Recent News and Results from our Law Offices

Mr. Ashenden has recovered millions of dollars for his clients in his 26 years of representing injured victims of negligence. The spectrum of cases involves clients with traumatic brain injuries; spinal chord injuries; neck and back injuries; surgeries (many of whom have permanent internal fixations - screws and plates); amputations; prosthetic devices; permanent disfigurement/scarring to the face and other body parts.

The wisdom of our sages and the blood of our heroes has been devoted to the attainment of trial by jury. It should be the creed of our political faith. - President Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address

The parties which have been held accountable to Mr. Ashenden's clients have included: truck companies, insurance companies, employers, negligent landlords, and medical providers.

A. Significant Truck Collision Results
December 2007, $1,000,000.00 recovered from truck company in Union County, Georgia for traumatic brain injury to 56 year old man. Liability was so contested prior to Mr. Ashenden’s and Mr. Whaley’s involvement that the insurance company and truck company had closed its claims file.

Other recent results:

• Thomas J. Ashenden recovered $1,460,000.00 on the eve of trial from a Hall County, Georgia truck company for a fracture to a vertebrae in the back of a 16 year old girl. Lacerations to her internal organs were also a significant aspect of the damages. It is one of the top 5 personal injury recoveries ever in Hall County.
  
  
• Thomas J. Ashenden as co-counsel with a Florida law firm recovered $1,000,000.00 for the wrongful death of a 6 year old girl based on the negligence of a tractor-trailer truck driver in the rain.
  
  
• Tom Ashenden’s first $1,000,000.00 recovery was for a 30 year old housewife who suffered a closed head injury and fractured humerus when a Bartow County dump truck turned in front of her vehicle.

B. Other Significant Recoveries in Injury Cases

Major recoveries for:

• Amputation of leg case;
• Day care abuse and burns to child case;
• Victims of DUI’s;
• Passengers with very serious and permanent injuries involving bus and limousine collisions.

Among our recent news is the following:

• Thomas J. Ashenden honored to be named to the 2008 Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers following years of being AV rated. (An “AV” rating signifies that the lawyer has reached the heights of professional excellence. He or she has usually practiced law for a number of years, and is recognized for the highest levels of skill and integrity).
  
  
• Thomas J. Ashenden honored to be named to the Leading Plaintiff’s Lawyers in America group, “The Law Dragon 3000” in 2007.
  
  
• As stated in Law Dragon’s announcement, "Law Dragon has once again combed the land to level the playing field when you need it most. We asked the nation’s best lawyers and their clients whom they’d trust with their own legal matters. The Law Dragon 3000 Leading Plaintiff’s Lawyers in America are the result of that quest. To qualify, a lawyer had to chiefly represent individuals . . . We are grateful for plaintiff’s lawyers. They save our lives and are the first person we call when we’re in trouble." (The announcement concludes with):

  "Congratulations to the Law Dragon 3000 Leading Plaintiff’s Lawyers in America."

• Thomas J. Ashenden of Atlanta, Georgia, certified as member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum from 2000 to the present. The press release reads as follows:
  
  PRESS RELEASE:
  The Million Dollar Advocates Santa Cruz, CA
  Attorney Thomas J. Ashenden Named to Million Dollars Advocates Forum
  
  The Million Dollar Advocates Forum is pleased to announce that attorney Thomas J. Ashenden of Atlanta, Georgia has been certified as a member. The Million Dollar Advocates Forum is recognized as the most prestigious group of trial lawyers in the United States. Membership is limited to attorneys who have won million and multi-million dollar verdicts, awards and settlements. The organization was founded in 1993 and there are approximately 1800 members throughout the United States. Forum membership acknowledges excellence in advocacy, and provides members with a network of experienced colleagues for referral and information exchange in major cases. Members must have acted as principal counsel in at least one case in which their client has received a verdict, award or settlement in the amount of one million dollars or more.
  
  Mr. Ashenden is a trial lawyer who has practiced law in the Atlanta area for (26) years specializing in personal injury (with an emphasis on auto and truck collisions and landlords and negligence), and workers' compensation cases. (originally published September 25, 2000)
  
  
• Thomas J. Ashenden featured in Jezebel Magazine’s "The Distinction Series". The feature states : Tom Ashenden began his law career as an associate for a general practice firm in Buckhead. However, he quickly moved on to open his own practice, which brought him in contact with Ellis Ray Brown, someone who would influence Ashenden’s future in law. “Ray has since retired. He and his firm were very classy, dignified and honest in the way they represented their personal injury clients, ”Tom says. “Ray and I became very good friends. He was a mentor to me for several years. I became specialized in personal injury law mainly because of him.”
  
  In the ensuing years, the practice grew from a small office, to a firm with a staff of five, including two lawyers, two paralegals and a law clerk. Ashenden has limited his practice to handling catastrophic and serious injury cases, including wrongful death, for individuals and families in areas including tractor-trailer and automobile collisions, premises/construction liability, nursing home abuse and workers’ compensation. After recovering millions of dollars for these clients Ashenden was honored to be certified as a member of The Million Dollar Advocates Forum.
  
  “We take pride in providing personal attention to our clients,” he says. “I hear so often from clients who have been represented by other law firms before they come to my firm that they were not able to even speak to an attorney. If a client wants to speak to an attorney in my firm, I firmly believe that the client has that right. If the client wants to sit down and meet with me in person or speak to me on the telephone, I make myself available. We take great pride in zealously representing our clients and assuring that their rights and interests are fully protected.”
  
  This impressive stance carries over to Tom’s relationship with his fellow attorneys as well. No wonder he received Martindale-Hubbell’s highest peer review rating (by lawyers and judges) of “AV”, which the international legal directory defines as a lawyer that has reached the height of professional excellence and integrity.

• Authorship and editorial contributions to Georgia Methods of Practice by West Publishing Company, a treatise for practicing attorneys.
  
  Substantial contributions and editorial assistance were provided by Thomas J. Ashenden in GEORGIA PRACTICE Volume 1: Methods of Practice (Part II Personal Injury Practice By Joseph P. Quirk). The introduction reads as follows:
  
  SCOPE, PERSPECTIVE AND LIMITATIONS
  
  This Part seeks to present considerations and suggestions relevant to the representation of personal injury claimant. These materials are very plainly, therefore, "plaintiff-oriented." This Part does not attempt to set forth the correct way to handle any particular personal injury case. Every case the reader encounters will have certain aspects which distinguish it from any other case. The suggestions and citations in this Part are only the personal injury field. Because tort law is dynamic and still developing, the reader must Shepardize and Insta-Cite any citation in this Part before relying upon it.
  
  This Part focuses primarily on automobile negligence, medical malpractice, and products liability claims, as these are the tort areas most commonly encountered by the practitioner. Intentional torts, nuisances, etc., are not specifically dealt with. Further, the substantive law of tort liability, trial tactics, and motion practice is beyond the scope of this Part. These subjects are well covered in the existing literature, for example, Restatement, Second, of Torts (1965); W. Prosser, Law of Torts (4th ed. 1971); A. Morrill, Trial Diplomacy (2nd ed. 1972); Goldstein, Modern Trial Techniques (1979).