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ATLANTA (Legal Newsline) – A Georgia city won’t be liable for the death of a man who fell in a hole dug by its mayor and two workers unless the state Supreme Court says otherwise.
That’s because the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled May 18 in favor of the City of Rochelle in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the Estate of Harold J. Caruthers, who was found dead in 2016 in the hole after deciding to walk to a store to buy cigarettes during a rain storm.
The appeals court’s decision affirms a jury verdict for Rochelle.
“(I)t is well established that ‘a person who owns or controls property owes no duty to a trespasser upon it, except not to willfully or recklessly injure him,’” Judge Stephen Dillard wrote.
“Here, the evidence shows that the small portion of land at issue was under the City’s control at the time in question for purposes of fixing a water leak occurring in that location within its pipe system. So, despite the appellants’ arguments to the contrary, under both the evidence presented at trial and Georgia law, the trial court did not err by instructing the jury on the trespasser doctrine.”
In June 2016, the city was notified of a water leak at the site of a dilapidated building. Two workers and the mayor dug a three-foot-deep hole to fix it.
But heavy rains flooded the hole, as did the leak from the building. No warnings or barriers were placed around it even though “it was beside an unofficial pathway used by locals to cross the private property,” Dillard wrote.
The next day, Caruthers left to buy cigarettes but never returned home. A day later, he was found dead in the hole.
When Caruthers’ body was found, the hole was 3 feet deep and filled with 13 inches of water.
The lawsuit against the city alleged negligence in failing to place barriers around the hole and nuisance for allowing it to fill with water.
Experts for Caruthers’ estate said he had a cardiac event when he fell in the hole, leaving him to drown in the 13 inches of water.
The city requested the jury be instructed on trespassing law to prove it owed no duty to keep Caruthers safe.