Georgia Personal Injury Blog

CPSC Announces Expansion of Recall of Little Tikes Toy for Choking Danger

By Grant Law Office on October 14, 2011

As any parent or guardian knows, children have a tendency to put almost anything in their mouths. That’s why it’s critically important that household items that present choking or ingestion hazards be kept well out of children’s reach. Unfortunately, even the items which are designed for child use must be very carefully monitored. Toy companies are subject to government safety standards, but when a manufacturing error slips through the cracks, it is up to the consumer (in this case an adult guardian) to identify the danger and report it, hopefully before a Georgia child injury occurs. Unfortunately, the full effect of a dangerous product recall often takes time to unfold.

The kids toy giant Little Tikes, from Hudson, Ohio, recently increased a recall of their Workshop and Tool Sets that was initially started in August 2009, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Over 1.7 million total products have been recalled to this point. The product was sold at many large retailers across the country from 1990 to 2004 and was made in the United States and China. The cause of the recall was toy nail components that were too large in size, thus posing a choking danger to kids. Parents and guardians are instructed to immediately take the faulty toys away from children and contact the company for replacement or refund information.Read more…

DOT Considering All-Cell-Phone Ban for Commercial Truck Drivers

By Grant Law Office on October 3, 2011

Distracted driving has become a growing concern for all drivers nationwide. However serious distracted driving or cell phone accidents may be with common passenger cars, they are substantially more severe when the accident involves a commercial vehicle. The devastating results of recent commercial vehicle accidents involving cell phones have prompted the proposal of a federal ban on all cell phone use for commercial vehicle drivers, according to The New York Times.

Bus drivers were banned from cell phone use after a crash in 2004 and, very recently, all commercial operators of marine transportation and railroad transportation were banned after a 2010 barge and tourist vessel crash in Philadelphia and a 2008 train crash in California.Read more…

Can I File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit Claiming Medical Malpractice?

By Grant Law Office on September 21, 2011

In Georgia, a medical malpractice claim is defined as any claim for damages that have resulted from the injury or death of any person caused by a healthcare professional’s or facility’s service, diagnosis, treatment, prescription or other care. A medical malpractice claim allows for a family to sue for losses and damages caused by the death of their loved one.

Knowing that it is possible to file a medical malpractice wrongful death claim is the first step, but knowing when to file a medical malpractice claim in Georgia is equally important. Generally, an action for medical malpractice must be brought no more than two years after the initial date of injury or death.Read more…

Preventing Intersection Accidents in Georgia

By Grant Law Office on September 19, 2011

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 2009 Traffic Safety Facts, there were 2,210,000 intersection and intersection-related accidents across the nation that year. This is an alarming number considering many intersections have some type of traffic control device, whether it is a traffic signal or stop sign. In fact, 1,158,000 of these accidents occurred in the presence of a traffic signal. Why, when there are laws and devices in place to facilitate an organized flow of traffic, are so many people involved in intersection accidents? The answer to this question is a simple, yet disheartening one: negligence and disregard for traffic laws and the safety of others.

Every state, including Georgia, experiences a large number of intersection accidents. Unfortunately, because intersections involve multiple lanes of traffic that are traveling in multiple directions as well as crosswalks for pedestrians, these crashes tend to be more severe. Even though you can’t control the actions of others on the road, there are a few safety tips that you can follow to help minimize the risk that you will be involved in a Georgia intersection accident:Read more…

What are the Legal Size and Weight Limits for Tractor-Trailers in Georgia?

By Grant Law Office on September 16, 2011

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), a large truck weighs more than 10,000 pounds and may either be a single-unit vehicle or a combination vehicle of a single-unit pulling one or more trailers. Although any truck weighing more than 10,000 pounds may be categorized as a large truck, most large trucks on the road tend to weigh much more than that. A large truck’s size and weight limitations are governed by both federal and state laws as there are both interstate and intrastate highway systems in Georgia.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) limits commercial trucks to a gross vehicle weight of 80,000 pounds on the interstate highway system. However, the gross vehicle weight is not the only limit. The weight distribution over the axles and wheels are also specified to prevent overloading and improper loading, which can cause the truck and trailer to rollover. Additional interstate size restrictions include a width of 102 inches and a maximum length of 780 inches (65 feet) or 900 inches (75 feet) as determined by the trailer connection. Although there is no federally imposed height restriction, most large trucks follow the 13.6 or 14.6 foot standard.Read more…

Amputation and Fall Hazards Prompt CPSC Recall of Phil & Teds USA Table-Top Clip-on Chairs

By Grant Law Office on September 9, 2011

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has announced the voluntary recall of 54,000 “Metoo” Clip-on Chairs by Colorado-based Phil & Teds USA Inc. due to reports of fall and amputation injuries. There have been 19 reports of the chair falling from a variety of table surfaces, including 5 reported injuries. An additional three reports documented bruising injuries and two more documented children’s fingers being severely pinched, crushed, lacerated, or amputated.

Injury Causes

These injury hazards are caused by missing or worn clamp pads which can cause the chairs to detach from the table inadvertently. Furthermore, children’s fingers can be caught between the clamping mechanism and cross bar, posing an amputation hazard. The user instructions are also considered inadequate.Read more…

Georgia Sees Fewer Labor Day Weekend Traffic Fatalities This Year

By Grant Law Office on September 8, 2011

Holiday weekends, like Labor Day, have traditionally been some of the most dangerous and deadly for motorists. There is not only an increase in the amount of traffic on the roads, but also an increased number of drunk drivers. This year, fortunately, did not live up to last year’s Labor Day reputation, however.

According to the Alpharetta-Milton Patch, the Georgia Department of Public Safety (DPS) counted seven traffic fatalities, across all agencies, this last Labor Day weekend. This number is half of the number of fatalities in 2010. During the 78-hour Labor Day time period, there were 435 accidents and 225 injuries across the state of Georgia, based solely on data from the Georgia State Patrol (GSP). The Georgia State Patrol attributes the decrease in fatalities, in part, to tropical storm Lee, which seems to have kept people off Georgia roads during the holiday weekend.Read more…

Mesothelioma Diagnosis and Treatment

By Grant Law Office on August 24, 2011

In last week’s blog post, we discussed the various signs and symptoms of mesothelioma. This week’s blog post is the final installment in our 3-part blog series and discusses the diagnostic process and treatment options for malignant mesothelioma.

Diagnosis

Because the symptoms of mesothelioma are also the symptoms for other conditions, it is often difficult to obtain a conclusive diagnosis right away. A physician will consider various diagnostic factors even before any imaging tests to screen for the disease. These factors include:Read more…

Signs and Symptoms of Mesothelioma

By Grant Law Office on August 17, 2011

In last week’s blog article, we discussed the basics of mesothelioma, including its definition and some historical background. This week, we continue our 3-part blog series with our second installment, covering the common signs and symptoms of malignant mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma is difficult to diagnose. The early signs and symptoms of the cancer can be very subtle or even mistaken for those of another condition, making it difficult to catch mesothelioma early-on. In addition, a person will not exhibit symptoms for 15 to 50 years after asbestos exposure, when the cancer has already developed, making it very difficult to make any connection between symptoms and disease.Read more…

Protecting Your Child by Understanding Child Injuries

By Grant Law Office on August 15, 2011

The fun of being a child is running, jumping, playing, and trying new things, but, because they are young and still developing, children tend to do these things in clumsy or awkward ways. Every parent has experienced their child coming home with a new bruise or scrape. Minor colds, fevers and infections are also common. Children usually bounce back easily from such minor issues, but some child injuries and illnesses are not caused by a child’s innocent curiosity or clumsiness. The negligence and/or wrongdoing of others can also cause children’s injuries and these are not always so easy to recover from.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):Read more…