Byam, Quillan A.

I am from Southwest Georgia. I was born in Thomasville, I grew up in Pelham, and I completed my Associates degree at Thomas College (now Thomas University) in Thomasville before enlisting in the Navy in 1988. I served on the U.S.S. John King through the end of the Cold War, and I served on the U.S.S. Aubrey Fitch during Operation Desert Storm.

After my Navy service, I completed my BA at Florida State University in 1994 and my JD at Mercer University's Walter F. George School of Law in 1999.

I served on the Mercer Law Review from 1997 to 1999, my case note was published in 1998, and I wrote the annual Appellate Practice and Procedure article for the Mercer Law Review's Eleventh Circuit Survey from 2001 to 2007.

I am a member of the Georgia Bar, the Florida Bar, and I am a special member of the Alabama Bar. I am admitted to practice in all State trial and appellate courts in Georgia and Florida, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

I am also a member of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys and National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives.

In my first job after law school, I served as judicial clerk to a United States Bankruptcy Judge in Macon, Georgia. After my clerkship, I took a job with a corporate firm in Albany, Georgia, where I represented creditors, mostly banks, in collections cases and in bankruptcy proceedings.

The job did not suit my temperament because I believe an attorney has an obligation to "speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute." Proverbs 31:8. I wanted to use my knowledge and experience to help ordinary people, most of whom have little or no recourse to the law.

In 2001, I found my place in the legal profession when I hired on with a nationally known, Southwest Georgia-based trial lawyer.

My first task as a trial lawyer was to weed through three hundred thousand pages of documents obtained from a major auto manufacturer. After three months of searching, I found the smoking gun that proved the auto maker had known about a defective seatbelt buckle since the 1960s. That was one of many cases I handled dealing with automotive defects. I have also handled cases involving defective air bags and defective cruise control systems.

I now apply my experience in automotive product defects, to every routine traffic accident case I handle. A traffic accident should be investigated for more than just the evidence to prove the other driver was at fault. If your injuries are bad enough, or if someone was killed, the collision should be investigated to determine whether the vehicle safety systems failed.

My experience also includes medical malpractice cases, defective road and intersection design cases, and defective bridge maintenance cases against the State of Georgia. I worked on a case against a major hotel chain that failed to update its balcony rails from the old six-inch standard to the new four-inch standard, creating a dangerous situation that allowed a small child to squeeze through the balcony rails and fall several stories to his death.

I once even prosecuted a crop duster for spraying a cotton defoliant onto a neighboring quail farm. The quail farmer's stock was killed and the quail farmer was hospitalized with acute organophosphate intoxication.

In addition to the personal injuries, my experience includes commercial litigation and economic torts. I prosecuted a case against a major firearms manufacturer that failed to pay commissions to its promoters, a class action lawsuit based on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law against a predatory lender, and a case against a bank that failed to make proper annual adjustments on a variable rate note, resulting in a small business owner owing an unexpected balloon payment when her note with the bank reached its term.

Since opening my office in Cairo in 2006, I have expanded my practice to include workers' compensation and Social Security disability claims, both of which go hand-in-hand with personal injury work. If you get hurt on the job, your remedies against your boss are limited to your workers' compensation benefits, which are vital to an injured worker's livelihood. But someone may be responsible other than the employer. For example, a machine malfunctioning at work because of negligent design or negligent manufacture may indicate a products liability claim. As well, someone with a catastrophic personal injury or workers' compensation claim will usually need to file for Social Security disability benefits.