Buford Personal Injury Lawyer
30+ Years Experience • $30M+ Recovered • Hundreds of Clients
Serving Gwinnett, Hall, Jackson and Barrow County from our Buford office
Singleton Law Firm has acted for injured people in Georgia for more than 30 years. We opened the Buford office at 115 E Main St NE to be nearer the clients we were already representing across Gwinnett, Hall, Jackson and Barrow County rather than asking them to drive to Sandy Springs.
The practical difference is that Don Singleton takes the case himself. Not a case manager, not a rotating associate. The lawyer who assesses your claim on the first call is the lawyer who would try it.
Both Don and Lisa are very compassionate and trusting.
Samira Rao
Mr. Singleton and Ms. Lisa are truly ANGELS
Don and Lisa are the absolute best! No one ever wants to be in a situation where they need a lawyer for a personal injury but if you do.. Don is the person you want on your side. Both Don and Lisa are very compassionate and trusting. They guided us through this unfortunate circumstance with a positive result. Thank you both!
If you are not sure whether you need a lawyer at all, that is a fair question and we will give you a straight answer. Plenty of people who ring this office are told they can handle it themselves.
Results We’ve Secured
Transit Bus Claim $7.4 million
Auto v. Commercial Truck – recovery of $2.67 million
Bus v. Auto – recovery of $4.1 million
Auto v. Motorcycle – recovery of $200,000
Auto v. Motorcycle – recovery of $1.5 million
Auto v. Auto – recovery of $500,000
Why Choose Us After Your Buford Injury?
More than $30 million recovered for injured people across Georgia. Don served as co-counsel in Johnson v. MARTA, where a Fulton County jury returned a $25 million verdict and the court entered an $18.75 million judgment, the largest ever entered against MARTA. He has been selected to Georgia Super Lawyers for 2017 to 2022 and 2024 to 2025, and is a member of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum. You can see more on our verdicts and settlements page.
What Actually Happens, Step by Step
Most people have never brought a claim and have no idea what they are agreeing to. Here is the shape of it.
The first call. Free, usually fifteen or twenty minutes, and it ends with an honest view on whether there is a claim worth bringing.
Investigation and preservation. If we take it on, letters go out quickly to preserve evidence, because camera footage and vehicle data are routinely overwritten within days.
Treatment. We do not value a claim until your doctors know where you will end up. Settling before that is the most common way people are underpaid.
The demand. Once your condition is stable, we assemble the medical record, the income loss and the evidence of fault into a demand to the insurer.
Negotiation, and filing if needed. Many claims resolve here. If the offer does not reflect the injury, suit is filed, normally in Gwinnett County State Court at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center, 75 Langley Drive, Lawrenceville.
Discovery, mediation, trial. Most cases settle before a jury is sworn. The ones that do settle well tend to be the ones that were genuinely prepared for trial.
Cases We Take in the Buford Area
Car accidents on the I-85 and I-985 corridor and the Buford Drive retail stretch. Truck and commercial vehicle crashes, which bring federal regulations and a carrier’s rapid response team. Motorcycle crashes, where rider bias is the first obstacle. Slip, trip and fall claims against retail and apartment owners. Wrongful death, which Georgia structures as two separate claims. Pedestrian and bicycle injuries, dog bites, negligent security, nursing home neglect, and injuries on and around Lake Lanier.
What we do not do is criminal defence, family law or workers’ compensation on its own. If your situation needs one of those, we will point you somewhere useful rather than take the case.
Georgia’s Shared Fault Rule, and the 50 Percent Cliff
Georgia uses modified comparative negligence under OCGA § 51-12-33. Your damages are reduced by your percentage of fault, and at 50 percent or more you recover nothing at all.
That cliff edge is why insurers invest so much effort in assigning you a share of the blame, and why an early recorded statement is so often the thing that costs someone their claim. Thirty percent fault on a $100,000 claim costs you $30,000. Fifty percent costs you all of it.
What To Do After an Injury in Buford
Get medical attention, the same day if you can. Adrenaline masks a great deal and a gap in treatment is the first thing an adjuster will point to.
Report it and get the incident or crash report, from the right agency. In Buford that may be City of Buford Police, Gwinnett County Police or the Georgia State Patrol depending on where it happened.
Photograph everything, including conditions that will be cleaned up or repaired within the hour.
Get witness names and numbers yourself. Official reports miss them more often than not.
Do not give the other side’s insurer a recorded statement before you know the extent of your injuries, and do not accept a quick cheque in the first fortnight.
Buford Personal Injury Questions
What counts as a personal injury claim?
Someone owed you a duty of reasonable care, they fell short of it, and you were injured as a result with real financial consequences. That is the whole test.
In practice it covers road collisions, falls on badly maintained property, dog bites, injuries from defective products, nursing home neglect, assaults where a property owner failed to provide adequate security, and fatal incidents. What it does not cover is an accident nobody was responsible for. Georgia does not compensate bad luck.
Does it matter that my case is in Gwinnett rather than Fulton?
The law is the same across Georgia. The venue is not, and it affects timing more than outcome.
A Buford-area claim is normally filed in Gwinnett County State Court at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center, 75 Langley Drive, Lawrenceville. Gwinnett is Georgia’s second most populous county and its civil docket is busy, which affects how quickly a case reaches trial and therefore when an insurer gets serious about settling.
The jury pool differs too. A Gwinnett jury is drawn from a different community than a Fulton one, and lawyers who work here regularly have a feel for that. It is one of the few genuine advantages of using someone local rather than a firm that advertises statewide.
How long do I have to bring a claim?
Generally two years from the date of injury under OCGA § 9-3-33.
The exceptions matter more than the rule. If a government body may be liable, a city, a county or a state agency, ante litem notice can be due in six or twelve months. A medical negligence claim needs an expert affidavit filed with the complaint, which takes months to prepare. Claims for injured children are generally tolled until they turn 18.
If you are anywhere near a deadline, call today rather than next week. We would rather tell you it is fine than tell you it has passed.
What can I actually recover?
Three categories. Economic: medical bills already incurred and reasonably expected in future, lost income, lost earning capacity, and out-of-pocket costs. Non-economic: pain, suffering, disfigurement and the loss of things you used to be able to do. Georgia does not cap these in an ordinary injury case. Punitive: rare, and available only where the conduct showed wilful misconduct or conscious indifference, most commonly against a drunk driver.
The number that matters in practice is often not the legal maximum but the available insurance, which is why identifying every policy early tends to be worth more than arguing about multipliers.
Will I have to go to court?
Probably not. The large majority of injury claims settle without a trial, and many settle without a lawsuit ever being filed.
That said, the cases that settle well are the ones the other side believes will actually be tried. A firm that never files is a firm insurers learn to discount. Don has tried cases to verdict in Georgia state and federal courts for three decades, and that is part of what the other side is pricing in when they make an offer.
What if the accident was partly my fault?
You can still recover, up to a point. Georgia applies modified comparative negligence under OCGA § 51-12-33: your damages are reduced by your percentage of fault, and at 50 percent or more you recover nothing.
That cliff is why insurers work so hard to attach a share of blame to you, and why an early recorded statement so often damages a claim. Being partly at fault is a reason to get advice, not a reason to give up.
What does it cost to hire you?
Nothing upfront. We work on a contingency fee, so the fee comes out of the recovery and there is no fee at all if there is no recovery. Case expenses are advanced by the firm.
The consultation is free and carries no obligation. If we think you do not need a lawyer, or that the claim is not worth bringing, we will tell you that rather than sign you up.
About Don Singleton
Admitted in Georgia in 1990, Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law. Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent rated. Georgia Super Lawyers, 2017 to 2022 and 2024 to 2025. He handles each case personally, which is the whole point of a firm this size.
He is courteous, caring, and knowledgeable.
Martha Stringer
Fantastic experience considering my situation.
I had no personal injury lawyer when I was hit by a car. Don Singleton’s firm was recommended to me by another lawyer, and I am forever grateful. He is courteous, caring, and knowledgeable. He and his firm managed my case from beginning to end to a satisfactory conclusion.
Do I Have a Personal Injury Case?
If someone else’s carelessness injured you and it has cost you money, time or health, the answer is probably yes, and the only way to know is to ask. Call the Buford office on (678) 619-5207 for a free consultation. No fee unless we recover, and a straight answer either way.