It’s time to talk about your tires.
When is the last time you looked at them? Even a glance?
Have you checked your air pressure this month? This year? Ever? Are you driving around with your tire warning light on? 
A bicyclist was killed in a Fourth of July weekend bicycle crash after a motorist drove onto a sidewalk on San Carlos Boulevard, according to The News-Press.
The Florida Highway Patrol was investigating the collision, which occurred shortly after 11 p.m. when a 1996 Toyota Corolla driven by a 23-year-old Fort Myers man failed to negotiate a curve. The car traveled onto the sidewalk and partially overturned. FHP reports the crash was alcohol related and charges are pending. 
Our injury lawyers in Fort Myers and throughout Southwest Florida continue to see an increasing number of these car v. bicycle accidents. As is typically the case, rather than an “accident” this incident appears to be the cause of one or more negligent decisions by an at-fault driver.
A Las Vegas woman has filed a civl lawsuit in Hillsborough County, Florida, alleging she was sexually assaulted by a pro football player while staying at a mansion in Lutz.
As these incidents continue to come to light, more and more victims are realizing they have a right to pursue civil damages in many of these types of cases.
As we recently reported on our Florida Injury Lawyer Blog, more than 100 Uber drivers have been arrested and accused of crimes involving sexual assault. CNN Money reported many of the cases have led to criminal convictions and/or civil liability, while many other cases are pending in criminal and civil court.
Florida Highway Patrol will be targeting aggressive drivers in advance of the upcoming Fourth of July holiday weekend. FHP will enforce the “Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks (TACT)” program until June 28.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Specifically, troopers will be looking to educate motorists about the dangers of aggressive driving around large trucks.
The U.S. Occupations Safety and Health Administration in investigating how a roofer fell from atop a Fort Myers truck dealership earlier this week.
The News-Press reports the accident on Palm Avenue, where Fort Myers police, firefighters and Lee County EMS personnel responded, left the victim seriously injured. The 911 caller reported a man had fallen from the roof and was not moving.
OSHA reports fall accidents are second only to transportation accidents among U.S. workers. Construction workers, and roofers in particular, are among those at greatest risk.
Florida Highway Patrol is reminding motorists it’s that time of year again when driving in inclement weather becomes a life skill.
Slick roads, blinding rain, high winds, and standing water are among the primary threats. The FHP urges motorists to “turn around, don’t drown,” when encountering standing water in the roadway. 
Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles notes Florida is known for extreme weather, and rapidly changing weather conditions, both of which can catch even veteran motorists off guard.
National, state and local leaders announced this week that South Florida drivers face the highest risk in the country when it comes to being injured by faulty or damaged airbags.
Heidi King, deputy administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, joined automakers and South Florida community leaders on June 7 to urge Floridians to check their vehicle identification numbers to see whether their vehicles are under recall for defective Takata air bags.
The NHTSA estimates at least 23 deaths and more than 300 injuries have been linked to exploding Takata air bags.
Naples Daily News and the Fort Myers News-Press reported recently on the poor patient care record of the state’s largest chain of nursing homes.
Reporters cited more than a dozen lawsuits against Consulate Health Care, which is the state’s largest network of nursing homes and the sixth largest in the nation. The company denies allegations in the lawsuits. A recent whistleblower lawsuit resulted in a $347 million verdict against the company, after jury found Consulate bilked government programs by misrepresenting care provided and overcharging for medically unnecessary treatments. 
Our nursing home neglect attorneys know nursing homes are big businesses looking to make big profits, despite being reliant upon government funding, such as Medicare, for a significant portion of revenue. The industry continues to consolidate, with more and more homes owned by fewer and fewer large, profit-driven corporations.
A Florida appellate court recently affirmed summary judgment favoring warehouse giant Costco in a slip-and-fall lawsuit filed by a woman who broke her knee after falling inside a Miami store.
The primary reason the case failed was because, the court held, plaintiff had not produced evidence indicating that store staffers had knowledge of the liquid substance on its entrance way floor.
The element of a store owner’s knowledge regarding a slippery substance on the floor is outlined specifically in F.S. 768.0755. This provision requires plaintiffs in Florida slip-and-fall cases to prove either actual or constructive knowledge on the part of the defendant. Actual knowledge would be if a store staffer created the condition or if they had been informed about it directly. Constructive knowledge is a little trickier, but can be established with circumstantial evidence that shows the condition listed long enough the store should have discovered it in using ordinary care or that the condition occurred with regularity and was therefore foreseeable.
In this case, according to Florida’s Third District Court of Appeals, plaintiff accompanied a neighbor to Costco, a store to which she had never been. When they got there, plaintiff’s neighbor went to get a shopping cart and plaintiff began walking toward the entrance. As she walked, she felt her right leg go out from underneath her, and she fell onto her left knee – breaking it. Continue reading ›
The lives of three Florida teens were ended or dramatically altered by drivers who were born during WWI. 
The Miami Herald reports on two separate crashes – one in Fort Pierce and another in Davie – with drivers who were 99 and 100, respectively. In the Davie case, the 100-year-old motorist reportedly struck a 16-year-old student pedestrian as she walked to her bus stop. The teen has needed to undergo two emergency brain surgeries – so far. In the second crash, the 99-year-old driver killed two teens – 17 and 18 – when driving his recreational vehicle on the wrong side of State Road 70 (traveling west in the eastbound lanes) with no working headlights. The 99-year-old later died of injuries sustained in that crash.
It was later revealed that while both motorists had clean driving records. The 99-year-old driver had recently undergone a vision, paper and road test – all of which he passed – after someone reported to the Michigan Secretary of State’s office that medical issues made him a potentially unsafe driver. Continue reading ›
Florida Injury Lawyer Blog
