Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Georgia

In the State Court of Carroll County, State of Georgia, I am the Plaintiff and a Tractor-Trailer Truck Driver, The Trucking Company that employs him and The Insurance Company that covers The Trucking Company are the Defendants.

In August of 2008, the Tractor-Trailer Truck hit me while I was stopped at a traffic light, while driving a less than 1-year old Toyota Prius. Needless to say, the damage to the Prius was extensive. In fact, if all of the damages were known, prior to beginning repair work on my Prius, it would have qualified as being totalled.

My body was damaged pretty bad as well. My attorney kept everything going along fine, but there was a complication. In 2001 I was hit from behind and pushed into the vehicle in front of me, while in "Stop-traffic then starts and increases to 50 to 55 mph-and then Stop" Traffic-pattern. I had spjne damage, primarily in my neck and a little in my back. The complication has regarded securing a proper medical opinion, showing that my spine is in worse condition than it was prior to the 2008 Rear-end collission with the Tractor-trailer truck.

My insurance changed in January 2009 to Kaiser, and my Primary Care Physician has changed at least 8 times since January of 2009. A few days ago, while having and epidural injection at Kaiser Permanente, I mentioned to the doctor performing the procedure, and he told me that Kaiser does not allow him to get involved in any Court cases, he is only allowed to treat patient's conditions. That was the first time that any doctor at Kaiser admitted that, and that is why I have had such a hard time securing the information that I need for my court-case.

Fortunately, the doctor who treated me for at least 5 years before the collission in 2008, works for himself, has a very thriving practice, assisted me in the first court-case that arose from the 2001 collision, and he is willing to assist me again.

Now, the legal question. As I said, the attorney that has been assisting me with the current court case where the Tractor Trailer Truck rear-ended me at a traffic light, my attorney told me that he would not be able to assist me any further until I receive proper medical proof that my spine is damaged more than it was prior to the 2008 collision. To that end, he had my case temporarily ended without prejudice, so that I would have some extra time to secure the proof that was needed. The time to renew the case was on August 25th of 2011. My attorney prepared some documents for me to file to renew the court-case, which I did file on August 25th 2011. He told me to call the Defense attorney to make sure that they wtill agreed to "Acknowledge Service and Waiver of Process". He told me that if they would not "Acknowledge Service" then I would have to figure out how to serve the three Defendants a Summons and the Complaint. The day after I filed the complaint on August 25th of this year, I called the Defense Attorney and she said that they still agreed to :Acknowledge Service". I sent signed copies of all of the documents that I filed along eith a copy of a Summons for each defendant, to the Defense Attorney.

On or about October 20th of this year, I received the Defenses Answer to the complaint and several other motions. It was about 3/4" of paperwork, included a lot of legal wordage, and I just figured it was normal paperwork that the Defense Attorneys always file. Since I did not have an Attorney, I did not read all of it and I did not talk to anyone about it. Over Thanksgiving Holiday I had a strong feeling that I really should talk to someone about what I received. After Thanksgiving I was laid-up in bed in pain for several days, which is very common for me since I have Chronic Pain, Bad Muscle Spasms, Post Traumatic Headaches (Bad Migraines) and Major Depression, due to Cervical Radiculopathy, Thoracic Disk problems and now Lumbar disc problems.

I called my old attorney and he told me I was supposed to answer part of what I was sent witin 30 days AND, when I filed the complaint on August 25th of this year, I was suppposed to have Defense Counsel sign an "Acknosledgment of Service and Waiver of Process" form. Since I did not, Defense Counsel had filed a Motion to dismiss, since the defendants were not "served".

I again called the Defense Attorney and she told me that nothing had changed regarding the agreement to "Acknowledge Service", but that I still had to do something (have the"Acknowledgment of Service and Waive of Process form signed by Defense Counsel and then filed at the courthouse. That was on December 2nd, Friday. I prepared the document, and called her Monday morning to set a time for me to gstop by her office to get the form signed so that I could file it that same day at the courthouse. She was on Vacation till Wednesday. Wednesday morning, I was scheduled for an epidural in my lower back. I had sent a copy of the "?Acknowledgment..." to the attorney, but I was not able to do anything on Wednesday. Wednesday evening, I checked my e-mail and the Defense attorney had e-mailed me at the end of the day on Wednesday, that they were now not willing to "Acknowledge..." and in fact, had filed a new motion to dismss, since their defendants were never served a summons or Complaint. 2 days later they filed and sent the Judge an Order to sign which would, in fact dismiss the case.

The Question is: How many days have to elapse before the Judge can sign the order to dismiss the case. How many days from when he received the motion or howmany days since he received the orders?

Thank You,

David G.

[email protected]

770-548-9451

1 Answer from Attorneys

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