Florida Injury Lawyer Blog

Comparative Negligence Not a Factor in Crashworthiness Product Injury Lawsuit

June 16, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Comparative negligence is the legal theory that a plaintiff is at least partially to blame for his/ her own injuries. In some states, that fact alone can prohibit a person from collecting any damages whatsoever (pure contributory negligence). In other states, a plaintiff’s own negligence can’t be more than the negligence of other parties (modified comparative fault). In Florida, which follows a pure comparative negligence standard, any amount of comparative negligence won’t bar the claim, but it will proportionately reduce damages (per F.S. 768.81).

Recently, the South Carolina Supreme Court weighed a case that asked whether the doctrine of comparative negligence applied in a crashworthiness product liability lawsuit against a vehicle manufacturer. That state follows a modified comparative fault model.

Although this is an out-of-state case, it’s worth examining because state supreme courts will often consider the rulings of sister courts in weighing similar circumstances. In this case, the court ruled that comparative negligence does not factor in a crashworthiness case. Further, public policy in that state doesn’t prohibit a plaintiff who was allegedly intoxicated at the time of a crash from bringing a claim of crashworthiness against the manufacturer of the vehicle. Continue reading ›

Florida Motorcycle Accident Awareness Needed Every Month

June 11, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Tragedy struck recently when a motorcyclist was killed in a Florida motorcycle accident in Melbourne, leaving behind to mourn him his pregnant 22-year-old wife and their 1-year-old daughter.

Florida Today reports the 22-year-old welder had just finished work for the day and was on his way home when the crash happened. News accounts have few details, but here’s what we can say: Motorcycle accidents claim far too many lives in Florida every year.

May was Motorcycle Accident Awareness Month, but the truth is, this is an issue that affects Floridians daily – directly or indirectly. These are people’s fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, wives and husbands. They are the people we rely on, and those we love. This young man who had his whole life ahead of him has now become a statistic in what is an appalling toll of casualties in Florida and nationwide. Continue reading ›

Florida Leads Nation in Boating Accidents

June 10, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

A man is suing his former girlfriend’s father after a boating injury in which he suffered paralyzing injuries and is now a quadriplegic.

According to news reports, the lawsuit (filed in New Hampshire by the 27-year-old) alleges he was spending time with his girlfriend at her father’s lake house, where father/ defendant owned a boat. The group took the boat out to a sandbar, where the plan was to anchor. Plaintiff, inexperienced in boating, was helping defendant drop the anchor, at defendant’s request. Defendant, a regular boater, did not inform plaintiff of proper boating procedures, particularly for sandbars, and plaintiff dove into the water to help with the anchor. The problem was the water was only 3 feet deep. Plaintiff’s injuries were catastrophic. He now alleges defendant violated boating regulations by standing on the gunnel while the boat was in motion, and also in directing him to jump in when the water was so shallow. Plaintiff’s attorney said the dangers of this were not obvious to an inexperienced boater.

Florida is no stranger to cases like these, considering we lead the nation in total number of registered vessels – 932,000 in 2016, according to the latest figures from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). There were a total of 714 reportable boating accidents in the Sunshine State last year. Of those, one quarter involved a collision with another vehicle. A third of the fatal accidents involved falls overboard, and overboard boating is the No. 1 cause of fatalities in Florida boating. Continue reading ›

Injury Attorneys Must Often Fight for Underinsured Motorist Benefits

June 9, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

UM/ UIM benefits (uninsured motorist/ underinsured motorist) are extended to insureds who are injured by someone without insurance or without enough insurance to cover their injuries.

In a no-fault auto insurance state like Florida (see F.S. 627.7407), the first avenue of recovery for damages is one’s own personal injury protection (PIP) benefits. One can receive up to $10,000 in PIP benefits, which cover 80 percent of one’s medical bills and 60 percent of lost wages. However, one can only receive $2,500 unless they can prove emergency care was medically necessary (per a recent legislative change), and they can only pursue compensation from the other driver if they can show their injury is sufficiently serious/ disabling.

But just because you have UM/ UIM coverage doesn’t mean getting it is a cakewalk. More often than not, insurers will try to offer low-ball settlement agreements or sometimes deny your claim outright. That’s what happened in a recent case before the Michigan Supreme Court (also in a no-fault insurance state). Continue reading ›

Walking is Becoming More Dangerous – In Florida and Beyond

May 31, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Florida is far and away one of the most dangerous places for a stroll, at least if you’re walking amid motor vehicle traffic. Now, a recent report by the Governors Highway Traffic Safety Administration (GHSA) reveals it’s getting worse.

In fact, last year was the deadliest year for pedestrians nationwide since 1996. In 2016, there were nearly 6,000 pedestrians killed by motor vehicles, which is an uptick of 11 percent from just one year earlier. Between 2006 and 2015, pedestrian deaths climbed by 12 percent, from about 4,800 to roughly 5,400. This was even as the total number of car accident deaths was on the decline. Pedestrians account for 15 percent of all traffic deaths.

It can’t be overlooked that most pedestrian deaths are the result of someone’s negligence. This occurs when someone breaches a duty of care owed to another, resulting in injury. Mostly in pedestrian accident cases, we’re referring to the duty of care to drive the car in a reasonably safe manner. Continue reading ›

Analysis: Florida Highways Among Most Deadly in the U.S.

May 30, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

“Steer clear of the state of Florida,” the lead sentence of a recent Forbes.com article reads. The reason? Our traffic safety is atrocious, particularly on South Florida highways. Of those that had the most car accident fatalities in the last decade:

Florida U.S. 1 – 1,079 deaths
Florida U.S. 41 – 772 deaths
Florida U.S. 27 – 614 deaths
Florida U.S. 441 – 442 deaths
Florida U.S. 17 – 420 deaths
Florida U.S. 98 – 465 deaths

Six of the top 10 deadliest highways in America are right here in the Sunshine State. The Forbes writer referred to these as “death tollways.” The numbers were based on a recent analysis of federal data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) by a company called GeoTab. Continue reading ›

Florida Supreme Court Rejects Daubert Evidence Standard

May 30, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

In a ruling that will have a major impact on all Florida personal injury lawsuits, the Florida Supreme Court has rejected a more stringent standard of evidence known as the Daubert Standard, in favor of the less restrictive Frye Standard that it followed for years.

Florida legislators in 2013 voted to alter the Florida Evidence Code to a switch from Frye to Daubert, and Gov. Rick Scott signed that measure into law, with favor from the defense bar and big business clients. However, the courts never formally followed suit, and it seems with this ruling, they don’t intend to do so. The court cited constitutional concerns.

We recognize legal discussions on evidence standards can sound like dry jargon. But here’s the reality: It’s likely to have a direct impact on your Fort Myers injury lawsuit. The reason is that the Daubert requires a higher standard of proof just to get a foot in the door. That can mean your case could be killed before it ever even gets started, which plaintiff attorneys like us view as an issue of access to the courts. Specifically, Daubert involves the admissibility of expert witness testimony. That’s not to say “Frye” is a free-for-all, by any means. However, it does give you a better chance of getting your valid case in front of a judge and reaching a favorable solution. Continue reading ›

Playground Injuries and the Dangerous Condition Requirement

May 25, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

A recent playground injury involving a child reached a state supreme court, which was tasked with considering whether sovereign immunity laws protected defendant school district from liability for allegedly defective equipment.

Sovereign immunity is a legal principle handed down by the English that held the “sovereign” or government could not be held liable for tort actions. The theory is that the government needs to be able to carry out basic function and policies without fear of liability. But this is not absolute. In Florida, there are exceptions under F.S. 768.28, the state’s waiver of sovereign immunity.

Sovereign immunity laws vary from state-to-state. The case in question was weighed by the Colorado Supreme Court, which decided a piece of playground equipment that was not negligently constructed or maintained can’t be considered a “dangerous condition” for purposes of the sovereign immunity exception. Continue reading ›

State Had No Duty to Enforce Vehicle Size Restrictions on Narrow Road, Court Rules

May 22, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

The Kentucky Supreme Court recently considered whether a state government has a responsibility to enforce vehicle weight restrictions on portions of its highway. The question arose in a case that resulted in the death of a school bus driver whose bus collided with a tractor-trailer on a narrow non-designated portion of the highway.

The most recent data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration reveals the number large truck and buses involved in fatal crashes increased by 8 percent between 2014 and 2015. The 4,311 large vehicles involved in collisions in that latter year represents a 20 percent increase since 2009. During that same time frame (2009 to 2015), the number of injury crashes involving large trucks and buses spiked by 62 percent.

Of the approximately 415,000 police-reported crashes involving large trucks in 2015, there were nearly 3,600 (or 1 percent) that proved fatal and another 83,000 (or 20 percent) that resulted in injury. About 60 percent of all fatal crashes involving large trucks happened on rural roads (like the one that is the center of the Kentucky case) and 25 percent occurred on interstate highways. Continue reading ›

Driver Cited in I-75 Fort Myers Car Accident That Led to Amputation

May 20, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

A crash on I-75 that led to catastrophic injuries for one North Fort Myers woman has now led to a careless driving citation for a St. Petersburg man.

According to The News-Press, the 30-year-old victim, a mother and foster parent, stopped on the side of the highway to help another motorist who had lost control in a rainstorm and struck a guardrail. She let the stranded motorist sit in her vehicle as she went to retrieve a blanket from her trunk. It was then that another driver swerved and struck her, pinning her against a vehicle and the guardrail, ultimately requiring her to undergo a leg amputation.

The citation of the driver does not necessarily have a direct impact on any future claim for damages, as the criminal and civil litigation will be separate procedures. However, it could potentially be used by plaintiff attorneys as evidence of driver negligence. Continue reading ›