Car Crashes and Substance Use in Marietta
Words have power. “Liberal” has a different connotation than “progressive,” even though they basically mean the same thing. Similarly, there’s a big difference between a “car crash” and a “car accident.” National Highway Traffic Safety Administration head Dr. Mark Rosekind said as much during a Harvard seminar in 2016. “When you use the word ‘accident,’ […]
Breaking Down a Marietta Dog Bite Claim
Sometimes, a dog bite is little more than annoying or embarrassing. But in a great many cases, the outcome is much worse. In fact, animal attacks account for roughly a third of the homeowners insurance claims in Georgia. There’s more. The average settlement value of these claims has increased 90 percent since 2003. Medical bill […]
What to Expect in a Cobb County Car Crash Case
A few vehicle collisions are truly one-off accidents that no one could have possibly prevented. But human error causes about 93 percent of all car crashes. Nearly all of these cases involve lack of ordinary care or a violation of a statute. These claims usually involve complex legal questions. For example, if Driver A collides […]
Some Issues in Large Vehicle Crash Cases
At one time or another, almost every product sold in the United States travels on a semi-truck. When fully loaded, these vehicles weigh about 80,000 pounds. The government routinely grants weight waivers, so double trailers are not uncommon. When these massive vehicles are involved in crashes, the resulting injuries are almost always catastrophic. There are […]
Georgia’s Marijuana Laws Aren’t Changing
What Does That Mean for You? About half of U.S. states have either passed liberal medical marijuana laws or have legalized recreational use. For a while, it looked like the Peachtree State might join the parade. In January 2018, a group of Georgia lawmakers introduced a legalization bill in the Senate. At first, there was […]
Georgia Extends Time to Fight DUI License Suspension
When they are arrested for Driving under the Influence, defendants in Georgia receive a mountain of paperwork. The DD 1205 is buried somewhere in all those papers. This is the form which allows defendants to challenge the mandatory DUI arrest license suspension. Until very recently, defendants only had ten days to request an appeal hearing. […]
Search Warrant Exceptions Go to the Movies
In the 1960s, the United States Supreme Court made a number of civil rights decisions. These cases are fundamental today, but at the time, they were extremely controversial. Angst over these shifts spawned a number of vigilante crime fighter movie franchises, such as Death Wish, Walking Tall, and Dirty Harry. In this scene, San Francisco […]
Five Key DUI Checkpoint Requirements in Marietta
Georgia and thirty-seven other states allow peace officers to circumvent the Fourth Amendment and pull over motorists without warrants or reasonable suspicion to check for DUI. To quote Uncle Ben, with great power comes great responsibility. Because DUI checkpoints give police officers so much power, these checkpoints must conform to specific legal requirements.This power is […]
Challenging FST Results in a Marietta DUI
At every DUI arrest, officers plainly state that the defendant has a right to refuse the Breathalyzer test. Nevertheless, the vast majority of drivers provide a chemical sample. Officers do not emphasize this point, so many people may just miss that part of the statutory warning. Other people may worry that their refusal could be […]
Beating the Breathalyzer in a Marietta DUI
Can you beat a Breathalyzer As part of an extended crackdown, Georgia and other states began passing much tougher DUI laws in the mid-1990s. Reducing the BAC level from .10 to .08 got most of the attention. Utah recently became the first state to lower the BAC limit again, to .04. Another, under-the-radar change put […]
