Questions?
Want to discuss a case or have questions about our firm? We are happy to discuss it with you. At MILE Atlanta, initial consultations are always free! You can typically reach us by phone from 8:00am until 5:00pm, Monday through Friday, but we often review e-mail after hours.
General Questions
Well, if you showed up unannounced at the office we probably wouldn’t turn you away; however, we are, fortunately, pretty busy. There is a chance that if you dropped by unannounced, you wouldn’t catch us here because we are either in court, in meetings, or in depositions. Your best bet is to call ahead of time and make an appointment. That way we can give you our full attention!
Nothing at all. Our initial consultations are always free. We believe relationships are important in the attorney/client process. Initial consultations, whether they be by phone or in person, give both sides the opportunity to learn about each other and whether our firm is a “good fit” for your legal issue. We also need to procure enough information so that we can determine if moving forward with your legal matter is in your best interest and in ours. This process is free. If we decide to get involved in your legal matter, we will then discuss the terms of our representation.
Almost never. We take pride in being a full-service law firm. We are excellent at investigating claims, litigating claims, and ultimately trying cases. If you hire us, we would never send you to some other firm to take over your representation. On very few occasions, we may refer you to another firm that has a specific specialty which may assist you with your legal matter. For example, if we are pursuing a personal injury claim for you, we may associate a worker’s compensation lawyer who has a specialty in that particular field. Beyond that, if you hire us, you get us!
While it may depend upon the type of case you have, we do work almost entirely on what’s called a contingency fee basis. In other words, we get paid when you are compensated, and not before! Think of it in terms of a commission. If we are successful in resolving your case, we will take a percentage of the recovery. This is a percentage that is agreed upon on the front end. If we are unsuccessful in recovering anything on your claim, you do not owe us a fee!
While you can always call us, and expect to find someone available to answer the phone during regular business hours, email can often be an even better way to track us down. We often handle issues on our cases which arise after hours, by email, and we find it a great way to communicate when work-related matters take us away from our offices.
You should provide us with any documents that might be relevant to your case. Police reports, for example, may contain eyewitness information and important details about the conditions surrounding the event from which your claim arises. Copies of medical reports and bills from doctors and hospitals will help demonstrate the extent and nature of your injuries. Information about the insurer of the person who caused your injury is extremely helpful, as are any photographs you have of the accident scene, damaged property and your injuries. The more information you are able to give us, the easier it will be for us to determine if your claim will be successful. If you haven’t collected any documents at the time of your first meeting, however, don’t worry; we will be able to obtain them during the investigation of your claim.
Absolutely. We pride ourselves on being accessible to our clients. Because we have a full-fledged litigation practice, we aren’t always sitting at our desks in front of our computers all day; however, if you call or email, you can expect to hear back from us within 24 hours, at the latest.
Personal Injury/Wrongful Death
Of course. We look at our representation of you as a partnership. Yes, we have experience with this stuff and would like to think our clients would take our advice; however, this is your case and you have significant input in whether the case should settle and for what amount. In some circumstances, if we believe the case is worth more than the Defendant or its insurance company is offering, we will move forward to trial and let a jury decide. Either way, we would never settle a case without your significant involvement in the decision to settle.
Again, it depends. Statistically speaking, most cases are resolved prior to trial. Only a very small percentage of personal injury/wrongful death cases are tried to a jury or to a judge. However, unlike a lot of firms, our firm actually tries cases, and we go into every case with the attitude that it will one day need to be tried. If the case settles before that, great! We have at least done what is necessary to put the case to a jury. It is our goal to make the Defendant or its insurance company offer the highest amount possible and then let you decide if it is enough to avoid the time and expense of a trial.
In most cases, personal injury and wrongful death claims are governed by a two-year statute of limitations. In other words, any lawsuit that is going to be filed must be filed within two years of the date of the incident. In some circumstances, however, there may be certain notices and filings which must be made in advance of that date (e.g., notice to governmental entities must be issued within six months to a year, depending upon the entity). It is important that you contact us as soon as possible after the incident so that we can make sure your statute of limitations is protected.
Not to sound like a lawyer, but it depends! Cases can settle before a lawsuit is filed, assuming all of the medical records, expenses, and other “special damages” are identified and passed on to the Defendant. If the case goes into suit, Georgia follows a six-month discovery time period during which the parties exchange information and take depositions. Thereafter, the case can be placed on a trial calendar by the court which has the case. Every case is different; however, generally speaking, the time period from the filing of a lawsuit until a trial actually occurs is approximately two years. Again, much depends on the details of the case.
Unfortunately, there is no way to make accurate generalizations about case value without knowing more about the details of each case. Every case is different. In order to evaluate your personal injury claim, we need to know a lot about your injuries, what the doctors say about your injuries, and the nature of the Defendant’s conduct. Once all of that information is processed, we can discuss with you our views on the value of your case.
Yes. Some persons or companies may be held “strictly liable” for certain activities that harm others, even if they have not acted negligently or with wrongful intent. Under the theory of strict liability, a person injured by a defective or dangerous product, for instance, may recover compensation from the maker of the product without showing that the manufacturer was actually negligent. Also, persons or companies engaged in using explosives, storing dangerous substances, or keeping dangerous animals can be strictly liable for harm caused to others as a result of such activities.
A wrongful death is a death that has been caused by the negligence or “bad acts” of another person or company. Examples of wrongful death include those caused by a drunk, reckless or careless driver, an intentional act such as a deliberate murder, a negligent act by a person or company, or a death caused by the failure of an unsafe, defective or dangerous product.
The law requires us to act with “reasonable care.” The specifics of what constitutes reasonable care vary somewhat from state to state and from situation to situation. When someone fails to act with the reasonable care required by a given circumstance, it may be considered negligence. That’s important because in order to recover for most personal injuries, we will have to prove that another person or a business was negligent, and that the negligence caused your personal injuries.
It’s complicated. Survivors can usually sue for medical bills paid for the care of the person who was injured, as well as funeral expenses. But because the idea is that the survivors have been injured by the loss of the person who died, determining the amount of damages requires consideration of what probably would have occurred in the future. Assessed damages may include:
- Loss of support
- An estimate of the deceased person’s future earning capacity
- Loss of love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, and affection suffered by the survivor
- Punitive damages intended to punish wrongdoers and prevent them from harming others
Our firm can help you understand the complex laws that apply to your individual claim.
Property Damage/Subrogation
Absolutely. We have excellent relationships with nearly all of the experts who get involved in property damage subrogation claims in Georgia. We are well trained in the process for coordinating investigations, providing notices to involved parties, and then setting up, as needed, laboratory examinations which are required down the road. This gives your claim handler the opportunity to do what he/she does best – handle the insureds’ problem and work to get them back on their feet as soon as possible. We have found that our success rate rises dramatically the earlier we are able to be involved in a subrogation matter.
We do. We have handled claims as far away as Michigan, and have also handled and are handling claims in Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Mississippi. Although we are only licensed in Georgia, if the claim is large enough, we can handle the initial investigation and then retain local counsel to assist us in the foreign state. This means no additional fees to you, as the local counsel we retain simply shares our contingency fee. Of course, the matter has to be large enough in order to persuade the local counsel to become involved in our matter on a contingency fee basis.
Yes. Claims against contractors and builders, as well as governmental entities, have certain statutory requirements which must be met in order for a claim to move forward. We encourage you to contact us early in the process so that we can make sure that these time requirements are met.
We handle the overwhelming majority of our subrogation claims on a contingency fee basis, exclusive of litigation costs. On some occasions, we are retained to investigate a matter or to handle a very difficult matter on an hourly basis, if that arrangement is appropriate for that particular case. However, a good 90% of the cases in our office are handled under a contingency fee agreement.
The simple answer is that you have four years from the date that the Plaintiff’s right of action accrues to file a claim for negligence, and six years from the date that the right of action accrues on a breach of contract claim. However, Georgia defines the date on which the “right of action accrues” differently than many states. For damage to real property, the four-year or six-year clock begins to run from the date of substantial completion of the premises in question and when the owner takes possession of the property. Oftentimes, this can mean that the statute of limitations on a real property claim can expire even before the loss occurs! For personal property claims, the right of action accrues, typically, on the date that the property is actually damaged. Please contact us sooner rather than later so that we can determine the correct statute of limitations for your claim.
Yes. Georgia follows a 10-year statute of repose for product claims. In other words, generally speaking, claims for product defect must be brought within 10 years of the date that the product was put into the stream of commerce by the manufacturer. Other factors can arise which may reduce this time; however, the 10-year statute of repose is typically the outside limit.
Estimators, contractors, engineers of all types, fire origin and cause experts, metallurgists, forensic accountants, industrial hygienists, and others. Our firm has access to a network of highly professional experts and can get them involved very early in the investigative process
We pursue a wide variety of subrogation matters including high-end homeowner’s and commercial fire and water claims, automobile defect claims, and personal automobile damage claims.
