Georgia Injury Law Blog

Published on: February 26, 2009

Drywall in Georgia Homes Poses Health Concerns

If it isn’t contaminated drugs, tainted milk products and lead painted toys that Georgia product liability attorneys constantly encounter, it’s the prospect of being poisoned in your own home by defective drywall. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is investigating whether gases emitted from Chinese-made drywall pose a safety risk to house owners, including those in Georgia.

The investigation is linked to complaints of sulfur-like gases that were being emitted from the drywall, resulting in corrosion of electrical wiring and plumbing in a few homes in Florida. Drywall is commonly used in the construction of interior walls, and currently the CPSC has no standards for the material. The drywall that has been the focus of close to 100 complaints by homeowners in Florida to the state’s department of health, was imported from China due to a shortage. The CPSC investigation will look at whether there are potential safety hazards in the use of the drywall, and whether a recall needs to be issued for the defective drywall. Besides Florida, the problem is expected to be particularly high in gulf coast states like Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. Parts of Louisiana and Mississippi that were badly ravaged by Katrina are likely to have several houses that were rebuilt after the hurricane, using the toxic drywall.

Symptoms of sulphur poisoning from the drywall include sulphur odors that are similar to the smell of rotten eggs. The house may have more problems with this electrical wiring and air conditioning systems that can’t be explained easily. Most importantly, people living in the house could be experiencing frequent respiratory tract infections, and unexplained dizziness.

Published on: February 24, 2009

DeKalb County Faces Funds Shortage for Road Repair Projects

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Blame the economic meltdown if there are more automobile and pedestrian accidents in DeKalb County in the coming years. The County is facing a severe funds crunch, and road repair and building projects are expected to suffer as a result.

DeKalb County last year spent $19 million on construction of new roads and sidewalks, and undertaking bridge repair. This year, that amount has been drastically slashed to $5.5 million. Every year, the County invests heavily in street repavement efforts that ensure that motorists drive not just efficiently, but also safely. Investments in previous years have gone into building sidewalks, so pedestrians can walk safely without fear of accidents, and constructing of new medians that can allow vehicle movement on roads to flow smoothly and prevent crashes. In previous years, funding from the road building budget has been used to install new streetlights that can reduce nighttime accidents. All these efforts are expected to suffer this year as the County struggles with balancing the shortage of funding, with numerous road and sidewalk repair, construction and improvement projects that it needs to undertake.

It seems like the financial meltdown and the economic crisis will begin pinching DeKalb County residents where it really hurts – their safety on county roads. You know there’s a meltdown in full swing not only when unemployment figures are up, but also when a cash shortage is obstructing efforts to make our cities and roads safe for all. Road building and repair efforts are necessary every year to repair eroded and battered stretches of road that can expose motorists to risk for automobile accidents. For instance, when traffic safety programs are cut because of funding shortages, you end up with battered and faded street signs malfunctioning street lights, uneven road surfaces that pose a risk of loss of control and rollovers, and other road defects that can cause accidents. Besides, during a recession, county authorities are also forced to cut down funding for the redesign of dangerous roads that may place motorists at an increased risk of collisions.

Published on: February 23, 2009

Cartersville Construction Worker Killed in Accident

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Construction sites are some of the most dangerous work places, with the industry occupying 3^rd place in the number of work-related fatalities every year. Most of these accidents are completely preventable, if only employers make provisions for proper training of workers and adequate safety measures. In one such preventable accident, a construction foreman in Cartersville, Georgia was killed earlier this month in a trench collapse accident.

James Hilbish was working in the trench as part of a sewer line installation on the 4^th of February when the cave in occurred.The trench was reportedly 30 feet in depth, and at least 25 to 30 feet in length His body was found more than 3 hours later. Hilbish worked for an Alabama company which had subcontracted the job from the Bartow County Water Department. No other injuries were reported in the accident.

A trench collapse is one of the most dangerous of all accidents on a construction site. The process of heaping mounds of soil on top of the trench walls can lead to the wall becoming weak and unstable.Besides, the soil that’s piled high on the walls can quickly shift under provocation, and began to pour into the trench within seconds. When this happens, any workers inside the trench are at risk for death by suffocation. In most cases, attempts to rescue workers can be extremely difficult because of the speed with which such collapses occur. Rescue attempts are also made more dangerous by the fact that disturbing the soil further can trigger off more cave-ins.That’s why these accidents so often result in fatalities.

Published on: February 20, 2009

Georgia Bill to Allow Seatbelt Use Evidence in Accident Trial

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

There’s a string of seatbelt laws all relating to the impact of seatbelts on car accident -related injuries pending in the legislature, and each one of them is at varying stages of approval. One such bill is currently in the Senate, and it could have potential implications for an accident victim’s right to recover damages after a car accident.

According to bill SB23, if the victim of an accident was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash, then the defendant’s lawyer would be able to bring up this fact during trial. Currently, Georgia law does not allow a victim’s failure to buckle up to be mentioned during trial proceedings. Jurors are not allowed to consider if failure to wear seatbelts could have contributed to the severity of the injuries. If the bill becomes law, then that fact can be used as evidence that the plaintiff or the victim contributed to the severity of his injuries by not buckling up. Obviously, this would have an impact on any damages that the plaintiff would be eligible for as the result of the accident. Georgia personal injury lawyers are expectedly displeased about the bill, and the repercussions it would have on a victim’s right to compensation after an accident. The Georgia Trial Lawyers Association has opposed the bill because it allows the jury to develop a negative perspective of the victim. The Georgia Chamber of Commerce has voiced its approval of bill.

A civil trial is all about compensating a victim for another person’s negligence. A victim’s failure to wear a seatbelt cannot be used as an excuse to forgive or lesson the severity of the defendant’s negligent driving behavior. The bill amounts to letting a defendant get away with a possible rap on the wrist, if the victim has failed to wear a seatbelt. If the bill passes, we risk making a civil trial all about the inadequacies of the injured plaintiff, and not the negligence of the defendant.That defeats the purpose of civil justice.

Published on: February 19, 2009

Georgia Introduces Pharmaceutical Immunity Bill

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Earlier this month, we reported on Governor Sonny Perdue’s proposed legislation granting immunity from civil liability to pharmaceutical companies and medical device makers if their products had already received FDA approval. Earlier this month, a bill was introduced outlining many of the same proposals that the governor mentioned, and underscoring the fears of patients, civil justice advocate and Georgia product liability attorneys.

The Bill, Senate Bill 101 grants immunity to these companies from any injury lawsuit brought by Georgia residents if the injury was caused by a pharmaceutical drug or medical device that had FDA approval. It’s clearly aimed at attracting Big Pharma investment into the state with civil liability immunity being the Unique Selling Proposition (USP). What it essentially does, however, is sacrifice patients’ rights to hold these companies accountable for injuries or deaths caused by their products. At the risk of sounding dramatic, we believe victims of device and pharmaceutical injury will be at the mercy of these companies.

The bill relies on a foundation that has been found to be increasingly fragile in recent years. FDA approval of drugs and devices has come under the scanner after several drugs and devices were forced off the market when injuries and risks associated with their use came to light. Do the names Vioxx, Heparin and Medtronic defibrillator leads ring a bell?

Published on: February 17, 2009

Georgia Salmonella Outbreak May Lead to Greater Food Safety

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

In the days since we were first informed that the nationwide salmonella food poisoning outbreak originated at a Peanut Corporation of America plant in Blakely, Georgia, the death toll from the outbreak has reached 9, the number of people sickened from salmonella tainted products has risen to 19,000 and food poisoning lawsuits have been filed.

Last week, Stewart Parnell, president of Peanut Corporation of America was summoned to Washington to testify at a congressional hearing. Meanwhile, skeletons have been tumbling at the PCA.Former employees at the Blakely plant have come forward to sing like canaries about the abhorrent sanitation practices at the plant. According to one employee, he once found baby mice inside a packet of peanuts. The same employee also claims that he has been witness to the practice of pasting new stickers on jars of old peanut paste, and has seen holes drilled by rats in sacks of peanuts. A new FDA report also indicates that management at the Georgia plant continued to ship out products that they knew had tested positive for salmonella contamination. According to the report, the company continued to retest its products until test results showed findings that were more to its liking – that the peanut butter was salmonella free.

The concern over products from the Georgia plant is so intense that the FDA has asked consumers to throw out any peanut butter products made at the plant over the past 2 years.

Published on: February 13, 2009

Richmond County Worker Killed in Crane Accident

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

A Richmond County worker has been killed in a crane accident at an International Paper wood yard facility.A press release by the company has said that Bill Drake was killed on February 2^nd at the plant’s facility on the Mike Padgett Highway.Drake was engaged in clearing wood debris on the tracks when he was struck by the metal cage of the crane. He died at the scene of the accident.

Drake worked as a crane operator, but that particular morning, he had been assigned the task of clearing the tracks. As per normal procedures, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration has initiated investigations into the accident.The company seems to have no record of accidents at the plant over the last five years.However, it has been subjected to inspections twice because of complaints.The first inspection resulted in fines for both minor as well as more serious violations, while the second inspection conducted last year did not yield any violations. An investigation by OSHA will likely take months, and it wouldn’t be possible to draw conclusions about the causes of the accident before the findings are out.There are several questions that can be raised about the accident though – for instance, who was operating the crane at the time of the accident? Was it a trained and qualified crane operator?Did Drake receive warnings while he was engaged in the debris clearing work, alerting him to possible danger from the crane?

Very often, workplace accidents are the result of inadequate safety precautions followed by employers as well as other workers at the scene of the accident. Employees need to be properly trained to handle the tasks they are performing, as well as a safe working environment where all safety precautions are followed stringently.

Published on: February 12, 2009

Study Shows Importance of Car Seats

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

A new report underscores the importance of car seats in saving infant and toddler lives in the event of an automobile accident. New research by a California group indicates that the chances of toddlers and infants dying in an accident drop by as much as 75 percent when they are strapped into these safety seats.

Of course we’ve always known that car safety seats are very effective at reducing fatality rates in children who tend to be the most vulnerable victims in the event of a collision, but this study manages to hit home just how important these seats can be to protect their occupants.The two researchers who conducted the study, Thomas Rice and Craig Anderson, analyzed data from nearly 6000 accidents between 1995 and 2006, and compared the information to arrive at some startling statistics. In the case of babies below the age of one year, the odds of dying in a crash declined by as much as 73 percent, while in the 1-2 year age group, the odds of dying went down by 76 percent. 2-3 years olds had a reduced risk of fatality that was close to 60 percent if they were properly restrained in a car seat.

Of course, it goes without saying that these benefits are only valid if the car seats are of high quality, and meet all safety standards for children’s products.There’s no point in having a child strapped in a seat with improper buckles that can snap open in the event of a collision, or one that has defective clips that can slip open, releasing the child from the safety of the seat.Child seats also need to be made of safe materials with sufficient padding that can actually cushion a child from the force of impact during a collision.Stricter standards and demands for more safety features by parents have led manufacturers to design and create safer car seats, but safety issues continue to crop up every year. The unfortunate fact is that these issues come to light only when there is an unfortunate accident that exposes the instability of a defective car seat.

Published on: February 5, 2009

Dekalb County Pedestrian Accident Probe May Lead to Defective Road

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

In a tragic pedestrian accident, 7-year-old Cameron Dunmore was struck and killed by an SUV, while he was crossing on a crosswalk near his school, Princeton Elementary School in DeKalb County on Monday.The second grader was at a marked school crossing, and the guard even had the Stop sign out for drivers to see. The SUV driver, a parent of another child at the same school, failed to stop for unknown reasons, and struck Cameron. Now, reports suggest that a missing traffic light which was recently removed from near the school could have played a preventive role in the accident.

According to residents of the area, they had written a letter to County authorities about the missing traffic light, and the need to have it installed back at the spot as quickly as possible. The area is a school zone, and can be extremely busy, especially during school opening and closing hours.The Country authorities seem to have slept on the matter. There was an assessment made of the zone, and not much happened after that.Even the principal of the school had been contacted by parents who were afraid that speeding cars and high traffic at busy times could cause an accident. County officials have not yet confirmed if they received any complaints from parents about the lack of a traffic light near the school, or whether they plan to install a light at the spot.

Investigations into the crash will likely look at several factors that may have contributed to the accident.For instance, why didn’t the SUV driver stop at the crossing?Did the County receive a petition to install a light, and if yes, why were these pleas ignored?Depending on the answers to these questions, liability for this pedestrian accident fatality can be ascertained.

Published on: February 4, 2009

Top Factors that Contribute to Auto Accident Deaths

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

A Forbes report presents a fascinating look at accident fatality statistics, going beyond the usual cut and dry numbers.Using data compiled from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Traffic Safety Center at UCB, the report provides a breakdown of the most dangerous times for motorists to be on the streets, and the data is just as apt for Georgia as it is for other states.

Saturday happens to be the most dangerous day of the week, which isn’t surprising because this is part of the weekend, with a higher risk of drunk driving.August is the most dangerous month of the year, and the hours between 5 and 6 pm are the most dangerous minutes to be on the road. The first day after a snowstorm increases your risk of an accident-related fatality by 14 percent, and if you escape an accident on Thanksgiving, there’s reason to be doubly grateful because the weekend is the most hazardous time of the entire year to be driving.The Fourth of July tends to be the most dangerous day of the year.

This doesn’t mean that merely being on the roads during these dangerous times is enough to up your risk factor.Simple acts like wearing seat belts and driving within posted speed limits markedly reduce a person’s risk of being involved in an accident.People who were talking on their cell phones were up to four times more likely to meet with an accident. Drinking and driving was, not surprisingly, another factor in causing accident-related deaths.