News

When you check into a hotel, you’re trusting that property to keep you safe. It’s an unspoken agreement. You expect more than clean sheets and a working TV. You expect the hotel to protect you from harm. So what happens when that trust gets shattered? When someone assaults or shoots you on hotel property, can you actually sue? Yes, but there’s more to it than just filing paperwork.

Hotels don’t just owe you a comfortable stay. They owe you a duty of care, and that includes protecting you from foreseeable criminal acts. This falls under premises liability law in ...

Georgia’s stand your ground law gives people the right to use force when they reasonably believe it’s necessary to protect themselves. That sounds straightforward enough. But what happens when you’re the one who gets shot? Does this law automatically protect the shooter in every situation? Not even close. The answers matter because criminal cases and civil lawsuits follow completely different rules. A shooter might walk away without criminal charges but still owe you significant damages. That’s not a loophole. It’s how the legal system works.

You don’t have a duty to retreat in Georgia before using force ...

When a family loses someone due to negligence in a Georgia jail or prison, the question of financial accountability often feels secondary to grief. That’s completely understandable. But understanding who actually pays damages in these cases does matter. It affects how claims proceed, settlement timelines, and whether families can collect what they’re owed.

The payment source depends entirely on who operated the facility and who was responsible for the negligence that led to death. County jails typically carry liability insurance to cover claims against the facility and its employees. When medical neglect, inadequate supervision, or use of force ...

When someone dies due to another person’s negligence in Georgia, families often face confusion about which type of legal claim to file. The state allows two distinct types of lawsuits after a death: wrongful death actions and survival actions. Each serves a different purpose and compensates for different losses.

A wrongful death claim belongs to the surviving family members. Georgia law gives specific people the right to bring this type of lawsuit, following a strict order of priority. The hierarchy works like this:

When a family loses someone due to another party’s negligence, the legal claim isn’t always straightforward. Georgia applies a modified comparative negligence standard to wrongful death cases. What does that mean? The deceased person’s own actions can affect how much compensation the family receives. It’s a harsh reality during an already devastating time.

Georgia follows what’s called the “50% bar rule” under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33. If the deceased person was partially at fault for the incident that caused their death, the family’s recovery gets reduced by that percentage of fault, but there’s a hard limit. If the deceased ...

Incarceration doesn’t strip away someone’s right to medical care. That’s a constitutional guarantee, but Georgia’s detention facilities violate this principle more often than most families realize. The facilities have an obligation to provide adequate healthcare. They just don’t always follow through. Recognizing the warning signs isn’t just helpful for families who want to advocate for their loved ones. Sometimes it’s the difference between catching a problem early and attending a funeral.

This is where most neglect starts. Staff ignore medical complaints. They make inmates wait days or weeks for treatment. What begins as a minor condition spirals into something ...

You’ve just lost someone you love, and now you’re finding out the person responsible doesn’t have insurance. This isn’t the conversation anyone wants to have. But it’s one we need to have, because you’re not without options here. We’ve worked these cases before, and while they’re tougher than cases with insurance involved, they’re absolutely not hopeless.

Uninsured motorist coverage exists specifically for this situation. So does underinsured motorist coverage. If your family member had UM or UIM coverage on their auto policy, we might be able to make a claim there. The coverage limits depend on what they purchased, ...

That’s not what families want to hear when they walk into our office at Deitch + Rogers. They’ve just discovered something new about their loved one’s death. Or they’ve realized the settlement they accepted six months ago doesn’t come close to covering their actual losses. And they want to know if there’s any way to undo what they’ve already agreed to. The answer is almost always no.

When you sign a settlement agreement, you’re doing more than just accepting money. You’re signing a release clause that says you won’t file any future claims ...

Property owners in Georgia don’t automatically become responsible every time someone gets hurt on their property. That’s where the “open and obvious danger” defense comes in. It’s one of the most common arguments we hear from property owners and their insurance companies. The basic idea is that if a hazard is clearly visible and apparent to anyone paying attention, the property owner might not be liable when someone gets injured. They’ll argue that reasonable people should see the danger and avoid it.  At Deitch + Rogers, we understand how this defense works and can use that to make a real difference ...

Most wrongful death cases focus on compensatory damages. You know, the ones that cover funeral expenses, medical bills, lost income, and the emotional pain families endure after losing someone they love. Punitive damages? They’re different animals entirely. These damages don’t exist to make your family whole financially. They punish defendants for particularly harmful behavior and stop others from acting the same way. At Deitch + Rogers, we’ve watched how punitive damages can genuinely impact cases involving outrageous negligence or intentional misconduct. Georgia law allows them in wrongful death claims, but you can’t just ask for them and expect a judge to ...