Georgia Injury Lawyers Blog

5-Year-Old Dies After Being Left in Daycare Vehicle

July 17, 2017 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

As the heat of summer reaches full blast, it is imperative that parents and childcare providers take extra precautions to guard children from heatstroke and other heat-related injuries and death. During the hot summer months, the inside of a vehicle can reach 125 degrees within minutes, with 80% of the increase in temperature occurring during the first 10 minutes. Because children’s bodies overheat three to five times faster than adults’ bodies, leaving a child in a hot car even for a matter of minutes can be deadly.

This was tragically illustrated last month when a five-year-old boy was found dead inside a daycare van in Arkansas. Police said that the boy was found dead, strapped in a booster seat, more than eight hours after being picked up by the daycare van as staff members prepared to load the van for children to go home. The heat index on the day the incident occurred was near 100 degrees.

The Arkansas Department of Human Services stated that all child care service providers in the state must follow certain safety requirements, including installing child safety alarm devices in vehicles used to transport more than seven passengers. The alarm systems are to be installed in such a way that the driver is required to walk to the back of the vehicle to reach a switch that deactivates the alarm. The agency reported that a monitor inspected the daycare van in question in February and found that the alarm system was in working order. Further, the daycare facility in question had also been rated “highly compliant” with state safety rules and regulations.

American Airlines Latest Airline to be Hit with Personal Injury Suit

July 12, 2017 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

2017 has not been a great year for the airline industry when it comes to customer service problems and personal injury lawsuits. This year alone, there have been several high-profile incidents involving possible abuses of customers on major airlines, including:

The infamous United Airlines incident in April, in which a man was forcibly dragged from his seat when he refused to leave the airplane due to overbooking. As a result of his confrontation with airline security officers, the passenger suffered a concussion and the loss of several teeth.
An incident on American Airlines in which a mother of twins alleged that a flight attendant hit her with a stroller during boarding of an aircraft. When a fellow passenger called out the flight attendant in question, he responded by challenging the passenger to a physical fight.

Supreme Court Deals Blow to Out-of-State Plaintiffs in Personal Injury Cases

July 10, 2017 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

In a series of end-of-term decisions by the Supreme Court, one decision has quietly made it harder for plaintiffs from diverse states to sue an out-of-state defendant in a class action lawsuit. The case, titled Bristol-Myers Squibb v. Superior Court, alters the rules governing the procedures whereby a particular state’s courts can exercise jurisdiction over litigants who do not live in that state. Before we discuss the case at issue, we’ll first give a general overview of how courts decide which cases they can hear.

A Primer on Personal Jurisdiction

In International Shoe v. Washington, the Supreme Court held that a particular state court (known as the “forum state”) could exercise jurisdiction over out-of-state defendants if the defendant had “minimum contacts” with the state. In subsequent cases, the court found that there are two ways of finding “minimum contacts.” The first is “general jurisdiction,” which requires the defendant to have “systematic and continuous contacts” with the forum state such that the defendant is at “home” in the state. If the defendant’s actions meet this test, then he or she can be sued for any actions in the state. The second is “specific jurisdiction,” which allows lawsuits against an out-of-state defendant only if the suit “arises out of or relates to the defendant’s contact with the forum” state.

Power Lines Can Seriously Injure Construction Workers

July 9, 2017 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

Recently, several construction companies in Washington State were fined by the state’s Department of Labor & Industries for safety violations after a crane made contact with high-voltage power lines. An estimated 14 kilovolts traveled down the crane’s hoist line to the men working below the power lines, seriously injuring two of them. For reference, 14 kilovolts is equal to 14,000 volts. A standard electrical socket in the United States uses 120 volts. Thus, the men who were injured in this case suffered an electrical shock that was roughly 116 times as strong as one would receive from inserting one’s finger in an electrical socket. How did this happen, though? Aren’t there safety precautions in place to protect construction workers from dangerous electrical shocks when working near power lines? The answer is yes, but the sad truth is that many construction companies do not follow these standards.

Safety Code Violations Lead to Injuries

The state of Washington requires that power lines near construction sites using cranes be moved underground for the duration of the construction. The Department of Labor & Industries investigators found that the power lines in this case had been scheduled to be moved underground, but, instead of waiting for that work to be done, the construction companies continued to work under them. Further investigation revealed that the companies’ employees were not trained or aware of the dangers of working under power lines. As a result, the companies were cited for several workplace safety violations, including both “serious” and “willful” violations. A serious violation is one in which there is a substantial probability that worker death or serious physical harm could result from a hazardous condition. A willful violation is one in which the state investigators find evidence of plain indifference or an intentional disregard for a hazard or rule. As a result of the severity of the injuries the workers suffered, as well as the egregiousness of the companies’ safety violations, they have been identified as “severe violators” and will be subject to follow-up inspections to ensure that safety regulations are being enforced.

Court Rules in Favor of Policyholder in “Transportational Use” Insurance Case

July 6, 2017 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

Auto insurance protects you, your passengers, your vehicle, and other drivers and their vehicles when you are involved in an accident. After all, that is why we pay for auto insurance–to help us out in the event of an auto accident. But about injuries that are not sustained while you are actually driving, but you are still using the car in some way? For example, could you file a claim against your insurance company if you were burned by your car’s radiator when adding coolant? What about if you slip and fall when you have just parked and are exciting the vehicle? These incidents are auto insurance “edge cases” and auto insurance generally manage to avoid paying these types of claims.

But all of that might be about to change after a recent ruling by the Michigan Supreme Court.

What is “Transportational Use”?

Fireworks Were Responsible for 11,000 Injuries and Four Deaths in 2016

July 2, 2017 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

Summer is fireworks season, and that can mean injuries and trips to the hospital for many people. In 2016, there were an estimated 11,000 fireworks-related injuries, 7,600 of which were treated in hospital emergency rooms between June 18, 2016 and July 18, 2016. Most fireworks-related injuries are burns, at 69%. Parts of the body that are most likely to be injured include:

Hands and fingers: 33% of injuries
Head, face, and ears: 28% of injuries

Riders Injured in Fall from Ferris Wheel (and How Theme Parks Can Be Held Liable)

June 28, 2017 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

In March of this year, a 59 year-old woman, a woman in her 40s, and a 7 year-old boy fell about 12 to 15 feet out of a Ferris wheel in Washington State when the gondola they were in tipped over. The 59 year-old was hospitalized with serious injuries, while the others were treated and released. The company that owns the Ferris wheel claims that riders who fell out had been asked to remain seated during the ride’s rotation. However, a witness at the scene claims that it didn’t appear that the riders were moving around when their gondola tipped over, and a broken part was found on the deck of the ride shortly after the accident. The witness further claims that the riders did not start moving back and forth in the gondola until the car itself started coming apart and they were trying to hold on, and that she heard a grinding sound right before the accident.

This incident raises the question of theme park and festival safety, and what riders can do if they are injured on a ride. Below, we’ll examine some of the most common theories of liability for theme park accidents.

Negligence

Lawnmower Accidents are More Common (and Dangerous) than You Think

June 27, 2017 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

Now that summer is officially upon us, it means that yard work has started to become a major priority for many people. One of the most ubiquitous summertime yard work tasks is mowing the lawn. In fact, the average American mows his or her lawn about 30 times a year, which adds up to a significant amount of time. Although mowing the lawn is a fairly mundane task, it can also be quite dangerous, especially for children. In 2011, 83,291 people were treated in US hospital emergency rooms for lawn mover injuries, including 3,780 children. This is due to the fact that it is very easy for children to get caught in the path of a lawnmower, often with devastating results.

Common Lawn Mower Injuries

For most people, lawn mowers are the biggest and most powerful piece of machinery they use besides their vehicles. Although modern lawn mowers are designed with very advanced safety features, this does not negate the fact that the primary moving part of a lawnmower is a sharp blade that is designed to slice through everything in its path. Some of the more common injuries from lawnmower accidents are as follows:

Family of Woman Killed in Wal-Mart Crash Accuses Store of Improper Site Design

June 26, 2017 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

On December 1, 2016, a Ford F-150 truck driven by Dennis Mockenhaupt plowed through the entrance area of a Wal-Mart in Pella, Iowa at 48 miles per hour. The entrance to the store spanned about 25 feet and was surrounded by a set of five decorative bollards set eight to 10 feet in front of it. The bollards were made of an inner bollard about six inches in diameter, encased in a very thin steel wall, and filled with concrete covered with decorative cast iron. Mockenhaupt alleges that, at the time of the accident, he had lost consciousness because he was choking on coffee.

Although Mockenhaupt hit one of these bollards, it shattered instantly upon impact, allowing his truck to careen through the entrance of the store.

The accident claimed three lives–Lindsey Rietveld (whose family are the plaintiffs in the instant case), employee Carrie Zugg, and shopper Robert DeJong. When the truck crashed through the entrance, it hit Rietveld and Zugg first, then struck DeJong. Rietveld was thrown about 15 feet into the store when she was struck by the truck, where she became pinned between the truck and a large freezer. According to her family’s lawsuit, Rietveld’s official cause of death was “multiple blunt force injuries, that included multiple hemorrhages of the head and neck, fractured pelvis, ribs, T2 vertebrae, both legs, and lacerations to her liver, lungs, and aorta.”

Summer is Boating Accident Season in Georgia

June 19, 2017 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

Once the weather warms up, many Georgians are eager to get out on the lake. After all, what could be more fun than a day of boating, swimming, and sunbathing? However, boating accidents can and do happen, and their consequences can be severe. For example, an Atlanta man was recently charged with first degree homicide by vessel, serious injury by vessel, and boating under the influence after a deadly boating accident on Lake Blue Ridge. The accident occurred when two victims were being pulled in a tube behind the boat when the tube struck the shoreline. Although not every boating accident will carry criminal liability, boat operators can be held liable for injuries to their passengers and others through personal injury suits.

Liability for Boating Accidents

Liability for most boating accidents is very similar to liability for car accidents on land, and is often based in negligence. To win a personal injury suit for a boating injury based on negligence, the plaintiff must show that the boat operator failed to operate the boat as a reasonably prudent boat operator would have operated it and that this failure caused an injury to the plaintiff. This can include any conduct that falls below the standard of care that a reasonable boat operator would exercise–such as taking the boat out when weather conditions are not optimal, turning the boat the wrong way into a wake and causing it to capsize, going too fast to avoid hitting another vessel, or failing to provide adequate safety equipment. Boat operators can also be held civilly liable for personal injuries arising out of criminal conduct, such as boating under the influence.