Accident Claims Adjusters

Automobile Accident Claims Adjusters

After you’ve been injured in an auto accident, a personal injury auto accident claims adjuster will usually contact you. The adjuster may be from your insurance company or from the other driver’s insurance company. It is important to know about auto accident claims adjusters because what you say to them may affect your ability to be compensated for your injuries.

Auto accident claims adjusters are skilled negotiators who specialize in saving their insurance company money. An auto accident adjuster will usually be extremely friendly and act like they are on your side. However, you must remember that an adjuster’s primary goal is to save the insurance company money.

In order to save their company money, a claims adjuster wants to learn a couple of things about the accident. First, the claims adjuster wants to know as much as possible about how the accident happened. This allows them to assess which driver was at fault. Usually, if their insured did not cause the accident, the adjuster may not pay the personal injury claim.

Second, the claims adjuster wants to know about your injuries. If you were injured in a traffic accident, the adjuster wants to settle your injury claim as quickly and as cheaply as possible. Before they make an offer, they will ask you to make a recorded statement. One purpose of a recorded statement is to try to trick you into downplaying your injuries immediately after the wreck. It is almost never a good idea to give an adjuster a recorded statement because you will not know the full extent of your injuries immediately after the wreck, and you may not realize that the adjuster is trying to trick you. You should politely decline a request for a recorded statement.

Auto accident claims adjusters know that after an accident you will feel vulnerable and possibly have expensive medical bills to pay. So, they will usually offer you a small amount of money to settle your case immediately after the car wreck. Never accept an adjuster’s first offer because the adjuster almost always has more money available to settle the case. Also, always talk with a personal injury car accident attorney about your injuries before you accept an adjuster’s offer. Most auto accident attorneys will give you a free consultation, so you have nothing to lose by speaking with a personal injury attorney. Further, a personal injury car accident attorney will know if hiring an attorney is likely to increase the insurance company’s settlement offer, and an attorney will know if you should file a lawsuit.

If you don’t settle your injury claim soon after the accident, the accident claims adjuster may begin to ignore you. Insurance companies earn interest on their reserve money. So, although they want you to settle your claim quickly, adjusters may begin to delay if they do not think that will happen. Additionally, the statute of limitations to file a personal injury lawsuit in Georgia is usually two years. If the statute of limitations is approaching, the adjuster may ignore you altogether to see if you will miss the deadline. If you miss the deadline, you will lose your chance to be compensated for your injuries.

Insurance adjusters are skilled negotiators. They know how to push your buttons and get you to accept a lower amount than your case is worth. That is their job. This is one reason why it is usually a good idea to hire a car accident attorney, and let the attorney do the negotiating for you. An accident attorney knows the games auto accident insurance adjusters play, and knows whether an adjuster’s settlement offer is fair.

Free Consultation with an Augusta, Georgia Car Accident Attorney

If you have been injured in a car wreck, choose an Augusta, Georgia personal injury car accident attorney who focuses on personal injury cases.  Contact our Augusta, Georgia law firm today for your free legal consultation with a car accident attorney.

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Premises Liability in Georgia

Premises liability occurs when premises owners fail to keep their guests safe.

Premises liability is a type of personal injury lawsuit caused by a dangerous condition on someone’s property.  The most common type of premises liability case is a “slip and fall case”.  A slip and fall usually occurs when a person falls because of a spill or other slick condition on the ground that a store or restaurant manager doesn’t clean.  Slip and fall cases are not the only type of premises liability case. Personal injury or wrongful death are also caused in other situations, including:

1. Hazardous construction or repairs;
2. Uneven pavement or sidewalks;
3. Falling objects;
4. Inadequate security and criminal attacks;
5. Insufficient lighting;
6. Defects in chairs or benches; and
7. Any other preventable injury caused by a known hazardous condition on property.

Who can sue for premises liability?

A person can sue for premises liability if they are injured as an “invitee” or “licensee”.  These are legal categories that distinguish people who are allowed to be on the property.

An “invitee” is someone who is invited for a business purpose. The law gives great protection to invitees.  Examples of invitees include customers at a store, lawn or maintenance professionals doing work at someone’s home, and tenants who are in a parking lot or the common areas of an apartment complex.  A “licensee” is a person who is allowed to be on the property, but is not there for a business purpose.  For example, when you invite a friend to your house to visit, that person is a “licensee”.  The law also provides protection for “licensees”, though not as much protection as it does for “invitees.”

A “trespasser”, on the other hand, is someone who is not allowed to be on the property.  Trespassers are given the least amount of protection under the law.  But under certain circumstances, a trespasser still may be compensated for personal injuries caused by dangerous conditions.  A premises liability lawyer will help you to navigate these legal distinctions and help you recover for your personal injury in a premises liability case.

Negligent Security

A common type of premises liability lawsuit is negligent security. In Georgia, a landowner can be liable for third party criminal attacks if the landowner should know that an attack might occur, but fails to take steps to protect the public from the attack.  For example, if an apartment complex owner knows that there have been robberies at the complex, measures for security should be taken, such as installing a gate or hiring a security guard.  If the owner doesn’t take measures to increase security, a person who gets hurt in a robbery may file a lawsuit against the apartment owner.  Negligent security occurs in other scenarios as well.

In a recent Georgia premises liability case, Six Flags amusement park was found liable for $35 million after its customer was severely beaten when exiting the park.  The evidence in the case indicated that Six Flags tolerated gang activity at the park, and knew that an attack was likely to occur.

Other negligent security cases involve events like concerts, shows, or fair grounds where the owners of the venue do not take any measures for security, despite knowing that the venue is in a dangerous area.

Examples of Premises Liability cases:

Doubletree, Inc. v. Schanley – In this case, the jury awarded $45,000 to a chef who stayed in the hotel and attended a seminar on carving ice sculptures. During the seminar, unused ice blocks fell and broke the guest’s ankle.  The premises owners were held responsible for negligently stacking the ice around where the victim was standing.

Kroger Co. v. Schoenhoff – The jury awarded over $2,000,000 to a personal injury victim who slipped and fell at Kroger because of clear liquid on the floor.

Augusta Country Club, Inc. v. Blake – The jury awarded $78,000 when a tennis player was injured after a magnolia seed pod located at the base of a stair caused the player to trip and have personal injuries.

Wesleyan Coll. v. Weber – A jury verdict was upheld when a woman was killed because her car struck a damaged tree that had fallen across the road.  The jury found that the tree’s weakened condition had existed for so long that the land owner should have discovered and removed the hazard.

Mulligan’s Bar & Grill v. Stanfield – A jury verdict for nearly $200,000 was upheld when a beer bottle struck the plaintiff in the face during a bar fight between two other customers. The jury concluded the fight was foreseeable and could have been avoided if the bar had banished the patrons involved in the fight. The evidence was undisputed that the patrons involved in the fight were had prior fights and had been banished from the bar on previous occasions, and were hostile and combative for hours before the subject fight.

 Free Consultation with a Premises Liability Attorney in Augusta, GA

Personal injury victims of premises liability should contact a premises liability lawyer immediately.  Contact Califf Law Firm today for a free legal consultation with a premises lability attorney.

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Landlord and Tenant Law in Georgia

FAQs of Georgia Landlord and Tenant Law

Most Georgians will be involved in some sort of landlord and tenant dispute in their lives. The majority of these disputes can (and should) be resolved by a reasonable conversation between the landlord and tenant. However, all too often a stubborn landlord or tenant requires that the parties review Georgia landlord tenant law. Below are the answers to the questions on renters’ law I’ve been asked most frequently by my clients. Every case is different and the following information is not a substitute for the advise of an attorney who knows about your particular situation. However, this information should provide you with some guidance about what to ask an attorney.

Califf Law Firm LLC is an Augusta, Georgia law firm that handles cases in personal injury, premises liability, and landlord tenant disputes. If you have a question related to landlord and tenant law in Georgia, contact us today for a free consultation.

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Ante Litem Notice in Georgia

A person or company wanting to sue the State of Georgia must send the government an “ante litem notice” before they can file their lawsuit. There is a minimum level of detail that must be put in the ante litem notice, and there are strict time limits that must be followed for the ante litem notice to be effective.

The basic rules for sending an ante litem notice for claims against a State of Georgia are contained in O.C.G.A. § 50-21-26. The ante litem notice must be sent within one year of the date the loss was discovered (or should have been discovered). The ante litem notice must be delivered by hand, or sent by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery with return receipt requested. It must be sent to the Risk Management Division of the Department of Administrative Services in Atlanta, and it must also be sent via First Class Mail to the responsible Georgia entity that caused the loss. Further, the ante litem notice must contain the following information:

• the name of the responsible Georgia entity;
• the time of the transaction or occurrence from which the loss occurred;
• the place of the transaction or occurrence;
• the nature of the loss suffered;
• the amount of the loss claimed; and
• the acts or omissions alleged to have caused the loss.

The laws surrounding the mandatory content of the ante litem notice are unforgiving. A Georgia ante litem notice must “strictly comply” with O.C.G.A. § 50-21-26. That’s why it’s important to hire a lawyer to help with your ante litem notice as soon as possible if you think you have a claim against the State. Any slight error in the notice can result in a Georgia court dismissing your case.

For example, in a recent Supreme Court of Georgia case, a woman was injured when she stepped into a bad pothole in a parking lot on the campus of Dalton State College. She received extensive personal injuries to her leg, including a fractured bone and torn tendons. Her attorney sent the ante litem notice and described the victim’s personal injuries and the events that caused them.  However, for the “amount of the loss claimed”, the ante litem notice stated that the loss was yet to be determined because the victim was still incurring medical bills and did not yet know the full extent of her injury. When the victim ultimately sued the State of Georgia, the notice was held to be invalid, and the woman was barred from proceeding with her lawsuit because there was no specific dollar amount stated in the ante litem notice. See Bd. Of Regents of the Univ. Sys. of Ga. v. Myers, 295 Ga. 843 (2014). The statement that the loss was yet to be determined was insufficient under the requirement that Georgia ante litem notices strictly comply with the requirements described above.  The State of Georgia won the case on a technicality before the victim was even allowed to present evidence about her injuries.

If a Georgia employee or agency is responsible for causing harm to you or someone you know, call the Califf Law Firm at 706-530-1212. We are experienced in handling personal injury cases against the State of Georgia.

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