1.  Never keep and drive a vehicle that is over 10 years old. This is because the last possible claim for a manufacturing defect would have to be brought within the Georgia Statute of Repose, which is 10 years. Drive an older car and something goes wrong that is the manufacturer’s fault, you are out of luck.
2. Never jump on a trampoline. The percentage of cervical spinal cord injuries, that often result in quadriplegia,  are due to a person breaking his/her neck (fracturing the neck leading to irreparable damage to the spinal cord) while falling off the trampoline. Just stay away.

In his obituary, J.D. said this: “In lieu of flowers or contributions to charities, he wishes his friends to have “A Wee Deoch An’ Doris” until he meets them again.” And I said to myself, “OK, J.D., what the heck is a “Wee Deoch An’ Doris?”  So I did some searching, and found a Scottish song by Harry Lauder from 1912. Here are the lyrics:

There’s a good old Scottish custom

Medical devices fail in two main ways: because the product itself is defective, or because doctors and hospitals misuse or mismanage it. Product liability may apply to manufacturers that design, build, or market unsafe devices or fail to warn about real risks. Medical malpractice may apply when providers choose the wrong device, use it improperly, or ignore safety information and patient monitoring. Many cases involve both. Anyone harmed by a malfunctioning device should preserve records, document events, and speak with a seasoned injury attorney to evaluate potential claims and protect their rights.

A hospital room should not turn into a testing lab. When a pacemaker fails, a hip implant fractures, or an infusion pump delivers the wrong dose, the patient’s body becomes the battlefield between profit-driven companies and overworked medical systems. The person on the table pays the price first. Their family pays it next.

Of the numerous speakers, two were my favorites. The first was Valentino Dixon, an artist who was wrongfully convicted of murder and who served 27 years in prison in Attica, N.Y. Mr. Dixon has an amazing story. He “drew himself to freedom” after spending 27 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. He survived the notorious Attica Prison through his gifted hands and a set of colored pencils his uncle gave him.  One day his warden asked him to draw his favorite golf hole, No. 13 at Augusta National.  Then, his next-door cellmate gave him two old copies of Golf Digest magazine and challenged him to draw the golf holes in those magazines. Drawing up to 10 hours a day he created awe-inspiring masterpieces that evoke powerful emotions giving strength and inspiration to anyone facing a difficult time.  Along the way, he wrote 1,000’s of letters asking for help to exonerate him. Finally, Max Adler, a writer with Gold Digest, took action and helped begin an investigation that led to Mr. Dixon’s exoneration and freedom from prison. His is a truly remarkable story and I urge you to read about it. There have also been documentaries made about Mr. Dixon’s life. Mr. Dixon said that if his story could be boiled down into one phrase it would be “Don’t ever give up.”

My second favorite speaker was Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of Berkeley Law and the Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law. He often writes for news organizations and the American Bar Association. He is the author of 22 books and the most knowledgeable person about the U.S. Supreme Court that I know.  This was the second time I had heard Dean Chemerinsky speak to the Barristers. Last time he predicted five things from the U.S. Supreme Court and all five of them came true. So I was very eager to hear his predictions this time. Dean Chemerinsky spoke about his deep concern about the Rule of Law in America and how close our Democracy is to collapse. He urged us to speak out and educate others about what is happening to our Democracy and to take action to prevent those who do not value it from destroying it. He also urged us to continue to protect the Judiciary from physical threats of harm and to help maintain its independence.

Delayed injuries after a crash or fall often trigger suspicion from insurance companies, especially in Georgia. Soft tissue damage, brain trauma, and emotional distress can bloom days or weeks after impact, yet insurers treat any gap in treatment like a weapon. Victims protect themselves by seeking prompt medical care, returning for follow-up visits when symptoms evolve, and building a detailed record: medical notes, imaging results, a symptom diary, photos, witness statements, and proof of work and lifestyle changes. Under Georgia law, many personal injury claims carry a two-year deadline from the date of injury, with some claims against government entities on even shorter clocks, so quick action is essential.

You walk away from a wreck in Atlanta, shaken but upright. You tell the officer you feel “okay.” A few days later, your neck locks up, headaches pound, and sleep disappears.

1. Never step out of an elevator without first looking down at the threshold to make sure it is level with the floor. (Elevators mis-level a lot and one that is not level with the floor can trip you and cause horrible injuries.);
2. If you have a private elevator in your home or home office, never get on it without your cell phone. A private elevator often malfunctions. It can get stuck in between floors or the door can get stuck on and not open. Don’t rely on any installed telephone in the elevator. You may not have service. Always take your cell phone in the elevator with you to call 911 in an emergency.

Company car crashes raise serious legal stakes. In Georgia, employers can be held liable for injuries their drivers cause, but only when the driver was acting within the scope of employment. Personal detours and reckless driving can shift or share liability between driver and company. Victims need to move fast to uncover records, challenge corporate defenses, and demand accountability.

Company vehicles have an edge: they wear the name of a business. For a victim, that edge should mean access to deeper pockets and accountability. Many people assume that if a driver works for a company, the company pays for every wreck that driver causes. Georgia law turns on facts, not assumptions.

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Chain-reaction crashes create chaos that leads insurers to blame the easiest target, often the driver trapped in the middle. These collisions involve layers of evidence that must be secured fast to stop others from twisting the story. Strong legal force protects innocent drivers from being charged with fault they never caused.

Multi-car crashes strike in seconds and leave people stunned by forces they never saw coming. Metal folds, airbags burst, and victims find themselves trapped in stories others rush to write for them. Police, insurers, and drivers behind the wheel often push quick conclusions before the truth has a chance to rise. These chaotic moments are enough to overwhelm even the most experienced drivers. Anyone caught between two impacts deserves clarity without pressure.

Insurance companies use your medical records to reduce or deny your claim by twisting language, exploiting preexisting conditions, and using treatment delays against you. They analyze every phrase in your file to question your pain, your credibility, and even the cause of your injury. Protect yourself by controlling what records you release, documenting your symptoms precisely, and getting legal help before signing anything.

Insurance companies act friendly at first, promising to “take care of everything.” But behind closed doors, they’re combing through your medical records with one goal: finding anything they can use to reduce or deny your claim. It’s a quiet process, hidden behind polite emails and requests for “routine documentation,” but what they’re really doing is building a case against you.

The live feed of the Georgia Supreme Court focuses on each speaker, whether it is the attorney or the Justice and identifies each Justice as they ask questions. In this way, the public knows which Justice is speaking, and can see for itself how seriously the Court takes every matter before it. And how seriously every lawyer takes being before the Court. If any citizen of Georgia ever had any doubt about how the Georgia Supreme Court operates and how seriously it takes its oath to do Justice and uphold the Georgia Constitution, watching oral arguments would quickly alleviate that doubt. The Georgia Supreme Court’s live televised oral arguments allows every Georgia citizen (and really anyone in the world who is watching) to have complete confidence in our Georgia Justice System and in the degree of due process given to everyone before the Court. Any citizen can also go in person to the Georgia Supreme Court to watch oral arguments. The Court is open to the public for good reason. All of this engenders confidence in our legal system and the Rule of Law.

Now let’s turn to the United States Supreme Court, which, in my opinion, operates in the dark, just the opposite of the Georgia Supreme Court. The United States Supreme Court does NOT televise their oral arguments live, and does NOT have an open courtroom, and this leads to doubt about what it is doing, lack of confidence in its rulings and lack of respect of the Court by the general public.  With the Court’s recent unprecedented uptick in the use of its so-called “emergency docket,” nicknamed “the Shadow Docket,” it goes further down in public opinion and confidence.