Legal Question in Personal Injury in Georgia

Re: Auto-Injury

There are three critical issues here.

The first is liability; you say the other driver was charged. However, this was probably the result of the first cop on the scene's looking at the physical evidence and talking to witnesses. The fact that the cop charged the other driver does not establish liability on the part of the other driver. As a matter of fact and law in Georgia, even if he/she is convicted of traffic charges, that is of no help to you in a civil action. It is extremely important to get statements as soon as possible from the cop and any witnesses.

As to the issue of damages, you are entitled to recover all damages you incurred as a result of the defendant's negligence. These include every mathematically computable damage, such as medical bills, loss of wages, loss of time from going to the doctor, etc. In addition, you are entitled to that intangible known as "Pain and Suffering". This is a crap shoot if we go to trial. You never know what a jury will do with this.

Having said all the above about your rights, the possibly controlling question in all of this is the amount of insurance coverage the other driver has. The minimum liability insurance coverage in Georgia is $15,000.00.

If you would like to pursue this, please let me know.

Charles W. Field

Attorney at Law

Ste. 202 B

3585 Lawrenceville-Suwanee Rd.

Suwanee, GA 30024

Phone (770) 987-6151

Fax (770) 513-9838

e-mail [email protected]

http//cwfield.home.mindspring.com

Re: Auto-Injury

Any answer we give over the internet is subject to the Terms listed on our website (http://www.nnc.net/wood).

The fact that the other driver ran a redlight and was charged with running a redlight, put you in the position of collecting on his (or her) insurance policy. You have not given my enough facts to fully answer your question, however, you should be able to get 100% of the other driver's insurance policy (unless it is say a 300K or 500K or 1MM policy)( However, you may hit the lower limits of even those policies depending on the severity of your injuries). It also would depend somewhat on what county this wreck occurred in and what county the defendant (Person that hit you) lives in. (If he lives out of the state of GA, you have some other hurdles to jump). Jurisdiction (actually, venue) for the lawsuit is either the county in which the accident occurred and/or the county (in GA) in which the defendant resides.

The rule of thumb in small injury cases is that you can ask for 3 times your special damages (sometimes 5) as a baseline to start off with. Ergo, $5,000 of hospital bills might invoke a $25,000 initial demand. HOWEVER, this type of anaylsis goes out of the window when stuff like surgery is involved. To determine Your baseline you need to calculate: 1) your past and future medical bills + surgeries (which, of course, you do not know), 2) Your property damage (which is easy), 3) Your lost wages and lost time from work (if you want to sue for that -- many people do not for privacy reasons), 4) intangible damages -- pain & suffering, etc., and 5) other damages such a punitive damages (which are generally NOT awarded in the fact pattern you stated) unless the other driver was drunk or was excessively speeding, was fleeing the scene of a felony, etc.

Anyway your questions are relatively straight forward, if you want to discuss this at further length, call me at 404.633.4100 or page me at 404.779.0343 (enter your #). Hugh Wood.