Woman injured in freak accident sues city, GDOT

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — A woman badly injured in a freak accident on Georgia 400 wants the state Supreme Court to allow her to bring her case before a jury to hold the Georgia Department of Transportation and a local city liable for what happened.

Shani Cohen told Channel 2’s Mike Petchenik she was a passenger in her friend’s car on New Year’s Eve 2010 when a metal vice grip that had fallen off a work truck crashed through the window and into her head just north of the former toll plaza.

“I don’t remember a lot,” Cohen said. “The driver, my friend, I guess she said ‘Watch out.’”

Cohen said she spent the next several weeks on a ventilator at Grady Hospital and underwent multiple surgeries to reconstruct her face and to repair damage to her brain and eyes.

“That was my life,” she said. “Doctors all the time.”

Now 33, Cohen said she still suffers from depression and hasn’t been able to find work in her chosen field.

Cohen sued the Georgia Department of Transportation and the city of Sandy Springs, claiming negligence.

A Fulton County State Court judge granted both entities motions for “summary judgment,” effectively dismissing the case.

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But attorney Charles McAleer has filed a motion asking the state’s high court to revisit the case.

“There’s the DOT that could have done a lot of things differently and should have done a lot of things differently,” said McAleer. “They didn’t follow any of their protocols. The guy was out there just phoning it in.”

McAleer told Petchenik two other cars had wrecked as a result of the vice grip in the roadway, and both a GDOT Hero Unit and a Sandy Springs police officer failed to remove it or block the lanes before Cohen’s car traveled through the area.

“They knew it was a problem because cars were wrecking,” he said. “They knew it was a real hazard to drivers.” %

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Sandy Springs City Attorney Wendell Willard could not comment on the pending case, but in an email he told Petchenik:

“The ultimate question for the court is, was there any potential conduct on part of the city and its employees which would rise to the level of negligence. After much ‘discovery’, and over an extended time, the trial court ruled the city was not negligent, and the city was granted summary judgment. This means, in the law, under all standards of duty and care which may be owed by the city to this individual, was the city, in any of its action negligent; the court said, no.  There is no doubt this young lady received very severe and debilitating injuries, and we certainly have great sympathy for her suffering.”

GDOT spokeswoman Natalie Dale told Petchenik since this is ongoing litigation the department cannot issue a response

McAleer and Cohen said she is seeking millions of dollars in compensation for her pain and suffering.

“I hope to achieve justice,” said Cohen.

Cox Media Group