Month: February 2010

While a wrongful death does mean someone has died, there are times when that death results in the public good.

Let’s take a look at a case we heard about that took place in Texas, at one of the Universities. This story involved the very tragic death of an 18-year-old fraternity pledge. Tyson Millar (name has been changed to protect the identity of the victim’s family) fell to his death from a balcony in 2006. The story takes a turn for the ugly when we find out that the young lad had been harassed and hazed for several days prior to his death. It was supposedly a part of his initiation into the fraternity.

Young Tyson was sleep deprived, assaulted, beaten with large bamboo sticks and paddles, and forced to drink copious quantities of alcohol. While a rather strange way to welcome someone into a fraternity, this type of behavior was considered to be normal. It didn’t turn out to be normal for Tyson, as his body was discovered on the sidewalk near an off-campus dorm. The autopsy report revealed a blood alcohol level of more than twice the legal limit.

Unfortunately, this type of thing had happened in the past at this University and in fact, in 2009, two people associated with another incident pleaded no contest to hazing and giving booze to minors and were sentenced to four days in jail and two years of deferred adjudication (a form of probation).

In addition, the former head of the fraternity that Millar was trying to gain entrance to also pleaded no contest to the charges and got a year of deferred adjudication. A fourth frat member pleaded no contest to failure to report hazing and also received one year of deferred adjudication. In everything in life, there are consequences.

In Tyson’s case, the family had hoped for significant changes to be implemented to the hazing and fraternity rituals on the campus. Their hopes were not in vain. The wrongful death suit against the fraternity resulted in a settlement that will create changes for future pledges to keep them safe.

Part of the settlement agreement included provisions that the fraternity would institute a comprehensive educational program, including a video with input from Tyson’s parents, in all its national chapters to eliminate any of the usual forms of hazing and educate members about the dangers of hazing. In agreeing to make these changes, the fraternity was still allowed to operate.

Other things included in the agreement were the mandate that the frat group must give advance notice of large parties, limit the attendance of guests to those specifically on a pre-party guest list, hire off-duty police officers for security, and limit parties/events to Fridays and Saturdays, and call it quits at 2 a.m. While the tragedy of losing Tyson to such a senseless ritual was devastating to the family, their insistence that good come out of it for other university students has been honored.

Wrongful death cases may be handled in many different ways, and the outcome for each one is often tailor-made for that particular case. Despite the fact that financial damages were still awarded in this instance, there is the chance to ask for things to be done in the public good to protect others from suffering similar deaths. This is something to consider depending on the facts of your wrongful death case.

Robert Webb is an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in Atlanta personal injury, malpractice, criminal defense, and business law. Learn more at Webbdorazio.com.

Starting a new business is exciting and frightening at the same time. Make sure to hire the business lawyer before opening the doors.

One of the worst things that may happen to a fledgling company is making the mistake of not keeping properly documented records about all relationships involved in the business from day one. This observation also applies to the early start-up stages as well.

“While it’s natural to be rather informal at the beginning, who knows what value the company will really have later. The value of the company later is the crucial key here and means that hiring a lawyer at the beginning of the start-up process for a company is a wise investment move for all concerned,” commented Robert Webb of Webb & D’Orazio in Marietta, Georgia.

Often investors feel it’s not necessary to hire legal advice that early in the process. Unfortunately, it’s this very time when the business is making crucial decisions that will affect their future that they “need” legal advice. They also need to be keeping good records of everything that happens during their start-up. No one knows when these records will come in handy.

Even though it’s statistically likely that most company founders will do just fine during their start-up by not documenting everything they do, the chances are high that those who don’t take this precaution will have serious problems later. “The facts are that without any documentation on the company start-up, the founders assume legal risk,” added Webb.

For these reasons, it’s a good idea to discuss the founding of the company with a competent Atlanta business lawyer, setup the correct entity, tackle founder grants, put intellectual property into the venture, keep track of all of the service relationships, and start building on the value of a properly documented start-up.

“Of course the choice to document everything or not is up to the owners and founders, but there are some things that they need to be wary of when they’re getting their start-up ready. If this is a first time start-up, be cautious with any relationships until they have withstood the test of time,” Webb suggested. “There are a fair number of individuals who are out for themselves, and would not hesitate to take advantage of a new company trying to get its feet on the ground. Lawsuits at this stage are pretty much guaranteed to put a kibosh on the business,” he continued.

While it’s really nice that people offer to do the company a favor, do not accept favors unless you know the person well and trust them completely. The reason for this is that if they are doing work for very little in return or for nothing (the favor), they may claim any work was done in exchange for promised company equity. “Even though this may not be the case, avoid the possibility of someone pulling a stunt like this and don’t take favors. The only circumstances where this might be workable are if the agreement to do the favor is in writing,” explained Webb.

“Another age old piece of advice is to sever ties with someone who obviously has bad habits that have the potential to take the company down,” said Robert Webb of Webb & D’Orazio in Marietta, Georgia.

Don’t turn a blind eye to what they are doing, or that very same person may also take everyone else down with them. Their value to the company is not worth the risk of losing the whole business later because of that one person.

There are many other pitfalls that a good business lawyer will be able to outline to founders of a new business and steer them in the right direction to success. Hiring a lawyer early is one smart business investment.

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

COMPANY PROFILE

Webb & D’Orazio are Atlanta personal injury lawyers practicing personal injury lawyer, business law, and criminal defense in Atlanta Georgia.

Capping medical malpractice damage awards is not a wise decision. Capping is often referred to as bad medicine.

If one stops to think seriously about a medical malpractice case and the damages awarded in a serious case, there would be the realization that if someone young were to be incapacitated for life, then limiting their award would not address the true extent of their damages. “In other words, capping an award would be short changing the innocent victim,” explained Robert Webb of Webb & D’Orazio in Marietta, Georgia.

Unfortunately, capping medical malpractice damages at $250,000 is one of the reforms being suggested in the comprehensive reform of the health care system currently pending passage into law. To say that this particular suggestion has not garnered a lot of approval would be a major understatement. Although there are two schools of thought on this, the very idea of limiting what a severely injured person would get as a result of medical negligence just rankles many Americans.

“Those who are for a proposal such as this typically tend to be large insurance companies who want to save money by having a medical malpractice cap on damage awards. One wonders where the consideration for humanity is in that stance, never mind how “just” that would be considered to be,” added Webb.

To “recap” the issues involved here (pun intended) one has to come at it from the point of view of big business insurance companies in the pro medical malpractice cap camp. “They claim it is critical to limit damages in order of effectively offset the rising costs on insurance premiums. The other thing going on here is that it’s claimed that physicians are afraid of med mal suits and are now practicing defensive medicine which drives up the cost of medical care in order to avoid lawsuits,” Webb commented.

“Interestingly though, some states insist that capping damage awards in cases like this has done nothing to stop the increases in med mal insurance rates,” said Webb. All eyes should be on the insurance companies in that case to be asking why, when caps are in place, the rates are still going up. Generally speaking, the answer tends to be related to making money rather than a concern for victims.

In the other camp, those opposed to capping med mal damage awards, comes the argument that the worst result in the case of capping is an arbitrary amount is assigned for compensation for pain and suffering. If the case involves permanent, life-long and very serious injuries, damages would be well in excess of $250,000.

“Capping damages means those harmed the most are punished for being harmed at the hands of a doctor; something that does not make sense, ethically or morally,” stated Robert Webb of Webb & D’Orazio in Marietta, Georgia. Problem number two, and there are other problems as well involved here, is that capping a damage award means there is no adjustment for inflation.

Ultimately, what is pain and suffering in really severe medical malpractice cases worth? One thing is for sure, it is certainly worth more than $250,000.

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

COMPANY PROFILE

Webb & D’Orazio are Atlanta personal injury lawyers practicing personal injury lawyer, business law, and criminal defense in Atlanta Georgia.

If you’ve been hurt due to the negligence of another person, then you may be able to file a personal injury lawsuit.

It’s tough when either you or someone else you love has been involved in an accident and the end result is serious injuries or death. Disaster often strikes when it is least expected and may cause life-altering injuries to those involved in car crashes, slip, trip and fall mishaps, motorcycle accidents, collisions with an 18-wheeler, or dealing with defective products.

If people took responsibility for their actions, there would likely be far fewer reasons for lawsuits. However, negligence seems to be just one of those things that have become a part of daily living; and something that ultimately turns someone’s life upside down on a dime. Accidents can and do happen to anyone. Be aware of your rights when it comes to personal injuries and if you don’t understand those rights, discuss them with an Atlanta personal injury lawyer.

The interesting thing about the area of personal injury law originates in where it started; growing from a branch of civil law aimed at protecting human rights. What you should know is that the law was created to offer victims the right to be able to sue for damages from parties deemed liable (negligent) for causing them harm. Oddly, many people don’t realize that each person has a strict liability over something they are responsible for, whether that may be a piece of equipment or maintaining a property in safe condition.

When it comes to filing a personal injury lawsuit, the person filing it is referred to as the plaintiff. If the victim of an accident died as a result of the mishap, then the plaintiff becomes family members filing a lawsuit on behalf of their deceased loved one. The plaintiff (or the family) is filing a lawsuit against the person who caused the event or events that harmed them, and alleging they are at fault for the damages that occurred as a result of an accident. They will further ask the court for damages to be awarded to them in order to pay for things like their medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering and in the case of a death, funeral expenses.

Case like this are best left in the hands of skilled and compassionate Atlanta personal injury lawyer who knows what they are doing. The plaintiff does not have enough experience to even begin to understand what they need in order to win this kind of a case, how to assess the financial worth of the injuries they sustained, or how to present various pieces of evidence in court.

The fact is that there are a fair number of factors involved in personal injury law cases and if they are not handled properly, this will affect the overall credibility of the case. The most important issue is liability, as in how an individual may be culpable for a certain event or events. Another factor is the amount of damages that resulted from an accident.

To figure these kinds of issues out, an Atlanta personal injury lawyer works to piece together a timeline showing the events that led to the accident, what led to the injuries sustained and who caused those actions. It’s a bit like a storyboard for a television show.

If you have questions about personal injury law, have been involved in an accident and don’t know your rights, or have lost a loved one because of someone else’s negligence, speak to a competent Atlanta personal injury lawyer.

Robert Webb is an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in Atlanta personal injury, malpractice, criminal defense, and business law. Learn more at Webbdorazio.com.