Marquita and Erica Byrd, Sade Wilson, Anthony Arnold, Timothy Smith, and Cawandle Williams sued Phillip Aldredge for injuries suffered when a deck at his rental property collapsed. Aldredge had hired a carpenter to build the deck years earlier and later replaced some deck boards, but the tenants had exclusive possession, had reported no deck problems, and no visible defect was shown before the collapse. After the trial court denied Aldredge’s motions for summary judgment, the Georgia Court of Appeals granted interlocutory review. The court held that an out-of-possession landlord is liable for a failure to repair only when the landlord had actual or constructive notice of the defect and need for repair, and that the record supplied no evidence of such notice. The court also rejected the plaintiffs’ attempt to rely on alleged construction defects because the evidence did not establish a viable theory against Aldredge under the governing landlord-liability statute. It reversed the orders denying summary judgment.