Atlanta Injury Lawyers Blog

As Atlanta apartment shooting lawyers, we are troubled at the recent slew of apartment complex crimes. Another such shooting occurred this past Tuesday night in Newton County, Georgia. Unfortunately, in addition to the apartment shooting, there was a related car accident which led to the wrongful death of Shirley Akin.

The robbery/shooting happened at approximately 7:30 p.m. on February 23, 2010 at an apartment complex in Newton County. The victim was taken by ambulance to Atlanta Medical Center for treatment of a bullet wound. Following the shooting, the suspects fled the scene in a black Nissan Maxima.

Later in the evening, the two men, while apparently on the run from authorities, struck Ms. Akin's vehicle after running a red light. Ms. Akin was taken to Rockdale Medical Center where she perished as a result of her injuries.

As Atlanta lawyers who specialize in apartment shooting cases, we were pleased to learn of the quick arrests of arrested of two individuals suspected of having association with the recent murder of a young woman in an Atlanta apartment complex. Our attorneys understand that it is sometimes difficult to locate and apprehend suspects in these types of cases, and the Atlanta Police Department deserves accolades for their swift work.

The young woman was shot in early February at the Atlanta Garden Apartments. She was transported form the scene and died a short time later a Grady Memorial Hospital. All accounts indicate that the woman an innocent bystander to a violent confrontation at the apartment complex.

It remains to be seen whether the owners of the apartment complex will be liable for failing to provide adequate security. An Atlanta premises liability attorney will need to establish that the owners or managers of the apartment complex were aware of criminal activity on the premise in the surrounding area and, despite knowledge of this prior crime, failed to take adequate measures to protect those on its premise.

Rapes, shootings, and violent crimes are a common occurence in hotels, shopping malls, parking lots, and apartment complexes throughout Atlanta and the state of Georgia. As Atlanta attorneys specializing in these premise liability cases, we are intimately aware of the dangers that patrons face while staying or shopping in these venues. The verdicts awarded by juries throughout Georgia for such incidents can be significant, as is evidenced by a recent $550,000.00 verdict obtained in Cobb County, Georgia.

A Cobb County jury recently awared $550,000.00 to a Plaintiff who was sexually assaulted while staying at a Super 8 Motel. A hotel employee entered her room with a master key and began to touch and lick her while she was asleep. The hotel was sued for failure to conduct a criminal background check on the employee and for entrusting the employee with a master key. The jury heard evidence that, if a criminal background check had been performed, the hotel would have learned that the employee was arrested on multiple occasions prior to and during his employment. The jury was convinced, and held Super 8 liable.

As premise liability attorneys, it is important that we become involved in a hotel/apartment/shopping mall rape, shooting, or attack as soon after the incident as possible. This is critical as premise owners tend to destroy evidence such as video tapes which would evidence liability.

Two women who were shot after they were followed to their car in the parking lot of a night club in Gwinnett County near Atlanta were recently awarded $1,101,589.00 each for their injuries. This premise liability shooting case demonstrates that the public has little tolerance for proprietors of malls, hotels, and apartment complexes who do little or nothing to protect the security of their patrons. As Atlanta premise liability attorneys, we continue to vigorously represent our Clients throughout Georgia against these negligent property owners.

Rapes, sexual assaults, and violent attacks regularly occur in shopping malls, hotels, apartments, and parking lots in Atlanta and other major cities in Georgia. In Georgia, a property owner may be responsible for protecting those legally on his or her property from such criminal acts under certain circumstances. For example, if the owner of a mall, hotel, apartment, or parking lot has reason to anticipate a criminal act based upon the occurrence of prior similar acts, there is then a duty to exercise ordinary care to guard against any further criminal acts. If the owner fails in this duty by failing to control access to his or her premise, by failing to have adequate security, or by failing to have proper lighting on the property, the property owner is liable to anyone suffers injuries as a consequence.

Premise liability cases are difficult and expensive to litigate. Individuals who have been the victim of a rape, shooting, or attack while at a hotel, shopping mall, or apartment complex should be certain that the attorney whom the elect to represent them is qualified and capable of doing so.

Injuries and wrongful deaths occur from time to time at amusement parks such as Six Flags Over Georgia and Six Flags Whitewater. Atlanta premise liability lawyers and attorneys are the most capable of handling such cases, and it is best that these lawyers get involved as quickly as possible to prevent the destruction of any evidence. Surveillance tapes may be destroyed after 30 days, for example, and these tapes could prove to be the most valuable evidence in pursuing a case against the amusement park.

In a recent case, a teenager was seriously injured when she was chased by costumed characters at Six Flags Over Georgia. While trying to escape the chase of the character, the teenager ran into a railing and fractured her hip. Extensive surgery was required to repair the injury, and the teenage will have permanent scarring and discomfort as a result.

While Six Flags denied liability for the teenager's injuries, the case eventually settled for $125,000.00. As premise liability lawyers, we understand that sometime's it is better to settle a case that to take it to trial. In this circumstance, the Plaintiff was willing to accept the offer of settlement made by the amusement park.

A woman who was raped at an Atlanta-area apartment complex was awarded over $8 million dollars by a DeKalb County jury. From an Atlanta premises liability attorney's perspective, this was an excellent verdict for the victim. Hotel and apartment rapes and shootings continue to occur at too regular a frequency in Atlanta and surrounding counties such as DeKalb, Fulton, and Cobb, and the victims of these crimes deserve to be rewarded for the failure of the premises owner to secure his or her property.

The victim in this case was raped when her assailant entered through a window in the apartment. Lawyers for the apartment complex argued that the victim had created the circumstances that allowed her to be raped by giving extra apartment keys to friends and family. The victim's lawyers defeated these defenses, asserting that the lack of security in the apartment complex is what ultimately precipitated the rape. We are proud of our colleagues for obtaining justice for the victim, and we continue efforts at our firm to achieve justice for victims of similar crimes.

Under Georgia law, an apartment owner has a duty to keep the apartment complex safe. Where an apartment owner has reason to anticipate criminal activity on its property through prior crime at the apartment or in the surrounding area, the apartment owner must take reasonable steps to provide adequate security. If the apartment owner fails to undertake these steps, he or she is liable for any injuries that occur to its invitees as a consequence.

A Marietta man injured when a pallet of plywood fell on him while shopping at Home Depot was recently awarded $1.5 million dollars by a Georgia jury. As Atlanta personal injury attorneys representing victims in premises liability claims, this was an excellent result for the Plaintiff. Do-it-yourself warehouses such as Lowes and Home Depot are extremely dangerous venues, and personal injury claims are common.

Premise liability lawyers in Atlanta and throughout Georgia are able to request that a jury award their Clients compensation for the financial damages (medical bills, lost wages, etc.) that they have incurred via a personal injury, as well as for the pain and suffering that they have incurred incidental to their injuries. In the Atlanta Home Depot personal injury premise liability case, the jury awarded the Plaintiff medical expenses in the amount of $120,000.00.

In addition to compensation for his pain and suffering and for his medical expenses, the Plaintiff was also awarded a sum for past and future lost wages. His wife was also awarded $30,000.00 for her loss of consortium.

As an Atlanta premises liability lawyer who represents Clients in slip and fall cases, I am anxiously awaiting the result of a case against Wal-Mart that is scheduled to go to trial in the coming months. The case involves a slip and fall accident that ultimately resulted in the wrongful death of the victim. In July of 2009, Julie Lehman was shopping in Wal-Mart when she slipped on a wet floor in the automotive section of the store. She was diagnosed with a blood clot in her brain incidental to the fall, and she was compelled to undergo emergency surgery. Julie died while in surgery, and her husband thereafter brought suit for her wrongful death and her pain and suffering.

Atlanta's best lawyers, and attorneys throughout Georgia, will readily admit that slip and fall cases are among the most difficult to win. This is because the law as it currently stands in Georgia heavily favors store owners. In particular, in order to establish that a store owner is liable for the injuries in a slip and fall case, Georgia personal injury attorneys are required to establish: (1) that the owner either knew, or should have known, of the dangerous condition which caused the fall; and, (2) that the injured victim did not have knowledge of the condition. The hardest of these elements to prove is the knowledge of the store owner. The law as is currently stands does not require a store owner to check it's aisles for dangerous conditions at very frequent intervals. Some cases hold that a walk through every 90 minutes is satisfactory, and if a dangerous condition occurs within that interval it would not be required to have knowledge of that condition. This is very unfair to injured victims as it does not require the store to be very proactive in preventing dangerous conditions from arising.

Our attorneys have been very successful in pursuing premises liability/slip and fall cases in Atlanta and throughout Georgia, but it is critical that we are contacted by the injured victim as soon as possible. The reason for this is that we want to make sure any evidence which establishes that the store owner failed to conduct a search of its store is preserved. Store surveillance videos are a great source for establishing this, and, as many such tapes are erased every 30 days, we want to demand that the store owner refrain from erasing the tapes.

Our law firm was recently hired by a man seeking an Atlanta accident attorney to assist him with his personal injury case. The man was involved in a motor vehicle accident while driving his company's truck. The motor vehicle accident was not his fault, and the man suffered a spine injury as a result of the collision. He contacted us to assist him in his workers compensation claim against his employer. When we informed him that Georgia law allowed his attorney to also pursue a personal injury claim against the at fault driver, he was surprised. Apparently, his employer had told him that Georgia workers compensation law only allowed him to pursue a workers' comp claim.

This story inspired me to offer two lessons to our blog readers. The first lesson is, if you are ever involved in a work accident, be immediately skeptical of whatever advice your employer offers you. Too many times as a Georgia attorney have I seen my workers' compensation Clients misled by an employer whose primary concern is the impact that the work injury will have on its insurance premium. As we have posted in prior blogs entries, the victim of a work accident in Georgia in entitled to a number of benefits ranging from medical care to weekly indemnity checks. The workers compensation system in Georgia is very intricate, and an injured worker should seek the assistance of a qualified Georgia attorney before taking any advice from an employer.

The second lesson is that the workers compensation system is not always the only avenue of redress for an individual hurt in a work accident. It is true that Georgia law includes a statute that is commonly referred to as the 'exclusive remedy doctrine' which prohibits an injured worker from bringing a personal injury action against its employer. This statute does not, however, apply where a third party unrelated to the employer is at fault in causing the work accident. Under such circumstances, the injured worker may also have a personal injury case in addition to the workers compensation claim. Examples of this would be where a company driver is hurt in a car accident caused by another driver (car accident personal injury case), where a worker is hurt by a faulty machine (products liability claim), or where an injured worker slips and falls or is the victim of a violent crime while on a property not owned or leased by the employer (premises liability case).

In order for a victim of a work injury to properly assess any and all claims that are available under Georgia law, it would be advisable for the injured worker to seek guidance from a Georgia attorney. The Murray Law Firm has recovered millions of dollars for our workers compensation clients, and we would be pleased to answer any questions from potential Clients free of charge. The Murray Law Firm is based in Atlanta, and represents Clients throughout Georgia including Savannah, Augusta, Columbus, Macon, Dalton, Rome, and Athens.

A Fulton County Jury awarded $9,000,000.00 to a woman who was brutally robbed and raped in her apartment in Marietta, Cobb County, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta. The jury in this Atlanta premises liability case was provided with evidence showing that the owners and management of the property negligently maintained and secured the premise and, as a consequence, failed to properly and adequately offer security to its tenants. Although the rape occurred in Cobb County, the case was tried in Fulton County as the owners of the apartment complex and the property's management company resided in that venue.

Violent criminal activity at apartment complexes is a major problem in Atlanta and throughout Georgia. The Murray Law Firm regularly represents victims of rapes, shootings and other crimes that have been perpetrated because of the property owner's or management company's failure to provide adequate security. In many instances, these crimes occur because of the apartment complex's failure to correct minor problems such as inadequate or inoperable lighting, or an inoperable controlled access gate.

Once retained by a Client who has been the victim of a violent crime at a Georgia apartment complex, we immediately conduct an investigation to determine what level of criminal activity occurred at the property and in the surrounding area, and what measures could have been undertaken to prevent the crime from occurring. We regularly interview current and former residents of the apartment complex, as well as current and former employees of the management company. We will also request from the local police department a criminal activity report to identify what crimes took place on the property and in the surrounding area in the preceding 5 years. In many instances, we learn that the owners of the apartment complex and its management company were aware of violent criminal activity, but did little if nothing to protect its residents.

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