Florida Injury Attorney Blog

Ex-MLB player Jim Leyritz, and the family of Plantation resident Fredia Veitch have reached an agreement settling their Fort Lauderdale wrongful death lawsuit against him. The 30-year-old Veitch was killed on December 28, 2007 when her vehicle was struck by Leyritz’s SUV, which ran a red light at around 3am. The impact of the Fort Lauderdale car crash threw Veitch from the driver’s seat and caused her to sustain fatal injuries.

Police say that Leyritz was drunk when they apprehended him. Not only did he fail to pass a number of sobriety tests, but also he would refused to voluntarily undergo Breathalyzer and blood tests. He is charged with DUI manslaughter. His trial is scheduled for July.

Under the terms of their Fort Lauderdale wrongful death settlement, Leyritz’s insurer will pay Veitch’s husband and two young children, Kayla and Julian, $250,000. Leyritz will personally pay the family $1,000 each month for the next 100 months.

Leyritz is charged with manslaughter over Veitch’s death and he is awaiting his criminal trial.

Drunk Driving
Each year, thousands of people are killed in US drunk driving crashes. Alcohol numbs the brain, slows reflexes, impairs the senses, delays reaction time, and suspends a person’s judgment. All of these effects make a recipe for a motor vehicle crash disaster. While filing a Broward County car accident lawsuit won’t bring your loved one back or make your injuries disappear, you may be able to hold a drunk driver liable and obtain compensation that can help cover your medical and recovery costs.

As a motorist on the road, you may not be able to stop other drivers from driving drunk. However, here are a some signs that can serve to warn you that a driver may be drunk:

• Weaving while driving
• Driving much slower or faster than the speed limit
• Headlights are off
• Making excessively wide turns
• Driving over the lane marker
• Wrong-way driving
• Sudden stops even while traffic is still moving

Retired ballplayer Leyritz settles wrongful death suit from crash, Sun-Sentinel, May 24, 2010

Family of woman who died in Jim Leyritz car crash tries to cope with loss, NY Daily News, December 30, 2007

Related Web Resources:
Impaired Driving, CDC

Florida DUI and Administrative Suspension Laws, FLorida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles

A Florida jury has awarded Kathleen Ramey a $36 million West Palm Beach medical malpractice verdict against former pain management physician Andrew Weiss. Ramey sought treatment from Weiss in September 2000 after she was injured in a car accident.

To treat the plaintiff, Weiss penetrated her spinal cord with an epidural and injected an anesthetic and a steroid. Unfortunately, he botched her treatment and Ramey’s spinal cord sustained tissue damage and she became partially paralyzed. She also lost the use of her right hand.

Ramey’s Florida medical malpractice attorney says that the 52-year-old woman was left with a degenerative condition, which continues to grow worse, and that she only leaves the house when visiting the doctor.

Weiss is in prison after pleading guilty to four counts of illegally distributing oxycodone.

Reasons why a patient might decide to sue a doctor providing pain management for Florida medical malpractice:

• Botched medical procedures
• Wrong diagnosis
• Failure to properly monitor patients for signs of addiction
• Failure to abide by rules for prescription refills
• Medication errors
• Failure to check for drug allergies
• Failure to find out if the patient is taking other medications
• Failure to find out about preexisting medical conditions
• Failure to monitor patient’s vitals

Doctors, dentists, anesthesiologists, nurses, surgeons, obstetricians, gynecologists, dermatologists, podiatrists, optometrists, orthodontists, and other medical professionals are supposed to provide you with the proper medical care, not make your condition or injury worse or cause you to sustain a more serious health complications as a result of poor medical care. You may have grounds for filing a Miami medical malpractice complaint.

Woman awarded $36 million malpractice verdict, Miami Herald, May 9, 2010

Deerfield woman awarded $36 million malpractice verdict, Sun-Sentinel, May 7, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Medical Malpractice, Nolo

Pain Management, MedicineNet.com

The parents of 9-year-old Chrishna Edwards have been left devastated in the wake of her death from injuries she sustained during a Hollywood, Florida pedestrian accident. Edwards was crossing the street at around 5:45pm on Tuesday to greet a friend when a Toyota Corolla driven by Daniel Pagan hit her.

The 20-year-old motorist, who is cooperating with investigators, only has a learner’s permit. Another driver, Saleemah Wilson, says she had just stepped on the brakes of her vehicle to avoid striking Edwards when Pagan sped up to go around her auto and struck the girl. Wilson says that she was driving at a speed of about 25 mph and that Pagan appeared to be driving at about 45 – 50 mph.

The Hollywood, Florida car accident occurred in a residential area close to a school. Witnesses say that Edwards' father ran to her and was screaming and crying. They say they've been traumatized because they saw the Broward County traffic accident.

Child Pedestrian Accidents
With their youth, lack of experience, unfamiliarity with driving laws, inability to accurately gauge distances, speeds, and look out for their own well-being, and their ability to become easily distracted, children are at high risk of sustaining catastrophic injuries during a Florida pedestrian accident—especially when they are unaccompanied by an adult. Because of this, drivers cannot afford to be careless, reckless, or distracted when driving on a road where there are kids around. Motorists should:

• Not try to overtake a vehicle that is stopped or slowed at an intersection for pedestrian.

• Drive at the appropriate speed limit—especially in residential areas or near schools.

• Refrain from talking on the cell phone or texting.

• Pay attention to who and what is around the vehicle so as to avoid striking anyone or anything.

• While backing out of a driveway. make sure that there aren’t any children that have run behind the vehicle.

• Obey traffic signs and traffic laws.

• Even if your light has already turned green, If your pedestrian is already crossing the street let them pass.

• When driving near school buses, slow down in case a school kid darts out from behind the bus and into your lane.

Girl Dies After Being Struck On Hollywood Street, CBS4, May 5, 2010

Hollywood girl, 9, dies after being struck by car, Sun-Sentinel, May 5, 2010

Related Web Resources:
National Strategies for Advancing Child Pedestrian Safety, CDC

Fla. deadliest state for walkers, cyclists, USA Today, March 1, 2010

Continue reading " Hollywood, Florida Pedestrian Accident Claims Life of 9-Year-Old Girl " »

Four motorcyclists were injured on Sunday when a 2009 KIA hit their bikes. The riders were merging from southbound I-95 onto on westbound I-595 when the Florida motorcycle collision happened.

Two of the motorcyclists, Boca Raton resident Patrick Hurley Jr. and Pompano Beach resident Jay Carlson, were thrown from their motorbikes. Carlson sustained serious injuries. Hurley and Hollywood motorcyclists Hermon Blackmon Jr. and Roberta Armstrong suffered minor injuries. All four motorcycle riders were transported to Broward General Medical Center. The driver of the KIA, 34-year-old Fort Lauderdale resident Violeta Boily, also sustained minor injuries.

While, per the Governors Highway Safety Association Report, the number of motorcycle accident fatalities (on the rise until reaching a record high in 2008) dropped dramatically last year—Florida had 111 less motorcycle deaths in 2009 than the year before—motorcycle accidents continue to cause serious injuries and deaths. It is important to remember that motorcyclists have as much right to use the road as vehicle drivers and truckers do.

If you believe that your motorcycle injuries occurred because another motorist or another party was negligent by engaging in speeding, distracted driving, drunk driving, drugged driving, disregarding traffic laws in any other way, recklessness, or carelessness, you may have grounds for filing a Broward County, Florida motorcycle accident lawsuit. Please contact our Miami motorcycle accident law firm to request your free case evaluation.

Based on preliminary data for 2009, the GHSA’s Report is projecting that there was no more than 4,762 motorcycle deaths last year. In 2008 there were 5,290 US motorcycle fatalities. May is designated Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month. Hopefully, motorcyclists and vehicle drivers will remember to watch out for each other so that the motorcyclist death count will continue to go down.

Four motorcyclists injured in I-595 collision with car, Miami Herald, May 2, 2010

Motorcycle deaths unaccountably plunge after long rise, Washington Post, April 22, 2010

New Study: Motorcycle Deaths Down Dramatically in 2009, Governors Highway Safety Association

Related Web Resources:

Read the GHSA's Preliminary Report (PDF)

Motorcycle Accidents, Justia

Florida state motorcycle laws, American Motorcyclist Association