Atlanta Personal Injury Attorney Blog

Inmarsat BGAN Test post

2006-06-03T09:28:00.000-05:00

UPDATE 1-Inmarsat Holdings posts 5 pct Q1 profit growth

2006-06-03T08:42:00.000-05:00

LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - UK-based satellite communications operator Inmarsat Holdings Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Inmarsat Plc, posted a 5 percent rise in first-quarter core earnings on Wednesday and said it was on track to meet its goals for the year.

Inmarsat, whose satellites cover 85 percent of the Earth's landmass, said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the quarter to March 31 came in at $87.3 million on revenues of $121.7 million.

"Our overall revenue performance for the first quarter was solid and met our expectations, despite some weakness in leasing revenues," Chief Executive Andrew Sukawaty said in a statement.

Inmarsat currently has a combined customer base of around 30,000 using its range of traditional R-BGAN and GAN platforms. It has a fleet of two owned and nine operated geostationary satellites.

In its maritime business, revenue from data traffic had offset a continuing decline in voice services, while the land sector noted lower year-on-year revenue -- the Asian tsunami drove traffic sharply higher in the first quarter of 2005.

But the R-BGAN service had enjoyed increased demand, helped by the extended coverage afforded by the launch of the first new-generation Inmarsat-4 satellite last year.

Inmarsat recently introduced its new BGAN service which allows data transfer speeds of up to half a megabit per second, much faster than 3G services currently available on terrestrial cellphone networks, and opening the way for true satellite broadband.

The company has said BGAN will account for a third of revenues at around $200 million by 2010 while overall sales growth would accelerate towards the end of the decade. Distributors had given positive feedback on the introduction, it said.

On the leasing side, first-quarter revenue had been lower than expected due to the expiry of some short-term leases, the company said.

Shares in Inmarsat Plc rose 0.4 percent by 0715 GMT, valuing the company at 1.6 billion pounds ($3.01 billion).

Atlanta Personal Injury Attorney Brandon Hornsby

2006-06-03T08:34:00.000-05:00

Our firm can provide you with an Atlanta personal injury attorney who embraces victims who have limited resources and who could not otherwise pursue the compensation they deserve. Brandon Hornsby is an experienced Atlanta personal injury attorney who has represented people who have suffered injuries during automobile, trucking, railroad, motorcycle or airplane accidents. We pursue legal cases based upon medical malpractice, nursing home negligence, wrongful death and products liability for injuries caused by defective products such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices, household items and various types of other recalled products. We also represent injured children, dog bite victims and individuals who have been injured at another's place of business or property due to the presence of dangerous conditions. If you or a loved one has been injured, an experienced Atlanta personal injury attorney at Brandon Hornsby, P.C. could help you recover substantial monetary compensation.

Kevin Bright files personal injury lawsuit against Dennis Rader

2005-08-01T15:04:00.000-05:00

It’s only a few pages of court filings but it’s the biggest lawsuit against Dennis Rader so far. Kevin Bright is suing the BTK killer for shooting him three times and the agony that followed.
“He had to have his skull opened up and had to have a bullet removed from his brain,” said Mark Hutton, Bright’s attorney. “He was in the hospital many days. It's been disfiguring and caused permanent disability.”
As the only surviving BTK victim, Kevin Bright’s lawsuit is different from others suing Rader. That’s because personal injury lawsuits have no financial cap. Wrongful death lawsuits are capped. By filing a personal injury suit, Bright could potentially get millions of dollars. Hutton says at first, Bright was hesitant to file.
“But I believe when he realized if five years from now, Dennis Rader all of a sudden is given a big advance for a book and Kevin had not filed a lawsuit, it would be very unsettling,” said Hutton.
Hutton says it’s like an insurance policy. Realistically, Bright will probably never see a dime. But if Rader does get money, Hutton wants to make sure Bright takes it away.
“If Rader never gets a penny then this lawsuit just dies,” said Hutton. “But I’m going to be practicing law for some time and I will keep refilling this so Rader may well be dead before this lawsuit expires.”
Legally, Kevin Bright can’t file a wrongful death suit on behalf of his sister. Bright’s father would be able to. The families of Shirley Vian, Vickie Wegerle and Marine Hedge have already filed wrongful death lawsuits against Rader.

Former Member of Duke's Patient Advocacy Board Hires Personal Injury Attorneys Brent Adams & Associates after Undergoing Surgery with Hydraulic Fluid-

2005-08-01T14:58:00.000-05:00

(PRWEB) July 13, 2005 -- In the midst of the cloud surrounding Duke University Hospital in which thousands of patients underwent surgery with instruments bathed in hydraulic fluid, a former patient of Duke University Medical Center has hired personal injury law firm, Brent Adams & Associates, to pursue a claim against the North Carolina hospital. That in itself is not altogether unique; Brent Adams & Associates currently represents several patients who had undergone surgery at the Duke University Hospital after its instruments had been washed in hydraulic fluid. What does make it an exceptional situation is that the former patient, Carol Svec, is also a former member of Duke’s Patient Advocacy Board, a board specifically created to deal with the highly negative perception of Duke during the immediate months after the story broke. Yet because Svec felt that Duke’s efforts were not sincere, she resigned her position with Duke in order to personally help the patients who had been treated with the hydraulic fluid-tainted instruments. Late last year, elevator workers at Duke University Hospital had drained hydraulic fluid into empty soap containers, but failed to change the labels. As a result of their alleged negligence, the surgical instruments that were used on approximately 3,800 patients had been soaked in elevator hydraulic fluid instead of soap. Many patients feel Duke has been reticent and evasive about the possibility of complications further down the line, as well as too slow to respond to the public’s questions, said Brent Adams & Associates. While Duke has stated that there is no chance of infection, they did not address patients' fears that the mistake led to an increased threat of contracting auto-immune or other noninfectious disorders.Svec states that she ultimately decided to resign her position when she learned that when Duke contacted Exxon, the maker of the hydraulic fluid, to obtain the makeup of the fluid, Duke never informed Exxon that patients may have been exposed to it. Exxon therefore did not treat the request as urgent and took months to respond, she said.It is part and parcel with what Svec considers Duke’s failure to acknowledge the danger posed to patients. "The fact is people are sick; people are hurting," she said. "We know that there was hydraulic fluid on those instruments…but now [Duke is trying to backtrack off of that by saying, 'Look at this teeny, tiny bit that was on there.' It's not right. Right now, I don't think Duke is acknowledging that patients are sick," Svec said. Svec underwent surgery for a rotator cuff tear at Duke in November of 2004. A relatively minor procedure with generally little or no side effects, it has nevertheless resulted in frequent headaches and some swelling, according to Svec. Now, she is concerned not only for her own future health, but also for the health of the thousands of other patients, many of whom she fears will forget about the incident too quickly. "What worries me is that some patients will take this and put it in a box and not worry, when in fact the worst worries are yet to come." Therefore, Svec created her own patient support group. The support group, registered at HydraulicFluidPatients.com, is a resource for patients to help deal with the emotional and legal aspects of the situation. Brent Adams & Associates, the medical malpractice lawyers of North Carolina who are assisting Svec and others pursue a personal injury lawsuit, are assisting Svec with setting up her newly formed support group.

First-Ever Self-Help Internet Personal Injury Insurance Claim Site to Offer Free Statute of Limitations Guidance, Letters, Forms

2005-08-01T14:55:00.000-05:00

Seattle, WA (PRWEB) July 6, 2005 -- www.SettlementCentral.Com President, Doug Green, today announced release of a new free directory of legal information to aid site visitors as a guide to top dollar personal injury settlements. The lead release topic, posted today, is a complete compendium of information dealing with the first and most important aspect of personal injury settlements: preservation of your insurance injury claim with statute of limitations management. Personal injury attorney, Rob MacDermid, one of the founders of SettlementCentral.Com, observed that: "Each year, hundreds of claims are foreclosed because of the statute of limitations. And it is not just the 'do-it-yourself' insurance injury claimants; many hundreds of claims are lost by languishing on the floor of some busy personal injury attorney's office.""As with all of the useful tips and instructions on our site, this will be of great use to everyone, irrespective of background. It is easy to follow, and the idea of sending a letter at the outset to confirm the statute of limitations is a 'can't miss" suggestion.'"Founded four years ago by personal injury attorneys, career insurance adjusters, and with medical/chiropractic help, www.SettlementCentral.Com is the authority for Internet personal injury claim settlements. Its members have access to the most effective information, forms, templates, and winning demand letters to settle their personal injury insurance claims on their own, "self-help".President Doug Green said: "SettlementCentral.Com wants to empower accident injury victims to settle their own personal injury insurance claims, on a "Do-It-Yourself" basis. Naturally, we want you to join as a member ($99.95), but we also want to provide valuable top-quality information for our visitors. So we are embarking on a project to provide new FEEE Directories of Legal Information detailing how to get maximum dollar personal injury insurance claim settlements." "Visitors and members can trust SettlementCentral.Com: after all, among our attorneys, adjusters, and doctors we know from 93 years' combined experience how to get top dollar insurance settlements from your personal injury claim.Green summed up the today's launch by reminding both self-help Internet insurance injury claimants and personal injury attorneys that the new directory of legal information is the fist step to preserving your personal injury insurance claim. Statute of Limitations: Personal Injury Insurance Claims: Car Accidents, Dog Bites, Premises Liability will teach you the basic information on how to preserve your insurance injury claim.

Reilly Industries named in personal injury suit by former worker

2005-08-01T14:50:00.000-05:00

Reilly Industries in Granite City faces a $50,000 lawsuit by a former worker claiming permanent injuries from a Jan. 28, 2004 tank explosion.Santel Underwood, a pipe fitter, filed the complaint July 18 in Madison County Circuit Court claiming Reilly was negligent for failing to remove hazardous or flammable fumes from the tank and de-pressurizing it.According to Underwood, he was made sick, sore, lame, disordered and disabled and suffered extensive injuries to his head, body, and limbs, became liable for medical expenses, experienced pain and suffering, and has lost wages and will suffer an impairment of future earnings.Underwood is represented by James Williams of Williams, Caponi & Associates of Belleville. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Andy Matoesian.

SickofLawsuits.org Health Hazard Alert: This Week's Personal Injury Lawyer Conference Hazardous to Your Health

2005-08-01T14:48:00.000-05:00

TORONTO, July 26, 2005 /PRNewswire/ -- This week personal injury lawyers flock to Toronto for the American Trial Lawyers Association (ATLA) conference where they will plot even more attacks on our healthcare system. Sound outrageous? A look at ATLA's group meeting agenda reveals that more than 50 percent of the meetings target our healthcare system.

If you think that is a tough number to swallow, try not to choke on these: * $845: Yearly cost of the tort system each American must pay (U.S. Tort Costs: 2004 Update, Tillinghast-Towers Perrin, January 2005) * $40 billion: amount of money trial lawyers earned from lawsuit awards in 2002 (Trial Lawyers Inc.; A Report On the Lawsuit Industry in America, The Center for Legal Policy, Manhattan Institute, 2003) * $70 - 126 billion: amount of healthcare costs per year that would be saved by limiting unreasonable jury awards (Going without Health Insurance, Families USA, March 10, 2003; "Number of Uninsured Americans on the Rise," Associated Press, March 5, 2003; "Avoiding Health Insurance Crowd-Out," Journal of Health Economics, March 2000) * 79: Percentage of doctors who report that due to litigation fears, they have ordered more tests than they would based only on professional judgment of what is medically needed (Fear of Litigation Study: Impact on Medicine, Harris Interactive, April 11, 2002)
Some unscrupulous personal injury lawyers use questionable tactics and junk science to game the legal system for personal profit. These abusive lawsuits threaten the access to and the affordability of healthcare for all and discourage medical innovation. Ultimately, lawsuit abuse hurts patients.
Don't let personal injury lawyers reduce our healthcare to only a can of chicken soup. Join Sick of Lawsuits and learn what you can do to put an end to frivolous healthcare litigation. Visit http://www.sickoflawsuits.org.
Sick of Lawsuits is a nonpartisan, grassroots campaign of Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse. We have more than 165,000 supporters across the country including doctors, healthcare professionals, small business owners, attorneys and people from every walk of life.
CONTACT: Dr. Evelyn Tobias Merrill, +1-800-476-1442, forSickofLawsuits.org

Personal Injury Lawyer Border Blockade

2005-08-01T14:35:00.000-05:00

This week members of the American Trial Lawyers Association (ATLA) are in Canada plotting their next attack on our healthcare system. Maybe we should consider closing the border until they agree to play by their own rules and develop stricter guidelines for disclosure in personal injury lawyer ads, especially lawsuits targeting our healthcare.
It's ironic, personal injury lawyers actually sue other industries for misleading advertising or ads that do not fully disclose any possible side effects. The same standards and penalties should be applied to their own advertising.
What's important to remember is that, more often than not, these ads are simply scare tactics designed to dredge up clients that use "facts" unproven by science. Such irresponsible ads ultimately hurt patients more than they help, however, which is why the Federal Trade Commission and ATLA should do more to stop them, and why patients should be warned not to believe everything they see in a personal injury lawyers' ad.
The majority of Americans know something's wrong with the way personal injury lawyers are using these "health warnings" to troll for clients. A 2005 survey by Braun Research shows that 75 percent of West Virginians believe these kind of ads encourage people to sue even if they haven't been injured. Turns out, they're right. In Mississippi recently, more than a dozen people have been arrested for forging prescriptions of Fen-Phen so they could get a cut of the lawsuit settlement over that drug.
In short, an outcome of these irresponsible ads is that patients are making health care decisions based on what a personal injury lawyer says, instead of what their doctor says. The danger for patients suffering from all manner of ailments is obvious.
The solution is stricter guidelines, and rigid enforcement, on what personal injury lawyers can say in their ads. We need rules that require disclaimers so consumers understand that any alleged injuries from a drug are often speculative and unproven by science. These ads should also be required to advise consumers that they consult their doctor before stopping medication or joining a lawsuit. Finally, ads should clearly tell consumers that unless they themselves have been injured, joining a lawsuit may take due compensation away from legitimate victims.
So let's close the border and not let the attorneys back until they agree to practice what they preach and agree to stricter advertising disclosure guidelines.
Dr. David Priver, California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, San Diego

Pro/Con: Do personal injury lawyers wield too much influence on Capitol Hill?

2005-08-01T14:06:00.001-05:00

The plaintiffs' bar demonstrated its disproportionate clout on Capitol Hill a few days ago when it persuaded energy bill conferees to jettison a rule protecting producers of an EPA-sanctioned fuel additive against frivolous lawsuits.
A handful of personal injury lawyers wants to sue large oil companies because trace amounts of the mileage-enhancing additive MTBE had leaked from storage tanks into water supplies around the country -- primarily in New York and California.
Although MTBE is not considered carcinogenic in humans and no illnesses have been reported from the leaks, the lawyers saw the additive as a new revenue stream worth billions of dollars -- a la the asbestos and tobacco bonanza of recent decades.
The EPA hailed MTBE, an oxygenate that makes gasoline burn cleaner, when it was seeking an antidote for smog-shrouded urban areas like Los Angeles and New York City in the early 1990s.
Bear in mind that MTBE is a safe and effective product in your car's gas tank; it only becomes a headache when it's placed in old, porous storage tanks at local service stations and distributors.
While the leaks are a nuisance, they are neither life-threatening nor widespread -- EPA estimates that just 16 of nearly 4,000 public water systems are a problem and 95 percent already are cleaned up or in the process of being decontaminated.
And Robert Hirsch of the U.S. Geological Survey notes that MTBE leaks primarily are a problem of taste and odor and "almost always below levels of concern from a public health standpoint."
So why did the House-Senate energy conferees decide to scrap the liability waiver -- especially when it only applied to "product defect" lawsuits and still left defendants liable for the larger MTBE spills that oozed into water systems?
The answer can be found in Federal Election Commission files that show personal injury lawyers mail tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions to federal candidates each election cycle -- most of them incumbent senators.
The British, from whom we got our tort law model, have built a low-cost safeguard into their legal system that reins in such speculative and rapacious lawyers -- without jeopardizing the rights of people who have actually suffered wrongs. In Britain, a plaintiff who sues and loses generally is ordered to pay the defendant's court costs.
Similar reforms to our out-of-control civil justice system would unclog our courts and stimulate full-throttle job creation, but as long as personal injury lawyers hold sway on Capitol Hill the chances of passage appear to be stuck on absolute zero.

Need An Attorney - Find The Best Attorney

2005-08-01T14:06:00.000-05:00

Attorneys are now a part of our every day life. Most of us
end up in court for one reason or another during the course
of our lives and at these times we're often in a desperate situation.
Probably attorneys are most often used in divorce and
because this isn't an everyday occurrence we have no idea
when the proceedings start how much it will cost us. In addition, we don't know what's going on behind the scenes; if they're trying to get in with the judge or with other attorneys. The sad fact is that although they're working for us they rarely show us the courtesy their fees should warrant.
Either you can spend a very long time looking for the
ideal attorney. One who will dedicate himself to your case
and not cost an arm and a leg. Unless you happen to hear of someone from a friend the chances of finding the right person when your back is up against the wall is small. So often we grab at the first firm in the phone book and don't ask even the most basic of questions. It's also difficult to know whether they've done their best. If the result goes against and our attorney tells us that it's the best we could have hoped for from that particular judge, we're not in a position to argue. We just have to pay up.
The alternative is to defend ourselves. It's not very
often done, but if it's done correctly it can give a huge advantage because it will impress the judge. The first thing we need to know are the court basics: the plaintiff files the complaint and the defendant answers the complaint. The case is heard in front of a judge and, if necessary, a jury. The judge will be in charge but it is the jury who decide the verdict. When they have given their verdict to the judge the sentence is decided upon.
In minor cases the two sides are encouraged to settle
matters out of court. This saves huge amounts of time and
money to all parties. But this is not always possible and
most cases go to court for judgement.
If you decide to defend yourself you need to play the 'courtroom game' and for this you must: 1~Treat the judge like a god. Never be flippant or rude to him. 2~Judges always have too many cases scheduled to them and so they want to get through everything as quickly as possible. So, don't annoy him by waffling. Be short and to the point and make your arguments logical. 3~When you speak to the judge, address him as 'your honor'. Look him in the eyes in an honest way and without any confrontation. If there is a particular point that he can't grasp say 'with all due respect'. Show him that you're sincere, rational and understanding and the chances are that you'll gain his respect. 4~Make sure that you dress carefully. Never wear anything that cause disrespect or that you feel you won't be taken seriously in.
If you do decide to defend yourself and you come over in
the right way the chances are that you will impress the
judge far more than an expensive attorney, but, just like
life, it's a gamble.
Lauren Jenkins is the editor and webmaster of
"Attorney Views".

Choosing the Best Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyer

2005-08-01T13:54:00.000-05:00

If you're in need of a personal injury lawyer, it means that you've already experienced something terrible - either you or your loved one has been hurt. This doesn't change throughout the USA, and so it is true also for Atlanta - a personal injury lawyer is hired only by people who have already experienced a kind of psychological earthquake. The point is that in such stressful situation you simply have to choose the best one. Not an Atlanta personal injury lawyer, but THE Atlanta personal injury lawyer. You must avoid all possible problems you can have with a lawyer (you probably have enough of your own ones) and this means you have to choose the best lawyer you can find.
How to tell which personal injury lawyer is the best
The main problem in finding a good attorney in Atlanta is personal injury lawyer's abundance. There are simple too many lawyers in this city to check all of them personally. Fortunately we have the Internet, so you should start from sifting them through your search engine. Simply type "Atlanta personal injury lawyer" and choose first ten sites you'll see. The other law companies are probably either too small or not diligent enough to build the proper website for themselves. Then have a good look at the site you found. Reject those with too much apparent "search engine-oriented" content - long articles about nothing mean only that the lawyer is witty, but not intelligent. After that you should have only four or five possibilities left. The number is low enough to visit the lawyers personally. During the visit watch them carefully - you don't want professional optimists, there are lots of them in Atlanta. Personal injury lawyer you look for should be serious, down-to-earth and not too open. You need the lawyer for the court, not for friendship.
The most common problems
There are many possible problems, but they have only one source - dishonesty. I don't mean the situation when your lawyer is telling you white lies. I think of the situations when he will keep telling you "everything is going to be all right" whatever the situation will be. There are plenty of such attorneys in Atlanta. A personal injury lawyer that will tell you "I am not sure if can win" is a rare bird indeed, but the most precious one, too.
Dave Hoffman is the founder of Personal Injury Atorneys a website providing information on personal injury law.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Flexibility is necessity, not just a perk, at work

2005-07-29T15:06:00.000-05:00

"I believe the family comes first," said Mark McNabola, attorney with the Chicago law firm of Cogan & McNabola PC, which specializes in personal injury and medical malpractice.
That's quite a statement coming from a founding partner of a law firm: In legal circles, lawyers are expected to be on the job every minute to bring in the big bucks -- and to become a partner.
But McNabola's firm, which has 20 employees, is truly family-friendly.
"Being able to spend time with your kids is more of a way of life than a policy," said McNabola, who is married and has four children.
"Flexibility in the workday is a necessity, not a perk. . . . In order to run a successful business, women and men with families need time to do family things. . . . We have created an environment that welcomes working parents and encourages commitment to family."
The lawyer says he enjoys "spending mornings with my kids and getting them off to school before coming to the office. Being a parent makes you work harder you want to get things done so you can get home to play ball or goof around with the little guys."
At the few law firms that do offer a modicum of flexibility, the option of flexible hours usually applies only to professional staff. But at Cogan & McNabola, flexibility applies to everyone: Secretaries are permitted to work flexible hours so that they can have a job and a life.

Work/life in Barbados
Middle-class entrepreneurs in Barbados are the focus of a study by Carla Freeman, an associate professor of women's studies and anthropology at Emory University in Atlanta, and a faculty fellow at the Emory Center for Myth and Ritual in American Life.
Her research, reported in the center's newsletter, "Families that Work," is ongoing.
Freeman, also an associate professor of Latin American and Caribbean studies, notes that "flexibility is another key concept for female entrepreneurs -- and one of the main reasons they left their . . . jobs to start their own business."
She also expects her research to show that "some of the patterns of the work/family struggle we are witnessing are shared across culturally distinctive places in the world."
The professor plans to "contrast family life in Barbados with family life in America."
Freeman also observes that "in Barbados, women have always been workers and mothers, and the two have never been seen to be at odds with each other, the way they might be in Asia or Latin America."
Or in the United States.
Ideal working hours: Are employed mothers working the hours they really want to work?
"There is a striking gap between a mother's current work status and her ideal work arrangement," according to a national study of U.S. mothers.
The comprehensive research was done by the University of Connecticut's Center for Survey Research and Analysis; the Mothers' Council and Motherhood Project, based at the Institute for American Values in New York; and the University of Minnesota's Children, Youth and Family Consortium.
Of the 2,000 mothers with children under 18 who the researchers interviewed, 41 percent were employed full time and 21 percent part time.
But full-time work was the preference of only 16 percent of the women; part-time work was cited by 33 percent as their "ideal work situation." Another 30 percent said they wanted to work from home; and 21 percent said they did not want to work at all.
Carol Kleiman writes for the Chicago Tribune.