Video Blog

The conventional wisdom is that if you don't hit your head on anything in the car, that you can't have a concussion. And that's simply not true. You can sustain a concussion from any rapid deceleration of the head. This is exactly what can happen to a person's head when they're involved in a car accident. Conventional wisdom also says that if you have a "clean" CT scan that you, also, can't have a concussion. Again, this is simply untrue. The CT scan is merely to check for fractures and bleeding. If you don't have a fracture or internal bleeding, that's a good thing. But that does not mean you don't have a concussion. A concussion is, what's called, a "clinical diagnosis" and only skilled physicians can make such a diagnosis. Very often, ER physicians don't even bother trying. Their job is to ensure you're stable and discharge you. So, if you've been in a car accident and you're experiencing headaches, strange dreams, sleeplessness, a lack of mental focus or acuity, vision problems or memory problems, you may have a concussion and you should seek the help of a specialist. If you have questions about this, you can call my office at 770-322-4990.

Pre-Trial Intervention or Diversion (PTD or PTI) is available to many people in Georgia who are being prosecuted for a criminal offense for the first time. Whether to have a program at all, what offenses it's available for, and what are the eligibility requirements are all decisions that are entirely up to the elected prosecutor in that court. If you're eligible, you will be required to complete certain objectives within a certain period of time. If successful, the case against you will be dismissed. Your official criminal history will be restricted and you will be eligible to have your clerk of court record sealed. It is a very beneficial program when available. Some prosecutors offer the program to pro se defendants and some don't. But, if you're offered PTI or PTD, it usually doesn't get any better than that. If you have been charged with a crime and you want to know if PTI or PTD is an option for you, you should consult with an attorney. You can reach me at 770-322-4990.

A lot of good honest people, who have been injured in a car accident, try to negotiate with the other person's car insurance company themselves. They sign a full release authorizing the adjuster to obtain their medical records. They often go out and retrieve all those records and bills, for the adjuster, themselves. The adjuster insists that they complete treatment before the insurance company can settle the case. Once that time comes, the adjuster uses the fact that health insurance was used to pay the bills, to try and low-ball the injured person. They point to the fact that the out-of-pocket expenses are quite low even though the overall medical bills a very high. Not knowing the law, a lot of good honest people fall for this line of argument and accept far less than their case is actually worth. The truth is, in a jury trial, the jury will never know that you used health insurance to pay your medical bills. They'll never know what the adjusted bill was either. All they'll ever see is the full billed amount, which is the fair market value of your damages. If you have any questions about this, you can call me at 770-322-4990.

In 2015, the state of Georgia amended its First Offender Act to allow people to ask for First Offender Treatment after-the-fact. That means people convicted of felonies way back in even 1990 can now petition the Court to treat them as a First Offender. It doesn't matter how long it's been. If granted, that officially exonerates the person of the offense. They are no longer "convicted felons". This change in the law is specifically aimed to help those who were not informed of their right to ask for First Offender Treatment at the time they were sentenced. The new law also allows people convicted of old misdemeanors to petition the Court for the same treatment. This is most helpful for people convicted of misdemeanors that make it difficult to get jobs. The most common are theft/shoplifting-related offenses. Finally, once the Court grants retroactive First Offender Treatment, the person's criminal history is restricted and they can, also, petition the Court to "seal" the Clerk of Court record. This procedure takes the information off the Court's website and makes the file unavailable to the public without a court order.

Conditional discharge is an option for people charged with certain offenses in Georgia. It allows the accused to enter a plea, complete a sentence and then have the conviction "discharged". Once done, it is as if you were never convicted. Your criminal history is, then, automatically restricted as to that charge. You are then eligible to have your clerk of court records sealed.

An admission by a store employee or manager can be the difference between a big recovery vs your case being dismissed. If you're hurt in a slip-and-fall, it's important to take note of who you talk to and specifically what they say and admit to you. You must be able to identify this person later. Statements indicating that they knew about the hazard before you slipped on it is one way to establish that the store had actual knowledge of the hazard.

Just because you slipped and fell on something in a store does not, automatically, make the store liable. You must still prove negligence. The first step to proving negligence is proving that the store had notice of the hazard. Notice can be, either, "actual" or "constructive" notice. Actual notice is exactly what it sounds like. An agent or employee of the store must have seen the hazard themselves or they must have been told about it. Constructive notice is laid down by case law. So long as the store has reasonable inspection procedures in place, and they followed those procedures on the date and at the time of your fall, the hazard can be present for up to 15 minutes before the store is deemed to have "constructive notice". The important takeaway here is that proving your case usually requires video evidence. The duty to preserve video evidence cannot be triggered if the store doesn't know about your fall. So, always report your falls. Be sure a report is generated by a manager. And consult with an attorney.

You should report every accident you're involved in. The driver of the other vehicle may be uninsured. If he/she is, and you don't report it, you may be precluded from utilizing your uninsured motorist coverage.

Under Georgia law, you can set the other person's insurance company up to have to pay Bad Faith damages and attorney's fees if you send them a demand pursuant to O.C.G.A. 33-4-7. You should take extra care to prove the value of your vehicle or the cost of the damages by getting as many estimates or comparables as possible. Or, you can hire an expert witness to do a pre-damage appraisal. The insurance company has 60 days to pay the demand. If they don't pay, you must sue the person who hit you but serve the insurance company as if they were a defendant in the case. You must go to trial and win. That means get as much (or more) than what you demanded from the insurance company. Then, and only then, can you reveal to the fact-finder (usually the jury) that you sent a demand pursuant to O.C.G.A. 33-4-7. The fact-finder then gets to decide if failing to pay your demand was in bad faith. If they do, you will be awarded $5,000 or 50% of the verdict...whichever is higher. Then, you can put on evidence of attorney's fees and be awarded those as well.

SB288 recently passed the Georgia Legislature and is set to be signed by the Governor. It's going to allow people with a array of misdemeanor convictions on their criminal history to have that history restricted. The law will also allow them to seek the sealing of their clerk of court records. The law also allows people who have been convicted of felonies to seek the restriction of their record and the sealing of the clerk records AFTER they've applied for and been granted a pardon.