Cobb County House Fire Kills Teenage Girl
A house fire killed a teenage girl and destroyed a house in Marietta on Monday, July 25, according to NBC 11 Alive Atlanta. Investigators are treating the death as a homicide. Investigators have not ruled out the possibility that the fire was a result of arson. The family who lived in the home rented it from a man who lives in Texas, who was not familiar with the family of the deceased girl.
Brother and Firefighter Require Treatment for Burns
The girl’s brother also suffered burns from the house fire and required treatment at a local hospital, but doctors expect he will survive his burn injuries, according to ABC WTVM Live Columbus. The step-father did not sustain any injuries during the fire. Police took him into custody, but released him by Sunday afternoon without filing charges. The house fire was extremely powerful, with flames shooting through the roof and visible from blocks away, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. One firefighter required precautionary medical treatment for heat exposure.
Georgia Law Holds Landlords Accountable for Conditions on Property
When accidents happen and injure a person while they are on someone else’s property, the property owner may sometimes be liable for damages in a negligence lawsuit. In general, property owners in Georgia have a responsibility to take reasonable steps to make their property safe for their guests, customers, and people they expect to be on the property (like mail delivery personnel). However, landlords have a more limited responsibility. In most circumstances, Georgia does not require landlords to ensure that their tenants keep the property safe, since the tenants have control over the property while they are renting. But landlords do still have some responsibility to keep the property safe. If the landlord knows or should have known about a dangerous condition, they need to take reasonable steps to ensure that the condition does not injure their tenants. This includes criminal acts that have occurred in the past. If the landlord has knowledge of prior criminal activity, they can take reasonable steps to prevent similar acts from occurring in the future.
Landlords May Be Liable for Accidental Fires or Arsons
In a case like the fire that occurred on Shadowridge Drive near Marietta, it’s possible that the landlord may be liable for injuries in a negligence lawsuit. If a defect in the construction or maintenance of the house lead to the fire, and it arose because the landlord or someone the landlord was supervising failed to exercise reasonable care in building or maintaining the house, then the landlord may be liable for negligence. For example, if the electrical system was installed in a way that failed to meet county building code, and the landlord knew or should have known about this, and this failure to properly install the electrical system led to the fire, the landlord may be liable for damages. However, if the accident occurred because of the tenant’s failure to properly maintain the house while they lived in it, the landlord would not be liable.
If, as police in the case seem to suspect, the fire was the result of a crime, the landlord could still be liable. If there had been previous similar criminal activity in the neighborhood, like other arson, this may have been enough to put the landlord on notice that they should secure the house. If a third party then set the house on fire, and reasonable security measures (like fencing) would have prevented the crime, the landlord may be liable for damages in a negligent security lawsuit.
Get Legal Help
If you or someone you know has suffered injuries on someone else’s property, you need legal advice. Contact a premises liability attorney at Williams Elleby Howard & Easter in Cobb County today to find out more about your options.
