When you’re a guest at a store, on property or walking down the sidewalk in Georgia, you have a right to be walking in an area that is properly maintained. If an area of a sidewalk is under construction, you have a right to be notified that there is a reason you shouldn’t walk there. If there is a wet, slippery spot on a grocery store floor, you have a right to be notified.

There are some exceptions to this rule, of course. A property owner must have time to realize that an area where a guest is walking is not properly maintained in order to solve the problem. And it also must be determined whether the guest who is walking assumes some of the risk if a floor or sidewalk is slippery due to the fact that he may have known that he was about to embark on walking onto a potentially dangerous area. An experienced Smyrna injury lawyer knows the intricacies of the slip and fall laws of Georgia and can look into the facts of your specific case.

Proving a slip and fall accident

If you have fallen at a location and are injured, the first thing you should do is seek the medical treatment you need. Depending on the type of fall you have, several possible injuries are possible:

• Head contusions
• Broken arms or legs
• Broken wrists or ankles
• Sprained knees
• Split discs in the back
• Internal injuries
• Hip fractures

Once you have received the medical care you need, it then becomes time to be concerned with documenting any evidence that the fall happened. Gather contact information from any witnesses. Take photos or videos of the conditions of the floor, sidewalk or parking lot at the time of the fall. Talk with the owner of the property, if you know who that is, and tell him that you fell and that his property is dangerous. Obtain contact information for the owner of the property, if possible.

Winning a slip and fall case

Winning a slip and fall case is not easy. A Marietta injury lawyer not only has to prove that the injuries you sustained were from a slip and fall at the location you note. But he also has to prove that you weren’t aware the conditions were such that you would have slipped and fallen and that the owner of the property had sufficient time to maintain the property so such a fall wouldn’t have happened. A qualified Smyrna injury attorney can help you obtain the evidence you need to compile a winning slip and fall case.

When an individual has been injured to no fault of his own in the state of Georgia, he has a right to collect any monies that are lost due to the injury. The unfortunate truth of personal injury accidents is that the insurance company representing the at-fault party never wants to pay the entire amount that it owes from the incident. It always wants to try to end any discussions about the incident as early in the process as possible.

An experienced Georgia personal injury lawyer can represent those who are involved with personal injury incidents to make sure their rights aren’t hindered by high-pressure insurance adjusters who simply want to save the insurance company money over the long term. These insurance companies aren’t working in the best interest of the injured party. They are representing themselves and are in the business of saving themselves money from a drawn-out lawsuit or from a large settlement amount. A qualified Marietta injury attorney fights to obtain these large settlements or a court judgment that favors the injured party.

Types of personal injury accidents

Personal injury claims in Georgia can take on a variety of forms. A personal injury accident is one in which an individual is harmed due to the negligence of someone else. Many times personal injury accidents in Georgia lead to lost wages, extended medical treatment, long-term rehabilitation expenses and punitive costs. An experienced Smyrna injury lawyer can assist with recovering such expenses. Personal injury accidents can take the form of any of the following types of accidents:

• Car accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• Truck accidents
• Slip and fall accidents
• Wrongful death cases
• Workplace incidents

Documenting personal injury evidence

The most important thing for an individual injured in a personal injury accident is to make sure he immediately receives the medical treatment he needs. Secondly, he needs to begin the process of documenting the evidence surrounding a personal injury case. The injured party in a personal injury case should write down the names and phone numbers of anyone who witnessed the accident, should write a statement regarding what occurred and have it notarized with the date on it, should take pictures of the scene of the accident and should contact a qualified Marietta injury lawyer to launch an independent investigation into the incident in order to put the injured party’s best foot forward in making such a claim.

Many accidents that involve motorcycles in Georgia are devastating, because usually the driver in the car ends up injured as does the rider of the motorcycle. Those who ride motorcycles and are injured in crashes tend to go through catastrophic injuries like head and neck trauma, arm and leg fractures and brain and spinal cord damage. A Smyrna car accident attorney works for those who are victims in motorcycle accidents to make sure damages are recovered and the negligent parties are held responsible.

Who’s to blame

Many motorcycle accidents are the fault of the drivers of the cars involved in the crashes. Many motorcyclists take incredible precautions to make sure they remain safe on the road: they wear the proper safety equipment, they keep their motorcycles well maintained with proper lights and they abide by the rules of the highways and streets. However, many drivers on Georgia’s roadways do not use such diligence in watching for motorcyclists. These motorists often don’t see the motorcyclists or give them the entire room in their highway lanes, causing accidents.

What to do

If you’ve been involved with a motorcycle crash, the first thing you should do is seek medical care. Many of those involved in motorcycle accidents are severely injured. Your first step should be to make sure you and the others involved in the wreck are safe. After that, you should take some steps to document what happened:

• Call law enforcement to file a police report
• Take photos of the scene with a digital camera or cell phone
• Take notes of the license plate numbers of all the vehicles involved in the crash
• Write down contact information for any witnesses to the accident
• Take your motorcycle or vehicle to a reputable mechanic for repair
• Contact a reputable Smyrna car accident lawyer

Winning the case

When individuals are involved with motorcycle crashes, expenses can grow exponentially from damage to the motorcycle or car, emergency medical care, lost wages and future medical rehabilitation. Winning a lawsuit involving a motorcycle accident and recovering the damages is largely a matter of proving to a Georgia judge or jury that the defendant was the party that caused the accident and that the damages occurred due to the accident. A qualified Marietta car accident lawyer at the Law Offices of William H. Curtis represents clients in motorcycle crashes to make sure negligent parties are held responsible and injured parties are made whole.  Contact us today to set up a free consultation about your injuries.

Recently, a construction job accident occurred when a trench collapsed in Cartersville in Bartow County during a sewer line installation.  The trench was 30 feet deep and ran for up to 30 feet below the road.  This caused the recovery effort to become very difficult and risky.  Even though the construction worker was presumed to be dead, firefighters from several counties worked tirelessly to recover the body, risking their own lives.
Construction workers are employed in some of the most dangerous conditions of any industry, the deadliest workplaces in the US.  The risk of something caving in or being electrocuted is extremely high.  Furthermore, the risk of inhaling toxic fumes underground is also very high.  No matter how safe employers try to make working conditions, construction jobs are often cause for workers’ compensation claims.
Georgia workers’ compensation laws

Personal injury claims that occur at work in Georgia have to be claimed against the employer in the form of workers’ compensation.  The employer cannot be sued.  If a claim is successfully brought by a Georgia workers’ compensation attorney, the injured employee should be able to recover all medical costs and 2/3 of the wages that they would have received if they had not been injured.  Other compensation is also available to the employee while time is taken off work to recuperate from the construction job injuries.

Steps to take when an injury occurs

1) Notify your employer immediately of the construction job injury that you suffered.
2) Seek immediate medical attention from doctors who are approved by the insurance company and by your employer.
3) File a workers’ compensation claim (has to be done 30 days from date of injury). It is advisable to get a Georgia workers’ compensation attorney at this point.

The benefits of a Georgia workers’ compensation attorney

Without the help of a Georgia workers’ compensation attorney, employers will try to contest your claim and/or pay you as little as possible for your construction job injuries. Insurance companies may also try to persuade injured workers to accept a lump sum settlement that severely underestimates the construction job injury suffered by the injured employee. In the case of a death that occurs during a construction job accident, a Georgia workers’ compensation attorney can help families receive full death benefits that are owed to them so that they can go on with their lives.