Georgia Injury Lawyers Blog

Contributory Negligence in Slip and Fall Cases

February 6, 2019 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

An illustration of a person falling Falling as a result of slipping or tripping can result in serious injuries – broken bones, torn ligaments, deep lacerations, facial fractures, and broken teeth. These injuries can require surgery, physical therapy, and weeks or months of recovery. If you’ve fallen on someone else’s property and have been injured, the question then becomes whether or not the property owner can be held liable for your injuries and resulting losses.

In many cases, these falls are the result of the property owner’s negligence – they failed to maintain their property in a condition that was safe for their guests and other visitors. An experienced personal injury attorney can help you assess whether the property owner should be held liable and whether you can recover compensation for your injuries.

However, even if the property owner failed to maintain their property in a safe condition, it may come as no surprise that the property owner is likely to claim that they should not be held liable for your injuries.

Commercial Vehicle Accidents: More Complicated Than You May Think

February 4, 2019 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

A white triple-trailer semi truck The NHTSA recently reported that fatal truck accidents are on the rise, seeing an increase of nine percent. This statistic is alarming for a number of reasons beyond the fact that commercial vehicles pose a greater risk of injury due to their increased size and weight. What is most troubling is that in many of these cases, the company that operates the vehicle valued its bottom line over the safety of other motorists. In this post, we’re going to review some of the challenges that are unique to commercial vehicle accidents.

What Caused The Accident?

In a private vehicle accident, usually only the other driver is to blame. With commercial vehicle accidents, however, there are a number of unique factors that may have caused your accident.

Six Reasons Why You Should Hire an Atlanta Personal Injury Attorney

January 31, 2019 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

A judge's gavel If you’ve been injured in an accident, you may be tempted to try to handle your claim without an attorney. In our experience, however, non-lawyers who handle their own claims typically wind up with a less favorable result. And once you settle your claim, that’s it – you can’t go back and ask for more. Hiring a personal injury attorney can make sure that you get a fair result and that all of your losses are covered.

1. A Lawyer Can Help You Evaluate Your Claim

Determining what your claim is worth is not as easy as you might think, and it can therefore be difficult to know what a fair settlement amount is.

Do I Really Need to Hire a Lawyer?

January 30, 2019 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

Law books Most people may never hire an attorney, typically because the need never arises. But if you’ve recently been injured in an accident, you may be asking yourself whether you should hire a lawyer.

While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer to that question, we would encourage you to not rule out hiring a lawyer right away. For most accident victims, it’s at least worth talking to a lawyer to help you understand how they can help you with your case. To help facilitate that discussion, we thought we would devote some space on this blog to raise some points for you to consider when making this very important decision.

What are Your Out-of-Pocket Losses?

Five Things to Do if You’ve Been Injured in an Accident

January 29, 2019 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

A doctor holding a chart Accidents happen every day. Thankfully, most of them are minor, but many can result in life-changing injuries. If you’ve been injured in an accident due to someone else’s negligence, you may have a legal claim against them in order to receive compensation for your injuries. However, there are first five things you need to do in order to protect your rights.

Seek Medical Treatment

Your health is your most important asset. If you didn’t see a doctor right after the accident and are in pain, go get checked out. It’s not uncommon for some injuries to manifest themselves days or even weeks after an accident. Your symptoms could signal a more serious injury, and you’ll need medical treatment in order to make a full recovery.

Georgia Ranks 21st for Drunk Driving Fatalities

January 28, 2019 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

A glass of liquor next to a set of keys In a study released last month, Georgia ranked 21st out of all 50 states for the most drunk driving fatalities per capita. While it’s good news that Georgia isn’t in the top ten, our state is in the top half with 3.51 deaths per 100,000 people. According to the NHTSA, alcohol-related fatalities accounted for 24% of all car accident fatalities in the state of Georgia in 2017.

Drunk Driving is Negligent Driving

When someone is injured in a car accident, the victim may be entitled to compensation if the accident is the result of someone else’s negligence. Negligence is typically defined as the failure to take reasonable care under the circumstances. If you can prove that the other driver’s negligence caused your injuries, then the other driver can be held liable for your injuries and other losses.

Witness Statements Are Vital to Your Car Accident Case

January 25, 2019 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

Red car with dented door and front fender If you’ve been involved in a car accident, witness statements can be vital to successfully recovering compensation for your injuries. A detailed, credible statement can help you settle your case or prevail at trial. They can also help confirm facts and prove details, as well as establish who was at fault in the accident. In order to make the most of your witnesses, it’s important to get them to provide a thorough and detailed statement. In this post, we’ll go over some suggestions to help you assemble a strong set of witness statements.

Get Their Contact Information

It’s really important that you get all of your witnesses’ personal contact information. You may need to contact them for follow-up questions or clarifications as your case proceeds. More importantly, you may need the witnesses to testify in the event that you have to file a lawsuit. As a result, be sure to carefully write down the following:

Asleep at the Wheel: What You Need to Know About Drowsy Driving

January 23, 2019 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

Time-lapse photo of street at night showing streaks of headlights and taillights Falling asleep behind the wheel is obviously dangerous – nodding off for just a moment can result in a catastrophic car accident. Unfortunately, simply driving while drowsy presents a bigger danger than you may think. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that 795 people were killed in car accidents that involved drowsy driver in 2017 alone. In a recent study, AAA reported that approximately one third of drivers admit to driving while almost unable to keep their eyes open within the last 30 days. It is estimated that drowsy driving contributes to around 90,000 crashes per year, although precise numbers are extremely difficult to pin down.

Why Drowsy Driving is a Problem

Even if you don’t fall asleep, driving while drowsy can affect your ability to drive safely. Studies have show that drowsiness can affect your driving in the following ways:

Why Do I Have to Go to Court?

January 19, 2019 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

The Georgia Supreme Court buidling Most non-lawyers are very hesitant to go to court, hoping that their case will quickly settle. We previously wrote about when you should consider settling in your personal injury case. But what happens if settlement isn’t an option? Why do you have to go to court, when other claims simply get paid? In this post, we’ll discuss some of the situations where going to court may be your only option.

The Parties Cannot Agree on Liability

The first step in any personal injury case is determining who was at fault for the accident. In some cases, liability is obvious – someone who ran a red light and caused an accident because they were texting on their smartphone was obviously negligent. In other cases, it can be a lot harder to determine who was at fault. This may be because the facts are in dispute, people don’t know what really happened, or both parties believe the other to be at fault. It may ultimately require a judge or a jury to decide who was at fault in the accident.

What is an Intentional Tort?

January 17, 2019 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

lawyer standing next to a gavel with the scale of justice behind him Personal injury cases fall under the umbrella category of what is referred to as “tort law.” A tort is “an act or omission that gives rise to injury or harm to another and amounts to a civil wrong for which courts impose liability.”

Most personal injury cases are based on a negligence theory, claiming that the at-fault person failed to take reasonable care, thus leading to the accident. The at-fault person didn’t mean to cause the accident, it just sort of happened. The question then becomes whether the accident would have happened if they had been more careful.

But what happens when that person did something on purpose that caused the accident?