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The Stoddard Firm Blog

Can I Bring a Sexual Assault Case Anonymously?

Survivors of sexual assault are often hesitant to come forward and assert their legal rights, and understandably so. Court proceedings can be invasive, particularly when sex crimes are involved, being a known survivor of sexual assault can carry harmful stigmas, and perpetrators and their legal counsel will typically do their best to discredit and demonize survivors who speak out. Many survivors also face ongoing threats of violence after the incident in question. One of the legal tools su...

Can I Sue My Apartment If Someone Caused a Fire?

Apartments can be dangerous places in terms of fire safety. Nearly 400 people living in U.S multifamily buildings are killed in residential fires every year, and over 4,000 more are injured. For people who survive apartment fires and burn injury accidents, the task of putting a life back together is daunting and massive. It’s normal to have lots of questions, most pressingly questions of finance and liability. A landlord’s responsibility to pay for tenants’ losses seems obvious enough i...

Worker Dies by Electrocution at Atlanta Sand & Supply

An employee of Atlanta Sand & Supply was pronounced dead the morning of July 9th at the Byron location where he worked. A brief investigation of the scene indicated that the worker, James Wallace Dean Jr., had been killed by electrocution, apparently by accident. Of course, just because Dean does not appear to have been murdered does not mean that no one is responsible for his death. Electricity is a well-recognized and serious hazard of most workplaces, and there are many precautions ...

Fatal Crane Accident in Macon May Be the Result of a Negligent Design

Employees of the Rosson Sign Company were in the process of replacing a Quality Inn sign in West Macon on the morning of July 16th, when an apparent malfunction caused their crane to drop the sign from a significant height. Three of the employees were seriously injured in the impact and taken to a nearby medical center, where one of them was pronounced dead. His name was Johnny Stewart, and he had graduated from high school and begun his work at Rosson a matter of days before the accident....

The St. Regis Resort Could Be Liable for Injuries Caused by Its Collapsing Tent

A January wedding at Buckhead’s St. Regis Resort was interrupted when a tent collapsed under heavy winds, sending three guests to the hospital and causing superficial injuries to at least five more. The tent was being used to shelter the patio where the ceremony was taking place. Right after the bride walked down the aisle, the tent gave out under a gust of wind she said felt like a small tornado lifting it off the ground. A tent blowing over might sound like a minor accident, but the s...

MARTA Bus Kills Pedestrian Who Was Using a Legal Crosswalk

In one of the more senseless MARTA accidents yet, a pedestrian has been struck and killed by a bus while crossing Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd at H.E Holmes drive in Atlanta. It was about 1:15 in the afternoon on Sunday, June 7th — in other words, broad daylight, and not during peak commuting hours. The pedestrian died at the scene, and an investigation indicated that the bus had run over the victim. No identifying information has been released, except that the victim was an adult. Crimi...

New Federal Standards Leave Private School Students as Vulnerable as Ever to Sexual Assault

The Secretary of Education has recently announced new changes to Title IX, a set of standards originally instituted to protect students from sexual assault and harassment in schools. In spite of many schools’ protestations that they won’t be able to institute the changes in time, while also changing school operations to address contagion risks, the new standards are set to take effect on August 14th. The Latest Changes to Title IX Discourage Sexual Assault Reporting Advocacy groups for sexu...

Georgia’s Roads Are Still Not Ready to Accommodate the Port of Savannah’s Increasing Capacity

For the past several years, the Port of Savannah has been working to expand its operations by upgrading its facilities, installing new equipment, and increasing its footprint. The problem is that improvements at the port don’t only affect port operations. They affect shipping traffic all over Georgia, which in turn affects the safety of everyone on the road. Improvements to the Port of Savannah Have Focused on Moving More Cargo, Faster In 2017, the Garden City terminal in the Port of Savann...

Profit-Driven Power Wheelchair Companies Put Medicare Patients at Risk of Falls and Fires

When discussing Medicare wheelchairs, it’s important to note that Medicare itself does not produce medical supplies; it only funds them. The actual suppliers and maintenance providers for devices like power wheelchairs are independent, for-profit companies. Some are honest businesses that produce safe products to fill medically appropriate prescriptions, but others exist for the express purpose of extracting as much taxpayer money from Medicare as possible, without regard for patients’ nee...

Georgia Poultry Plant Workers Face New Dangers Due to Coronavirus

Right now, while so many are fighting the spread of COVID-19 simply by staying home, others are still expected to risk exposure every day in order to perform in-person jobs that have been deemed essential, including jobs in the food supply line. Although there’s no arguing with the fact that a steady food supply is indeed essential to the U.S’s survival and recovery, many companies are using their “essential” classification as an excuse to disregard safety necessities and common sense, and...