Friday, February 4, 2011

Will the Power of Twitter find Atlanta Youth Soccer Teams a Sponsor?

Our firm is on Twitter and other sites. It's good to gather news, read about breaking litigation, and recent caselaw.

Now it's time to see if we have success with something else. I'm a volunteer overseeing youth soccer in metro Atlanta. A 2nd season group of teams for a school seeks a sponsor for the 12 + teams which the school will field. The teams will play eight games, four home and four away. The field locations are at other Atlanta private schools, where parents are upper end wage earners.

The color, and the shirt:


We are seeking sponsors, and hope to raise up to $5,000. So, what does sponsorship get your company or business?

$5000 - Company/business is the only logo or artwork on 120 youth jerseys. We list you as a Gold Level sponsor on all  emails, flyers, and communications. You also are prominently displayed on our website. At season end, we again send out information to the families with children enrolled at the school.

At this level, we also name our field after your company/business. You'd have exposure to more than 500 families each season, along with another 250 students/families at the school grounds.

For about $10 a family, your company gains almost 20 hours of exposure for each family.
 
$1,000 - If there isn't a $5K sole sponsor, sponsorship at this level puts you as our sponsors on the jersey above (sleeves or back of jersey). Your company also  gets a logo/sponsor graphic on our site, and we send out one promo piece to all parents of team members.

We seek up to 5 total at this level.

 At this level,  we prominently list your company/business on our field signage.

Your company has a chance to be in front of high end wage earning families for 10 weeks on the jerseys, and     you are in front of families on our web site and our field.

Interested? All of the sponsor monies go directly to jerseys and field maintenance. No monies go to administration.

Reach us at: galawyerblog(at)yahoo.com

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

When Roads Are Icy, Do "Accidents Happen" or is there Negligence?

A post on twitter asks that question - or more precisely - do juries find liability.

In the South where icy conditions are not as rare as you think, that depends. The first reaction here in my office is - a wreck in icy conditions with injuries is often attributable to conditions. Some questions come to mind:

1)Get details of the wreck in excruciating detail. GA is a 50%+ state on negligence. If a person calls b/c of a wreck with injuries we talk about how long the person knew of and drove on the icy road. If the person is from a warm weather state, new to the city, or if the person was speeding, or on the phone, or late to work, or you get that sense that something isn't right, you get to 50% negligence here in a hurry. And 50% means zero recovery,  and a denied claim. We work way too hard on cases with merit to get bogged down in cases with denials.

Second, we look to all circumstances.

Was the person driving a car or SUV with four wheel drive; was the road an interstate with patches of ice in the hammer lane, or a state road, or a county road. In that order you usually see a high degree of clearing., some clearing of ice, and no clearing of any.

What were the conditions. We had in Atlanta 3 days of sun while the roads were a total mess.  To be candid, anyone with any sense should have stayed home, and that is what a jury will think if the case gets that far.

For us, we'd consider talking to someone if perhaps the person was at a stop, and a vehicle barrelled into him/her, causing extensive property damage. Again, facts to consider - abrupt stop? other cars pulled over?

2)Gather information from various sites about the weather details the date of the incident. Did the wreck happen after sundown, black ice, with forecast of ice and snow? Was the wreck two days later after snow melt and refreeze? NOAA and other sites will explain the conditions.

Educate yourself on the road where the incident happened: I285 in Atlanta was for the most part problem free after day 3. When a wreck occurred, I can almost predict it was driver error (speeding, lane changes). One road was, however, nearly impassable and I'd want to investigate to make  sure the condition was as stated.

3)From a fault standpoint- My gut feeling is that if the incident happened on a road that most knew was tough to drive on, or nearly impassable we decide we can't help. If it's day 2 or 3, clear  skies, no obstructions, we talk a bit more.

All of this of course presumes some serious injury happens.

4)Next: The reality is that insurance companies have been dealing with risk like this for more than 50 years. If the claim is questionable, it either won't get paid at all, or a minimal offer is made. In my experience, a real case of wrong doing never sees a lawsuit filing, much less jury selection.

If you agree or disagree, let me know.