Legal Matters
Distracted Driving, Mayhem, and Self-Inflicted Liability
Eating. Fixing our hair. Taming the kids in the back seat. Conference calls. Texting your boss to answer a question. People’s vehicles have long been extensions of their dining rooms, offices, and bathrooms. Technology increases our ability to stay on the go more than ever because we are better able to do more at once.…
Read MoreOpioid Addicts Find a New High from Anti-Diarrhea Drug
Addicts seeking a high when they cannot get the pill, drink or powder they crave are notorious for their creativity. A recent example came to light in the opioid abuse epidemic – intentional overdosing on anti-diarrhea medicine. Loperamide, the generic form of Imodium, can mask withdrawal symptoms for oxycodone and other opioid-like painkillers if taken…
Read MoreHarris Lowry Manton Offers Safety Tips After Jeep Gear Shift Hits News Again
In April we posted news that Chrysler (FCA US) recalled 1.1 million Jeep Grand Cherokees, Dodge Chargers and Chrysler 300s. The sleek-looking gear shift design prior to 2016 has led drivers to believe their vehicles are in park when they aren’t. As of April 12, 2016, FCA US had identified approximately 700 field reports potentially…
Read MoreWhat You Need To Know About Tire Failures
At best, a poorly made tire just goes flat and causes delay. But tires with design or manufacturing defects can result in death or catastrophic injuries. The problem is often poor adhesion in between layers of the tire. The tread comes off. Drivers lose control and wreck. Summer heat can boost this process because high…
Read MoreTire Failure Causes Crash in Bryan County, Georgia
A GMC Yukon carrying 10 people, eight of them children, crashed on Interstate 16 after a rear tire failure on Sunday afternoon just south of Savannah, according to Savannahnow.com. The Yukon flipped four times and all the windows were broken. All 10 occupants were ejected from the SUV, according to Bryan County Deputy Sheriff Carroll…
Read MoreFDA Reports Baby Rice Cereal is a Leading Source of Arsenic Exposure in Infants
No one of sound mind would think of intentionally lacing their children’s food with poison. But many of us feed our kids, infants even, tiny quantities of arsenic nearly every day. This is all according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which is taking comments through June after announcing for the first time ever…
Read MoreI-95 Shut Down Near Savannah Due to Tractor Trailor Accident
Traffic is normal again after two 18-wheeler wrecks on I-95 near Savannah on Tuesday. Emergency officials were clearing one single-vehicle 18-wheeler wreck on I-95 near Savannah when they came upon a charter bus that crashed into a second 18-wheeler. One of the 10 bus passengers was airlifted from the scene for medical treatment. The other…
Read MoreWreck Kills Four Students on Road “Where Bad Things Happen”
A two-lane road and a high rate of speed proved deadly for University of Georgia students Wednesday night as they traveled back from the “Iron Horse,” a popular gathering site for students 25 miles from campus. Four girls died and a fifth remains in a coma after their Toyota Camry crossed the center line and…
Read MoreThe Best Class Action Lawsuits Right Wrongs
Personal data breaches through hacking. Accounting fraud. Denying your child’s right to go to a decent school. All these are among the problems solved by class action lawsuits, perhaps the best equalizer a citizen has. Born in England in the 1200s, the class action enables individuals who lack the time and money to hire an…
Read MoreSwimming Pools Pose As A Liability For Homeowners
Safety never takes a vacation. Even in the summertime and especially with children in the water. As weather warms up, excited kids are busting out their swimsuits, snorkels and fins. Parents with pools, or anyone with a pool for that matter, need to be watchful. The law considers a backyard pool an “attractive nuisance” for…
Read MoreFiat Chrysler Recall Reminiscent of HLM Client’s Win
A sleek gear shift design is largely responsible for Fiat Chrysler’s recall Friday of 1.1 million Jeep Grand Cherokees, Dodge Chargers and Chrysler 300s. Since August, federal safety officials have been investigating hundreds of complaints into the design, which has purportedly caused more than 300 accidents due to runaway vehicles. The company recalled about 400,000…
Read MoreGeorgia Court of Appeals Judge Dillard Visits HLM
Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Louis A. Dillard graciously visited our office recently to discuss his article published in the Mercer Law Review and provided general tips on how to approach appellate work. Judge Dillard, of Macon, was appointed to the court by Governor Sonny Perdue in 2010 and elected in 2012 to a…
Read MoreHospital Acquired Infections Induce Injury Cases for Medical Malpractice Attorneys
Hospital Acquired Infections and the Associated Types AIDS prompted widespread use of protective gear by hospital workers. They wore gloves, gowns and glasses. Now it’s patients who need to worry about getting sicker where they go to get well. MRSA, C. diff, and UTIs are the new acronyms to fear. The numbers are nasty. A…
Read MoreTalcum Powder and Ovarian Cancer Lawsuits: Johnson & Johnson Co Liable for Negligence
The battleground in the war between ovarian cancer victims claiming talcum powder makers, mainly Johnson & Johnson Co., caused their disease has shifted from court filings to the courtroom. A St. Louis jury last month awarded $72 million to the family of Jacqueline Fox, who died of ovarian cancer. She’d been a lifelong user of…
Read MoreHouse Fires: Don’t Let Smoke Cloud Who’s Liable
House fires are the most common structure fires in the U.S. In fact, 92 percent of civilian deaths in structure fires happen in homes. The main house fire starters: cooking equipment and smoking materials. Most house fire deaths, however, are due to smoking materials.* But causation is not as clear as the numbers seem to…
Read MoreOff-label Marketing Fueling Increase in Opioids Addiction
The story of opioid over-prescription, addiction and overdose crisis in the United States today started at least a century ago. The roots of the crisis extend to a German university laboratory, where scientists in 1916 looked to replace Bayer AG’s popular mass-produced painkiller – heroin. It was there that oxycodone was born. Purdue Pharma LP’s…
Read MoreAn Update on the Takata Airbag Recall
The Takata Corp. exploding airbag saga just continues to expand like, well, an airbag. Now, it turns out Honda Motor Co., the company’s major customer (and part-owner), knew enough about the defect in the airbag inflators to request a design change in 2009, according to a Reuters exclusive report published March 24. The Takata airbags…
Read MoreNew UL 325 Standards Aim to Make Security Gate Systems Safer
A key national safety engineering advocacy group has announced updated design standards to decrease dangers of automatic gates to apartment complexes, upscale communities, subdivisions and business lots. They couldn’t come at a better time. Security gates are ubiquitous as living behind walls becomes ever more popular. Underwriters Laboratories, which tests, audits and verifies commercial, industrial…
Read MoreHitachi Nail Gun Recall
A recall of Hitachi pneumatic nail guns might not have gone far enough. In March 2010, Hitachi Koki Co. Ltd. announced it was recalling 50,000 defective nail guns in the United States and 15,000 more in Canada. The design flaw caused nails to shoot sideways at near-bullet speeds. At the time there were 37 reported…
Read MoreAuto Safety Advocates Ask For Reinvestigation Into Jeep Recalls
Safety advocates are demanding federal regulators reopen an investigation into the rear-mounted fuel tanks on the Jeep Cherokee, Grand Cherokee and Liberty. The Center for Auto Safety said in a Feb. 19 letter to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that Jeeps remain the “most lethal” passenger vehicles, despite Fiat Chrysler’s offer to buy…
Read MoreExpanded Chrysler Recall Brings More Questions About Design Safety
Fiat Chrysler’s expanded recall last week of 856,000 SUVs and cars after learning there might be a systemic gearshift defect underscores a decades-old issue of dangerous manufacturing and design defects at that company and other U.S. automakers. The newest recall is for 2012-2014 Dodge Chargers and Chrysler 300s. In August, Fiat Chrysler recalled 408,000 Jeep…
Read MoreSteve Lowry Discusses the Crackdown on Illegal Runners
Savannah Morning News Read the article. Harris Lowry Manton LLPHarris Lowry Manton LLP is a dedicated full-service trial law firm. Our Georgia personal injury lawyers fight for the injured throughout every step of the legal process. We explain how litigation works from the moment you come into one of our offices in Atlanta or Savannah…
Read MoreUpdates Underway for Safety Regulations in the Trucking Industry
When a tractor-trailer or other large truck is involved in a collision, the risk of serious injuries increases dramatically given the sheer weight and size of these giants of the roadway. Although the trucking industry is regulated by the federal government in the United States, far too many carriers knowingly violate safety regulations if those…
Read MoreUnderstanding Theories of Liability in Defective Product Claims
Despite a considerable amount of government oversight, and a myriad of state and federal laws aimed at preventing harmful products from making it onto the marketplace, defective products do sometimes make it into the hands of consumers. When a defective product causes injury, the victim may be entitled to compensation. Contact Harris Lowry Manton LLP,…
Read MoreBreaking News: Fatal Multi-Vehicle Crash on Savannah Highway
SAVANNAH, GA — Five people are left dead after a tractor trailer accident on I-16 near I-95 in Pooler, just outside of Savannah, on the afternoon of Tuesday, May 19th. This incident involved a total of seven vehicles and shut down a stretch of I-16 for several hours following the accident. Local Police Chief Mark…
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