March 17, 2018 was a beautiful day in Savannah for the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade, but for an unfortunate group of revelers at Rouge Water Tap House the day didn’t end as expected. At approximately 4:30pm, an outdoor deck collapsed with patrons standing on the deck and sitting underneath. The deck was approximately 12 feet off the ground so the force of impact for both those individuals on top of the deck and below was extreme. Injuries were severe, with several reports of serious head injuries and broken bones.
KMH Representing Victims of Deck Collapse
Our firm currently represents 7 of the victims against the owners of the building and Rouge Water. To date we have filed 6 lawsuits in the State Court of Chatham County. A pdf of the first complaint can be found here. Our code expert evaluated the deck collapse debris and site on March 20, 2018, before it was demolished. In deck collapse cases, one is often evaluating, among other things, the integrity of vertical supports, deck cross-bracing, adequacy of anchoring, and deterioration of wood. One thing everyone knows – decks don’t collapse unless someone did something wrong. This collapse was entirely preventable. We look forward to determining in depositions the details of what decisions were made.
Our clients include the following individuals:
Tara Lynn Dunn – Athens, GA
William Stuart Suttle – Athens, GA
Forrest Findley – Jacksonville, FL
Jennine Theobald – Jacksonville, FL
Andrew Bentson – Savannah, GA
Andrea Parada – Savannah, GA
Rene Prieto – Charleston, SC
If you have any information that can aid our investigation, please contact us.
Here are a few photos from our inspection of the site below.
