Atlanta Injury Lawyer Blog

In a few days I will be asking a Fulton County, Georgia jury to return a verdict for the plaintiff for the full value of the life of a young man who was 31 years old when he died, a husband and a father of two young sons. What the value of life is is a subject I contemplate often, given the fact that I find myself trying so many wrongful death cases in Georgia these days as a plaintiff's personal injury lawyer.

Interestingly, in Georgia, the jury is to view the value of life from the decedent's eyes, not from their own and not from loved one's. We typically show that by having friends and family come into court and testify about what the decedent enjoyed doing, how he spent time with his friends and family, his Faith, his priorities in life, his values, his moral character, his love. In Georgia, we have the Wrongful Death Act, "§ 51-4-2. Homicide of spouse or parent; survival of action," in which the negligent death of a person is called an "homicide." The surviving spouse is allowed to bring the cause of action and if there is no surviving spouse, the decedent's children bring it and if there are no children, the decedent's parents bring it and if there are no parents an appointed administrator brings it. Under Georgia law, O.C.G.A. § 51-4-1, the "full value of the life" is defined as follows: “Full value of the life of the decedent, as shown by the evidence” means the full value of the life of the decedent without deducting for any of the necessary or personal expenses of the decedent had he lived.

And therein lies the conundrum...because really, isn't a life priceless? If you Google "value of life" there are plenty of ideas on what that means, but very little on what's it's worth. There is even a Wikipedia entry on "value of life." This is what Georgia juries must do in every courthouse in the State of Georgia on a weekly or at least monthly basis...determine the value of someone's life in real money, not terms of art. And we plaintiffs' attorneys trust that juries make the right decisions. We know juries take their solemn oath seriously and work hard to do justice and impartially find the right outcome. We cannot, as citizens, ask for more.

We know there is both an economic component (how much did the person make? what would have been his lifetime income?) and a noneconomic component, intrinsic in nature, hard to quantify in dollars, but which we know has extreme value. In fact, it is arguably worth more than the economic part, because we all know when we are on our death bed we don't say "I wish I had spent more time at the office." The folks at Harvard Law School I guess disagree with me because they are so smart they even figured out a mathematical formula to determine the value of life. Kenneth Feinberg, the attorney responsible for parceling out settlement money to 911 victims and the attorney responsible for determining the value of claims in the BP Oil spill has had to ponder the value of life. Mr. Feinberg believes all lives are worth the same. I am not willing to agree to that. Some people don't value their lives all that much, like the person who crosses I-285 on foot, or the person who doesn't make sure his fire alarms work, or the person who crosses an intersection while talking on his cellphone or texting. When you truly value something you take care of it, you protect it, you honor it.

Next week when I ask the Fulton County jury to return the full value of my client's life, you can bet I won't be using Harvard's mathematical formula. I'll be asking the jury to return a verdict that speaks the truth about the sacred worth of a human being.

On May 10-11 I'll be at the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association (GTLA) Annual Seminar and Convention held at the Loews Hotel in Midtown Atlanta. This is ground zero for the best trial lawyers in the State of Georgia. I am speaking on the power of cognitive neuroscience use at trial. I will also be introducing our Thursday luncheon speaker, Professor Curtis Wilkie, author of Fall of the House of Zeus, about the rise and fall of Dickie Scruggs who was once, arguably, the most powerful trial lawyer in the world but who is now serving time in prison. I will also be introducing our Friday luncheon speaker, Dr. Paul Voss, Founder of Ethikos, Inc. who will speaking about the ethics of decision making.

I always enjoy the fellowship of my fellow Georgia Trial Lawyers and find simply being with them inspires me to continue to fight the good fight, finish the race and keep the Faith.

Despite attempts by numerous State Legislatures, including the Georgia General Assembly, to reduce distracted driving by making it illegal and imposing heavy fines on those who violate those laws, distracted driving continues to cause wrecks and personal injuries. The Georgia Legislature made illegal texting while driving (TWD) and yet I personally observe many Georgia drivers still holding their phones or Blackberries at the top of their steering wheels texting while driving, often at high rates of speed, on Ga. 400, the Downtown Connector, I-75 and I-85. It is infuriating.

A study by Virginia Tech Driving Institute revealed that those who resort to texting while driving are 23 times more likely to meet with an accident. A comparative study of texting while driving versus drunk driving statistics published in a leading car magazine in the United States revealed that texting while driving is even more dangerous than drunk driving. Studies reveal that a person who is texting while driving at the speed of 35 mph will cover 25 feet before bringing the car to a complete halt as compared to a distance of 4 feet which a drunk driver would cover at the same speed. According to the texting while driving death statistics compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 5,870 people died in car crashes in 2008 alone. The same statistics revealed that 515,000 people were injured in various car crashes in the United States. Around 28 percent of all crashes in 2008 were caused by drivers in the age group of 18 and 29, who admitted to texting while driving. The popular belief, that the number of teenagers texting while driving is more as compared to adults, got a major blow when the texting while driving statistics 2010 compiled by Pew Research Center revealed that 47 percent of the adults resort to texting as compared to 34 percent of the teenagers. The same stats revealed that 75 percent of the adults resort to phone conversation while driving as compared to 52 percent of the teenagers.

There are numerous tools a driver has at his or her disposal now to prevent distracted driving. One such tool is an application you download on your phone that reads an incoming text to you, either on your phone's speaker or your bluetooth device. For example, I have downloaded on my Blackberry an app called "Txt U L8r." It is a free app created by Car and Driver and Chrysler that reads any incoming text to you while you are driving. I use a Bluetooth hands free device while driving and so this app reads an incoming text to me through my Bluetooth device. The app turns on automatically whenever I turn on my Bluetooth. I have to listen to a brief advertisement first that simply says "This message is brought to you by Chrysler" and then a nice voice reads the text. Then that same app sends an automatic reply text that reads: "I heard your message read by the Car and Driver Txt U L8r app and will get back to you when I'm done driving. Drive Safely. Sponsored by Chrysler." I have received many compliments about using this app. Every time a friend of mine receives it in response to a text they send me, it sets a good example and makes folks think about what they are doing to eliminate distracted driving.

The Chrysler Txt U L8r app is just one of several free apps on my Blackberry. You can also download this free Car and Driver app from the internet. There are probably similar apps on your phone. Just browse the available apps and download onto your phone a similar app that will help you eliminate distracted driving. A simple Google search finds numerous texting while driving apps, e.g., Drivesafe.ly.com. There also apps that forcibly stop your teenager from texting while driving. Some of these apps work by disabling your phone's ability to text while driving. Even some major insurance carriers, like State Farm Automobile Insurance Company, are getting into the act with their very own texting while driving apps in an effort to eliminate distracted driving and thereby eliminating car wrecks.

With so many free tools at our disposal, TWD (texting while driving) has GTG (got to go). It will save lives.