Personal Injury Law

Botanical Garden Bridge Collapse

A construction collapse involving a bridge was reported this morning at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Unfortunately, there appears to be one death and many serious injuries. Our lawyers have investigated and filed lawsuits in numerous construction collapse cases. The most notable was the collapse during the building of Phillips Arena in Atlanta.

While the reports do not indicate the cause of the collapse, there will undoubtedly be an investigation by OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Many times attorneys mistakingly believe that any recovery in these cases is barred by the workers compensation statute. In essence this statute prohibits an employee for suing an employer or co-employee for negligence.

However, there are many potential avenues by which a recovery for these types of fatalities and serious injuries can be obtained. There is potential liability against the designers and architects for improper or dangerous design. There may also be liability for the negligent installation or work of others who are not deemed co-employees. We have also successfully established liabilty for the furnishing or selling of defective components such as poorly mixed concrete.

Construction injuries resulting from collapses or failure of equipment should always be explored and investigated thoroughly. The failure to do so can result in a deserving client or survivor settling for small workers compensation benefits when a much larger recovery was probable.

Full post as published by Georgia Injury Lawyer Blog on December 19, 2008 (boomark / email).