Personal Injury

Determining Fault in a Georgia Auto Accident

Jun 29, 2020 | By Alex | Read Time: 3 minutes

Determining who is at fault in a car accident is not always straightforward. While there are some basic rules of fault, determining who is at fault often depends on the facts of your case. In Georgia, a driver who caused an accident in Georgia is responsible for damages reasonably related to and caused by the truck accident or auto accident. If you’ve been in a car accident and have questions surrounding fault, you should speak with a Georgia accident attorney today. Basic Rules of Fault In any car accident, general rules of fault exist to guide the parties involved. Generally, a person is at fault for causing an accident when: They drove negligently, such as holding their phone while driving; He or she broke a traffic law, such as speeding, that resulted in the accident; Their car was in a defective condition, which caused the accident; and In rear-end accidents, he or she was the driver who rear-ended the other driver. However, the basic rules of fault do not clearly apply to all car accidents. For example, it can be difficult to determine who was at fault when one driver was using their phone and the other was speeding. In many cases, fault may lie on both sides. To get an idea of whether you could be deemed at fault for causing your accident, you should contact a Georgia accident attorney today. Who Determines Fault? Insurance adjusters often make the initial determination of who is at fault in a car accident. Insurance adjusters tend to decide fault because people involved in car accidents submit claims through their insurance company. Evidence that insurance adjusters use to decide fault includes: The police report; Photos of the accident scene; Statements from the parties involved, including any witnesses; Photos of damages to the vehicles; and Weather conditions on the day of the accident. However, an experienced auto accident attorney can place you in the best position to arguing your case for fault. An attorney can challenge an insurance adjuster’s determination of fault and fight for a settlement. Can Both Drivers Be at Fault in an Accident? Under the rule of comparative negligence, both drivers can be at fault in an accident. Comparative negligence reduces the damages a person can recover based on their percentage of fault. Georgia is a modified comparative negligence state, meaning that if a person is 50% or more at fault for causing the accident, he or she cannot recover any compensation. However, if a driver is less than 50% at fault, his or her percentage of fault reduces their damages.  For example, if a driver suffered $100,000 in damages but was 30% at fault, he or she would recover $70,000. If the other driver was 70% at fault, he or she cannot recover any damages because their degree of fault was over the 50% threshold. Contact Our Accident Lawyers at Weatherby Law Firm, P.C. If you’re the victim of an accident in Georgia and are having issues regarding fault, contact our accident lawyers at Weatherby Law Firm, P.C. We work our cases from beginning to end with a hands-on approach. Contact us today to schedule your consultation. Atlanta Car Accident Lawyer Explains Insurance Letters and What They Mean An insurance company sent my client a letter today. That sounds really good on paper, but it’s not that good if you know the ins and outs of the law. The letter reads as follows. “If you agree to protect us, we will discount our lien by 25% if the case is settled or one third if the case goes to trial,” and it says, “Just sign here agreeing to that.” Well, while it sounds like they’re giving you some great discount, in actuality, the vast majority of insurance plans will have to accept a bigger discount than 25% or even one-third of their lien. That’s because, in Georgia, the majority of insurance plans have to prove that the plaintiff has been fully and completely compensated. That’s really hard to do when you’re dealing with pain and suffering, and it requires a whole other lawsuit even if you wanted to do it. Now, there’s one exception, and that is a federally funded ERISA plan. That’s going to be when generally you’re a part of a bigger organization or company that has a lot of people paying in, like a teacher’s union or something like that. I’ve seen it on smaller companies, too, but it’s just not as common. In that case, a 25% reduction is a big deal, because it’s governed by federal law, not state law, and the benefits to the consumer are just not as big. However, if you get a letter like this, it’s just one of the reasons why you need to consult with an attorney that knows what they’re talking about. It sounds good on paper. It’s not that good in practice.

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Personal Injury

How Long Does It Take for Whiplash Symptoms to Appear?

Jun 22, 2020 | By Alex | Read Time: 2 minutes

Whiplash may occur when your head is quickly and forcefully moved forward and backward. Whiplash often happens during vehicle accidents when you are rear-ended. Most of the time, whiplash symptoms appear immediately or shortly after an accident. In some cases, the symptoms may appear days after the accident. It is important to seek medical treatment after being in a vehicle accident because injuries, like whiplash, may have a delayed onset. If you’ve been involved in a vehicle accident with whiplash, you should contact a skilled Atlanta accident attorney today. What Is Whiplash? Whiplash is a forceful, rapid, back-and-forth movement of the neck. It is similar to the movement involved with casting a fishing rod. Whiplash may take time to set in. Some of the symptoms of whiplash can include: Neck pain and stiffness; Loss of the range of motion in your neck; Worsening pain when moving your neck; Pain in your shoulder, upper back, or arms; Headaches; Fatigue; Dizziness; and, Blurred vision. Whiplash can injure bones in your spine, nerves and tissues in your neck, discs between your spinal bones, muscles, and ligaments. If a person feels any of the symptoms of whiplash resulting from a vehicle accident, it is important that they seek immediate medical attention. If the whiplash was due to the other driver’s negligence, the injured person should contact a reputable Atlanta whiplash attorney. What Complications Can Result from Whiplash? Depending on the severity of a whiplash injury, symptoms can disappear within a few weeks or could last for months or years. The vast majority of whiplash cases, thankfully, resolve within a few days or weeks. There are rare times when a person has long-term, chronic pain from whiplash. Additionally, long-term pain is more likely to result if you have the following symptoms: Severe neck pain, Pain that spreads to your arms, and A substantially limited range of motion in your neck. Furthermore, factors that may worsen complications from whiplash include: A prior whiplash injury, Pre-existing neck or lower-back pain, Degenerative or congenital conditions, and Older age, An accident with a severe impact, and An accident that occurred at high speeds. To find out if compensation is possible for complications from whiplash, speak with an Atlanta accident lawyer today. Why Do You Need an Atlanta Accident Attorney? If you’ve been in a car accident in Georgia that resulted in whiplash, you will need an accident attorney to help you. If you are the injured person, because whiplash is not necessarily visible to the human eye, you’ll need to rely on statements from your doctor and your medical records. An experienced accident attorney will point to concrete statements in your records to show the seriousness of your whiplash injury and the effect it has had on your life. If you are the at fault driver, whiplash can be a serious injury, and you will need an experienced attorney to guide you. How Can Our Atlanta Accident Attorneys at Weatherby Law Firm, P.C. Help You? Our Atlanta accident attorneys at Weatherby Law Firm, P.C. are accomplished, accessible, and well-respected in the Atlanta area. We want to help you prove your case for compensation for whiplash from a car accident. Unlike many law firms, we both prosecute and defend cases. As a result, we provide our clients with insight, credibility, and perspective that they can’t find at other firms. We’ll focus on your strongest arguments and strive to resolve your case as quickly as possible. Contact us today to schedule your consultation.

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What happens to the expenses in my case after settlement?

Apr 22, 2020 | By Alex | Read Time: 2 minutes

Litigation is time-consuming and expensive. There’s no way to sugar coat it. Medical records, depositions, and court costs add up quickly. For a personal injury case, the expenses will likely be in the thousands of dollars.  Most folks understandably don’t want to pay for litigation expenses on top of everything else. In a truck accident, brain injury, burn injury, pedestrian accident, or other types of contingency litigation, lawyers are able to pay for the expenses upfront, but they are required to be reimbursed for those expenses with the proceeds from the settlement. The Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct express rules on what a lawyer can and cannot do ethically.  Rule 1.8 states as follows: “A lawyer shall not provide financial assistance to a client in connection with pending or contemplated litigation, except that: a lawyer may advance court costs and expenses of litigation, the repayment of which may be contingent on the outcome of the matter….” In some circumstances, such as when the client cannot pay for expenses and there is no pool of money (like a settlement) to reimburse the lawyer, the lawyer is permitted to pay for litigation expenses. The rule has practical roots. Litigation is expensive, and a lawyer and a client are best served by being equally invested in the litigation expenses. A lawyer is invested in not over-expending on a case that may result in no recovery. A client is likewise invested in keeping expenses low as they will be taken out of the settlement in the end. Throughout the litigation, we keep our clients informed about expenses. We discuss the real-life implication that taking a deposition, hiring an expert, or purchasing demonstrative evidence has on the case and the recovery. Some expenses are necessary and important to maximize the value of the case. Others may not be worth the expense. We keep our clients informed, so they know what to expect and why we make the decisions we make. Typically, at the end of a case, a lawyer will provide a settlement disbursement schedule to the client. This schedule will show the client the total settlement, the amount of itemized expenses, the amount of attorney’s fees, any other expenses (like liens), and the total to the client. Our settlement disbursement schedule typically looks like this: SETTLEMENT DISBURSEMENT SCHEDULE Settlement amount: …………………………………………………………     $XXXXXX Less attorney fees: …………………………………………………………     ($XXXXXX) Net settlement proceeds: ……………………………………………………     $XXXXXX Less expenses (see below for breakdown) …………………………………  ($XXXXXX) Less lien payment ……………………………………………………………    ($XXXXXX) Payment to Client …………………………………………………………….    $XXXXXX I understand and agree with the above-referenced breakdown. This ____ day of ____, 20___. ______________________________ Client Signature At the end of our case, we sit down with our clients and go through this schedule in detail. We want to make sure that the client understands where the settlement funds are going and why. 

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Personal Injury

Not Happy with my personal injury lawyer: Why am I speaking with a case manager?

Apr 17, 2020 | By Alex | Read Time: < 1 minute

Many law firms are set up to service as large of a number of clients as possible with as little overhead as possible. Generally speaking, attorneys demand higher compensation than a case manager. Because of this, plaintiffs firms (like those that advertise) use case managers to chaperone the cases. This means that clients at these firms will speak with a case manager and paralegal rather than an attorney. Don’t feel too bad. They even do this to opposing counsel in lawsuits! While there are certainly capable case managers out there, most clients want to speak to the lawyer that they hire. At Weatherby Law Firm, P.C., we take a limited number of cases so that we can provide personal service to our clients. When our clients call, they speak with us, their attorneys, not a case worker or paralegal.  In order to provide this service, we focus on serious injuries only. We specialize in Atlanta truck accidents, bike accidents, brain injuries, spine injuries, amputations, and similar serious injuries. We have extensive experience in these areas. We have the resources necessary to litigate them. And, we value helping those who need it most. If you want to speak with your attorney directly, ask them. If you can’t get ahold of them, consider changing to a smaller firm that focuses on personal service like us. At our firm, we specialize in truck wrecks, fatal accidents, wrongful death, bike accidents, catastrophic injury, and class actions.

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How does a personal injury lawyer get paid?

Apr 15, 2020 | By Alex | Read Time: 2 minutes

This depends on whether the lawyer is working for the plaintiff (the injured person) or the defendant (the person claimed to be at fault).  Fees for a Plaintiff: When working for an injured person, the plaintiff’s attorney is generally paid on a contingent fee basis. A contingent fee means that the fee is “contingent” on the outcome of the litigation. If the litigation results in recovery, the attorney receives an agreed-upon percentage of the recovery. If the lawsuit results in no recovery, the attorney receives nothing. This is why you see a lot of advertisements that say “no fee unless you win” or the like. This means that the lawyer is receiving a percentage of the outcome of the lawsuit. In general, percentages for personal injury cases vary between 1/3 to 1/2 of the recovery. The amount of the percentage depends on a number of factors. One of the key factors is the amount of work involved. A lot of lawyers increase their fees based on the stage of litigation. If the claim is settled pre-suit, for example, there will generally be a lower percentage than if it is settled after suit is filed. Other factors include the facts of the case, the likelihood of recovery, the expense involved, the risk involved and more.  These percentages are at this level because there are significant risks for a plaintiff’s attorney. The attorney usually fronts the expenses for the case (which is typically in the many thousands of dollars). The attorney also usually works for a long time before receiving payment. If the case goes poorly, the attorney may lose significant resources in expenses and lost time. At the outset of your relationship, the attorney should explain to you the contingent fee contract and how it may affect your case. Fees for a Defendant: When representing a Defendant, the fee is usually paid on an hourly basis. This means that the attorney will bill the Defendant hourly for the work incurred at an agreed-upon hourly rate.The various hourly rates are too many to list. It depends on the size of the firm, the size of the client, the amount of work estimated, the location of the lawyer/client/lawsuit, and the experience of the lawyer, among others. It will almost certainly be in the hundreds of dollars per hour. The lawyer will generally send bills to the client at an agreed-upon interval, every month or every few months.  A defense attorney may require a retainer to begin work. A retainer is an amount of funds that the client advances toward the defense of the case. The lawyer, then, bills toward the retainer. When the retainer reaches a certain level, the lawyer may request that the retainer be replenished to continue work. The amount of the retainer varies significantly and depends on a number of factors, like those detailed above for hourly work. There is a third type of defense arrangement, which is a fixed monthly rate. This is the least common arrangement and often used only by insurance companies or other businesses with significant, consistent litigation exposure. This is because the monthly fee only makes sense if litigation is consistent.There are a lot of different fee arrangements depending on the facts and circumstances of your case. Please contact us today for a free consultation on your legal issue.

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