddenly to the left has not been identified and there will be a full investigation into the circumstances.

Driving a big rig is not an easy job, nor does it traditionally pay that well given the economy of the nation today. Truckers drive long hours, have shorter breaks, are on very short turnaround times, and under enormous pressure to get their loads to their destination. This accident could have happened for a number of reasons ranging from a blown tire to a load that suddenly shifted, or from driver fatigue to a mechanical failure of some sort that caused him to veer left suddenly.

Unfortunately, with the number of big rigs on the roads these days, the number of accidents has shot up to seemingly keep deadly pace. Unsafe rig driving has become even more of an issue with more accidents involving oversize loads, improperly maintained trucks and driver error. Since the trucking industry is deregulated, and the pressure to deliver products is so high, truckers pull out all the stops to get the job done. Sadly, one in every eight highway deaths is attributed to a truck collision. Furthermore, if you take a look at the federal crash statistics, they reveal that just about 20% of 18-wheeler wrecks are because the trucker was speeding.

If you have been in an 18-wheeler accident, it’s very important to talk to an Atlanta personal injury lawyer who has experience in this area of law. While there are laws, rule and regulations to protect motorists from negligent truck drivers and their employers, the plaintiff needs to be able to prove it. You can’t do that without the help of a skilled Atlanta personal injury lawyer.

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.