I was born and raised in Moultrie, Georgia and graduated from Colquitt County Highschool in 1995. During my high school years, I worked in agriculture hanging tobacco, at a peanut buying point, and as a welder at a machine fabrication company in Moultrie. Those work experiences taught me lifelong lessons and I always enjoyed the people I met in those jobs. Those were real people who got out there and did what mattered each day for their families even if it meant fighting the heat and getting dirty.

After high school, I went on to obtain my Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Georgia in 1999 and my Juris Doctor from the University of Georgia in 2002. In my third year of law school, I enrolled in the Third-Year Practice Act where I had the opportunity to represent indigent defendants in the State and Superior Courts of Georgia in probation revocation hearings, motions practice, and trial work as a third-year law student. While many law students were in the classroom, I got the opportunity to be in the courtroom and I loved it.

I was admitted to the Georgia Bar in 2002 and went to work in Augusta, Georgia for my mentor, and stepfather, Danny Durham. Once I was admitted to practice law, I hit the ground running in court proceedings with the benefit of having shadowed my stepfather for years of court appearances in my summers of law school.

As a personal injury and wrongful death attorney in Southwest Georgia, including Thomasville, Cairo, Quitman, Moultrie, Valdosta, Douglas, Adel, Bainbridge and Augusta, Georgia, I am an active member of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association. When settlement was not an option, I have gone to trial against the insurance companies and won justice for my clients. Throughout my years of practice, other attorneys across Georgia have associated me to work personal injury claims with them. I truly enjoy helping people whether it’s helping them change a flat tire on the side of the road or helping an injury victim recover in a case.

BUT ENOUGH ABOUT ME. You are not looking to read about education, law degrees, awards, etc. You are looking for one thing: help to solve your problem.

You have been injured in a car crash and need to know that you will have the best legal representation you can get. You need to know that you will have transportation. You need medical treatment and you need medical bills paid. You need to be reimbursed for lost wages for time you have missed from work. You need know that you will get all the compensation that Georgia law allows. You need to know that your lawyer will go to bat for you and won’t settle for less than you deserve.

You need a rental car when your vehicle has been damaged or totaled and have no other way to get to work or drive your family. When your car is repaired, you need your money for diminished value that you are entitled to under Georgia law and that insurance company would never tell you about.

You need to get medical treatment and get better while the moving parts of your injury case are handled and put it in a posture to get it resolved in your favor. You need to know that no stone will be left unturned in the hunt for insurance coverage from

• liability coverage

• umbrella coverage

• medical payments coverage

• underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage, and

• health insurance coverage.

You pay for auto insurance each month and your insurance company has no problem taking your premium payment. You should be able to collect money on your auto policy when you have a claim.

Or maybe you were involved in an accident in the past and just need good free advice on what types of auto insurance you should have. Insurance companies like to sell you coverage that makes them money. They shy away from selling you coverage that helps you when an accident isn’t your fault and the other driver lacks coverage. You need to know what coverages you should have to protect you and your family.

You’ve lost a family member at the hand of someone’s negligence. You need to know that the case will be fully investigated and that you, as the surviving beneficiary, will recover the full value of the life of the deceased from the deceased point of view. What their life meant to them from their perspective is what the claim is worth under Georgia law. Again, you need to know your lawyer will leave no stone unturned in the hunt for insurance.

A drunk driver may have hit you and injured you and destroyed your car because the drunk driver put their own interest ahead of the safety of others. You need to know what your rights are and what you can recover, not only for your medical bills, pain and suffering, and lost wages, but punitive damages for your injury and for your property damage. That’s money that punishes a DUI driver by hitting their wallet or purse so they don’t hurt or kill someone else.

Or maybe you or a family member have been hit by a tractor trailer. These wrecks are different from car-on-car collisions and the impact can leave lifelong physical and mental effects on their victims. You need to know that your lawyer has handled and can handle a trucking case. That he knows the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations that these drivers must comply with. You need to know your lawyer will find out how long the driver was on the road, the defects in the tractor and trailer, the driver qualifications, the computer download, the dispatch communications, and more. Knowing these things can tell you why the crash occurred in the first place.

You want your accident investigated by your lawyer personally and you want experts who can testify later about your crash at trial if you need them. You want a lawyer who will go in person and inspect your crashed vehicle or crawl under the tractor trailer that nearly killed you and actually see what was wrong with the brakes. You need a lawyer who isn’t afraid to get dirty to find out every detail of a crash that will be used to win your case. You want a lawyer who gets out from behind the desk and inspects your crash scene instead of just looking at an accident report.

Or maybe you or your family have been injured or worse killed under the treatment of a medical professional or hospital. You need to know what the standard of care is under those situations for doctors and hospitals and what your options are, who and what entities may be responsible, and which way to proceed next.

You need to know that the law firm you hire to represent you is not a high-volume, settlement firm that runs clients through the office like cattle. You need a law firm where you have your lawyer’s cell phone number and personal email and can talk to and meet with your lawyer when you need to. You need a lawyer that will come to you and meet with you, not a lawyer that sends a representative to get you to sign up. You don’t need to hire a law firm and a lawyer that you never meet or speak with or one that never actually performs work on your case but hands it off to a lawyer beneath them.

You know what you need if you are in one of these situations. You want what’s best for you and your family. At Crane Law Firm, we believe anything less is unacceptable and we are there to make sure you get what you need.