Truck/Auto Accidents
Below are some of our notes on recent cases involving truck and auto accidents that have resulted in significant verdicts or settlements in Georgia
Last Friday, a Cobb County jury returned a record-setting verdict in a wrongful death case stemming from a truck collision over four years ago.
After a two-week jury trial and a total of six-and-a-half hours of deliberation, the jury announced that the Landstar Ranger, Inc. was liable for nearly $40.2 million in damages to Theresa Foster, who was injured and whose husband was killed in the collision.
On the evening of February 11, 2007, William Foster’s Ford F-150 was struck by a ...
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On Tuesday, September 20th, a DeKalb County jury returned a $1.75 million verdict against an Atlanta strip club for its role in a fatal 2008 collision.
On Labor Day weekend three years ago, 41-year-old Otis South of Mableton drove the wrong direction down I-20 with a blood alcohol level of 0.398. Calls from drivers soon went out to emergency dispatchers, but before police could stop him, South crashed head-on into a car driven by 22-year-old Fatima Bird.
Bird, a mother of two, ...
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In February 2011, a DeKalb County jury awarded $5.6 million to the estate of Johnny Johnson, who was killed in 2004 when he collided with a logging truck on I-20. At trial, lawyers for Johnson’s adult sons argued that the collision occurred because the log truck was going too slowly and that its tail lights were not working properly. Carl Thomas, the driver of the log truck, and his passenger were injured when Johnson’s tractor trailer rear-ended them. Following the ...
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Fredrick Lamar Mikell, a 35-year-old truck driver from Tattnall County, was seriously injured after being struck by a tractor-trailer at Fries Farm in Glennville. Mikell’s lawsuit against Gillis Brothers, Inc., the employer of the driver who struck him, was ultimately settled in April 2011 for $4.375 million.
Michael Dean Bennett backed his tractor-trailer over Mikell while he was doing work on his truck at Fries Farms in Glenville, Georgia. Mikell’s leg became trapped in the bottom of the truck and he ...
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Parents of School Bus Crash Victim Sue Carroll County School District
17-year-old James Rashaun “Ray Ray” Walker died last October from injuries sustained when his Carroll County school bus crashed with a trainee driver behind the wheel. Now, Walker’s parents have sued the bus driver, the Carroll County School System, and individual school district administrators for the wrongful death of their son. They claim that the school district did not follow state regulations in allowing the driver behind the wheel of ...
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In a 6-1 ruling, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled yesterday that convenience stores may be held liable when they sell alcohol to people who are obviously intoxicated if those people then drove and injured others.
With this ruling the court reverses the decisions of a trial court and the Georgia Court of a Appeals, which had said that Georgia’s “dram shop act” only applies to restaurants and bars where alcohol is served on the premises. The new decision will likely cause ...
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On October 1, 2008, Anthony Ragland, twenty-five year old firefighter and father of three- and four-year old daughters, was killed by a drunk driver in Locus Grove. Nearly three years later, on February 13, 2011, the bar that served the drunk driver agreed to a $1.5 million settlement to be paid to Ragland’s children. The settlement was the policy limit of the Sand Trap’s insurance policy. The drunk driver of the BMW that hit and killed Ragland was sentenced to ...
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A Bibb County judge recently awarded the family of a woman killed by a drunk driver $6.65 million. The pizza delivery driver had a blood alcohol content of 0.122 at the time of the crash. The woman, Brittney Higdon, was 21 years old.
Judge William Adams awarded the $6.65 million after a bench trial was held on September 2. Adams awarded $2.6 million for economic damages and $4 million for non-economic damages. At trial, the attorneys ...
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Approximately 1,500 people die on Georgia’s roadways every year. Of those, around 40% involved alcohol and 30% involved speeding. In one recent reckless driving tragedy, a 21-year-old Marine was killed after a wrong-way driver crashed into his vehicle on I-20 in Cobb County. The Atlanta Journal Constitution covered the incident.
In the I-20 Cobb County case, the victim, Lance Cpl. Gregory M. Suedmeyer, had just returned home from Iraq at the time of the wreck. The ...
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Georgia homeowners affected by recent storms have seen a rise in the number of legitimate insurance claims which have been denied. However, some homeowners have fought back by filing formal complaints with the state and taking legal action against the unscrupulous insurance companies. In the past two years alone, formal complaints filed against insurance companies by homeowners have quadrupled.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution has the story.
The rise in denial of claims has been largely attributed to the number ...
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