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Personal injury law covers a lot of ground. Whenever one person alleges that another person or entity caused that person’s injury and seeks to recover damages, that is a case for a personal injury lawyer. One crucial thing to remember is that, in Georgia, you generally only have two years to file a claim for recovery from your injury.
As with every other state, Georgia has its own rules and guidelines to be followed for a successful personal injury claim. Their complexity and subtlety mean that you should work with an experienced Johns Creek personal injury lawyer if you think you have a compensable personal injury claim.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Types of Personal Injury Cases We Handle
- Georgia Estate Law
- Contact a Johns Creek Personal Injury Lawyer
- An Injury Lawyer Near Me
Personal Injury Cases We Handle
There are many different incidents that can lead to compensable personal injury. In each type of incident, different standards apply, and different issues arise. If you have been involved in any of these, you should speak with an experienced Johns Creek personal injury lawyer as soon as you can.
Motor Vehicle Accidents
Motor vehicle accidents can involve cars, buses, trucks, motorcycles, and other motorized vehicles. You may have been operating another motorized vehicle, been a passenger in one, or been a simple pedestrian who got in the way of a vehicle. In any of these instances, you will have suffered a personal injury.
Drunk Driving Injuries
Drunk driving cases may allow for punitive damages as well as compensation for your injuries. Also, you can use a drunk driving conviction as evidence of fault in this type of claim, though there does not have to be a conviction for you to seek civil recovery.
Slip and Fall Accidents
Slip and fall accidents happen when you are injured on the premises of another by slipping, tripping, and falling over an existing hazard. Your ability to recover depends on whether you were an invited guest or customer on the property, as well as whether the owner’s negligence led to the slip and fall hazard.
Boating Accidents
Boating accidents are common in Georgia because of our extensive coastline and numerous lakes. Specific Department of Natural Resources rules govern boating, and these will add to the ordinary negligence standard applied to any motor vehicle accident. These claims are complicated by maritime insurance rules, which require knowledgeable counsel.
Wrongful Death
In Georgia, all the claims made in a wrongful death case must be directly related to the deceased individual’s injury and death. Damages suffered by the family due to the death are not compensable in Georgia wrongful death cases. Generally, what you can recover is:
- Funeral expenses, medical costs, other expenses resulting from the injury or death
- Medical expenses and the decedent’s pain and suffering, and any other expenses occurring between the injury and the death
- The full value of the deceased person’s life, as proven by evidence.
Dog Bites
Georgia is a one-bite state. Generally, this rule means that a dog cannot be put down or its owner found liable for the first biting incident. However, Georgia also modifies this rule by making owners liable if they knew that the dog was vicious, they did not have the dog properly on a leash, or the attack was not provoked by the bite victim.
Public Transportation Injuries
Public transportation vehicles are, under Georgia law, subject to the rules relating to common carriers. A common carrier is generally someone who owns or operates mass transportation facilities. A different standard of care applies to common carriers. They are typically presumed to be liable unless the injury resulted from an act of God or by enemies of the state.
Catastrophic Injuries
These are the injuries that leave you permanently disabled and facing a lifetime of rehab and challenging circumstances. Most often, these injuries relate to the head, neck, back, or brain, and nervous system. They are characterized by long-term incapacitating symptoms and a long or impossible recovery period. Other factors may include permanent paralysis or loss of quality of life and the need for constant or live-in care.
Product Liability
Product liability cases are unusual because they don’t always require proof that someone was at fault. In Georgia, a product liability claim can be based on either strict liability or negligence. Strict liability does not require proof of negligence, but it does require proof that the manufacturer was responsible for making the product, the product had defects, and the defect caused you to suffer injuries.
These cases can involve a defect in the design or in the manufacturing of the product or the maker’s failure to warn users, consumers, or purchasers of a nonobvious foreseeable risk from the normal use of the product.
Medical Malpractice
One type of personal injury case that requires the knowledge of an experienced attorney is a medical malpractice claim. Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider, such as a doctor, nurse, or medical technician, fails to provide the standard of care that a reasonably competent and skilled healthcare provider would have provided under similar circumstances. This lapse can result in harm, injury, or death to the patient.
Examples of medical malpractice can include but are not limited to, surgical errors, misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose a condition, incorrect or inappropriate treatment, medication errors, and failure to monitor or follow up with a patient. These errors can have serious and long-lasting effects, including physical pain, psychological trauma, additional medical costs, loss of earnings, and in the worst cases, loss of life.
Surgical Errors
This type of medical malpractice can occur when a surgeon makes an error during a procedure that a competent surgeon would not have made under the same circumstances. For example, a surgeon might perform surgery on the wrong body part, leave a surgical instrument inside the patient’s body, or cause unnecessary damage to surrounding tissues during the procedure.
Misdiagnosis or Failure to Diagnose
These errors occur when a healthcare provider either identifies a patient’s illness or condition incorrectly or fails to identify it at all. For instance, if a doctor fails to diagnose a patient’s cancer when a competent doctor would have identified it based on the same symptoms and test results, this could be considered malpractice. The delay in accurate diagnosis could lead to the cancer progressing and potentially limit treatment options.
Incorrect or Inappropriate Treatment
This type of malpractice occurs when a doctor treats a patient in a manner that no competent doctor would. This could include prescribing the wrong medication or dosage, using a risky or outdated procedure when a safer or more modern one is available, or failing to tailor a treatment plan to a patient’s specific needs. For example, if a patient is prescribed a high dosage of a medication that results in severe side effects when a lower dosage would have been effective and safer, that could constitute malpractice.
Medication Errors
Medication errors can occur in several ways, such as prescribing or administering the wrong medication, incorrect dosage, or failing to consider harmful drug interactions. For instance, if a nurse administers a medication to a patient that they are known to be allergic to, resulting in a severe allergic reaction, this could be an example of medical malpractice.
Failure to Monitor or Follow Up
Healthcare providers have a duty to adequately monitor their patients and provide appropriate follow-up care. If a doctor fails to monitor a patient’s vital signs during a hospital stay and the patient’s condition worsens as a result, this could constitute malpractice. Similarly, if a doctor does not schedule necessary follow-up appointments after a procedure or fails to follow up on test results, and the patient’s health suffers, this could also be considered malpractice.
The complexity of medical malpractice cases lies in proving that a healthcare provider was negligent. This requires demonstrating that the standard of care was breached and that this breach directly resulted in injury or harm. Often, this will involve the use of expert medical testimony to confirm what the appropriate standard of care was and how it was not met.
It’s crucial to establish a clear link between the healthcare provider’s negligence and the patient’s injury. This is known as causation and can often be one of the most challenging aspects of a medical malpractice case to prove, as it requires showing that the harm suffered was a direct result of the provider’s negligence and not due to an underlying medical condition or an unforeseeable complication.
Georgia State Law on Personal Injury Claims
The success of any of the above personal injury cases is complicated by what is known as the doctrine of comparative negligence that is used in Georgia personal injury cases. Comparative negligence considers the conduct of all parties to a negligence case and assigns a numerical percentage to their share of the “fault” in the accident. The value assigned to your level of fault is crucial to your case because, at 49%, you can recover 51% of your damages, while at 50%, you recover nothing. Because of this, consulting with experienced counsel can be vital to your potential recovery.
Damage caps, set by state law, limit the dollar amount of certain types of damages recoveries in personal injury cases, regardless of the amount of the actual damages. In Georgia, damages caps in tort cases are mostly unconstitutional under the state constitution. However, there are some exceptions to this general rule. Since 2018, there have been no caps on economic or non-economic (e.g., pain and suffering) recoveries in Georgia. There are still limits on punitive damages, and most of that limited amount must be paid to the state, not the injured party.
Contact a Johns Creek Personal Injury Lawyer Today
As you have seen, personal injury cases cover a lot of complicated ground. But, if you’ve been injured in Johns Creek, you should contact an experienced personal injury lawyer today. In a free initial consultation, you can find out the merits of your case and receive assistance in achieving the damages to which you are entitled.
Finding the Right Personal Injury Lawyer Near Me
You might know you need a personal injury attorney, but you might not know where to start when finding the right one for your case. You can start by searching online for a “Personal injury lawyer near me,” because you want a law firm in your area. Those attorneys will be familiar with the common accident risks and causes in Johns Creek, which can make it easier for them to identify liability for your injuries and losses.
If you are in the John Creek’s area and seeking a local injury law firm you can trust, Spaulding Injury Law can help. We continuously take accident cases near you. Reach out for a free consultation and learn more about whether you have a case.
Our Practice Areas
Our Personal Injury Office in Alpharetta
Our law office is located close to you, on Milton Ave near Brooke Street Park and The other Alpharetta cemetery, approximately 2 miles from Wellstar North Fulton Medical Center.
Spaulding Injury Law: Alpharetta Personal Injury Lawyers located at 132 Milton Ave, Alpharetta, GA 30009, United States.
03/30/23 
(470) 509-5772