Child Injury Lawyer Blog
By Stephanie Brown and David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network
Each week in Atlanta, Georgia, people are injured on escalators—often those people are children. While recent reports have blamed the popular soft-sided flexible clogs worn by children, escalator injuries are an ongoing problem that did not begin with the advent of the suspiciously ugly shoes. While the escalator industry has voluntarily created new standards for reducing the size of the gap between escalator steps and the escalator wall, these new standards do not have any impact on escalators built before 2000.
In Georgia, day care centers / child care centers have a duty to provide a safe physical environment for the children. These regulations, if followed, help prevent serious personal injuries and death to children in Georgia day care centers. Pursuant to Chapter 290 -2-2.12 (z) Physical Environment and Equipment, a Georgia day care center shall keep the following items / areas locked and away from access from children in the day care center:
In an effort to deter sex offenders from further crimes and to monitor their computer activities, the State of Georgia passed a law that requires sex offenders to disclose their passwords for internet, e mails, and screen names to authorities. It is estimated that there are 16,000 registered sex offenders in the State of Georgia. Legislators, who approved the law, have taken the position that the law is for the protection of children. Opponents to the law state that it is a violation of the privacy rights of the sex offenders. We expect that the law will be challenged on privacy issues and will go before the Georgia appellate courts for review at some point in time in the future.
In the Georgia and other states around the nation, there are negligence, liability, or fault laws in place. Some States have more favorable laws and rulings in place that others for children and families seeking compensation for personal injuries / wrongful death than others. A Georgia Court of Appeals decision in June 2008 ruled that the family of a child who drowned and died could not recover compensation from the apartment complex / property owner. The Georgia Court ruled in favor of the apartment complex owner since the Court determined that the child knew or should have known of the danger of the swimming pool when the child entered the apartment complex pool. The Georgia Court put the responsibility of the incident the child rather than the apartment complex. The ruling was made in the case – Rice v. Oaks Investors, II, Georgia Court of Appeals, A08A0434 (June, 26, 2008).