By Stephanie F. Brown, Attorney and David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network
When a lawsuit is filed on behalf of a minor child in Georgia, any settlement of the lawsuit may require the approval of the Probate Court where the child resides. Georgia Code Section 29-3-3 controls the settlement of a minor’s claim. Under this statute, if the gross settlement is for less than $15,000.00, the child’s natural guardian may enter into the settlement without being appointed the child’s legal conservator and without Probate Court approval of the settlement.
According to a recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology mistakes in medication given to cancer patients occurs all too frequently. The study found 22 errors among 117 visits (18.8% error rate) to a pediatric oncology clinic. The study found 90 errors among 1,262 visits (7.1% error rate) to three adult oncology clinics. Most errors involved incorrect doses of medication. Of the adult medication errors, 61% had the potential to cause injury and 12% in fact caused patient injury. Of the pediatric medication errors, 41% had the potential to cause injury and 18% did cause injury. You can read more about the study at 
Often in personal injury cases involving children, the defendant will claim that the child was contributorily negligent and his recovery is barred or must be reduced. In Georgia, children must exercise such care as his mental and physical capacities allow him to exercise in the actual circumstances of the occasion.
Elizabeth Durante of West Islip New York was a young and caring college student. Recently she and other fellow students were driving from New York to Massachusetts, on their way to a humanitarian project in Uganda. A 24 year old Connecticut resident was driving under the influence when he operated his vehicle in the wrong direction on busy interstate 395. It was late at night and the drunken driver had no headlights on. His vehicle smashed head on into the vehicle in which Elizabeth Durante was a passenger, killing her.
A two-year old Waterville, Maine boy suffered serious burns from a microwave oven fire at his home. It appears that the toddler placed nonmicrowaveable items such as a bottle of perfume and a metal fork into the microwave. A flash fire resulted when he started the microwave. The boy’s mother heard a pop and went downstairs to investigate. She found her son with clothing on fire. She patted the fire out. An ambulance transported the boy to Inland Hospital in Waterville. Once stabilized, he was flown to the Shriners Hospital for Children in Boston for further treatment of the personal injuries / burns suffered as a result of this fire.
A tragic airplane crash recently took place near the Butte Montana airport. The fatal plane crash involved a small single turboprop airplane that took a nose dive into a cemetery approximately 500 feet from the airport. It is a tragic end to the lives of the passengers including 7 children. The NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) and other officials / agencies will investigate the cause of the accident to determine if pilot error was involved, the role of the weather, actions / inactions of air traffic control, the performance or malfunction of the airplane, the load of the airplane, and other factors.
In 2007, 35 Bluffton University baseball team players and their coaches were traveling on a bus to play in a game when their bus went off of an overpass in Atlanta, Georgia. Seven people were killed and 28 were injured. The bus went off of the overpass on an exit ramp where the Georgia Department of Transportation failed to install an important road sign at an HOV exit. The National Transportation Safety Board harshly criticized the Georgia DOT’s signs and found that the bus mistakenly turned into the exit lane.
In the February 2009, the flu has taken the young lives of two (2) teenagers from the State of Maryland. Although this flu season is not reportedly worse than others, infections are beginning to increase in Maryland and Virginia. March is expected to be the peak month.