Articles Posted in Motor Vehicle Accidents

In an opinion issued today, in a case in which I represented the Plaintiffs, The Conley Family, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Plaintiffs and against Ford Motor Company and affirmed the trial court’s granting of a new trial to the Plaintiffs. The case is Ford Motor Co. v. Conley, No. S13A1601 (Sup. Ct. Ga. February 24, 2014).

In this important case, the Georgia Supreme Court agreed with the trial judge and found that Ford Motor Co. “intentionally misled the Conleys into believing that Ford had no insurers” which prevented the Conley Family from having a fair and impartial jury hear their case. This case involved a rollover car wreck that occurred in April 2006. Renee Conley’s minor child was severely injured in the wreck and her mother was killed. In this trial, and another trial in the same trial court, Young v. Ford Motor Co., Ford Motor Co. responded in discovery that it had sufficient assets to pay any judgment in response to a question that asked Ford Motor to name any insurers that had insurance policies that might pay any verdict against it. Under Georgia law, litigants have a clear duty to disclose any insurers with whom they have insurance policies that might satisfy any verdict. Ford Motor Co., in both the Young case and the Conley case, did not disclose the name of some 26 insurers with whom it had insurance coverage that might satisfy any verdict against it. The Georgia Supreme Court held in Conley today: “Ford’s responses to the Conley’s initial discovery requests for insurance information affirmatively misled the Conleys into actually and reasonably believing that Ford was entirely self-insured for any judgment in their case….”

In a strong conclusion, the Georgia Supreme Court noted: “there is no indication that other defendants in Georgia civil cases have engaged in Ford’s former practice–we assume it has now been stopped–of customarily indicating that the defendant is self-insured (sometimes with obfuscating objections) when asked for basic and entirely appropriate information about insurance coverage for claims. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, we hesitate to broadly attribute a lack of fundamental honesty and professionalism in discovery practice to litigants and lawyers in this State. Moreover, we trust our trial courts to review claims of such misconduct carefully to ensure that the requirement to diligently pursue requested discovery, and to bring complaints about discovery and other matters to the attention of the court in a timely fashion, are not eroded.”

We here in Atlanta, Georgia are digging out from the unbelievable experience of Snow Gridlock 2014. On Tuesday, January 28, 2014, many Atlantans, who normally had a commute of 30 minutes or so, found themselves stuck in a nightmarish gridlock that super-sized their commute to 12 hours or even more, as they attempted to leave the city at the same time that the other 1.2 Million citizens did. The result: an utter disaster. The Governor of Georgia, Governor Nathan Deal, issued an official “state of emergency” for the State of Georgia. And not a minute too soon.

Many people were forced to abandon their vehicles on the side of the road, because they ran out of gasoline or simply because their drivers at some point faced up to the harsh reality that it was better to abandon ship and attempt to find warm shelter on foot. Now, while some much-needed sunshine melts the ice from our streets, the aftermath of nearly 2,000 abandoned cars is setting in. The owners of these cars are in the process today of trying to remember where they left their cars and driving them home. That is, of course, if they haven’t already been towed away. First, the communications director of the Georgia Department of Transportation simply announced the State would begin towing abandoned cars so the GDOT equipment trucks could deice and plow the roads, particularly the Interstate Highways. In this first notice she unceremoniously announced it was unclear whether owners (who had smartly abandonded their cars) would be responsible for paying to retrieve their cars from tow lots. Brilliant!

Then yesterday, the GDOT softens a bit and announces they will just tow abandoned cars to the side of the road and leave them there. This would allow the plowing and deicing trucks to pass. Finally, today, the GDOT says it will actually drive car owners to their cars so they may drive them home. Again, I say Brilliant!

I was just reading about devastating wreck in DeKalb County caused by two racing motorcycles. The photographs from this wreck make it clear this was an horrific wreck. The victims are lucky to be alive. It is also unbelievable that one of the racing motorcyclists, who, apparently, slid up under a car, was able to get up and leave the scene of the wreck. His leaving the scene of the wreck violates Georgia law. He was required to stay there and actually render aid to his victims until Georgia law enforcement arrived.

Georgia Code Section 40-6-270 states:

Duty in accidents involving personal injury to or death of person or damage to vehicle

On Saturday, a head on collision in Clayton County left one dead and another in critical condition in Atlanta Medical Center. Mookie Blaylock, former Atlanta Hawks All-Star, drove over the median into southbound lanes on Tara Boulevard in Jonesboro, GA and ran into a van head on, killing the passenger of the van. Blaylock remains in the hospital under critical condition. It is unknown what caused Blaylock to cross the median into oncoming traffic. Blaylock has recently been treated for seizures, and although this is not a confirmed contributing factor in the accident, people who have had seizures may not be safe to drive, nor allowed by Georgia law. In fact, a person with epilepsy may obtain a license to drive cars and trucks weighing less than 26,000 pounds if he or she has been seizure-free for 6 months. [GA. COMP. R. & REGS. r. § 375-3-5-.02(2)(c) (2010); GA. CODE ANN. § 40-5-35(a) (2010)] People that experience nocturnal seizures, seizures that occur at night, may obtain a restricted license for day-time driving only. There are 6 states (California, Delaware, New jersey, Oregon, and Pennsylvania) that require physicians to report people experiencing seizures to a state agency, usually to the Department of Driver Services. Georgia law does not require physicians to report such cases, but GA doctors are permitted to release medical records if they believe the patient is incapable of operating a motor vehicle. It is imperative that epileptic people use caution concerning driving as seizures may return at any time. Many physicians believe at least 12 months is necessary to be sure it is safe to drive. People that experience an aura before a seizure are at a much reduced risk of accidents as the aura may act as a warning that a seizure may be coming. If you have epilepsy or have experienced a recent seizure you may want to look up your legal standing pertaining to your driving eligibility.

Traveling on a bicycle can be extremely beneficial to ones health and environment, but can be exceptionally dangerous, particularly in a busy city filled with anxious, and often careless drivers such as Atlanta. Drivers are multitasking constantly, and with so many other tasks to complete, looking out for bikers and pedestrians while driving is often neglected. A bicyclist is allowed to operate in the middle of the traffic lane if the bicycle lane is obstructed or if the road is too narrow to provide a specific bike lane. The Georgia Drivers manual states, “The law requires a driver to allow at least three feet between the driver and bicyclist wh en passing.” Often this is when most bike accidents happen, some very avoidable.
Over this past Memorial Day weekend, a 14 year old boy was killed in a bicycle accident in DeKalb County. While traveling east on Casey Cove Road, the boy crossed the center line and struck the front of an oncoming Honda CRV, headed westbound. The collision knocked him from his bike to ground where he was struck by an F-150 Pick up truck, also headed westbound. The boy was taken to Dekalb Community Hospital where he later died of brain injuries. The boy was a football player and just graduated the 8th grade, soon headed to high school. This young man didn’t even outlive his maternal great grandmother, a reminder that any of our lives can be taken whilst still unfulfilled, and at a moments notice.

Simple precautions when riding a bike may prevent the chance of an accident. While many accidents are out of the hands of the bicyclist, it is important to prevent the ones you can, but prepare for the ones you can’t. Robin Frazer Clark has handled many bicycle-car collision cases similar to this one, and fights to obtain justice for those whose lives have been significantly altered by the carelessness of others.

As a plaintiff’s personal injury attorney who handles a wide variety of car wreck cases in Atlanta and the surrounding Metro area, I am sometimes, though not that often, asked to represent people in hit and run incidents. I say not that often because I don’t think many people know that their own car insurance may provide coverage to them when they are involved in a hit and run incident, especially when they are hit as a pedestrian. That may come as a surprise to you. It does to many people, including even other lawyers and judges. Unless you routinely handle car wreck cases as a lawyer, you may not be aware that your uninsured motorist coverage (UM) that you have purchased on your own vehicle also provides insurance coverage when you are hit while a pedestrian by a hit and run car.

But the insurance carriers know it, and once you try to make a claim on your car insurance policy for injuries sustained while a pedestrian, that’s when the insurance carriers go into full press mode to trot out every excuse in the book to deny you coverage. It’s wrong on many levels, especially when you were the one who paid the premiums exactly for that situation. It may even border on fraudulent, because they certainly don’t explain that to you when you are paying them the premiums!

This unjust situation came to mind recently as I read a story about a young UGA student who was hit by a hit and run driver while she was a pedestrian in Athens. She was severely injured in the incident. It also came to mind because next month I will be arguing this issue to the Georgia Court of Appeals in which I represent a client who was also severely injured by a hit and run driver while he was walking across Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta. State Farm Insurance Company denied his claim on his own policy on the basis that he did not report the incident to State Farm immediately. Did you know your car insurance policy, regardless of the carrier, has a provision in it that you must report an incident to them immediately. Which begs the question: what if you don’t know it’s an incident that might be covered by the policy? What average person would think that their insurance policy that covers their car would provide insurance coverage to them when they are on foot? That doesn’t even make sense, does it?

It is a rather morbid statistic that the Georgia State Patrol keeps but it is helpful to keep track of, and that is the number of deaths on Georgia Highways during a holiday. For the just completed Thanksgiving Holiday, that unfortunate number is 19. This is an increase in the number of highway deaths from last year’s total at this same time of 13. There were also another 263 injuries from Georgia motor vehicle wrecks this year, down from 303 last year. Almost all of the fatal crashes involved either speed, alcohol, or the victim failing to use a seat belt.

The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) hopes these statistics and their efforts “will encourage responsible driving practices, and create safer roadways throughout the communities. With this information it is our hope that individuals and organizations work to reduce the number of motor vehicle crashes that occur yearly on Georgia roads and highways.” You can find more helpful information at http://www.gahighwaysafety.org/.

In my plaintiff’s personal injury law practice, I deal with death of someone’s loved one on a daily basis. I know that each of those 10 killed represents a loving family missing a beloved family member and I know that family is grieving over their loss. My heart goes out to each and every one that they may receive comfort and healing.

Most people don’t realize this, but your own car insurance company, the one you pay premiums to to protect you, is your adversary, not your friend. You must treat them like an adversary whenever you are involved in a car wreck, even when it is not your fault. If you have purchased a non-mandatory type of coverage called “uninsured motorist coverage,” the minute you attempt to file a claim under that coverage your own insurance company and even your own insurance agent become your adversaries. Their sole goal at that point is not to pay you one cent under the uninsured motorist coverage. It doesn’t matter that you may have been an insured with that particular company for 40 years; these insurance companies have no loyalty whatsoever. How else do you think the insurance company has made literally billions of dollars in a down economy?

For example, State Farm, one of Georgia’s largest car insurers, managed a $777 million profit nationally in 2009. In just one month, February 2012,Progressive made $106.3 million in profit for the company, up 41 percent from the month before. Profits at GEICO were $587 million in 2011. These numbers are, obviously, nothing to sneeze at.

One way in which car insurance companies build up their other-worldly profits is through denial of claims, especially uninsured motorists claims. This type of coverage is insurance you buy to protect yourself in case you are injured either by another motorist who has no insurance at all (uninsured) or a motorist who has minimum mandatory insurance which is not enough to cover your medical bills. Little do you know that when you voluntarily pay those extra insurance premiums, the car insurance carrier will do everything in its power to avoid having to pay you even a dime. It becomes all out war and nasty litigation.

Many of you know one of my favorite topics to opine upon as a plaintiff’s personal injury attorney in Atlanta, Georgia is distracted driving. I have seen too many families lose loved ones in car wrecks because of another driver’s ridiculous insistence on texting while driving. It is rampant in Atlanta and all over the State of Georgia. On nearly a nightly basis as I drive home from my Midtown office, stopped in bumper-to-bumper traffic, I see at least one driver texting while driving (TWD). I have lately even seem almost defiant drivers holding their IPhone or Blackberry in the same hand that is holding the steering wheel and texting while driving. This is NOT just a teenage driving problem; the violators I see on a daily basis almost all seem to be adults.

And now we receive a report that the tool Georgia legislators gave law enforcement officers to help reduce or eliminate texting while driving is not being used. In the two years after a ban on texting while driving in Georgia took effect on July 1, 2010, state records reveal that fewer than 50 people a month have been convicted of the offense, for a total of 1,281 convictions as of Sept. 17. Last year, there were 3,840 crashes attributed to cell phone use/distracted driving in Georgia, according to the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. Nine were fatal and 955 resulted in serious injuries. So we know it remains a safety issue for Georgia’s motoring public.

There is no question that the message not to text while driving is being conveyed by various groups or corporations as public service messages. Three years ago, before a law was enacted against it, there was not public messaging about the evils of texting while driving. Now they seem to be everywhere, both in the private and public sector. For example, AT&T is campaigning across the country through its “Txtng & Driving … It Can Wait” program. Most news stations have public awareness campaigns against texting while driving, e.g., the “No Text Zone.” Car insurers, like State Farm Insurance Company, have joined the fight to reduce texting while driving, which makes sense given the fact that as one of Georgia’s largest car insurers, it must often have to pay for the mayhem caused by texting drivers. Billboards all over the state of Georgia implore you not to text while driving. One I saw recently said “TWD has G2G.”