Month: February 2011

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.

Workplace accidents take the lives of thousands of Americans every year. Often, these accidents result in wrongful death lawsuits being filed.

When people get up in the morning and head off to work, they expect they will be home for supper later. In this case, the man who went to work at a sand plant construction site would never come home again. He was killed in a workplace accident.

The man was standing on a cement wall when it suddenly gave way and trapped him underneath it. He died due to compression injuries to his head and chest. Three other workers were also hurt in this accident.

Sudden deaths like this leave the family affected in deep shock and grief. They have to somehow come to grips with not only the loss of their family member, but also the loss of the income that person contributed to the home. Without that funding, the family would be financially strapped and likely unable to pay their bills.

One way of recovering compensation for a wrongful death is to file a wrongful death lawsuit with the assistance of an Atlanta personal injury lawyer. Since wrongful death lawsuits are civil suits, they are tried in a different court than criminal cases. In this case, the investigation will need to determine why the cement wall collapsed. Was it defective? Made with poor materials? Did the people who erected the wall know the cement was flawed in some way and would not hold up later? Was it mixed improperly and missing critical ingredients?

In terms of investigations, it would take some time for all the facts to be gathered and assessed. This is one of the jobs that an Atlanta personal injury lawyer does; sifts through the details of the accident to determine what happened. If there is negligence involved, this will form the foundation of a wrongful death lawsuit to recover compensation for the family.

There are a number of things involved in a settlement or award for a wrongful death: The way the deceased handled their finances while living, their income had they lived, medical and funeral expenses, pain and suffering prior to death and the pain and suffering of the family.

There are other factors involved, but they tend to vary from state to state. If you have a wrongful death case, it is best to discuss the details with an experienced Atlanta personal injury lawyer and find out what rules are applicable in Georgia wrongful death cases and what other factors may be considered in that state.

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.

If a death was caused by someone else, that death is referred to as a wrongful death. To sue the person, an Atlanta injury lawyer is required.

“There are any numbers of ways in which someone may die at the hands of someone else: violent car wrecks, DUI crashes, medical malpractice, trucking accidents, workplace mishaps, serious side effects to the wrong medication, slip and falls and even sports injuries. If you have a wrongful death claim, you will need effective legal representation in order to ensure you get a fair and equitable settlement,” 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 most common way people meet their death due to someone else’s negligence in through a vehicle crash. Thousands of Americans die every year in wrecks, largely the result of the recklessness and carelessness of other drivers. This means wrongful death claims are quite common in many states. While a claim may be made against another person, it may also be made against an entity. For example, a city may be sued for negligently not providing proper crosswalk markings for pedestrians at high traffic areas.

One other area where wrongful death claims are high and seemingly getting higher is in the medical malpractice category. If a family has lost a loved one to what they suspect is medical negligence, they may have a case and need to talk to a skilled Atlanta medical malpractice lawyer. That malpractice may be wrong site surgery, misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose, ER screw ups or another form of neglect by a health care professional.

Product liability cases are also on the rise today. It seems that the rush to the marketplace with defective goods to make money is more important that they safety of the consumers who buy the product and end up seriously harmed or dead. “A lawsuit in this area is generally based on something such as a defective part or medication, a deadly car that accelerates without warning, a malfunction in a chain saw, flawed medical appliances or defective scaffolding. The list is endless,” Webb said.

Even property owners may pay the price for not keeping the property in a safe condition for people visiting them. One trip and fall, elevator injury or construction accident fiasco as a result of the owners’ negligence in not repairing a dangerous situation may also result in a wrongful death lawsuit.

“Keep in mind that wrongful death claims are not the same as personal injury lawsuits. In these cases, it is members of the family of the deceased who file a legal claim. The damages awarded in cases like this generally deal with the emotional and financial impact the death had on the family,” said Webb, an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in personal injury.

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

Medical malpractice is not just wrong surgery or handing out wrong medications. It may also involve birth injuries.

This case was as troubling as it was upsetting for the mother and the rest of the family. The mother was at an Army hospital and in labor. The doctor delayed performing a C-section and, as the result of oxygen loss to the baby’s brain at birth, her daughter was born with cerebral palsy.

There was a midwife present at the birth who urged for a C-section, but the doctor kept insisting that the mother keep pushing. The baby started to display breathing problems shortly after birth and spent more than a month in an incubator. The mother opted to file a personal injury lawsuit but the hospital and the doctor denied they had done anything wrong when the case got to trial. The jury did not agree with the defense’s arguments and subsequently awarded the plaintiff a $6 million settlement.

Birth injuries are traumatic for the baby and the family, as they are often considered life-altering or catastrophic injuries; injuries that will forever change a person’s life. When a child is born with cerebral palsy, they will always need some kind of care for the remainder of their lives. Hence the larger damage awards handed down in case like that.

In order to file a medical malpractice lawsuit, there needs to be negligence present; the kind of negligence that another expert doctor would testify to in court as being below the standards of what other doctors would do. Not performing a C-section in a timely manner and thus putting the baby at risk for birth injuries would classify as medical negligence.

Based on medical negligence being proven, the nature and duration of the injuries tend to dictate the amount of compensation awarded by a jury. In this case, the child would need care for as long as she lived and the award reflected that reality.

If you have been in a situation like this, you need to speak to a highly trained Atlanta personal injury lawyer about your rights, what to expect at trial and what to expect in terms of compensation. These cases are not easy and take time to settle in an equitable and fair manner.

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.