Florida Injury Attorney Blog

Earlier this month, a woman filed a Broward County, Florida personal injury lawsuit accusing Michael Irvine, the former NFL star of the Dallas Cowboys, of sexually assaulting her at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. She is seeking unspecified damages for the rape that allegedly occurred on July 2007.

Seminole tribal police were notified two weeks after the alleged incident, and the victim went on to sign a waiver of prosecution. The Broward State Attorney’s office is continuing to investigate the sexual assault allegations but no criminal charges have so far been filed.

The plaintiff claims that Irvin was drunk on the night that he took her to his hotel room and insisted that she give him and another man sexual favors. She is accusing the former NFL star of raping her. She claims the other man made her perform oral sex.

Irvin has responded to the woman’s allegations by filing a $100 million lawsuit naming her as a defendant for allegedly trying to ruin his reputation. He filed his complaint on the day that he was let go from his ESPN radio show.

In 1996, Irvin was one of two Dallas Cowboys players accused of raping another woman. However, following an investigation, the woman recanted her allegations after the story was discovered to be false.

Hollywood, Florida Personal Injury
If you were the victim of a violent crime or a sexual crime, you may have grounds for suing your attacker for Florida personal injury. Filing a Broward County injury case is separate from any criminal case that might be pursued by prosecutors. Even if your assailant isn’t charged in criminal court, you may still be able to recover damages for physical injuries, pain and suffering, mental trauma, emotional anguish, medical bills, and other associated costs.

Woman's lawsuit claims Michael Irvin assaulted her, NBC/Associated Press, February 5, 2010

Michael Irvin files $100M suit over rape allegations, Miami-Dade, February 6, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Florida Personal Injury Law: General, WebLocator

Types of Personal Injury Damages, Justia

Michael Irvin

A deputy sheriff with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office is suing several companies for Florida personal injury. Richard Ragali sustained burn injuries on over 60% of his body while at a Marathon gas station last month.

The 53-year-old Jupiter resident’s body caught fire on October 2 as he pulled his motorcycle into the gas station. The motorcycle slid on a gas puddle, causing sparks to fly and flames to ignite.

Ragali sustained second- and third- degree burns and is undergoing physical therapy and getting skin grafts in the burn unit of a Miami hospital. His Palm Beach injury lawyer says his feet and face are the only parts of his body that weren’t burned.

The defendants named in Ragali’s Palm Beach County, Florida premises liability lawsuit are Circle K Corp, Circle K Stores Inc., Circle K store No. 2386, Shell Oil Products Co, Shell Oil Corp, and Motica Enterprises LLC.

Ragali’s Florida injury complaint contends that the defendants knew there were hazardous gas remnants on the property and they should have exercised reasonable care when inspecting, supplying, repairing, and maintaining the gas station and gas pumps. He is seeking damages for pain and suffering, disfigurement, permanent disability, bodily injury, loss of the capacity to earn money, loss of the capacity to enjoy life, medical bills, and nursing expenses.

Gas Station Accidents:
Gasoline companies and gas station owners are aware of how dangerous a gas station can be for patrons in the event of a gas leak occur or a fire. While customer carelessness can cause gas station fires, the premise owner and other responsible parties must make sure patrons are warned of possible hazards. Also, any necessary maintenance work and repairs to prevent injury accidents must be conducted.

Some 4.5 million burn deaths caused by gasoline fires happen each year. Another 10,000 fatalities are from infections sustained by the burn wounds.

Burn injuries are extremely painful and can lead to permanent disfigurement and scarring. Recovery, when possible, can take months.

Deputy sheriff sues over burns suffered in Keys, Keys.net, November 14, 2009

Gasoline Safety, Mass.gov

Related Web Resources:
Service Station Safety, National Fire Protection Association

International Society for Burn Injuries

Through the end of Labor Day weekend on September 7, police in Florida are taking aggressive measures to search for and arrest anyone found driving while impaired. The crackdown is part of a nationwide campaign called “Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest. People that are caught speeding or riding in a vehicle without using a seatbelt will also be apprehended.

In Florida, Labor Day weekend is considered one of the deadliest periods of the year for drivers. Last year, 36 people died in Florida traffic accidents during this long weekend and alcohol was a factor in 12 of those fatalities.

Also in 2008, there were over 22,000 alcohol-related Florida car accidents resulting in over 1,100 traffic deaths and over 15,700 injuries. The Florida county with the largest number of auto crashes involving alcohol was Miami-Dade County with 1,898 traffic accidents and 85 motor vehicle deaths involving alcohol.

Sobriety checkpoints have been set up in different locations throughout Florida and saturation patrols will be out in force.

Drunk driving continues to be one of the more common causes of South Florida traffic accidents and the rest of the United States. It doesn’t help that binge drinking continues to be a habit “on the rise” and not just among younger people.

A new study found in the American Journal of Psychiatry is reporting that in the 50-64 year-old age group, nearly 1 in 10 women and 1 in 4 men are “binge” drinkers. Binge drinking is a habit that makes a motorist more prone to cause a drunk driving accident if he or she decides to get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle while intoxicated.

The number of women arrested in the US for drunk driving has also increased. Nationally, about 2,000 traffic deaths a year involve a female drunk driver. 162,493 women were arrested for DUI in 2007, compared to the 126,000 female DUI drivers in 1998.

Drunk driving accidents often result in catastrophic injuries and deaths. A person injured in a South Florida car accident in Miami, Hollywood, Naples, Palm Beach, or Ft. Lauderdale because another driver was intoxicated may have grounds for filing a personal injury lawsuit.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood Kicks Off Nationwide Enforcement Crackdown on Impaired Driving. Releases New Report Highlighting Increasing Number of Impaired Female Drivers, NHTSA, August 19, 2009

Binge drinking: It's not just for kids anymore, Los Angeles Times, August 17, 2009

Florida Law Enforcement to Launch Statewide Crackdown on Impaired and Unsafe Driving, Chipley Paper, August 21, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Florida DUI and Administrative Suspension Laws, Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles

2007 Drunk Driving Statistics, Alcohol Alert

In Florida, a woman whose now 8-year-old daughter was handcuffed by police in 2005 when she had a tantrum as a kindergartener is suing the Pinellas County School Board and Fairmount Park Elementary for personal injury to a minor. The plaintiff, 27-year-old Inga Akins, says the girl is severely traumatized over the incident and is expected to undergo long-term therapy.

Video footage shows the former St. Petersburg kindergartener in the classroom while making a mess, stepping on a desk, and punching assistant principal Nicole DiBenedetto. St. Petersburg cops are also seen telling the girl to calm down. By this time, however, the girl, then 5, suddenly becomes quiet and sits at the assistant principal’s table. Yet three cops reportedly stood her up, placed her hands behind her back, and put handcuffs on her wrists. The girl is seen screaming.

She was placed in the back of a police car until the State Attorney’s Office told police that they would never prosecute a 5-year-old. The girl was then released to her mother.

Akins’s Florida personal injury lawsuit accuses the defendants of malicious prosecution, negligence, violating her daughter’s civil rights, failing to have the proper procedures instituted for dealing with disciplinary issues, and inadequately training school staffers to deal with such incidents. The complaint also says that the school should have taken steps to calm down the former kindergartener, rather than leaving her with the assistant principal, who she was scared of because of another incident that occurred that year.

Akins had reportedly complained to the school that she didn’t like the way the assistant principal dealt with her daughter and found her to be too harsh. Police had been called to the school to deal with her daughter’s behavior at least once before.

Florida schools are supposed to make sure that the students placed in their care are not harmed in any way. This includes making sure that systems are in place to keep children safe, properly training teachers and other staffers to deal with those placed under their charge, and making sure there is adequate security on the premise so that no one can assault or inflict any other kind of harm on the school kids. Failure to exercise these duties of care can be grounds for a Florida personal injury lawsuit. A premises liability claim might also be made if there were unsafe or hazardous conditions on the school property, such as toxic substances, defective playground equipment, electrical hazards, or other dangers that could cause injury or death to a student.

Lawsuit filed over 2005 Pinellas school handcuff incident, Sun-Times News Group, March 31, 2009

Video shows police handcuffing 5-year-old, St Petersburg TImes, April 22, 2005

Related Web Resources:
Watch the Video

Pinellas County School Board

A Florida mother is suing Adujar Transport Inc., Comtrak Logistics Inc., and truck driver Renaldo Andujar-Gonzales for personal injury. Rhonda Arbuckle’s three children, JaSena, 11, Natalie, 13, and Joshua, 16, sustained injuries on September 23 when a semitrailer, driven by Andujar-Gonzales, crashed into the Marion County school bus they were riding on US 301, south of Citra. Both the 1991 Freightliner and the school bus caught fire.

According to her Florida truck accident lawsuit, Arbuckle, who ran to the crash scene, pulled her kids off the bus. She then tried to rescue another child, but a small blast made it impossible. Frances Margay Schee, 13, would end up dying in the accident. Eight other students, the bus driver, and Andujar-Gonzales were taken to hospitals for treatment of their injuries.

Arbuckle wants damages for herself and her three children. She is accusing Andujar-Gonzales of negligence and the trucking and transport companies of vicarious liability.

Many people believe that the bus-truck crash could have been prevented. The bus was reportedly stopped when it was rear-ended by the semi-truck.

The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating the accident. A preliminary accident report indicates that the truck's faulty brakes may have contributed to the crash. The semitrailer that Andujar-Gonzales was driving reportedly was taken out of service earlier that day because of brake problems. Andujar-Gonzales also told investigators that he was using his cell phone right before the accident and did not see the bus.

Cell Phone Use When Driving
While the state of Florida does not prevent motorists from using hand-held cellular phones while they are driving, studies have shown that driving while talking or text messaging on a cell phone can increase the chances of a motor vehicle accident occurring. A driver is more likely to take his or her eyes off the road while dialing or texting. He or she may also become so absorbed in the conversation that driver distraction can occur.

Parent Files Lawsuit In Fatal School Bus Crash, CFNews13.com, November 6, 2008

Lawsuit filed in bus-truck crash, Ocala.com, November 6, 2008

Related Web Resources:
Cell Phone Driving Laws, GHSA.org

Cellphones and Driving, III.org

Pablo Gonzales, An ex-truck driver who became paralyzed in a loading dock accident, is suing supermarket chain Publix for $10 million. The Florida resident is alleging negligence in the way the company works with independent truckers.

The injury accident occurred on September 20, 2007, when Gonzales was delivering a load of eggs to a store in Palm Beach Gardens. Gonzales was using the lift to unload his cargo, when the remote fell from his grasp.

According to his personal injury lawyer, Gonzales called out for help and had to wait for several minutes. He reportedly tried to sit down to get off the platform—in a previous accident, he injured his knee when he tried jumping off the platform—and landed on his head after losing his balance.

The lawsuit accuses Publix of only giving providing the proper safety equipment to its own truckers. The loading dock Gonzales was using did not have railings.

Gonzales is now paralyzed from the chest down and can no longer work as a trucker. He has continued to require medical care.

In Florida, you can file a personal injury lawsuit if you sustained serious injuries because another party was negligent, careless, or reckless.

Paralysis
A person with paralysis has experienced a loss of muscle function in a certain area of the body. A person diagnosed with paralysis in the lower half of their body is called a paraplegic. Quadriplegia is when a person’s legs and arms are paralyzed.

Common causes of paralysis include spinal cord injuries, stroke, a broken neck, nerve diseases, and autoimmune diseases. Personal injury accidents can result in paralysis if a person is seriously injured in a motor vehicle crash, a boating accident, a motorcycle accident, a pedestrian accident, while using defective machinery, in a medical malpractice accident, a truck accident, or another kind of serious accident that occurred because someone may have been negligent.

Paralyzed Truck Driver Suing Publix, The Ledger.com, July 30, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Injury and Accident Law Overview, Justia

Publix

A Florida judge has approved the birth defects personal injury settlement between tomato grower Ag-Mart and the family of 3-year-old Carlitos Candelario, a boy who was born without legs or arms. Under the terms of the agreement, Ag-Mart will cover all of Carlitos’s medical costs and provide financial support for life. His medical expenses are expected to run in the millions of dollars.

Carlitos’s parents, Francisca Herrera and Abraham Candelario, worked as tomato pickers for Ag-Mart in fields that were sprayed with pesticides. They filed a birth defects lawsuit against Ag-Mart in 2006, claiming that the pesticides that Herrera had been exposed to during her pregnancy caused his birth defects.

Their personal injury lawsuit claims that at least three of the pesticides sprayed over the fields had caused deformities in lab animals when used on them in high doses. Florida and North Carolina health officials, however, found no connection between the pesticides and the birth defects.

Carlitos is one of three babies with birth defects, born in 2005, whose parents picked tomatoes for Ag-Mart and lived in Immokalee.

An expert testified that Francisca had been heavily exposed to pesticides during the first trimester of her pregnancy. In her deposition, Francisca said that the company forced her to work in fields that were freshly sprayed with pesticide and that pesticides on nearby fields also affected her. Other employees have supported her claims.

Ag-Mart has voluntarily agreed to stop using five products linked to developmental problems in lab animals.

The Shriner's Children's Hospital in Tampa and Miami Children's Hospital have agreed to take care of Carlitos until he turns 18. Doctors are hoping to fit him with prosthetics one day. He continues to use a wheelchair.

The settlement amount is confidential. Ag-Mart continues to maintain that pesticides did not cause Carlitos’s defects.

Our Florida personal injury law firm represents children and their families that have been seriously injured because of the negligence or recklessness of others.

Ag-Mart to pay for limbless child's needs, Palm Beach Post, April 17, 2008

Farmworker Family's Ag-Mart Settlement Amount 'Significant, MSNBC.com, April 16, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Pesticides the Root Cause of Birth Defects in Farmworkers, Palm Beach Post/Organic Consumers Association, March 13, 2005

Pesticides and Pregnancy

Continue reading "Florida-Based Tomato Grower Ag-Mart Settles Birth Defects Lawsuit With Lifetime Financial Support for 3-Year-Old Boy Born Without Limbs" »

The 70-car collision on Florida’s I-4 on January 9 injured 38 people and killed at least 5 people. The multi-vehicle collision in Polk County is considered one of the worst highway disasters in the state’s history. Many personal injury lawsuits are expected to be filed as a result of this catastrophic accident.

At the time of the pileup, visibility was zero on a freeway made even more challenging to drive on by thick fog and the smoke from a 400-acre controlled fire. Florida’s Department of Agriculture and the Florida Highway Patrol are among those investigating the cause of the accident. The first collision occurred at 4:30am, just a little over one hour after a Florida officer had given the all clear.

Car drivers, truck drivers, truck companies, motor vehicle manufacturers, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation, the Department of Transportation, the Florida Highway Patrol, and other government agencies will be investigated for possible liability in causing the multi-vehicle collision. While the Florida Highway Patrol says 10 collisions occurred within the 70-car pileup, the state of Florida might say that there was just one accident involving 70 motor vehicles.

One family that has already filed a personal injury lawsuit is the Gomez family. Five family members were in one of the cars involved in the crash. Three of them were hospitalized in critical condition. One of the family members, Adrian Gomez, died from his injuries last week.

The Gomez family claims that there were no sign to warn them that there was a controlled burn taking place near the vicinity of the freeway. The drivers that struck their car and the Division of Forestry are named in the Gomez family's injury lawsuit.

Florida’s waived sovereign immunity only lets an injured driver recover up to $100,000 or $200,000 for dependents. Any other recovery must be filed through a law called the Claims Bill.

While Florida’s PIP (personal injury protection) insurance coverage covers up to $10,000 in medical costs for drivers—regardless of who caused the accident—some injuries require medical treatment that go well beyond this financial limit.

A good Florida motor vehicle accident lawyer can help you file a claim or lawsuit against any and all negligent parties so that you have the financial recovery you need to pay for your medical care and other associated costs.

Smoke Closes Same Stretch Of Highway Tuesday Morning, News4Jax.com, January 15, 2008

Slew of I-4 pileup lawsuits will cover wide range of blame, Orlando Sentinel, January 13, 2008

4 Killed, 38 Injured In 70-Car Pileup, Local6.com, January 10, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Florida Highway Patrol

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation

Florida Department of Transportation

Continue reading "Personal Injury Lawsuits Expected in 70-Motor Vehicle Crash on Florida’s I-4" »

The mother of Amber Kraus, a 15-year-old girl who died during a parasailing accident at a resort in Pampano Beach, Florida has filed personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits against Island Waves Parasail and Wyndham Vacation Resort. Amber Kraus’s sister Crystal, 17, was also injured in the parasailing accident.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office says that the fatal accident took place on August 18, while a 28-foot-boat belonging to Island Waves Parasail pulled the girls on a parasail.

The boat captain says that the winds suddenly accelerated from 15 mph to approximately 40mph. The wind dragged the boat to shore and the hydraulic winch was unable to lower the parachute. The two girls spend two minutes hovering over the beach until the parachute started to spin out of control. The line broke and the two teenagers flew onto the roof of the Beachcomber Hotel and Villas and through a number of trees in its courtyard where their parachute left them hanging.

The plaintiff’s side says that Island Waves Parasail should not have taken the girls out in such bad weather. It also blames the Palm Beach Gardens company for not having the proper equipment and using an inexperienced driver. The girls also allegedly told the driver at one point that they wanted the operator to bring them down from the air but that the operator refused to do so.

The Leighton family is from Ocala, Florida. They are suing Wyndham Vacation Resort because the resort arranged the parasailing trip for the girls. The lawsuits were filed in Miami.

Personal Injury Cases
When a person is seriously injured in an accident because another party acted negligently, carelessly, or recklessly, a personal injury claim or lawsuit can be brought against the responsible party. The claim or lawsuit allows the injured person to claim damages, such as compensation for pain and suffering, medical costs, and lost wages.

If you are seriously injured in any kind of accident that was someone else’s fault, you should speak with a personal injury lawyer immediately. Your attorney can deal directly with any other parties so that you are not persuaded to reach a settlement that will not cover all your costs and give you the compensation that you deserve.

Wrongful Death Cases
A wrongful death claim or lawsuit can be brought by mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, husbands, and wives that have lost loved ones in personal injury accidents caused by the negligence of others. While obtaining compensation in a wrongful death case cannot bring your loved one back, it is an acknowledgment of your loss and a way to hold the responsible party liable. It also provides the surviving loved ones a means of financial recovery for medical costs related to their loved ones’ death, funeral costs, burial or cremation expenses, and compensation for lost income and benefits brought about by the death.

Mother Files Lawsuit After Parasail Accident, Local10.com, August 29, 2007

Related Web Resources:

Teen Taken Off Life Support After Parasail Crash, Local10.com, August 22, 2007

Personal Injury, Nolo

Continue reading "Florida Mother Files Wrongful Death and Personal Injury Lawsuits Against Wyndham Vacation Resort and Island Waves Parasail" »