car accident attorney

Restitution Can Provide Additional Compensation for Crash Victims

November 9, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

When someone’s negligence causes injury to another, victims can pursue compensation. Negligence is generally understood as the failure to use reasonable care when one was required to do so. In some cases, injury to another is the result of a criminal act. On the road, some criminal acts also amount to negligence, though the criminal and civil cases will be handled by the separate courts, respectively.

The primary purpose of a criminal court is to attain justice for the state (on behalf of the victim). The purpose of civil court is to ascertain whether one is owed compensation, and if so, determine how much is necessary to make the victim “whole.” Restitution to the victim is not the primary purpose of the criminal justice system – but it can be a consideration for certain crimes. The impact this will have on a pending civil case should be discussed with an experienced injury attorney in Cape Coral.

F.S. 775.089 holds that restitution can be ordered by the court (in addition to any punishment) for:

Damages or losses caused directly or indirectly by defendant’s offense;
Damages or losses related to the defendant’s criminal episode.

Victim’s Auto Insurer Pays Liability Damages to Parents of Joyriding Teens Killed in Crash

November 7, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Most car accident auto insurance settlements are handled quietly and often rather quickly. Those involving the death may take longer, but even then, it often doesn’t generate headlines. A recent case out of South Florida was different for the fact that an auto liability insurer, while conceding all the evidence unequivocally shows their client to be the clear victim, agreed to pay families of several teens who died while joyriding in a stolen car.

It’s somewhat of a unique case, but it also illustrates the various avenues of recovery that may be available to those involved in serious car accidents, even when there is evidence they are partially (or, as in this case, largely) to blame.

According to The Tampa Bay Times, the 29-year-old insured was on his way to work at a grocery store in Tampa around 4 a.m. when a sport utility vehicle barreled through a red light at 112 mph, slamming into his compact car. He would later learn that the vehicle had been stolen and the driver was 16-years-old with no license. The driver and two of his three passengers – all young teens – were killed. A fourth survived and was later charged with grand theft auto. Continue reading ›

Coming and Going Rule Analyzed in Crashes Involving Workers

November 5, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

If you’re injured in a car accident or have lost someone you love in a crash, one of the questions important to ask is whether the negligent driver was acting in the course and scope of their employment. This matters because if they were furthering the interests of their employer at the time of the crash, the employer could be held vicariously liable.

Vicarious liability of employees is allowed thanks to the doctrine of respondeat superior, which is Latin for, “let the master answer.” Vicarious liability does not require a showing that the company necessarily did anything wrong. Rather, one must show the employee – acting on behalf of the employer – was negligent. We see this a lot in trucking accident cases or bus accident cases, but it can also be applied with many other types of workers as well. In our increasingly mobile workforce, it’s not uncommon for employees to be on the move regularly throughout the course of their work day, or to be running errands for their employer outside of normal business hours.

In cases of professional drivers, vicarious liability may be easy to establish because it’s the employee’s job to drive. If they were on-the-clock, it’s pretty easily settled. However, there are some nuances to this. Some of the same legal doctrines that apply in workers’ compensation cases can come into play in these cases too. Continue reading ›

Establishing Vicarious Liability for Crash on Theory of Respondeat Superior

October 21, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Most car accident lawsuits are a simple matter of proving negligence, shown by establishing:

Duty owed to plaintiff (i.e., duty to other motorists to obey laws and act in a reasonably prudent manner);
Breach of duty (carelessness or violation of law);
Causation (breach of duty caused the accident);
Damages (plaintiff suffered damages as a result of the accident).

However, there are some Florida auto accident cases that delve into more complex areas of law because they involve a negligent driver who was either on-the-job or at least furthering an employer’s business at the time of the crash. In these cases, the employer can be held vicariously liable for the worker’s negligence. This means plaintiff doesn’t have to prove employer was negligent, only that worker was in fact an employee (as opposed to an independent contractor) and was acting in the scope of employment when crash occurred. This legal theory is referred to as “respondeat superior,” which is Latin for “Let the master answer.”

If there is evidence an employer was negligent also (i.e., negligent hiring, negligent retention, negligent supervision, negligent vehicle maintenance, etc.), the company could be found both directly and vicariously liable. A skilled personal injury attorney in Fort Myers can help you sort out the type of case you have and identify all potential defendants. Continue reading ›

Determining the Number of Accidents in an Injury Case

September 29, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Most auto insurance policies impose per-person or per-accident limitations. This is typically a pretty straightforward issue. However, a dispute about how many “accidents” occurred can leave a big question mark as to how much claimants are entitled to receive.

In a recent bicycle accident injury case before the Wyoming Supreme Court, plaintiffs were suing a single driver after an incident wherein they were riding bicycles together and both were struck by defendant driver operating a car. One bicyclist died and another was seriously injured. They had uninsured motorist coverage through their own carrier, which had a policy extending $300,000 in damages per accident. That would mean no matter how many claimants, the insurer would only pay out a maximum $300,000.

Plaintiffs, however, contended they were each entitled to a maximum $300,000 because there had actually been two accidents, not just one. While the trial court granted summary judgment to the insurer, the state supreme court found the record insufficient to conclude there had only been one accident. The case was remanded for further proceedings. Continue reading ›

Court: Bankruptcy Of Negligent Driver Doesn’t Absolve UIM Insurer of Liability

September 26, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

The bankruptcy of a negligent driver who caused injury to a husband and wife may prevent plaintiffs from actually seeking damages against the defendant, but it doesn’t shield the auto insurer from having to pay out.

That was the ruling of the Alabama Supreme Court in a recent case involving two car accident claimants. Although this is an out-of-state case, it deals with matters that could just as easily arise in Florida, and justices often consider rulings by sister courts that have weighed similar issues.

To understand the court’s ruling, we must first explain a bit about U.S. Bankruptcy Code and how it impacts personal injury claims. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy in particular involves a trustee who gathers and sells a debtor’s nonexempt assets and uses the proceeds to pay creditors in accordance with the provisions of bankruptcy law. Part of the debtor’s property may be subject to liens that can be paid to creditors. Continue reading ›

Post-Irma Roads Nearly as Dangerous as the Storm

September 17, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Floridians have unfortunately long been notorious for being bad drivers – and that’s with a network of operational traffic lights, upright trees and a system of active police patrols.

But after the extremely powerful Hurricane Irma walloped the state earlier this month, there were downed traffic lights, trees, power lines and damaged homes and buildings. This created a significant hazard in and of itself – and this was after some 7 million people were ordered evacuated from their homes, sparking massive traffic jams and other highway headaches.

Once the winds and flooding subsided and motorists began to venture out – and some back to their homes from emergency shelters – intersections became a virtual game of chicken. Intersections without power are supposed to be treated as a four-way stop. While there is no doubt people were tired, stressed and perhaps even traumatized, we also know that many of these crashes may have been avoided had motorists used a bit of common sense and patience. In other words, these drivers needed to use reasonable care. Continue reading ›

Hurricane Evacuee Dies in Hit-and-Run Crash

September 11, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

As historic Hurricane Irma came barreling toward Southwest Florida, many residents hurried to leave the state. Some were under mandatory evacuation by local and state officials fearing unprecedented and dangerous storm surge. Others were afraid to live for days or weeks without water or power.

All of this led to a massive evacuation of some 6 million people out of Southern Florida. This kind of congestion inevitably lead to car accidents across I-75, I-95 and I-4, the main routes out of the state.

We now know of a local man whose car accident death can be indirectly tied to Irma, after he reportedly was killed in a hit-and-run car accident in Georgia. The 91-year-old from Naples was injured in a hit-and-run collision at a rest stop on I-75 in Georgia.

The Naples Daily News reports the elderly man had stopped at the rest stop, walked across the parking lot to the restroom and was struck by a vehicle. The driver took off and has not yet been identified. Continue reading ›

Florida Pedestrian Accident Kills 3-Year-Old Girl

September 2, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

A 3-year-old girl was recently killed in a South Florida pedestrian accident while walking with her mother as they returned from dropping her older brother off at the bus stop.

According to The Press Republican, the girl, her mother and a neighbor were walking at the intersection of Hampton Meadow Way and Bright Street in Riverview when they were struck by the 33-year-old driver of a pickup truck. The driver said he looked before he turned onto the street, where he saw the two women and the dog. However, he said he did not see the little girl. As soon as he heard the sickening sound of the impact, he immediately stopped and realized he had struck the girl.

The girl’s mother, meanwhile, asserts the driver was operating on the wrong side of the road. Her daughter, she said, was approximately two arm’s lengths ahead of her as they made their way home. The girl had made it nearly to the sidewalk right in front of her home, where she stood waiting for her mother, holding a sippy cup. Continue reading ›

8th Circuit: Designated Driver Not Held to Higher Standard of Care

August 28, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

All drivers are required to use reasonable care in protecting passengers as well as other motorists from foreseeable harm. That means operating the vehicle in a reasonably safe manner.

Some drivers may have a heightened duty of care. Primarily, these include common carriers, such as bus drivers. It does not, according to a recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, include designated drivers. Such drivers are members of the group who agree to abstain from drinking alcohol or taking drugs in order to be able safely to drive others in the group, thus avoiding a potentially tragic drunk driving accident.

In the case recently before the Eighth Circuit, the trial court in North Dakota applied a higher standard of care to the sober designated driver – something statutory and case law did not support. This fact was especially important here because of the way that state approaches comparative fault. Here in Florida, we follow a pure comparative fault model, per F.S. 768.81. This means even if a plaintiff is deemed 99 percent at-fault for an accident, he or she can still collect on the other 1 percent (though an attorney would have to weigh carefully the wisdom of pursuing a case with such long odds). However, many other jurisdictions do not allow plaintiffs to recover if they bear 50 percent or more of the fault burden. Continue reading ›