Category: Press Releases

If the car in this case had not been traveling so close to the cyclist, the man would not have suffered traumatic brain injury.

“The cyclist in this reported case was severely injured by a car turning into a school driveway. The driver did not look where he was going, and as a result of this accident, the cyclist was deemed incompetent to provide instructions to his legal counsel, and did not have the capacity to understand any of the court proceedings. He sustained severe trauma to his head,” said Robert Webb, an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in personal injury, malpractice, criminal defense, and business law.

The man on the bicycle was hit so hard he was tossed up over the car’s windshield, landing on the pavement of the driver’s side of the car. The impact was so severe that he sustained not only a life-altering debilitating brain injury, but multiple facial fractures. The driver of the car claims he was not negligent, but that the cyclist was, and that if the man did suffer any injuries, they were caused by his own negligence.

“The cyclist was a chartered accountant and senior partner at a local firm in the city where he lived with his wife, and was wearing a safety helmet at the time of the accident. A Grand Am heading east drove right in front of the man, causing the car’s right front fender to hit the bike. The impact threw the cyclist into the car and propelled him over the car,” Webb said.

The police report of this accident indicated that the roads were clear and dry, that it was sunny out and the collision happened at the white line marking on the shoulder of the road. The subsequent lawsuit stated the driver of the car was not driving with due care and attention, failed to yield the right-of-way to the bike before making a sharp left hand turn, failed to try and avoid contact with the bicycle and was not paying attention to what he was doing or where he was going.

“At trial, the wife will seek damages that will include compensation for medical expenses for the rest of the man’s life, lost income, loss of consortium and companionship, therapy, pain and suffering, scarring and other expenses related to the accident,” Webb said.

Cases like this are usually dramatic, in the sense that the defense will try and diminish the seriousness of the accident and shift blame to the plaintiff. For instance, the defense counsel in this case stated the man was not wearing adequate head protection, that his ability to ride a bike was impaired and that there was poor visibility.

“Obviously, the police report and weather conditions on that day will play a large part in determining this case, as will the debate over what constitutes adequate head protection. The impairment issue will also likely be discussed at some length, and the defense will try to indicate the man’s mental problems were pre-existing,” Webb said.

Given the fact that the cyclist was deemed to be fit and healthy prior to the accident and then spent three months in a rehab center before being placed into a home for the brain injured, the defense is going to be hard pressed to prove their case. “Will the plaintiff win this case? Likely. The jury will have plenty of evidence to suggest the man was normal prior to this accident and as a result of this collision, his whole life was turned upside down and he will require care for the rest of his life,” Webb said.

To learn more, visit http://www.webbdorazio.com.

This wrongful death lawsuit had its origins in medical malpractice. Many wrongful death lawsuits are often associated with med mal.

“This case had a bit of an unusual twist. While it is not out of the ordinary to run into different circumstances when dealing with cases like this, this reported court opinion was slightly unusual, as it partially granted the defendant’s objections to the plaintiff’s medical expert’s report,” said Robert Webb, an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in personal injury, malpractice, criminal defense, and business law.

In some states, the law mandates that plaintiffs must submit a medical expert report within 30 days of filing a med mal lawsuit. In this instance, the defendant argued the plaintiff’s report did not identify any substantial negligence committed by the hospital’s surgical nurses. On the other hand, there was still a question about the floor nurses who cared for the deceased while she was in hospital.

The facts of the case were stated as the plaintiff, a 79-year-old woman, was undergoing surgery for an elective inguinal hernia repair, and that the surgeon nicked the woman’s colon. The woman returned to the ER a few days after surgery with a fever. She was booked for a laparotomy, where the doctors discovered a nicked colon. The woman died nine months after her laparotomy. The lawsuit further alleges the nurses caused the deceased unnecessary pain, negligently failed to provide her with proper care and treatment, and caused her death.

“There are a couple of issues here, one involving granting the partial denial of the plaintiff’s expert medical witnesses report and who was at fault for the care the deceased received. The partial denial may mean that only some of the defendants will be held responsible for the care and death of the deceased, and that the surgeon will also be held negligent for nicking the woman’s colon – an action that ultimately led to her deadly infection and death,” Webb said.

The main thing to take note of is that wrongful death cases are moving targets, in that the unexpected may happen, as it did in this case, and the plaintiff’s counsel needs to be prepared for just about any contingency. The medical malpractice lawyer’s job is to prove negligence was the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s death and, but for the medical mistake the doctor and/or nurses made, the patient may still be alive.

To learn more, visit http://www.webbdorazio.com.

Anoxic brain injury caused a man’s death after what should have been routine knee surgery.

“In this reported case, the man went to an outpatient surgical center in Marietta, Ga. for what should have been routine knee surgery. It turned out to have been anything but routine. On his way home from the outpatient surgery, he suffered cardio-respiratory arrest, dying two days later, as the result of anoxia,” said Robert Webb, an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in personal injury, malpractice, criminal defense, and business law.

There is much more to this story than meets the eye. At the time of the surgery, the attending anesthesiologist knew the man suffered from obstructive sleep apnea, making him a very high risk patient for post-operative breathing problems, such as depressed respiration. “The surgery went brilliantly, and the man was admitted to the post anesthesia recovery unit. Oddly though, when he was admitted, the doctor wrote up a pre-authorized patient release,” Webb said.

Although the man had no pain when he went into the clinic, the nurse in the recovery unit gave him 1 mg. of Dilaudid IV. Less than an hour later, he got another 1 mg IV and handed him two tablets of Percocet. There was no written record of how much or what, if any, narcotics were to be given the man and none of his vital signs were charted after surgery was completed.

The man’s wife arrived to pick him up and they left the clinic before the full effect of the narcotics kicked in. Prior to leaving, neither the doctor, nor the nurse, assessed his condition. He went into cardio-respiratory arrest on the way home and died two days later.

“Percocet and Dilaudid are heavy duty opioid painkillers, for moderate to severe pain, and are noted to cause or exacerbate respiratory depression, particularly in those with obstructive sleep apnea. Patients with apnea need to be continuously monitored for a minimum of three hours, and should be kept until they are not a risk for post operative respiratory depression,” Webb said.

Not surprisingly, the defendants are denying liability in the death of the man. Will this case be successful? “Likely. The jury may well view the patient being given that much medication in about 30 minutes, when he had sleep apnea, as negligent. Additionally, there were no doctor’s orders and no vital signs charted while he was in recovery,” added Webb, the Atlanta personal injury lawyer.

Not all bad medical outcomes are classified as medical malpractice, and this is why it is important to take a suspected case of medical malpractice to a competent Atlanta personal injury lawyer. Speaking to a lawyer will give the potential plaintiff an idea of what to expect, should their case go forward to court.

To learn more, visit http://www.webbdorazio.com.

A little girl developed cerebral palsy as a direct result of negligence on the part of the doctor delivering her. The jury found for the plaintiff in the case.

“This is a disturbing case in which the clear signs and symptoms of a baby being in distress were not acted on promptly, with devastating results,” said Robert Webb, an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in personal injury, malpractice, criminal defense, and business law.

This story began when the expectant mother-to-be went for one of her regular checkups. The results of her non-stress test showed her baby had a low heart rate, at which point the doctor suggested labor be induced. On the doctor’s advice, the parents agreed to go ahead with an emergency C-section. “The problems began after the doctor induced labor. He decided to not do the C-section. This is the point where the baby’s life changed forever, because she was not getting the oxygen she needed to her brain, which caused cerebral palsy,” Webb said.

At trial, an expert witness for the parents pointed out that the baby also suffered additional injuries, compounded by the fact that labor had been induced, and then a vacuum applied for extraction. Of interest was the fact that the doctor who performed the delivery said she did not consider doing a C-section, because she saw no signs that there was anything wrong with the baby. The personal injury lawsuit filed suggested that had a C-section been performed as originally planned, she would not have been born with cerebral palsy.

“Cases like these are difficult and exceedingly complex, largely because of the medical issues involved, and the type of testimony required to persuade a jury. Most medical malpractice cases need expert witnesses to testify that what a doctor did was not up to the accepted standards of the profession. Getting a case like this to court takes a long time to mount a solid case, and needs experienced counsel at the helm to present the evidence,” Webb said.

For families that feel they have been the victim of medical malpractice, make the first call for advice to a competent and experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer. The first consultation is free and may cover what a medical malpractice case involves, how one is put together, what to expect in court and what to expect in terms of a possible jury award.

“If you think you have been the victim of medical malpractice, feel free to give my office a call. That’s my job, to answer your questions and help you understand what you may be facing, should you have a case,” Webb said.

To learn more, visit http://www.webbdorazio.com.

Offline paper contracts are based on established case law. Unfortunately, the Internet has changed things drastically when it comes to online contracts.

“There is a whole history of established precedent for contract law; the kind of law based on a written contract, when both parties signed it and agreed to what was in the four corners of the document. They is also such a thing as verbal contracts, but they’re harder to prove if one of the parties denies the existence of a verbal contract,” said Robert Webb, an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in personal injury, malpractice, criminal defense, and business law.

There are four things needed to form a legally binding contract: the consideration involved; the intention to create a legal relationship; an offer and an acceptance. The consideration means that that parties will each benefit in some manner.

“The intention to create a contract is generally fairly clear in most cases, largely because the two individuals are negotiating something. What’s tricky is figuring out if the contract is legally binding and has an offer and acceptance part,” Webb said. Put another way, people cannot accept an invitation to treat and an invitation is distinctly different from a contract.

With the usual kind of a written on paper contract in the offline world, the two people involved sign it and agree to all the terms etc. Some of the issues covered would include the time the contract was entered, the specific terms and the jurisdiction the contract is relevant too. In the online world this is slightly different and negotiations are done via the web and emails and other e-methods.

Emails mimic paper correspondence sent my regular mail and, generally speaking, once someone offers something via email and accepts via email, the deed should be done. However, the difficult part about online offers and acceptances is that often, there are questions about the validity of the acceptance. Precisely, what online is the equivalent to snail mailing a letter? There is no clear definition of that – yet.

“If you thought business dealings offline had their touch and go moments, dealing with online offers and when an acceptance has been tendered is even trickier. Generally speaking, that would ultimately depend on each case or situation that arose. If you find yourself in a sticky situation involving an online contract, give us a call and we can discuss the situation with you,” Webb said.

To learn more, visit http://www.webbdorazio.com.

In some places in the country, doctors may not be sued for making mistakes. Lately, medical malpractice cases have taken on a different twist.

“At one time, in certain states, if a doctor saw a patient in the ER complaining of chest pains, he or she would take a history and do some basic tests. If the tests showed no indication of a heart problem, the person would be sent home. That would be viewed as practicing good medicine and the doctor could not be sued if the patient died later of a heart attack,” said Robert Webb, an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in personal injury, malpractice, criminal defense, and business law.

These days, things are changing in some states, enough so that doctors feel they need to practice defensive medicine to prevent being sued. The same patient from the first example going to the ER in another state would be admitted and run through an endless battery of tests, ostensibly to avoid a lawsuit.

“But really, does it avoid a medical malpractice lawsuit? The answer is, ‘No, it does not,’ and that is largely because no matter how many tests are run, if the person interpreting them makes a mistake or misreads them, there may still be a medical malpractice case filed due to a bad medical outcome,” Webb said.

The dilemma today is that many doctors feel they are boxed into a corner when it comes to diagnosing issues and are bordering on the paranoid about ensuring they do all they can in their power to get things right and help a patient. However, legally speaking, the frantic due diligence that may be performed by doctors not wanting to be sued for med mal is a waste of time, money and resources. The fact is that sometimes bad medical outcomes happen, no matter what a doctor does. This is what makes med mal cases as tricky as they are.

“Typically, malpractice is and should be, about deviating from an approved medical standard. Meaning, if a doctor doesn’t live up to the set standards of their specialty and doesn’t have an explanation as to why they did deviate from the accepted norm and something awful happens, they need to face the consequences,” Webb said.

On the other side of the fence, and this is where the great debate gets going, if a doctor does everything right and something bad happens, they feel they deserve to be protected. Life is life and sometimes bad things happen, despite good medical care. Therein lies the dilemma; one that has no right or wrong answer, but does result in troubling lawsuits.

To learn more, visit http://www.webbdorazio.com.

More often than not, injury accidents happen when they are least expected. In this case, a worker fell at work, sustaining soft tissue damage.

“No one knows when they may wind up having an accident at work that will cause them continuing problems later,” said Robert Webb, an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in personal injury, malpractice, criminal defense, and business law.

“That’s the thing with personal injury accidents; they tend to happen without warning. However, if they happen at work as a result of poor safety rules and regulations, the victim is often able to file a lawsuit to claim compensation for their medical bills, etc., particularly if there is third party negligence involved,” Webb said.

In this instance, an employee in a small store that sold educational supplies and toys for children was asked to get a toy from the stock room. It was quite high up on the shelves and she could not reach the item without using a ladder. While the ladder worked and the toy was retrieved, the worker slipped on the way down and fell, sustaining soft tissue damage to her lower back, calf and elbow.

The worker required hospital care and lost time off work. She continued, despite healing, to have difficulty walking or driving if it involved any long distance. Her inability to walk properly prompted her to leave her job and find work elsewhere. In the meantime, she chose to file a personal injury lawsuit stating that the ladder she was told to use was faulty.

Subsequently, the employer admitted they had breached the rules and regulations relating to workers needing to deal with things at a height. They did not provide the proper safety ladder for her to retrieve the toy and the jury awarded her $15,606.08.

This case could possibly have gone either way, depending on how the jury regarded the safe workplace rules and regulations and whether or not the ladder provided was safe and suitable for workers to use to reach objects in high locations.

“As it turned out, the employer admitted the ladder was not the proper kind and owned up to having an unsafe workplace. If you have been in a similar situation and aren’t sure what legal issues are involved in your potential case, give my office a call. That’s our job, to help you by taking a look at your situation and determining if there is cause to file a lawsuit,” Webb said.

To learn more, visit http://www.webbdorazio.com.

Wrongful death cases involve liability just like other kinds of personal injuries. However, these cases are about recovering compensation for the economic losses incurred due to the death.

“We have seen many auto wreck cases over the years and tend to hear about many more. This one caught our attention when we discovered that the fatal accident was caused by a 14-year old driver. Needless to say, he lost control of the Mustang he was driving, flipped it over and slammed it into a tree. When a moving object hits a stationary one, the results are generally not pretty. In this case, two died and two were left in critical condition,” said Robert Webb, an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in personal injury, malpractice, criminal defense and business law.

While the families may never know how the 14-year-old got behind the wheel and was driving, reports indicate that two of the dead included a 26-year-old woman and a 10-year-old boy. The car’s driver and a 6-year-old were critically injured and rushed to hospital. “The obvious question here is: what was the 26-year old-woman thinking when she allowed a 14-year-old to drive? The other not so obvious question is: who did the car belong to?” Webb asked.

Unfortunately, no one was wearing seatbelts at the time of the impact; a fact that made the injuries sustained even worse and pretty much ensured the death of the other two occupants. There is not much doubt that the family of the two dead individuals will likely want to speak to a wrongful death lawyer about obtaining compensation for the loss of their loved ones. “In this case, it may be the parents of the 14-year-old who will be sued when the dust settles and the police find out who owns the car and who allowed the child to drive in the first place,” Webb said.

Personal injury cases, including wrongful death situations, are cases that a skilled Atlanta personal injury lawyer will handle on behalf of a plaintiff. Each case is different. Each case is unique and assessed on its own merits. Each case will have a different outcome and each wrongful death case has a certain time limitation for filing, something that a plaintiff needs to discuss with the Atlanta personal injury lawyer.

“Wrongful death cases are civil cases and are filed under the auspices of your state’s wrongful death statute. Every state had different requirements and it’s best to ask your lawyer about those when you seek legal counsel,” Webb said.

To learn more, visit http://www.webbdorazio.com.

When a medical equipment manufacturer kept selling their product to a Georgia doctor, they were selling to a man facing 19 medical malpractice lawsuits.

“This is perhaps one of the most horrendous cases of medical malpractice that we have ever heard about,” said Robert Webb, an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in personal injury, malpractice, criminal defense and business law. “It involved a complaint filed against a Georgia company that sold video-guided catheters to a doctor with 19 medical malpractice lawsuits filed against him.”

It is quite amazing that any medical equipment company would even consider selling equipment to someone with one medical malpractice lawsuit pending, never mind 19. The suits outlined that the video-guided catheter was being used with a laser; something the USFDA did not approve. “The doctor in question filed for bankruptcy; a move that put a complete halt on the med mal lawsuits,” Webb said.

Just prior to declaring bankruptcy, the negligent surgeon settled three of the 19 medical malpractice cases and lost two trials. He was forced into paying out at least $6.1372 million to the two cases that went to trial. Other lawsuits were variously asking for $750,000 and punitive damages based on the allegations that his patients sustained pain, numbness, paralysis, weakness, incontinence and nerve damage after being subjected to laser spine surgery. The spine surgery was done with an altered video-guided catheter combined with laser.

The disturbing thing about this case is that representatives of the company who made the original video-guided catheter were present during a large number of the operations. “They were aware of and knew the patients were at risk by allowing the doctor to alter its device in a manner not approved by the USFDA,” Webb said. Patients who sued the renegade doctor were asking that the company stop selling the device to the physician in order to protect other innocent people in the future – should the doctor still be able to practice.

While it is nearly incomprehensible that the doctor should ever be allowed to practice again, stranger things have happened. “If something like this has happened to you and you do not know where to turn, please, call my office, we would be happy to discuss your case with you and outline your legal rights,” Webb said.

To learn more, visit http://www.webbdorazio.com.

The potential of employee negligence keeps company executives up at night. Negligence in business is disastrous.

“If someone is facing a negligence claim in their business, it is a major issue and one that usually needs the assistance an Atlanta personal injury lawyer specializing in business law. Why is that? Because you are the employer and you are liable for negligence on the part of your workers. You’re taking an enormous risk and if someone messes up, their negligence may cause your business serious issues,” said Robert Webb, an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in personal injury, malpractice, criminal defense, and business law.

Cases where professional negligence is present usually involve a situation where someone has implied or held themselves out to have above average skills and abilities at doing what they are doing – be that accounting, engineering or in the medical field. They hold themselves out to be able to do a certain job because of their professed abilities and skills. By doing that, this sets up a duty of care owed to their clients. If they breach that duty, there is damage to the client.

“If a client has entered into a contract with the ‘professional’, they can sue on that contract for any breaches of express terms. If there does not happen to be an express term, then they may sue on an implied term that the service discussed and possibly paid for will be carried out with due care and attention and reasonable skill and care,” Webb said.

The standard of care under the terms of a contract is the same standard of care used in negligence. However, that will be a bit different depending on when liability arises. For instance, contracts entered into voluntarily between two parties in verbal agreement versus the duty of care imposed by law.

“You should note that the standard of care can never be lowered, but it may, on the other hand, be raised. This is true when the defendant has either expressly or impliedly demonstrated abilities or skills that are above the ‘ordinary and reasonable man.’ That doesn’t mean that some professionals can’t be negligent even if they do have more experience that the average man. After all, they are human and bad things happen,” Webb said.

The difficulty with making a mistake when another’s business is at stake is that the ramifications can be horrendous. If professionals hold themselves out to provide a service where people rely on their expertise, they need to have the right kind of insurance to cover them in the event of a negligent mistake.

“If the person you are suing or contemplating suing is working for a company that has liability insurance, you may find they try to exclude or limit their liability in a contract with you. At this point, you really need to speak to a competent business lawyer to make heads or tails of what is going on. You need to know about the validity of certain clauses in your agreement, if there is one and you will want to know what your rights are and how to proceed with a claim,” said Webb, an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in personal injury, malpractice, criminal defense, and business law.

To learn more, visit http://www.webbdorazio.com.