Florida Injury Lawyer Blog

Report: Lee County Fatal Crash Count Topped 100 in 2016

January 9, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

The number of traffic fatalities in Lee County topped 100 for the first time since 2007, according to a report late last month from The News-Press. As of the third week of December, there were 102 traffic fatalities in 2016 – more than it’s been in a decade. That figure does not account for the fatalities that occurred the last week of December, including over the Christmas and New Year’s Eve holidays.

These figures mirror those we saw more than 10 years ago when the region saw explosive population growth. In 2007, there were 106. In 2006, there were 121. The number of traffic deaths peaked in 2005 with 150. In more recent years, the number of Lee County traffic deaths didn’t surpass 100. Now, it seems that is changing, which is in line with the increases reported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The agency reports there was a 7.2 percent increase in traffic deaths in 2015 – resulting in 2,348 additional lives lost that year. Early figures from 2016 suggest a further upward trend.

The more than 100 traffic fatalities in Lee County last year included cars, trucks, school buses, bicycles, pedestrians and motorcycles. In one instance, a child wasn’t properly buckled in. In another case, a young man was waiting at a red light on his way home from school. Numerous drivers weren’t paying attention. Others were impaired by drugs and/or alcohol. Continue reading ›

New Year’s Eve Drunk Driving Accident Victims an Unfortunate Reality

December 31, 2016 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Technically speaking, New Year’s Eve isn’t the worst when it comes to drunk driving. But after the clock strikes midnight – watch out.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that half of all deadly car accidents on New Year’s Day involve a motorist who was deemed drunk, which usually means having a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher. The deadliest day of the year on our roads varies from year-to-year, but New Year’s Day is almost always in the top three. Research by the National Safety Council revealed that during the New Year’s holiday season in a recent five-year span, about 42 percent of traffic deaths were related to drunk driving. These figures include pedestrians who are struck by vehicles too. The fact that the holiday this year falls on a weekend could mean we’ll see even higher rates of personal injury and death on the roads.

For drunk driving accident victims, there may be several avenues of recovering compensation, depending on the circumstances. Continue reading ›

Nursing Home Negligence Alleged in Man’s Death

December 28, 2016 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

The widow of a man who died in a fire while in the care of a county-owned nursing home in Philadelphia has filed a lawsuit alleging negligence by the facility and staffers. The man, who suffered from Parkinson’s disease and numerous other ailments, was reportedly engulfed in flames after dropping his lit cigarette on his clothing.

The nursing home negligence lawsuit alleges the facility violated federal nursing home regulations by allowing him to smoke unsupervised, despite the fact that he needed help with many basic tasks. He required assistance to eat, bathe, dress, brush his teeth and more. Yet somehow, he was entrusted to use an open flame without supervision, jeopardizing not only his safety but also that of other patients and staffers at the facility.

This is the kind of judgment lapse that families may want to be on alert for when going to visit loved ones in nursing homes this holiday season. It may seem like a simple oversight, but the fact is, it could quickly end in tragedy. Continue reading ›

Avoiding Fort Myers Injury on New Year’s Eve

December 28, 2016 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

For many people, celebrations on New Year’s Eve are among the most highly-anticipated. There is usually exceptional food, copious drink and great company.

But there is good reason our brave first responders and hospital emergency workers brace for the holiday every year. In the midst of all these parties, there is a spike in serious injuries and illnesses directly related to the revelry. A study published in the journal Social Science & Medicine analyzed some 60 million hospital death certificates over a 25-year stretch. What they found was that, on average, 42,325 more people than expected died during the two weeks between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, with New Year’s Day having the highest fatality rate of any day of the year.

These reported incidents weren’t solely due to drunken driving accidents, but those certainly didn’t help. Even when people suffered from health-related ailments, authors speculated the death rates were higher during this time because people delayed seeking treatment due to the holidays. Continue reading ›

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.

Florida Physiomesh Injury Lawsuit Filed in Federal Court

December 20, 2016 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

A federal product liability lawsuit has been filed against the manufacturer of Physiomesh, a medical device surgically implanted in patients suffering from hernias.

Plaintiff in Quinn v. Ethicon, Inc. and Johnson & Johnson, before the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, is seeking more than $75,000 in damages for serious and disabling personal injuries suffered after she was implanted with this hernia mesh. Not only was her underlying condition not remedied after the May 2014 surgery, but her condition actually steadily worsened. She suffered from persistent abdominal pain, diminished bowel motility and bowel obstruction.

About a year after the initial surgery, plaintiff underwent corrective surgery. What should have been a quick procedure ended up lasting two hours as the surgeon tried to remove all parts of the defective Physiomesh. The surgeon was unable to get it all out. Plaintiff says now she never would have agreed to undergo the procedure with Physiomesh had she known of the potential complications. Continue reading ›

Suarez v. W.M. Barr & Co. – Exploding Paint Remover Injury Lawsuit to Proceed

December 18, 2016 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has re-opened the door for an injury lawsuit against the makers of a chemical commercial paint removal that allegedly exploded while used by a consumer, resulting in serious burns. Plaintiffs – the injured man and his wife – are alleging the product was defective and the product maker failed to warn of the danger.

The appellate court in Suarez v. W.M. Barr & Co. ruled that while the lower court appropriately rejected the failure-to-warn claim, the claims of design defect under theories of both strict liability and negligence should be allowed to move forward. Justices ruled that although the warning label on the product was adequate in identifying the product’s principle hazards and proper precautionary measures, the plaintiffs adequately showed the fire could have been caused by static sparks created when plaintiff agitated the chemical – as the warning label instructed. That means a genuine issue of fact exists as to whether an ordinary consumer would know to expect that a fire or explosion would occur under these circumstances, and also whether the product maker should have known that agitating the substance could cause it to ignite.

The incident in question happened in April 2012 when plaintiff purchased a one-gallon can of defendant’s chemical product, called “Goof-Off” to help him remove paint from a concrete floor in the basement of a building he owned. Plaintiff said he read most of the warning labels, which indicated the primary active ingredient is acetone, which is highly flammable and evaporates quickly at room temperature. Continue reading ›

Piotrowski v. Menard, Inc. – Parking Lot Fall Highlights Injury Case Proof Standards

December 16, 2016 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Holiday shopping is seen by some as an enjoyable way to get into the seasonal spirit. Others view it as more of a stressful chore. But in both cases, it should be safe. Unfortunately, our Fort Myers injury attorneys have seen too many cases of holiday shoppers suffering some type of injury due to a failure by property owners, managers or employees to keep the site free of unreasonable hazards.

These dangers might include:

Perilously-stacked merchandise;
Slippery floors;
Poorly illuminated parking lots;
Broken stairs;
Uneven sidewalks;
Inadequate security;
Cluttered aisles.

These incidents can result in serious – and sometimes disabling – injuries to shoppers. Yes, customers do have a responsibility to be on the lookout for obvious dangers and to avoid them using reasonable care. But as part of a legal classification of visitors known as “business invitees,” shoppers are owed the highest duty of care under the law. That means property owners must not only avoid creating hazards and address them when they become known, but also to regularly inspect the site for them. Continue reading ›

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.)

The Major Fall: Leonard Cohen Dies of Fall, a High Risk for Elderly

December 13, 2016 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Leonard Cohen, a Canadian singer, songwriter, poet, novelist and painter, was reportedly at peace with the idea of death, hoping only it wouldn’t be too “uncomfortable.” The icon, author of “Hallelujah,” died in his sleep last month. However, his manager later revealed that the 82-year-old’s death may have been linked to an earlier fall, which he had suffered prior to his death.

With our population living longer, the threat of a serious fall affects an increasing number of us. Although many of us tend not to think of falls as being all that serious, the reality is falls are the No. 1 cause of accidental death in the elderly. In fact, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the incidence rate has climbed steadily in the last 10 years. Often, falls are not just painful in the immediate aftermath, but also for months and even years afterward.

The Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery reports the 1-year mortality rate for over-65 patients admitted to the hospital following a fall is 33 percent. Many times, a bad fall that results in an elderly person being admitted to the hospital can have a prognosis that is as poor as some stage IV cancers. Of course, those who are hospitalized are more likely to have higher rates of mortality as it is, because they are older and have a number of other serious conditions. But comparatively, the one-year mortality rate for older patients admitted with pneumonia is about 20 percent. Continue reading ›