Atlanta Injury Lawyers Blog

Injuries and wrongful deaths occur from time to time at amusement parks such as Six Flags Over Georgia and Six Flags Whitewater. Atlanta premise liability lawyers and attorneys are the most capable of handling such cases, and it is best that these lawyers get involved as quickly as possible to prevent the destruction of any evidence. Surveillance tapes may be destroyed after 30 days, for example, and these tapes could prove to be the most valuable evidence in pursuing a case against the amusement park.

In a recent case, a teenager was seriously injured when she was chased by costumed characters at Six Flags Over Georgia. While trying to escape the chase of the character, the teenager ran into a railing and fractured her hip. Extensive surgery was required to repair the injury, and the teenage will have permanent scarring and discomfort as a result.

While Six Flags denied liability for the teenager's injuries, the case eventually settled for $125,000.00. As premise liability lawyers, we understand that sometime's it is better to settle a case that to take it to trial. In this circumstance, the Plaintiff was willing to accept the offer of settlement made by the amusement park.

A Marietta man injured when a pallet of plywood fell on him while shopping at Home Depot was recently awarded $1.5 million dollars by a Georgia jury. As Atlanta personal injury attorneys representing victims in premises liability claims, this was an excellent result for the Plaintiff. Do-it-yourself warehouses such as Lowes and Home Depot are extremely dangerous venues, and personal injury claims are common.

Premise liability lawyers in Atlanta and throughout Georgia are able to request that a jury award their Clients compensation for the financial damages (medical bills, lost wages, etc.) that they have incurred via a personal injury, as well as for the pain and suffering that they have incurred incidental to their injuries. In the Atlanta Home Depot personal injury premise liability case, the jury awarded the Plaintiff medical expenses in the amount of $120,000.00.

In addition to compensation for his pain and suffering and for his medical expenses, the Plaintiff was also awarded a sum for past and future lost wages. His wife was also awarded $30,000.00 for her loss of consortium.

As an Atlanta premises liability lawyer who represents Clients in slip and fall cases, I am anxiously awaiting the result of a case against Wal-Mart that is scheduled to go to trial in the coming months. The case involves a slip and fall accident that ultimately resulted in the wrongful death of the victim. In July of 2009, Julie Lehman was shopping in Wal-Mart when she slipped on a wet floor in the automotive section of the store. She was diagnosed with a blood clot in her brain incidental to the fall, and she was compelled to undergo emergency surgery. Julie died while in surgery, and her husband thereafter brought suit for her wrongful death and her pain and suffering.

Atlanta's best lawyers, and attorneys throughout Georgia, will readily admit that slip and fall cases are among the most difficult to win. This is because the law as it currently stands in Georgia heavily favors store owners. In particular, in order to establish that a store owner is liable for the injuries in a slip and fall case, Georgia personal injury attorneys are required to establish: (1) that the owner either knew, or should have known, of the dangerous condition which caused the fall; and, (2) that the injured victim did not have knowledge of the condition. The hardest of these elements to prove is the knowledge of the store owner. The law as is currently stands does not require a store owner to check it's aisles for dangerous conditions at very frequent intervals. Some cases hold that a walk through every 90 minutes is satisfactory, and if a dangerous condition occurs within that interval it would not be required to have knowledge of that condition. This is very unfair to injured victims as it does not require the store to be very proactive in preventing dangerous conditions from arising.

Our attorneys have been very successful in pursuing premises liability/slip and fall cases in Atlanta and throughout Georgia, but it is critical that we are contacted by the injured victim as soon as possible. The reason for this is that we want to make sure any evidence which establishes that the store owner failed to conduct a search of its store is preserved. Store surveillance videos are a great source for establishing this, and, as many such tapes are erased every 30 days, we want to demand that the store owner refrain from erasing the tapes.

Our law firm was recently hired by a man seeking an Atlanta accident attorney to assist him with his personal injury case. The man was involved in a motor vehicle accident while driving his company's truck. The motor vehicle accident was not his fault, and the man suffered a spine injury as a result of the collision. He contacted us to assist him in his workers compensation claim against his employer. When we informed him that Georgia law allowed his attorney to also pursue a personal injury claim against the at fault driver, he was surprised. Apparently, his employer had told him that Georgia workers compensation law only allowed him to pursue a workers' comp claim.

This story inspired me to offer two lessons to our blog readers. The first lesson is, if you are ever involved in a work accident, be immediately skeptical of whatever advice your employer offers you. Too many times as a Georgia attorney have I seen my workers' compensation Clients misled by an employer whose primary concern is the impact that the work injury will have on its insurance premium. As we have posted in prior blogs entries, the victim of a work accident in Georgia in entitled to a number of benefits ranging from medical care to weekly indemnity checks. The workers compensation system in Georgia is very intricate, and an injured worker should seek the assistance of a qualified Georgia attorney before taking any advice from an employer.

The second lesson is that the workers compensation system is not always the only avenue of redress for an individual hurt in a work accident. It is true that Georgia law includes a statute that is commonly referred to as the 'exclusive remedy doctrine' which prohibits an injured worker from bringing a personal injury action against its employer. This statute does not, however, apply where a third party unrelated to the employer is at fault in causing the work accident. Under such circumstances, the injured worker may also have a personal injury case in addition to the workers compensation claim. Examples of this would be where a company driver is hurt in a car accident caused by another driver (car accident personal injury case), where a worker is hurt by a faulty machine (products liability claim), or where an injured worker slips and falls or is the victim of a violent crime while on a property not owned or leased by the employer (premises liability case).

In order for a victim of a work injury to properly assess any and all claims that are available under Georgia law, it would be advisable for the injured worker to seek guidance from a Georgia attorney. The Murray Law Firm has recovered millions of dollars for our workers compensation clients, and we would be pleased to answer any questions from potential Clients free of charge. The Murray Law Firm is based in Atlanta, and represents Clients throughout Georgia including Savannah, Augusta, Columbus, Macon, Dalton, Rome, and Athens.