Atlanta Injury Lawyers Blog

As Atlanta has increased in size and population, Atlanta work injuries, Atlanta work accidents, and Atlanta workers compensation claims have so to increased. The workers compensation system in Georgia is complex, and an injured worker, without proper guidance from an attorney or lawyer, is, in many instances, taken advantage of by his or her employer. Given this scenario, to assist injured workers, we have prepared a 'to do list' in the event of a work accident.

Following a work accident in Georgia, no matter how minor or severe the injury, the most important thing for an injured worker to do is to report the incident to his or her acting supervisor. Georgia law requires that a work injury be reported to an employer with 30 days of the accident, and failure to do so could allow the employer to deny the workers compensation claim. As a consequence, do not hesitate in notifying your employer and be certain to indicate how the work accident occurred and the various injuries that were sustained. After reporting the accident, if you are seriously injured, request that your employer call 911 or transport you to an emergency room for immediate care. If you are not sure if you are hurt, out of an abundance of caution, seek treatment at an emergency room.

After receiving immediate care for your injuries, you should take pictures of the scene of the work accident. Employers may attempt to alter the accident scene, so it is important to document exactly what the area looked like at the time of the accident. If you don't have a camera with you, use your phone to take the pictures. It is also important to take pictures of your work injury...bruising will disappear within days, so it is critical to preserve the visual severity injury as quickly as possible.

After taking pictures of your injury and the accident scene, you should ask your employer for a panel of physicians. Georgia law allows an employer to limit the medical providers that an injured work may treat with after a workers compensation accident, but only if the employer properly posts a panel of physicians at its workplace. If the employer fails to post this panel, which is usually a pink piece of paper posted in the break room, an injured worker is allowed by law to treat with a physician of his or her choice at the expense of the employer. Also ask your employer who it's workers compensation insurance company is, and the telephone number for the insurance company's claims office. Make a note of this information for your records.

Continue reading "Georgia Workers Compensation Claims: What to Do in the Event of a Work Accident" »

An Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia jury awarded $54 million for the wrongful death of a 50 year old woman killed when she was rear ended at full speed by a commercial truck. The woman was stopped in traffic on a highway due to an unrelated car accident. The truck driver failed to recognize that traffic had come to a stop, and collided into and came to a rest on top of the victim's vehicle. It was later revealed that the truck driver who caused the motor vehicle accident had been previously issued numerous traffic citations and had been in violation of drive time regulations.

After hearing testimony as to the truck driver's poor driving record, the Atlanta jury decided that $44 million of the verdict would be assigned as punitive damages to punish the truck driver for his conduct in causing the accident. Unfortunately, however, Georgia law caps the assessment of punitive damages at $250,000.00 in most circumstances. As a consequence, the jury award for the wrongful death of the Atlanta car accident victim was automatically reduced to a little over $10 million.

While punitive damages are primarily recognized as a form of punishment for the at fault party's egregious conduct, punitive damages serve another, and perhaps more important, purpose. Specifically, much as the death penalty is designed to deter the most offensive of criminal acts, punitive damages are designed to deter the most egregious of civil acts. For example, punitive damages serve to better ensure that physicians do not recklessly deter from medical standards of practice. Without the fear of an assessment of punitive damages for medical malpractice in Georgia, it is arguable that some physicians may be more inclined to walk the line between proper and improper conduct.

Continue reading "Atlanta Wrongful Death Truck Accident Case Nets $54 Million Jury Verdict" »