Atlanta Injury Attorneys Blog

This past Thursday saw an unfortunate but all-too-common incident in Gwinnett County: a motorcyclist was hit by a truck, and the victim is in critical condition in Gwinnett Medical Center.

There is the problem of who's at fault. The Journal-Constitution only says that the truck made a left turn into the victim who was proceeding southbound, and that charges have yet to be filed pending an investigation. So one can guess endlessly at the accident's circumstances: was the motorcyclist's visibility compromised by a curve or a hill? Was he or she speeding through a red light, or accelerating to beat a yellow? Were they wearing a helmet and other proper road gear? Or did the truck simply misjudge his or her left turn?

Who knows, but we do know one thing for certain: the road fatality rate for motorcyclists is much higher than that of their car- and truck-driving counterparts. A motorcycle is simply no match for a truck, whether that truck is an eighteen-wheeler or a pickup. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, "per vehicle mile traveled in 2007, motorcyclists were about 37 times more likely than passenger car occupants to die in a motor vehicle traffic crash."

Continue reading "Gwinnett County Motorcyclist Hit by Truck" »

The most common serious injury suffered by the victim of an auto, truck, boat, motorcycle or other vehicle accident in Georgia is a back or spinal cord injury.

Spinal cord injuries are extremely serious and require immediate medical attention. The symptoms depend on the severity and location of the trauma. A "complete spinal cord injury" is defined as an injury where the nerves are not functional at any point below the injury, where with a "partial spinal cord injury" there is some nerve function below the injury.

The human body has 24 movable vertebrae: 7 cervical, 12 thoracic and 5 lumbar. The spinal nerves wind through the spinal canal. The cervical vertebrae are in the area of the neck, the thoracic center around the upper back and the lumbar are associated with the lower back. The vertebrae are numbered in sequential order with #1 at the top, so C1 would be the top cervical vertebra and C7 the bottom cervical vertebra and the one above T1. An injury occurring higher up the spinal cord results in relatively more paralysis than one affecting the lower vertebrae.

A complete spinal cord injury in the C1 region is considered a catastrophic spinal injury and could affect a victim's breathing and result in quardraplegia, paralysis of all limbs. A compete injury of the thoracic or lumbar vertebrae might result in paraplegia, or paralysis of the arms or legs. Other symptoms of spinal cord injuries could include: stiffness or spasticity of the affected arms or legs, loss of bowel or bladder control and sexual dysfunction.

Treatment of the injury for spinal cord usually consists of 3 distinct phases:

1. Stabilization of the injury and minimization of further injury to the spinal cord;

2. Rehabilitation of the injury so that the patient can function at maximum mobility;

3. Coping with the injury and the life changes associated with any permanent impairments.

More than 10,000 American suffer serious spinal injuries each year. Most of these occur in automobile wrecks and trucking accidents. Motorcycle accidents and boating crashes are other common causes. If you are injured in an accident, even if you don't necessarily feel seriously hurt, seek medical attention immediately. If the injury is a complete spinal cord injury, you will likely have no choice. However, even with a partial spine injury, wait for the ambulance. Adrenaline may cause you to feel stronger and less injured than you really are. You can make the injury worse if you don't stop moving immediately.

I represented a man with a partial spinal injury who exacerbated the injury by his unrestrained movement after the fact. Not only was he more severely injured than he should have been, but he also could not seek damages for the exacerbation caused by his post-accident movement, as it was not caused directly by the wreck. Don't let this happen to you. And, by the way, wear your seatbelt in your vehicle and your helmet on your motorcycle because a severe head or brain injury is not just devastating, it's likely fatal.

Hire a lawyer who is experienced in cases involving spinal cord and head injuries. The medical details can be confusing, and you don't your lawyer to learn on the job when so much is at stake.

The most common serious injury in a vehicle accident is a back or neck injury. With so many cars in Atlanta, Gwinnett County and the surrounding areas, I have seen my share of clients with major back and neck pain. Everyone understands that back injuries are serious. Tragically, the effects of a spinal cord injury are immediate obvious. Spinal cord injuries that result in paralysis are catastrophic and devastating. But, what about serious back injuries that are not obvious at the time of an auto accident, truck wreck or motorcycle crash? Herniated discs, slipped discs, ruptured discs and bulging disks are just those types of injuries. These may not be catastrophic injuries, but they are often permanent injuries affecting the victim for the rest of his or her life.

Disc injuries are almost never diagnosed on a trip to an emergency room. In fact they cannot be detected with an X-ray, CT scan or the other types of diagnostic equipment typically at a hospital ER. Instead, if an accident victim complains about a back or neck injury, and there is no bone fracture, the ER doctor will typically advise a patient to follow up with an orthopedic doctor if the pain persists. If the patient does so, the orthopedic doctor will typically advise the patient to seek physical therapy or massage therapy. Only after all conservative measures are exhausted, will a doctor order a magnetic resonance image (MRI) of the affected area. Sometimes, he will only do so at the insistence of the patient. MRIs can be expensive, and insurance companies do not want to pay for them.

The MRI will show the orthopedist the state of the cartilaginous discs in between the spinal vertebrae. These discs are filled with fluid and allow the spine to bend and twist, allowing normal torso movement. When a bulging disc is suffered, the disc has swelled or is otherwise "bulging" in one area relative to the rest of the disc. More seriously, a disc can become herniated or ruptured, and all that spinal fluid that keeps the disc hydrated can leak out. The disc can then become brittle and lose its elasticity. Unfortunately, this fluid cannot be put back in, and the disc cannot heal or become whole again.

Herniated discs are very serious injuries, and anyone who has suffered a herniated disc in an accident that was caused by someone else should seek the services of an excellent back and spine injury attorney. Surgical options are typically limited and imperfect for disc injuries. The doctor could perform a discectomy, where he or she removes the shredded disc. Alternatively, the doctor may "fuse" several vertebrae together. Obviously, fusing vertebrae together does not result in the type of mobility one enjoyed before this procedure. There is simply not a lot that can be done to make the patient the way they were before. After surgery, a victim of a herniated or ruptured disc may still suffer debilitating pain. This is one reason people get addicted to pain medications.

Perhaps medical science will advance to the point that herniated or ruptured discs can be made perfect by surgical procedure. Until that day comes, one needs to make sure that they are fully compensated for their future medical costs, pain and suffering.

As an Atlanta intoxicated driving attorney, I was sorry to see that a drunk driver claimed at least one life in a recent motorcycle crash. A woman riding on the back of a motorcycle died after a suspected drunk driver hit the motorbike, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Aug. 8. The woman and her companion, who was operating the motorbike, were returning from the National Bikers' Roundup at the Atlanta Motor Speedway at around 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 8. According to a Clayton County police spokesman, they were rear-ended by a driver who fled the scene but was apprehended. She was pronounced dead at the scene; her male companion was hospitalized with serious injuries.

The unidentified victim was visiting Georgia from South Carolina; her companion is from Riverdale. According to the article, they were on Riverdale Road near Garden Walk Boulevard when Lamar Jayson Johnson, 18, struck the motorcycle from behind. Johnson continued down Riverdale and then hit another vehicle, a police spokesman said, before abandoning his car and starting to run. A witness to the crash followed Johnson on foot and managed to subdue him until police arrived. Johnson, of McDonough, is charged with first-degree vehicular homicide, DUI, leaving the scene of an accident, following too closely and possession of alcohol by a minor. He is being held in Clayton County jail.

As a Georgia motorcycle accident attorney, I know from both experience and research that motorcyclists are only as safe as the least safe driver on the road allows them to be. That can include the motorcyclists themselves, of course, but research shows that in the majority of multi-vehicle accidents, it's another driver who didn't see the bike until it was too late. That's particularly bad because serious motorcycle accidents can wrongfully kill the riders or leave them with life-changing, catastrophic injuries -- regardless of fault. Motorcyclists and their families are often left to pick up the pieces while they struggle with insurance companies and the other driver, who may use juries' prejudice against motorcycles as an excuse to deny the settlement payments they owe under their own contracts.

Continue reading "Teenager Accused of Drunk Driving in Atlanta Accident That Killed Motorcycle Passenger" »

A driver's failure to slow when entering morning traffic on Interstate 285 caused a fatal chain-reaction crash, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Aug. 6. DeKalb County law enforcement said their believed an unnamed driver in an SUV caused the five-vehicle crash on the morning of Aug. 5. The article did not give details, but said the chain ultimately resulted in an 18-wheeler striking a group of motorcyclists. That crash killed motorcyclist Joseph Johnson of Clover, S.C. and injured three other riders, one seriously. The SUV driver also sustained moderate injuries.

Of course, it would be a mistake to make a judgment about fault without some of the facts missing from this article. But this set of facts makes it seem likely that the SUV driver was at fault. As a Metro Atlanta car wreck lawyer, I regularly use police reports to establish fault in the accidents I handle. (You can find much more about accident reports on my site, under Accident Report Resources.) A police report is not proof, but it is powerful evidence that a presumably neutral third party agrees that the defendant was at fault for the accident. If the DeKalb police say they believe the SUV driver caused the accident, that would be strong evidence in any Georgia car crash lawsuit victims decide to file. Any criminal charges or traffic tickets for the SUV driver could further strengthen the case.

The story also caught my eye because it involved a crash between a large truck and a motorcycle. Motorcyclists' rates of injury and death are considerably higher than other motorists', in part because their lack of a steel cage, seatbelts or airbags leaves them vulnerable in an accident. That would be especially true in an accident with a large truck, whose weight and size is hundreds of times greater than that of even the largest motorcycle. As a Gwinnett County, Georgia car accident attorney, I know that a collision with a big rig can kill or seriously injure people inside even large passenger vehicles. Motorcyclists in the same position would be likely to suffer wrongful deaths or very serious injuries.

Continue reading "Motorcyclist Dies in Metro Atlanta Morning Chain-Reaction Car Crash" »

A motorcyle accident claimed the life of a metro Atlanta man a few weeks ago. 49-year-old Terry Hitt of Cumming died Sunday, June 21, 2009 at an Atlanta hospital. He suffered catastrophic personal injuries when his 1985 Honda CB 650 motorcycle, which was travelling northbound on Castleberry Road, collided with a 2007 Suzuki Vitara SUV driven by Marian J. Anwar, 25, of Estates Path in Cumming. Hitt was 49 years old.

The Forsyth County Sheriff's Office reported that Anwar was also northbound on Castleberry in her vehicle and was leading Hitt's motorcycle when she attempted an illegal u-turn at the intersection of Castleberry and Hutchinson roads. Hitt's motorcycle impacted direclty into Anwar's driver side door.

Hitt, Anwar and a passenger in her vehicle were all taken by ambulance to Northside Hospital in Forsyth County. Hitt was later airlifted by helicopter ambulance to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta where he died the next day. Anwar was charged with making an improper left turn and authorities said that additional charges will most likely be forthcoming. Police do not expect that Anwar was driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the collision.

When I first heard the tragic facts of this automobile-motorcycle accident, I suspected that Mr. Hitt was a DUI accident victim. It took place on a Saturday night and it appeared that perhaps the offending driver was not in control of all her faculties. However, this now appears to be another tragic case of a driver who just did not see or anticipate a motorcycle. Most motorcycle drivers I have spoken to say they are not worried about not being able to avoid collisions, they are worried about drivers of cars and trucks who just don't see them. Greater awareness of motorcycle riders must be burned into the public's awareness or another tragic wrongful death resulting from a motorcycle fatality like this will happen again.

Motorcyclist killed as car makes illegal u-turn, Atlanta Journal Constitution, June 22, 2009.

Illegal U-turn cited in fatal wreck, ForsythNews.com, June 23, 2009.

Cumming man dies following car-motorcycle accident, AccessNorthGeorgia.com, June 22, 2009.