Georgia Injury Lawyers Blog

How Social Media Can Affect Your Personal Injury Claim (6/14/17)

June 15, 2017 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

Over the past decade, the rise of social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and a multitude of others have transformed the way we communicate with each other and, by extension, the way we live. Social media allows us to let others know what we’re up to and also gives us a chance to stay connected with friends and family we might not see as often as we would like. Social media has has managed to seep into almost every aspect of our culture, and the law has not been immune from its effects. When you are the plaintiff in a personal injury case, every move you make on social media can affect your claim. Below, we’ll examine a few ways that social media usage can harm your personal injury claim.

It Could Create Inconsistencies

Whenever you suffer an injury, especially a severe injury, you will get involved with a wide range of professionals, including doctors, medical personnel, insurance adjusters, attorneys, members of law enforcement, and more. The reason why all of these professionals are involved is because they are trying to help you document what happened so that you can present a clear picture to the judge or jury about exactly what happened to you. If you post about your injuries on social media and your description of them does not align exactly with the officially documented version of events, a defense attorney could seize upon these inconsistencies to diminish your case.

What Happens if You are Injured on an Airplane?

June 13, 2017 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

Airline employees are trained professionals whose job is to ensure that passengers are safely transported from point A to point B. Since flying is widely known as the safest way to travel, most of the time these journeys go off without a hitch, but, unfortunately, injuries do happen. Injuries sustained by airline passengers have received quite a bit of pubic attention over the past few weeks, leaving many to wonder–what can you do if you are injured by an airline employee or another passenger

Below, we’ll take a look at how airlines can be held liable for injuries to their passengers

Airlines are Common Carriers

What Happens if You’re Injured in an Uber Accident?

June 8, 2017 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

Less than a decade ago, if you told someone to jump into a stranger’s car and let them drive you to their destination instead of hailing a taxi, they would have looked at you like you were crazy. Today, with the rise of ride sharing companies like Uber and Lyft, this idea is not so outlandish. App-based ride sharing programs have revolutionized the way we get around, making easy, affordable transportation a simple click away. However, one of the biggest challenges to the implementation of this new scheme is concerns about their safety. After all, it’s not always the best idea to trust just any driver with your life. To assuage fears that riders will be horribly injured in accidents and left to the mercy of their driver’s personal insurance policy (if they have one at all), ride sharing companies and the insurance companies who cover them have set up a new type of insurance program to handle these situations.

Ride Sharing Insurance Requirements

Uber splits all journeys into three phases, outlined below

Have You Been Injured by a Dangerous Drug?

June 5, 2017 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

Methadone and other Opioids

Methadone is an opioid medication that is commonly prescribed to heroin users to reduce withdrawal symptoms while they are detoxing from the drug. It can be very beneficial to those who are trying to fight addiction because it acts as a pain reliever but it does not cause the “high” that is associated with the user’s drug addiction. However, methadone is still an opioid and its use can cause overdose or death. Additionally, methadone is highly addictive, and patients who kick the heroin habit by taking it often merely replace one addiction with another.

Ambien

Johnson & Johnson Ordered to Pay $110.5 Million for Cancer-Linked Talcum Powder

June 2, 2017 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

A jury in St. Louis, Missouri recently awarded a Virginia woman $110.5 million in damages after she alleged that their talcum powder products caused her ovarian cancer. Lois Slemp, a Virginia resident, claimed to have used Johnson & Johnson’s Shower-to-Shower and Baby Powder products over a period of four decades. The damages included $5.4 million in actual damages and $105 million in punitive damages. This follows jury verdicts of $72 million, $55 million, and $70 million against Johnson & Johnson in 2016.

Does Talcum Powder Cause Cancer?

There is debate in the medical industry as to whether here is a link between talc, the main ingredient in talcum powder, and various forms of cancer. Talc is a mineral that is mined from deposits around the world, which is then crushed into a white powder for use in cosmetics and other personal care products to absorb moisture. It is also used in a variety of other products, including paint and plastics. In its natural form, talc contains asbestos, a substance that is known to cause cancer in and around the lungs when inhaled. However, all talcum products sold for home use in the United States have been asbestos-free since the 1970s. Most of the concerns about a link between talcum powder and cancer have been focused in two areas:

Should I Use an Auto Insurance Tracking Device?

May 31, 2017 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

If you’ve ever applied for a new auto insurance policy, you’ve probably been given the option to install a device in your car that tracks your driving habits. These devices are known as “telematics” and almost all major insurance companies now offer them to their customers in exchange for potentially reduced premium rates. The devices attach to the vehicle’s OBD-II port and collect data from your car’s computer. Insurance companies can program them to monitor different metrics, but some of the most common are:

Time the car was used
Distance driven

Defective Products, Explained

May 29, 2017 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

What happens when you are injured by using a product that you purchased?

As long as the injury wasn’t your fault–for example, you were using it incorrectly or using it for a purpose it was not intended for–you may be able to bring a products liability action against any party in the product’s chain of distribution. This includes the manufacturer, the manufacturer of a component part of the product, the party that assembled the product, and even the store where you bought the products. When you bring a products liability action, however, you must show that the product was defective and unreasonably dangerous.

How do you do that? The law recognizes several ways.

Does Georgia Place Caps on Damages in Personal Injury Cases?

May 26, 2017 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

If you are injured in an accident and prevail in a personal injury suit, you will be compensated in the form of monetary damages.The purpose of damages in a personal injury case is to compensate the victim so that they are in the same position they would be in had the accident never occurred. Thus, damage awards are compensatory—the plaintiff receives one the amount that will make him or her whole again.Because compensatory damages are awarded on a sliding scale relative to the plaintiff’s needs, damage awards can reach into the millions of dollars. In order to cut down on damage awards that many view as excessive, many state legislatures have enacted caps on the amount of damages that juries are able to award.

How Damages Caps Work

The main argument behind damage caps is that the United States is an excessively litigious society and that too many view personal injury lawsuits as a get-rich-quick scheme. Damage caps are thus designed to discourage lawsuit-happy litigants from filing frivolous lawsuits and clogging up the court system. The main argument against damage caps is that they unfairly limit the recourse available to injured parties and that judges already have the power to either decrease or increase unreasonable damages awards. The way damages caps work is fairly simple—they are a creature of state statute, wherein the state legislature places what they consider to be a reasonable limit on the amount of money a jury can award. Some states limit damages based on the type of action that is brought in the court—for example, the damages cap may only apply to medical malpractice or wrongful death. Other times they apply to certain categories of damages, most commonly to noneconomic damages, such as pain and suffering, and punitive damages.

What Causes Vehicles to Roll Over, and How to Avoid It

May 25, 2017 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

Any type of car accident can be potentially deadly, but vehicle rollovers are among the most dangerous. While they are relatively rare, accounting for only about three percent of all crashes, they account for about 30% of people who are killed while riding a vehicle. Many people believe that rollovers only affect SUVs and large vans, but a rollover can happen in any vehicle under the right circumstances.

How it Happens

As we said above, any vehicle can roll over but these types of crashes are much more common to tall, narrow vehicles like SUVs, vans, and trucks because these vehicles have higher centers of gravity than sedans and coupes. Rollovers are most common in turns because what happens when a car rolls over is essentially a pendulum effect. When a car makes a turn, sideways forces shift the center of gravity to one side. The faster you’re driving, the stronger these forces are. If these forces become too strong, they can cause a vehicle to roll over.

What Happens if You are Injured on an Airplane?

May 24, 2017 | by Slappey & Sadd, LLC

Airline employees are trained professionals whose job is to ensure that passengers are safely transported from point A to point B. Since flying is widely known as the safest way to travel, most of the time these journeys go off without a hitch, but, unfortunately, injuries do happen. Injuries sustained by airline passengers have received quite a bit of pubic attention over the past few weeks, leaving many to wonder–what can you do if you are injured by an airline employee or another passenger?

Below, we’ll take a look at how airlines can be held liable for injuries to their passengers.

Airlines are Common Carriers