Car Accidents

Holiday Travelers May Face Increased Roadway Hazards

December 22, 2016 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Holiday road trips are a tradition in the U.S., but they are also a perilous one. With rising costs in airfare, most travelers choose to drive to their destination.

AAA predicts travelers this season will top 100 million. That reflects not just a continuation of the steady year-over-year increase in holiday travel over the last decade, but also the fact that 1 out of every 3 Americans is going to be taking a trip. Rising incomes and lower gas prices are the primary catalyst for this surge. Approximately 92 percent of travelers will drive to their destinations.

Although people often take these trips for granted, complacency is not an option for drivers, who must be sober and alert and prepared for:

Dangerous trucks;
Impaired drivers;
Fatigued motorists;
Disabled vehicles;
Congested traffic;
Careless truckers;
Defective vehicles;
Inclement weather;
Poor road conditions.

Small v. Sayre – Making Your Injury Lawsuit Appealable

December 16, 2016 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

The goal of any civil injury litigation attorney is to either resolve the matter favorably for a client in a pre-trial settlement or to secure a winning verdict at trial. Unfortunately, law, as in life, is not always so clean-cut, and some cases prove more challenging than others. At Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner, Attorneys for the Injured, we believe in our cases and our clients and we will fight tirelessly to obtain fair compensation for their injuries.

However, we also recognize that in some situations, appealing part or all of a verdict may be in a client’s best interest. For this reason, it is imperative to make your injury lawsuit appealable. The legal war isn’t necessarily over when you receive an unfavorable trial court judgment. In some cases, you can appeal that finding. Doing so could result in a reversal, an order for a new trial or an order for increased damages. In order to get to that point, your case needs to be appealable.

What does this mean? In general, it includes:

Keeping the record clean by immediately correcting any misstatement by the court or the opposing counsel;
Taking remedial measures to clean up prejudicial evidence and preserve the evidence if it remains (i.e., filing a motion for mistrial if prejudicial evidence gets before a jury);
Preserve objections to the court’s imperfect jury instructions;
Preserve appellate arguments post-trial with careful post-trial motions (i.e., motions for judgment notwithstanding verdict, motions to modify/ correct/ reform judgment, motions for a new trial, etc.)

Roundabout to Relieve Traffic at San Carlos Boulevard in Fort Myers Beach?

November 28, 2016 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Traffic entering and leaving Fort Myers Beach has always been something of a headache, especially if there is a special event. Some say it’s so bad, it keeps them off the island altogether, though that has done little to alleviate congestion.

Now, there is a proposal on the table from the Florida Department of Transportation that seeks to address the problem: Roundabouts. A lot of them, in fact. The state agency has posited that constructing roundabouts at nearly every intersection from Crescent Street to Summerlin Road is the solution. Although the proposal is still in development – FDOT has said it will present its traffic-calming study to the public in February – some council members have expressed skepticism, as have a number of business owners.

Still, most agree something has to be done. Tourists come from all over the world to visit Fort Myers Beach, and even when we’re not in season, bumper-to-bumper traffic can result in an hour-long commute just to get from one end of the mile-long Matanza’s Pass Bridge to the other. This can increase the risk of rear-end accidents and road rage. Continue reading ›

Elderly Couple Die in Fort Myers Crash on Way to Church

November 26, 2016 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

An elderly south Fort Myers couple died in a car accident as they pulled onto Summerlin Road from their RV resort community, on their way to church. The driver of the vehicle that struck them was also injured. Investigators have concluded the 89-year-old decedent driver was at-fault in the collision.

According to The News-Press, the crash occurred around 6:30 p.m. when the driver of a 2012 Toyota tried to make a left turn onto Summerlin Road from M-Street, the primary entrance/exit to Siesta Bay RV Resort. He apparently misjudged the time he had to safely clear oncoming traffic and pulled into the path of a driver operating a 2007 Infiniti. Both occupants of the Toyota, the driver and his 87-year-old wife of 60 years, were rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead right away. he died shortly thereafter. The Infiniti driver also had injuries, though is expected to make a recovery.

The collision is still under investigation, but authorities have said that speed and alcohol are not suspected to have been factors. Decedent driver’s brother called the crash a bad mistake. He said his brother didn’t see the other vehicle as it approached. Reporters with Wink News spoke to several residents at the resort, who say they have expressed concerns that the intersection of Summerlin and M Street isn’t safe. There is no traffic light that gives those exiting the neighborhood an opportunity to safely enter traffic, which zooms by at 45 mph (or more, depending on whether motorists are obeying the speed limit). Continue reading ›

Ready v. RWI Transportation – Causal Link of One Car Accident to Another

November 20, 2016 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

As Fort Myers personal injury attorneys, we handle many cases that involve third-person liability. Regardless of the type of incident – whether it’s a construction accident or a car accident or a slip-and-fall – there are four necessary elements one must prove in order to prevail. Those are:

Duty.
Breach.

Martin v. Powers – Can Rental Car Be Uninsured for UM Coverage Purposes?

November 15, 2016 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

People might assume that a vehicle legally owned by a multi-million dollar corporation is adequately insured. But when it comes to rental cars, they may find themselves disappointed.

Approximately 1 in 4 drivers in Florida has no insurance, despite law that requires it. Florida’s vicarious liability laws consider motor vehicles to be a dangerous instrumentality, which means vehicle owners (if different from the driver) can be held responsible for injuries caused – even if the owner wasn’t directly negligent. It used to be that rental car companies were included. However, the 2005 passage of a federal law known as the Graves Amendment eliminated this avenue of financial recovery. The Graves Amendment, codified in 49 U.S.C. 30106, preempts and abolishes any state statute or common law precedent that held rental or leasing agencies vicariously liable for the negligent actions of their drivers – except when the owner was negligent or engaged in criminal wrongdoing.

When drivers rent a vehicle, he or she is given the option to purchase insurance through the rental car company. However, they aren’t required to do so and many don’t. Further, it’s not unheard of for rental car companies to rent vehicles to drivers with no insurance. But that effectively leaves the vehicle with no insurance in the event of a crash. So what’s the best way to protect yourself? Uninsured/ underinsured motorist coverage. Yet even then, as the recent case of Martin v. Powers shows, injured plaintiffs may still find themselves in for a fight. Continue reading ›

Minnegren v. Nozar – Proving Breach of Duty of Care in Crash Case

November 13, 2016 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

One would assume that proving someone caused a crash would be sufficient to establish liability to compel them to pay for it. As the case of Minnegren v. Nozar shows, though, that’s not always true.

The driver in this case admitted his error in judgment resulted in a crash that caused plaintiff’s injuries. Open-and-shut liability then, right? But the question became whether he breached his duty of care. The appeals court held that when there is evidence a driver used at least some care, there can be a finding that he may have acted reasonably – and therefore did not breach duty of care – even if his actions ultimately led to a car accident.

These kinds of legal gymnastics show you that there are some really good defense attorneys working in personal injury law – which means you can’t take your chances with a mediocre lawyer to represent your interests. At Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner, Attorneys for the Injured, our experienced traffic accident attorneys are committed to making sure our clients’ rights are protected and that they have the best possible chance at a successful claim for compensation. At the end of the day, those injured in a collision caused by another driver shouldn’t have to be responsible for burdening costs associated with recovery, lost wages or ongoing care. Continue reading ›

$3M Wrongful Death Lawsuit Judgment Upheld Against State DOT in NC

November 11, 2016 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

The North Carolina Department of Transportation is still liable to pay $3 million for the deaths of three people on a state roadway where a traffic signal was promised but never installed. That was the ruling handed down recently by the North Carolina Supreme Court in Holt v. N.C. DOT.

The state appealed the trial court verdict that found it was liable, despite the argument that fault rested solely with two drivers who were drag racing at speeds that topped nearly 90 mph. Justices ruled that fact didn’t negate the DOT’s responsibility to install this traffic light – one engineers knew was needed. Although state officials argued they could not anticipated every illegal action that might take place on a public road, the state high court justices found that speeding vehicles was a foreseeable possibility.

Victims in this case include a local professor and her 2-year-old daughter, who were on their way to church, and a 13-year-old boy who was returning from a nearby amusement park. According to appellate court records, the 13-year-old was riding in a vehicle with his 11-year-old friend, driven by a 20-year-old man. When the driver stopped for traffic at one intersection, he and decedent noticed two female friends in an adjacent vehicle. They began joking and gesturing at one another. When the light turned green, both drivers took off at a high rate of speed in the same direction, approaching the intersection where the professor was preparing to make a left turn. The two young drivers were engaging in a race in which speeds reached 86 mph. Continue reading ›

Cadle v. GEICO Gen’l Ins. Co. – Bad Faith Claim Falters on Failure to Prove Permanent Injury

November 11, 2016 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Uninsured/ underinsured (UM/UIM) coverage is essential for all Florida motorists, as it provides the policyholder and other insureds with coverage in the event of collision with an at-fault driver who doesn’t have insurance or doesn’t have enough insurance.

However, F.S. 627.727(7) allows insurers to avoid paying damages under UM/UIM policies for claims of pain, suffering, mental anguish or inconvenience unless the injury or disease involves:

Significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function;
Permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability (beyond scarring or disfigurement);
Significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement;
Death.

This was the statute that felled the bad faith insurance claim made by plaintiff in Cadle v. GEICO, recently weighed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Continue reading ›

When Fort Myers Car Accidents Are Caused by Poor Road Conditions

October 30, 2016 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

While 90 percent of all auto accidents are caused by human mistakes, 1 in 10 are caused by some other factor, including poor road conditions. That could include some dangers posed by inclement weather, but primarily, we’re talking about conditions of the actual road or traffic engineering that make it unsafe.

Some examples might include:

Obscured road signs;
Worn/ uneven surfaces;
Defective guardrails;
Tar overbanding;
Potholes;
Poor drainage;
Ill-positioned tree/ pole/ bridge;
Faded paint on the road;
Inoperative/ non-existent traffic signals.

All these elements are the responsibility of city, county or state governments to maintain. A 2009 study commissioned by the Transportation Construction Coalition revealed that over the course of 18 months, poor highway design and conditions are a factor (if not the cause) of about half of all fatal traffic accidents in the U.S. Study authors opined bad highway design played a role in more motor vehicle deaths than speeding, failure to wear a seat belt and alcohol use. Continue reading ›