Florida Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Not surprisingly, given our location and the number of boaters in Florida, we again lead the nation in the number of boating accident fatalities. Unfortunately, Miami-Dade County has the dubious distinction of leading the State, having had 13 such wrongful deaths last year.

The findings, reported by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, revealed that 77 people suffered wrongful deaths on Florida waters in 2007. Apparently the vast majority of all boating accidents occurred with operators who had no safety training.

Thankfully, the State has finally approved plans to increase mandatory boater education requirements over the next decade. The hope is that this increased training will reduce fatalities by as much as 25 percent; we certainly share the State's hope.

Posted by Joseph I. Lipsky | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Boating Accidents

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A late night car accident in Hollywood, Florida, between a car and a tractor trailer resulted in the wrongful death of the car's driver. The car was heading south on the Florida Turnpike when it apparently lost control, crashed through a concrete wall and into oncoming traffic.

Dradine Knowles of Lauderhill, a suburb of Ft. Lauderdale, apparently lost control of her car a couple of miles south of Hollywood Boulevard. According the the Florida Highway Patrol, the 2006 Chevy HHR smashed through the concrete barrier wall, which divided north and southbound traffic, and then went into oncoming northbound traffic, when it collided with the truck.

We can only assume was another case of failing to use a seat belt, both the car's driver and passenger were ejected into the street. We again stress to all drivers that the consequences of not using seat belts and child car seats are unfortunately deadly.

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Posted In: Boating Accidents

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A Miami Dade County Judge ruled that Florida smokers, former smokers and survivors of smokers may be eligible for a portion of an unprecedented fund of $600 million which was established by the tobacco industry. The qualifications are: the disease or medical condition must have been first diagnosed or manifested itself before November 21, 1996; and claimants will be required to submit "contemporaneous, verifiable proof," mainly medical records dated before November 21, 1996, to support their claim.

The fund, known as the "Engle Trust Fund," named after the original plaintiff in the Florida products liability case against the tobacco industry, is for people, or survivors of immediate family members, who have suffered, presently suffer, or have died from the diseases and medical conditions, including aortic aneurysm, bladder cancer, cerebrovascular disease (including stroke), cervical cancer, COPD (including emphysema), heart attack, throat cancer, kidney cancer, laryngeal cancer, lung cancer, miscarriage, and oral cavity/tongue cancer.

We cannot stress strongly enough that all claims must be registered no later than June 16, 2008. Any claim not submitted, along with the necessary medical records documentation, by June 16, 2008, will not be eligible for a proportionate share of the fund.

Posted by Joseph I. Lipsky | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Products Liability

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According to a report release today by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, new mid-size cars fared much better, than prior year's testing, in protecting victims of side-impact car accidents. The tests were done to determine what type of injuries, serious or otherwise, occupants involved in a variety of accidents would suffer.

While testing demonstrated improvements in side-impact crashes, which are mainly attributed to side-impact air bags becoming standard equipment in most vehicles; unfortunately, the same vehicles did not perform as well in preventing injuries, such as rib fractures and internal organ injuries, in rear-end accidents. Rear-end collisions are more likely to occur in stop and go commuter driving, such as most of us face in Miami Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties.

The Institute believes better head restraints, and seats which work better with those restraints, would go a long way in protecting occupants. As the Vice President of the Institute said "it is not a major feat of engineering to design seats and head restraints that afford good protection." We could not agree more.

Posted by Joseph I. Lipsky | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Car Accidents

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Two workers died today in a construction accident when a 39 story crane collapsed. The crane, which fell from a height of hundreds of feet, landed on the construction site's "safety office," causing the wrongful death of Jeremy Thonsbury, a 21 year old from Tamarac, and another, yet to be identified, worker. According to reports, a seven ton section of the crane struck the safety office.

In addition to Mr. Thornsbury and his co-worker, five other workers were seriously injured in the collapse, including Manuel Souza, a married father of two.

The collapsed occurred while the crane company was in the process of making the crane taller. Amazingly, this horrific tragedy comes on the heels of a similar deadly incident in New York, in which other innocent victims were also killed.

Not surprisingly given the City of Miami's lax regulations, there are no requirements for mandatory inspections of cranes. Unfortunately, for the families of those who died today, a City ordinance attempting to bring these unlicensed and unregulated crane companies into some governmental compliance goes into effect next week.

Considering the construction boom over the past five years in the City of Miami, we cannot understand how there is not strict governmental regulation and oversight of the crane industry, particularly given the devastating destruction their negligence causes. We can only hope the Florida Legislature steps in and requires regular inspections of the entire construction industry.

Posted by Joseph I. Lipsky | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Construction Accident

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Given the increasing number of police officers injured and killed in car accidents, while they are involved in traffic stops along Florida highways, the Florida Highway Patrol and the Broward County Sheriff's Department are starting a zero tolerance initiative to enforce the State's "Move Over" law.

Florida's "Move Over" law mandates drivers leave the lane nearest to a stopped emergency vehicle, whether it is a police officer, fire truck, Road Ranger or tow truck, or if they are unable to move over, motorists are required to drive 20 m.p.h. below the posted speed limit. The Florida Legislature initially passed the law to protect police officers, of whom more than 150 wrongfully die annually while attending to other motorists on the shoulders or sides of roadways.

We too often represent police officers and tow truck drivers, or in many tragic situations, their surviving families, who, while providing a necessary public service, are struck down in the line of duty due to the carelessness or inattentiveness of a driver. We urge all Florida motorists to pay attention to emergency workers and give them the protection they deserve.

Posted by Joseph I. Lipsky | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Car Accidents

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In what we truly consider the epitome of a wrongful death and clearly a tragedy, a 19 year old from Oakland Park, a city adjacent to Ft. Lauderdale, who was wearing her seat-belt, died in a car accident Sunday evening.

The accident which occurred on the ramp heading from southbound I-95 to 595, was caused when a "phantom vehicle" swerved into the 19 year old's lane, causing her to take evasive action and strike a large sign post. The vehicle rolled over and the driver died at the scene.

A "phantom vehicle" is what we refer to as a vehicle which causes or contributes to a car accident but leaves the scene of the accident without being identified. The vehicle is a "phantom," rather than a hit and run, because there was no contact between the two vehicles.

We can only pray for the driver's family, as their daughter did everything she could to protect herself. And, we hope that others will not be dissuaded from using their seat-belts, because of this senseless tragedy.

Posted by Joseph I. Lipsky | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Car Accidents

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Friday was a deadly night on the MacCarthur Causeway, the main roadway from Miami to South Beach, as a three car accident resulted in the wrongful death of an occupant of one of the vehicles. The accident occurred when a Toyota sports car collided with a Chevy Blazer and then rolled over.

According to police, they are still trying to determine who was driving the Toyota, because, unfortunately, the occupants of the Toyota were not wearing their seat-belts. The other occupant of the Toyota was taken by Fire Rescue to Mercy Hospital in Coconut Grove.

We are truly saddened by the continuing failure, particularly of young people, to wear their seat-belts. While some serious injuries and deaths occur even with the use of seat-belts, many more lives would be spared with the constant use of such life saving devices.

Posted by Joseph I. Lipsky | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Car Accidents

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Thursday night, which is a popular night for high performance motorcyclists in Miami to cruise the streets, was a deadly night, as a twenty something year old male died this morning when he had an accident after losing control of his high performance motorcycle in Miami. The driver struck a wall outside of a Dollar Store on Flagler Street, was thrown off his motorcycle, struck a palm tree and died instantly.

According to the investigating police officer, the driver was rapidly accelerating at the time he lost control. The officer indicated that the type of motorcycle involved in the accident was capable of driving at speeds approaching 180 m.p.h.

Unfortunately, this was not the only motorcycle accident last evening, just about an hour after the deadly collision, another motorcyclist suffered a fractured leg when he struck a car in southwest Miami.

We cannot understand why so many young people continue to lose their lives by recklessly operating these types of high speed motorcycles. In our practice we have too often had to console families who lost parents and children due to these types of deadly accidents. We can only hope that others will think twice before acting so recklessly, thinking of those loved ones they might leave behind.

Posted by Joseph I. Lipsky | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Motorcyle Accidents

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In a wake up call for Florida drivers, a student on his way to class at Hallandale High School, located in a suburb of Broward County, was the victim of a serious car accident, when a van, driven by an unidentified female, struck him. According to police and witnesses, the student was within the school zone when the van struck him.

Witnesses characterized the impact as significant, as they said the van was driving in excess of the school zone's speed limit of 15 m.p.h. , which is why the driver was arrested. Given the force of the impact and amount of blood loss suffered by the student, it is unfortunately likely he sustained a spinal cord or brain injury. The student was taken by emergency medical services to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood.

In our practice we have represented many families whose children were struck by vehicles speeding in and around schools, including the Bustillo family. We remind all drivers that our children are precious, and it is imperative that everyone obey school zone speed limits and pay particular attention while driving around schools.

Posted by Joseph I. Lipsky | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Car Accidents

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In a wake-up call for pedestrians, separate car accidents resulted in the wrongful death of a 71 year old woman in Delray Beach, a suburb in Palm Beach County, and critical injuries to a man in Ft. Lauderdale. Both accident victims were pedestrians.

An SUV being operated by a driver with a suspended license struck the Delray Beach victim. As we see too often in our practice, the driver had multiple prior violations; in this case, her was license suspended on six prior occasions. Clearly, this is an example of how the leniency of the traffic court system allows habitual traffic offenders to freely drive and endanger other Floridians.

The most disconcerting fact about this car accident is the fact that the pedestrian was within the crosswalk. According to the investigating traffic homicide police officer, two witnesses saw the pedestrian in the crosswalk, and indicated that the SUV driver should have easily seen her. The Palm Beach County Sheriff's office referred the matter to the State Attorney's Office for further investigation into criminal charges.

As for the Ft. Lauderdale victim, police found him in the street and transported him with critical injuries to Broward General Medical Center.

Posted by Joseph I. Lipsky | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Car Accidents

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A family trip ended tragically when a head-on car accident in Deerfield Beach resulted in the wrongful death of one driver and spinal cord injuries to two others.

The accident, which happened at the 300 block of S.E. 10th Street, in northern Broward County, occurred when the driver of one of the cars veered into oncoming traffic. The injured driver and passenger, who were returning from Disney World, were taken to North Broward Medical Center.

In our practice we too often see such catastrophic injuries from preventable car accidents. With New Years Eve almost upon us, we again caution everyone to be overly careful. And, while this tragedy does not appear to have been the result of intoxication, with the biggest night for drunk driving almost upon us, we plead for everyone to use a designated driver, so we may all have a healthy and happy new year.

Posted by Joseph I. Lipsky | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Car Accidents

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