Atlanta Injury Lawyer Blog

GEORGIA DAY CARE’S NEGLIGENCE RESULTS IN WRONGFUL DEATH OF 2 YEAR-OLD IN AN UNATTENDED COMPANY VAN

June 22, 2011 | Robin Frazer Clark

child%20car%20seat.jpg As an experienced Atlanta, Georgia trial lawyer, I’ve successfully argued numerous day care personal injury and wrongful death cases over my years of practice. Nothing is more heartbreaking and frustrating than a preventable death, especially if the victim happens to be a child. So when I first learned of the recent news that a 2 year-old girl died under the noses of local day care employees, my heart sank.

The victim was left unattended for nearly two hours in a van, where temperatures quickly soared to a sweltering 140 degrees. Confined by the straps of her car seat with no means of escape, the child was left to suffer a lengthy, horrific end to such an abbreviated life. Police arrested Marlo Maria Fallings, the administrator of Marlo’s Magnificent Early Learning Center near Jonesboro, Georgia and her staff member, Quantabia Shantell Hopkins, on Tuesday, June 21. They are both being charged with involuntary manslaughter, cruelty to children and reckless conduct. They have already been released on $35,000 bond. These charges certainly fit the crime, however, more action needs to be taken in order to send a message to day care centers throughout the state that negligent conduct is a serious offense and will not be tolerated.

There may have been warning signs about the Clayton County Day Care Center. In March, Bright from the Start, the State agency that regulates day care centers, cited the center for not documenting a field trip and the children who were transported, according to the report. The report itself says the regulation was only “partially met” but, really, it was totally unmet. The report states:

Robin Frazer Clark Sworn In As President Elect, State Bar of Georgia

June 9, 2011 | Robin Frazer Clark

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Sarah I. Coole

June 6, 2011 Director of Communications

404-527-8700; 800-334-6865

Georgia Parents Lucky No Deaths in Most Recent Bus Crash

April 11, 2011 | Robin Frazer Clark

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Many Georgia parents are saying prayers of thanks tonight that no one was injured in the latest bus crash in Georgia. This latest crash near Macon, Georgia involved a bus loaded with Gwinnett County students coming home from Orlando, Florida following a school choir trip. Many of the bus passengers were injured, many with broken bones and other orthopedic injuries. I am sure this most recent bus crash has reminded many of us of the Bluffton, Ohio bus crash, also on I-75, that occured in 2007 here in Atlanta. Obviously, a parent’s worse nightmare.

Reports indicate the bus driver may have been following another vehicle too closely, leading to the wreck. Parents also report not being told of the accident for hours. Forty-seven (47) passengers were reportedly injured.

This bus crash also brings to light the issue of having seatbelts in buses, and I mean buses of any type, from charter buses like this one to Georgia school buses. With Bluebird bus manufacturer in Georgia, the country’s largest manufacturer of school buses right here in our very own state, it makes one wonder how many more people, including children, will have to be injured before seatbelts are made mandatory. I advocated this back in 2007 with the Bluffton crash. Had there been seatbelts in the Bluffton bus, lives would have been saved and young men would not have become paralyzed.

Ten Year Struggle for Justice Against WalMart

March 28, 2011 | Robin Frazer Clark

The United States Supreme Court will be hearing oral arguments tomorrow in a gender discrimination class action case against WalMart. The plaintiffs, female employees of WalMart, allege WalMart has been

paying women in the United States less than men for the same work and of passing the women over for promotions while only promoting men. The women plaintiffs’ march to justice has taken a mere ten years. This should show you how much courage and tenacity it takes to be a plaintiff in high stakes litigation against a large corporation. To say these women are the underdogs wins the Understatement of the Year Award. One of the original plaintiffs who first brought the lawsuit against the mega-retailer in 2001 confirmed this by explaining “I’m a fighter if nothing else, and so are all the other women that are involved,” said Christine Kwapnoski.

No doubt that these women plaintiffs are fighters. You have to be to take on one of the world’s largest corporations, who can afford the most expensive legal talent in the United States. And, to bring a claim of gender discrimination which, unfortunately, has become one of the hardest types of cases to win as a plaintiff. The case law that has developed by interpreting the application of Title VII, The Equal Rights Act, tends to favor the employer in nearly all circuits. The Eleventh Circuirt Court of Appeals, of which Atlanta is a part, has some of the most conservative opinions in the country interpreting Title VII such that only a very small percentage of these cases ever sees the light of day with a jury. The vast majority of them are thrown out of court by the trial court judge on what is called a Motion for Summary Judgment. The odds are clearly against the plaintiffs.

City of Atlanta to Pay Residents $1.5 Million for Longstanding Sewer Damgage

March 8, 2011 | Robin Frazer Clark

Residents Awarded $1.5M For Sewer Damage

Posted: 6:45 am EST March 8, 2011

Updated: 6:46 am EST March 8, 2011

Georgia Federal Jury awards $700,000.00 to former MARTA Employee

March 4, 2011 | Robin Frazer Clark

Jury awards MARTA lieutenant $700,000 verdict

ShareThisPrint E-mail By Bill Rankin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

DOT Employees Face Dangerous Job Every Day

January 31, 2011 | Robin Frazer Clark

I was saddened to learn of the death of a DOT Hero Unit employee today while he was doing his job helping a stranded motorist on the side of I-85. My deepest sympathies go out to the family of the deceased DOT employee. As a plaintiff’s personal injury lawyer here in Atlanta who represents family members who have lost loved ones, I have seen first hand the depth of grief caused by the sudden loss of a beloved family member.

This tragedy todays brings to light the truth of how dangerous many Georgia Department of Transportation jobs are. Since 1973, 56 Georgia DOT employees have been killed in construction zones. Construction zones are inherently dangerous places, but today’s DOT employee death happened on an Interstate Highway, not a construction zone. It has been reported that it was a Ford F-450 truck pulling a landscaping trailer that hit and killed this man on I-85. Georgia law requires vehicles to move into the next lane when there is either a police officer or other emergency vehicle in the emergency lane giving assistance. The Ford F-450 driver apparently didn’t do that, so it would not surprise me if vehicular homocide charges are filed against this individual. Clearly, he is at fault in this wreck. Remember, under Georgia law, vehicular homocide is death by vehicle where the at fault driver was simply careless or negligent; drugs or alcohol do not necessarily have to be involved. The concept of “negligence” is an unintentional act that reasonably prudent people would not do. Violation of a statute, such as the one requiring drivers to move over into the next lane when there is emergency personnel present in the emergency lane or shoulder, can be evidence of negligence. Said another way, a reasonably prudent person would have done something different.

Although bringing charges against the at fault driver of the Ford F-450 won’t bring back the loved one, it does sometimes give the family a sense of justice that can be instrumental in helping the family cope with their sudden loss.

Georgia Motorcyclist Killed in Wreck

January 7, 2011 | Robin Frazer Clark

As a plaintiff’s personal injury attorney, I often have the difficult job of representing the family members or next-of-kin in wrongful death cases in which a loved one has been killed in a wreck. That sometimes includes motorcyclists, bicyclists and even riders of ATV’s.

I saw that another Georgia motorcyclist was killed late Thursday when he collided with a vehicle that had pulled into his path.

According to ajc.com, the wreck happened about 10:30 p.m. at the intersection of Ga. 85 and Porter Road in Fayetteville. The young motorcyclist was operating a 2009 Kawasaki motorcycle northbound on Ga. 85 when a 1994 Jeep Wrangler, driven by an 18 year old, making a left turn from Porter Road pulled into his path.

Consumer Product Safety Commission Launches Searchable Site

December 20, 2010 | Robin Frazer Clark

I am thrilled to hear that the Consumer Product Safety Commission will be launching a new website on which consumers may search for a product by name or type to see what safety issues may arise with that product. This is long overdue and I believe will prevent numerous injuries caused by defective products.

The CPSC, a relatively small federal agency of about 530 employees, has jurisdiction over more than 15,000 kinds of consumer products used in homes, sports, recreation and schools. It does not, however, have any actual real recall power, and the decision whether to recall an unsafe or defective product still rests with the manufacturer. I think that is a misperception that alot of people around the U.S. probably have, i.e., that the CPSC has some enforcement mechanism to mandate removal of unsafe products. It does not. The consumer has to be proactive in searching out information about certain products and the new CPSC website will help. The new CPSC website is not expected to be up and running until March 2011, so check it then. In the meantime, you may still gather alot of information about any product you may suspect has a problem at the CPSC’s current website, www.cpsc.gov.

Georgia Roads Prove Fatal This Thanksgiving Holiday

November 29, 2010 | Robin Frazer Clark

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It is a morbid statistic to keep up with, for sure, but one the Georgia Department of Public Safety has been keeping for years, that it the number of Holiday Fatalities on Georgia Roads. This Thanksgiving Holiday (from Wednesday to Sunday) eleven Georgia citizens lost their lives on Georgia roads. As a plaintiff’s personal injury lawyer in Atlanta, who has represented many, many Georgia families who have lost loved ones in car wrecks, I know the pain these Georgia families are suffering right now, especially during the Holiday Season.

The Georgia state patrol reported 520 wrecks resulting in 231 injuries this year during the Thanksgiving Holidays, but that does not include reports of wrecks from other police agencies, e.g., municipal police departments. More people are on our roads for Holiday travel, so statistically, more people are going to be in wrecks. We don’t know how many Georgians suffered personal injuries from the 520 wrecks reported by the Georgia State Patrol, but we can pretty much assume there were numerous injuries. Many states launched a safe driving campaign just before Thanksgiving, but I didn’t see one for Georgia this year. Even other countries are ahead of the United States in this effort. For example, in 1997, the Swedish Parliament adopted the “Vision Zero” policy, which sets a goal of reducing roadway fatalities and serious injuries to zero. According to some knowledgeable commentators, when it comes to preventing death and serious injury, we too often focus on individual behavior and vehicle safety but ignore the crucial role of roadway design, which leads to one of the deadliest ingredients in any crash: speed. This is why I have brought numerous cases against the Georgia Department of Transportation, because Georgia Citizens shouldn’t let their DOT off the hook on state roadways that are inherently hazardous and that are killing people through no fault of their own.

Perhaps one Monday after Thanksgiving I will write here that the Georgia State Patrol reports no Holiday Deaths on Georgia roads. Wouldn’t that be something?