We represented a lady who went to a car dealership and walked up to a car, which was parked on some grass next to the dealership, and which was adjacent to the main highway in front of the dealership. The vehicle was for sale, with a window sticker and a pole in the ground with a balloon attached. After walking to the front of the vehicle, she walked around the side and then stepped backwards two steps to get a better overall view of the vehicle. One of her legs dropped into a hole that was about three feet deep and a foot and half wide! This resulted in her buttocks slamming into the ground and her back going backwards, whipping her neck, until her head struck the ground. Her injuries included a double lumbar fusion and a double cervical fusion, as well as a lifelong need for pain management.
The car dealership claimed that the city owned the grass area so it was not their responsibility. Georgia law concerns the obligations of the owner or occupier of property, with occupier meaning the right to occupy it, such as the lease of property. Thus, parking a vehicle on someone else’s property does not make you the occupier and may not create liability under Georgia law. We ran a title search on the dealership’s property and on all of the surrounding properties and then hired a survey team to survey those properties. We were able to prove that the hole was actually on the dealership’s property, making them liable for same. This resulted in a substantial confidential settlement.
Automobiles/tractor trailer collisions. We represented an elderly female passenger and her adult son driver of the vehicle involved in a T-bone collision at an intersection where a commercial truck pulled out in front of our driver. The driver then left the state and we had to track him down in Texas, and serve him with a lawsuit there, before the expiration of two-year statute of limitations, or time frame in which a lawsuit must be timely filed and served upon the Defendant. We flew to Texas and deposed the driver of the commercial vehicle, resulting in a significant recovery for both of our clients.
Our firm has handled a number of “wave-through cases”; in which there is a line of traffic backed up at an intersection or for other reasons but an adjacent lane of traffic is open. A car will be waived through a gap in that line of traffic and then is driven in front of a person driving in the open adjacent lane, resulting in a significant collision. One of our clients had four years of surgery and intense rehabilitation, with lifelong injuries thereafter. We helped them obtain medical treatment and got them through the loss of their job, eventually resulting in a significant recovery against the other driver and their employer.