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Category: Premises Liability

MARTA Is Making Changes to Help with the Corona Virus

The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) announced on March 25th that it would be making some operational changes to help combat the spread of COVID-19. Most notably, some low-traffic routes and stations have been closed or given reduced schedules, while more buses have been diverted to high-traffic routes to prevent crowding and give passengers more space to distance from each other. Except for passengers who need to use the access ramp at the front door, MARTA passengers mu...

Pepsi Truck Crash in Cobb County Backs up Traffic Across Three Interstates

Only a week after ringing in the new year, Cobb County has already seen its first major Pepsi truck crash of the decade. In the early hours of the morning on January 7th, the truck in question collided with the guardrail on the I-285 and spilled its cargo of Dr. Pepper cans across the highway. Cleanup took almost 10 hours, during which time traffic backed up along not only the I-285 but the I-75 and I-575 as well. Slick roads from light rain may have contributed to the accident, though the e...

Apartment Complexes in Georgia Need to Improve Fire Safety

It’s been a rough winter for fire safety in Georgia, full of injuries and loss. Spring is almost here, but that will come as little comfort to the many residents who’ve already been affected by fires in their apartment complexes over the past few months. Two days after Christmas in Smyrna, nine people lost their homes to an apartment complex blaze. One of the survivors escaped with burns, and another was injured while jumping from her balcony. Three days later in Duluth, a fire engulfed the ...

A Worker at Hartsfield-Jackson Has Been Killed in a Loading Ramp Accident

Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport has long had a tenuous relationship with safety, seeming to prefer putting its money and energy into remaining the busiest airport in the world. On September 25th, 2019, one employee lost his life amid the bustle of this air traffic hub. The worker, an employee of the luggage transport company G2 Secure Staff, was helping to guide a luggage vehicle toward the loading ramp of a United Airlines jet, when he was crushed between the vehicle and the ramp...

Where OSHA Falls Short of Protecting Workers, the Civil Justice System Can Help

The federal agency known as OSHA came into being in 1970, with the passage of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Its stated mission is to ensure every American worker a workplace free of known health and safety hazards. Unfortunately, that noble goal has never come close to being a reality. According to one analysis published in The American Journal of Public Health, the rate of serious, nonfatal, on-the-job accidents declined only slightly between the founding of OSHA and the year 20...

Can You Sue a Security Guard?

Have you ever wondered, “Can you sue a security guard?” Please note that we only review these types of cases that occur in Georgia. The answer is, yes.  You can sue a security guard if he or she assaulted or harmed you and you were not threatening them. Because security guards are not law enforcement officers, they do not have the same rights that police officers do. Security guards cannot physically touch citizens beyond what is defined as “minimally necessary” to stop a crime or preve...

The Fatal Shooting of a Doraville Teen Might Have Been Preventable

On the afternoon of July 19th, in one of the recreational common areas of Foxwood Apartments in Doraville, 17-year-old Gerardo Cabrera-Perez was shot multiple times in the head, abdomen, and leg. He was then taken to a local hospital, where he died of his injuries. A 19-year-old suspect, Carlos Bernal, is now charged with his murder. As usual, in the midst of the grief over Cabrera-Perez’s loss, and the confusion over Bernal’s motives, few people are talking about what Foxwood Apartments cou...

Lake Lanier Probably Isn’t Haunted, But It’s Definitely Unsafe

Over the course of each year, more than 7.5 million people turn out to swim, boat, picnic, and otherwise enjoy Georgia’s beautiful Lake Lanier. Unfortunately, not all of them will make it home alive. Stories of drownings, other accidents, and mysterious disappearances on and around the lake have become so commonplace that many now believe it to be haunted or cursed. Of course, tellers of ghost stories tend not to be the most reliable historians or devotees of the scientific method. In f...

Drivers Have a Duty to Share the Road with E-Scooter Riders

The controversy surrounding the e-scooter micro-mobility trend has come to a tragic head in Atlanta in recent months. While the pros and cons of alternative vehicles, and the challenges of incorporating them safely and efficiently into the flow of traffic, have been subjects of heated debate since before e-scooters were even introduced, a recent string of deaths involving the devices has prompted new restrictions, new outrage, and new discussion. On July 17th, 2019, a scooter rider was run o...

Hotels Must Do a Better Job Protecting Their Guests from Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

In a fresh, tragic reminder of the deadly power of carbon monoxide, two Best Western guests lost their lives this summer while visiting Asheville, NC for a rugby tournament. While police note that conclusive toxicology information may not be available for up to eight months, an initial investigation of the property points to improperly vented air and water heaters as a possible culprit. The Stoddard Firm has seen all too many cases of company owners failing to maintain safe premises for thei...