Articles Posted in Personal Injury

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Cobb State Court.jpgThis week a Cobb County jury awarded, 77 year old, Ramona Roper a $1.1 Million dollar verdict for the shattered pelvis injury she suffered from a dangerous and defective vehicle. Ramona worked full time as the City Clerk for the City of Jasper for 30 years. She lived on her own and had a very active lifestyle before the incident.

The case involved a 1994 Dodge Intrepid. It had a defective gear shift assembly which caused it to move out of park when the keys were out of the ignition. Chrysler recalled the Intrepid in 2004. Ramona took the car into Jasper Jeep to have the recall work done on three separate occasions between 2004 and 2007. The first two times the recall part was not in. The third time, the Jasper Jeep technician did not perform the recall work properly.

Shortly after the negligent repairs, Ramona was dropping off some food for her grandchildren when the incident occurred. Her three year old granddaughter reached into the center console of the car to pick up a drink and put her hand on the gear shifter causing it to shift out of park. Ramona’s driver side door knocked her over and the car ran her over. Had the repairs been performed correctly this incident would have been prevented. She suffered numerous fractures to her pelvis, was hospitalized for a week and was in a nursing home for approximately 6 weeks for recovery.

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Hit and run driver, Cody Rhoden, pled guilty to 4 counts of vehicular homicide in Gwinnett County this week. Following his plea, the judge sentenced him to 40 years in prison with an additional 30 years of probation. According to prosecutors, Mr. Rhoden caused one of the deadliest car crashes in Gwinnett County history killing 4 people and seriously injuring several others.

According to witness statements, he was zooming through traffic at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour and had consumed up to five 16 oz beers at an Atlanta Braves game prior to driving home that night. Police say he ditched his Acura after the collision and turned himself in the following day.

The damage this man caused with his reckless driving is truly unimaginable. One of the crash survivors, Latavius Finley, testified at the plea hearing “I’m lost. My first born died in my arms. My fiancee died in my arms. My little brother died after responding to me on the highway. My life has not been the same.” Although nothing can mend the harms suffered by the grieving families, hopefully Mr. Rhoden’s conviction can help bring closure to the victims’ families.

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texascity.jpgBP will pay a record $50.6 Million OSHA fine for numerous safety violations discovered at a Texas City oil refinery last year. The prior record for an OSHA fine, $21 Million, was also issued against BP for multiple safety violations at the exact same Texas City refinery a few years earlier. OSHA issued the previous record holding fine following a deadly explosion at the BP refinery, in March of 2005, that killed 15 people and injured 170. To say BP did not learn it’s lesson following the tragic 2005 explosion is an understatement.

Specifically, in this most recent round of fines, OSHA issued the BP Texas City refinery 709 citations with a total fine exceeding $80 Million, finding the exact same safety problems at the refinery BP was punished for in 2005. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis stated “The size of the penalty rightly reflects BP’s disregard for workplace safety.” BP accepted 270 violations and agreed to pay $50.6 Million, but is still contesting over 400 of the citations.

Jordan Barab, the deputy director of OSHA, when asked whether BP admitted wrongdoing at the Texas City refinery he said “They have recognized and accepted every citation that we have levied on them” related to their failure to correct violations stemming from the 2005 settlement, “That speaks for itself.”

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gulfoil.jpgThe U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ruled that more than 300 cases filed against BP will be heard by U.S. District Court Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans. The lawsuits include multiple wrongful death claims filed by the families of those killed in the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion as well as hundreds of claims filed by Gulf Coast Businesses seeking economic losses.

The Multidistrict panel’s decision is viewed as a huge blow to BP’s defense efforts. BP requested that the panel consolidate the cases to the center of it’s U.S. Operations, Houston, Texas. However, the panel chose New Orleans and provided the following reasoning “without discounting the spill’s effects on other states, if there is a geographic and psychological ‘center of gravity’ in this docket, then the Eastern District of Louisiana is closest to it.”

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toyotacrash06.jpgToday, the words unintended acceleration and Toyota go together like peanut butter and jelly, but in 2007 unintended acceleration was a foreign concept to most people. 2007 was the year Koua Fong Lee was sentenced to eight years in prison after his Toyota Camry accelerated without warning and crashed into two cars killing three people. Mr. Lee was on his way home from church with his pregnant wife, father, daughter, brother and niece when the acceleration incident occurred. Mr. Lee always maintained his Toyota accelerated without warning and would not stop even though he was pushing the brake. Toyota denied there was a problem, no one believed Mr. Lee, and he was convicted of vehicular homicide.

Two and half years in prison and 8 million recalled Toyota’s later, Mr. Lee is a free man. Last week a Minnesota judge ordered a new trial and the prosecutor dropped the charges. The civil case against Toyota for causing multiple deaths in that fatal crash remains pending.

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I just finished up a case where a violent head on collision was caused by a texting teen. In my case, luckily no one was killed, but texting and driving is a huge problem that is killing American teens. Do Something.org’s Thumb Wars is a national campaign to help educate drivers on the dangers of texting and driving. Check out the site, they have free thumb socks! What are thumb socks you ask? Watch the video.

In the video above Ken Jeong (Community, The Hangover) and Joel McHale (Community, The Soup) share the sobering fact that car accidents are the leading cause of teen deaths in the U.S., while demonstrating how difficult it is to text when your thumbs are wearing socks.

In an attempt to fix this huge problem, the State of Georgia recently passed a law banning texting while driving. So who knows, if fear of a big traffic ticket doesn’t stop the problem, maybe thumb socks will.

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Avvo is a leading lawyer rating website that rates and profiles lawyers in every state to help consumers evaluate and select an excellent lawyer for their needs. The primary focus of Avvo’s ratings are 1) Experience, 2) Industry Recognition, and 3) Professional Conduct. Recently, they have given Persons Firm attorney, Ben Persons, Avvo’s highest possible endorsement 10 out of 10, Superb. The Persons Firm is proud to congratulate Ben Persons on this prestigious achievement.

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crime stoppers.jpgAtlanta has seen a flood of wrongful death and catastrophic injuries caused by hit and run drivers this summer. Numerous metro area police departments are pursuing active hit and run investigations. This week DeKalb county caught the man believed to be responsible for the fatal hit and run collision on Flat Shoals road June 12, 2010. The man charged with vehicular homicide is a Cobb County school administrator and WSBTV has the full story.

According to police investigators, a Crime Stoppers tip led to the accused’s arrest in this case. It is good to see the victim’s family get justice thanks to programs like Crime Stoppers. The program works. If you have information about a hit and run incident or other crime you can call Crime Stoppers at (404) 577-TIPS, (404) 577-8477.

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lexus.jpgToday, a Lexus LS 460, like the vehicle pictured to the left, struck and killed a pedestrian walking next to Roswell Road. According to the Sandy Springs Police the Lexus left the road, struck a man walking on the sidewalk, and immediately left the scene.

We have seen a rash of horrific hit and run incidents in Atlanta this summer. One report after another of cowards with complete disregard for human life leaving the scene of accidents hoping to avoid traffic citations. Hopefully, they will catch this one. The Police believe the Lexus was black or gray in color and likely has damage to the right front fender and right headlight.

If you know anything about this incident or see a Lexus LS 460 with similar damage call the Sandy Springs Police Department at 770-551-6900

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