Beyond the Headlnes: 2 killed, 1 hurt after tire explosion at Delta Air Lines maintenance facility

okay thanks so much for being with us here on Atlanta news first plus I'm Joy Lim kner and joined today by attorney Josh shiffer hey y'all I'm so happy to be here thank you so much joy for the invitation thank you so much for being here Josh so we brought you here to talk about some important legal stories that we are following uh we are following the latest on the YSL trial and and I'm going to get to that um in just a moment because there have been some some brand new developments namely Lil Woody testifying that he believes that the state leaked video uh of a police interrogation we're going to get into that but you know really the big big story that we have been following is what happened with uh this deadly explosion at a Delta facility that killed two people and injured another you know we reported this to you as breaking news yesterday and two Delta maintenance workers um and were were were killed in this and a third badly injured um at this explosion near Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport so Atlanta news first reporter Becca Shram has more as we're now hearing from family members of one of one of the victims one victim was in his 50s the other in his 30s they were working at a maintenance facility not far from the international terminal when this happened and it was a tragic accident workers were disassembling some wheel components that were not attached to an aircraft at that moment when there was an explosion one person was badly injured two others were killed authorities identified them as 58-year-old merco marag of Stone Mountain and 37-year-old Lou alond of Nunan marwig son tells us his father loved his job Delta released a statement saying the whole team is heartbroken over this and that they've launched a full investigation to try to figure out how this happened federal inspectors from OSHA the occupational safety and health administration also are investigating this we have some audio for you this is the moment First Responders announced to dispatchers just how bad the situation was we have uh got a total of three victims one victim being transported by me to Grady hospital and we are working to get the condition of the third person the one who was injured in the accident at Hartsville Jackson Atlanta International Airport Rebecca shran Atlanta news first obviously such a tragic situation Josh you know we were talking about um you know the The Quest For Justice by the families of those victims and we're talking about a couple different Avenues that they could pursue namely the workers comp statute provides uh you know some some options as well as maybe a a potentially even a wrongful death claim right yeah and and it really it's an absolute tragedy when there's any kind of injury or death on the job and as a nation we've established these workers compensation programs uh very often uh in line with each other there are model codes adopted by the various States in order to make this kind of injury death more reasonably efficient so what's happened down at the legislature is there's been an agreement made uh or forced by the legislature where if you are an employer you have automatic liability for injuries caused to your employees while they're on the job now certainly there's all kinds of exceptions and exclusions and different tricks to get in and out of coverage there's also some benefits for people um the fact that the employers almost always going to be immediately found liable that's a real benefit to claimants as an exchange for that easy Pathway to liability the values of the claims are substantially lower than they are outside of workers's compensation now the fees to the lawyers are also reduced as well but basically a workers compensation case the employer almost always going to be liable but the claim isn't going to have as large a value as it would in front of a jury through a traditional uh plaintiff's process so the goal for the victims of this absolute tragedy more specifically their lawyers is they're going to try to find a way to escape the workers's compensation uh program and the workers's compensation pathway under Georgia law workers compensation is the exclusive remedy for injuries caused at work but there are a number of ways to try to escape that tight grip and get out into a space of litigation where the claims aren't statuto statutorily limited that's a big deal especially with a wrongful death claim and it's very important that an investigation takes place because the facts developed during that investigation will determine whether there is any kind of justification to try to leave workers comp and go find additional Pathways for claims outside of the workers compensation system so uh I have a couple questions first of all um you know we're talking about workplace injury but in this case in two of the victims were actually killed so you said that workers comp can be if it's if it's used really am I understanding correctly an exclusive remedy for workplace injuries but in the case of death is it an either or or can the families of the victims pursue both workers's comp and a wrongful death claim so the default is because it is the exclusive remedy for deaths to be handled under the workers's Compensation Program system and specifications and that dramatically limits the value of the life uh it is combined with all of the other workplace deaths and it's meant to be the most efficient pathway forward to address injuries and deaths in a workplace but since there's that limit that top end where you're not going to get a nuclear verdict or a massive massive award it's in the best interest of all parties that are looking to claim uh compensation for injuries to get outside of the Workers Compensation Program so the lawyers are going to spend a lot of time on that investigation looking for Pathways to remove them or escape from the workers compensation exclusive remedy and what are the potential Pathways that they might seek it's going to have to really get outside of the responsibilities of the employer um employers have a lot of responsibilities and by deviating from those or if there were actions outside the scope of employment those are some of the pathways forward to get outside of workers compensation and do a more traditional wrongful de that's not something that's going to be decided immediately this is going to take some time anytime there's a death there's going to be an investigation that investigation there it's not just showing up and saying hey let's do an investigation Delta is looking at substantial liability uh we keep talking about Delta being the responsible employer but I'd almost guarantee that this shop on the Delta campus working in and around Delta probably isn't the main Delta entity it's likely a sub entity or some sort of associated business that runs the tire inspection retread and other work down at this facility so while it might feed up to Delta there are a lot of different hurdles uh to to to mount uh in pursuing appropriate Justice and none of this would preclude criminal charges correct no criminal charges are would be completely and totally independent of the Civil system criminal charges are the exclusive province of law enforcement what happens when there is a death is there's basically a mandatory investigation if facts are developed during that investigation that show potentials for criminal liability law enforcement will then direct additional resources to research and investigate whether something criminal may have occurred that eventual charging decision is left to either some detectives at the law enforcement group The Local District Attorney or in addition we've got the overlay of federal authorities Federal authorities are definitely going to be interested in any kind of substantive incident involving injuries or death that is related to Airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration and their Industries so I expect a multi-level investigation that's very thorough getting to the bottom of what happened yes absolutely uh you know I want to change topics here and ask you a bit about the YSL trial and what's been happening there because um today we heard Lil Woody uh Kenneth Copeland is his real name back on the stand and he's of course been a key prosecution witness and the defense has been cross-examining him um Brian steel the attorney for Young Thug Jeffrey Williams and today he testified that he believes the state leaked police interrogation video uh what What's your comment on that what is your response to that Josh I I can't get away this is the most gripping case and Woody is a unique witness unlike anything I've seen 25 years of doing this and thankfully we've got some amazing lawyers in that courtroom um Woody is of the opinion and I think it's his prerogative and his privilege to tell everybody hey the state released this interrogation video by doing that it fell into the hands of people that may want to harm me so I'm really scared if I'm wood he believes and it's absolutely logical that the state could have released that video on purpose to put him into under threat to scare him to give him an inducement to come into the warm embrace of the state for protection and support because then he gets all kinds of benefits including things like the immunity deal that we've seen so much discussion regard it yeah and he even testified that uh he looked into a legal team to you know basically investigate and see if there was any kind of legal recourse for the suspected leak absolutely he has civil rights even though he has been investigated and gone to you never relinquish your civil rights and if the state has taken an action to fundamentally suppress or harm you uh one of your fundamental civil rights there's an action that can be brought uh you know and and the way that Fulton County does Rico and gangs this really is looking like an organized effort to squeeze Witnesses which is of course proper to a degree just got to mind all the ethics involved uh and the state doesn't owe a specific Duty that's outstanding to Woody beyond what they owe a duty to any person in the community and remember we're all suspects out there of something that's the prerogative of our state law enforcement and and Prosecuting agencies they get to decide who's a suspect and who isn't so uh I think Woody did a great job with under a withering uh cross-examination after days and days of direct I cannot look away this is one of the most important junctures within the entire YSL trial yeah um you know speaking of the YSL trial wish is historically long we got a statement today from Courtney Kramer who is challenging da Fon Willis for for the district attorney position saying uh quote I am absolutely dumbfounded as to the motives in spending endless amounts of taxpayer dollars on a prosecution that is based almost entirely on Witnesses with no credibility and she says she wants to put an end to it what's your response to that it's a very strong and logical argument that appeals to a lot of people in Fon County who look at what's happening and scratch their heads uh we've all watched Fon County struggle through the covid emergency we have been dealing with substantial systematic problems in criminal justice in Fon County for as long as I've been a practitioner and just recently the County Commission turned around and told our Sheriff no you're not getting a new jail here's a $300 million band-aid and we understand that the jail is literally being turned into weapons uh to attack other inmates buy inmates in the jail uh so there's a whole lot of politics involving asset allocation at hand when we talk about criminal justice in Fulton County Courtney Kramer comes to this race as a decided Underdog facing elected da fonnie Willis who replaced longtime Fon County district attorney Paul powered in the last election cycle fonnie Willis has decided to use her resources which she has complete control and discretion over to pursue the YSL case that case I don't believe anybody disagrees it has spun wildly out of control into a size that no one expected this is the longest trial case in Georgia history it's going to have a record that will take months to compile and the guaranteed appeals heading for our Georgia Court of appeals will be immense likely record-breaking so it's a perfectly reasonable question for Courtney Kramer to ask as a candidate for Fon County DA why are we using these resources this way fonnie Willis is getting attacked not just from courton Kramer but from the entire rest of the criminal justice community over how this trial specifically has unfolded given the enormous resources that have been poured into it we are looking at a bill in the multiple million and while no one discounts the importance of Prosecuting violent crime by going against the organizations that she believes are criminal gangs that are harming our community that's a really important obligation she made defon Willis made a lot of promises about but looking at how the situation is unfolding I have big questions as to whether that was the right asset allocation or not Courtney Kramer is going to win a lot of fans by attacking da Willis over her and sister on Prosecuting the YSL matter all right thank you so much criminal defense attorney Josh shiff for joining us and Josh if uh maybe you know whenever you're on people are always like who's that what does he do so please tell the people um what tell us about your law practice what kind of cases are you taking I I've heard it up believe it or not we are actually going to build a website now I had one for years and then basically turned it off because I stay super busy and I love this stuff uh if you want to reach me just Google Joshua shiffer will eventually get you to a phone number uh that will eventually get through some Gatekeepers and get to me because I love talking with people and I love you know answering questions that's why I enjoy your invitation so much joy this you know I'm so interested in this stuff uh and I also just love people following me on social media I'm a Twitter person so you can always