Articles Posted in Personal Injury

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Florida premises liability lawsuitFlorida premises liability law places certain legal responsibilities on property owners to use reasonable care in protecting lawful guests from foreseeable dangers. Trespassers, however, are given very few protections, aside from the duty to avoid willful harm. The primary exception, as our Fort Myers child injury lawyers can explain, is with regard to young children.

It’s called the “attractive nuisance doctrine.” Although trespassers have no right to expect landowners to maintain a safe property on which they can trespass, it’s different for young children. Unlike adults, it’s understood small kids lack the ability to perceive danger or make reasonable judgments about how to protect themselves. Therefore, if there is something dangerous on site that might be interesting to curious youths, landowners have a responsibility to take measures to keep them out and protect them from their own misjudgment.

As noted in the 1990 Florida Supreme Court case of Martinello v. B&P USA Inc., attractive nuisance isn’t a separate cause of action or theory of liability. Instead, it’s a doctrine that imposes a duty on the landowner or occupant to trespassing children that otherwise wouldn’t exist under circumstances of non-liability to trespassers. The exception is spelled out in F.S. 768.075. Continue reading

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Fort Myers injury lawyerOne of the most difficult aspects of recovery from an extended illness or serious injury is the mounting hospital bills. If one’s poor medical condition was the result of another’s carelessness or negligence, these bills might be covered by the at-fault party’s insurer. When it comes to Florida personal injury litigation, medical bill reimbursement is often a key part of any case. It should be understood by plaintiffs, however, that whatever financial recovery you obtain in a settlement for prior medical expenses must usually be repaid to the health care provider, hospital, or insurer that initially covered them. Those entities will often argue that they have a “lien” on your personal injury settlement or verdict. These bills or liens can quickly become complicated matters, resulting in a great hassle – and a potentially much smaller sum of money in your pocket – if you don’t deal with them promptly and properly. As a Fort Myers injury lawyer, I’m familiar with the nebulous tactics used by both insurers and providers in these situations, as well as the ever-shifting policy and precedent. At the time of publishing the Florida Supreme Court has recently invalidated the Lee Memorial Hospital Lien law.

When you bring forth an injury lawsuit, your attorney has an ethical obligation to put forth reasonable effort to resolve any disputes between you (the client) and any third-party lienholders (most commonly hospitals, insurers, and health care providers). Where disputes can’t be resolved, we may recommend depositing the disputed funds into the court registry while the case continues. Sometimes, these situations drag on long enough to prompt litigation over unfair/deceptive billing practices, unfair debt collection practices, overcharging, etc. Such action, however, should be a last resort. Ideally, you’re working with a competent civil injury lawyer who will help you resolve these outstanding claims as soon as possible so you can move on with your life. It’s one of the reasons we strongly urge potential clients to hire injury lawyers with proven experience in this particular field of law, rather than jack-of-all-trade law offices.

Disputing Unreasonable Hospital Bills

The issue of unreasonable medical billing has become an increasingly relevant issue in Florida and across the country. It’s gotten so bad that some individuals and families actively seek care in foreign countries. However, that isn’t a realistic option for most folks.

Hospital charges often have little connection to the actual internal costs of services – or even the amounts they typically negotiate with insurers. In most cases, even when patients are asked to pay the bills in full as charged, it goes unpaid. However, plaintiffs injured in third-party liability situations are among those that may get charged the full amount of the care they receive.

What works in the favor of my Fort Myers injury lawyer clients is the fact that patients are allowed to challenge hospital charges that are unreasonable. Continue reading

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dangerous exercise equipment Naples injury lawyerPhysical fitness hype – as well as exercise equipment purchases – soared the past few years, as Americans sought ways to get in shape while also spending more time at home. While cardio and lifting are undoubtedly good for your health, it’s worth pointing out that dangerous exercise equipment has been known to lead to serious injury, sometimes leading to regulatory interventions and lawsuits.

As our Naples injury lawyers can explain, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which has regulated workout equipment since the 1990s, has in the last two decades issued more than 80 recalls of exercise equipment and collected millions in civil penalties. Some of these cases have been fairly recent. Among them:

  • A $7.95 million civil penalty against Cybex International, Inc. for failure to immediately report defects of two of its machines: The Arm Curl and Smith Press machines. The CPSC says each created an unreasonable risk of serious injuries. According to the agency, a weld on the Arm Curl machine can fail, causing the handle to unexpectedly separate and strike the user in the face. The company received 85 consumer reports of broken handles and serious injury – including one person who permanently lost their vision. Yet the manufacturer didn’t inform federal safety regulators, as required by law. Same with the more than two dozen reports the company received involving a weight bar on its press machines. Customers had been paralyzed and suffered spinal fractures when impacted by the bar, but the company didn’t issue a recall or even a notice to the CPSC. Eventually, the arm curl machine was recalled in 2015. The press machines were recalled three years later. Now, in addition to the CPSC’s civil penalties, the company – under new ownership – is enrolled in an enhanced safety compliance monitoring program.
  • A $6.5 million civil penalty against Core Health & Fitness LLC for failure to immediately report a defect creating an unreasonable risk of serious injury involving its Dual Adjustable Pulley Machines and Cable Cross Over Machines. According to federal product safety regulators, the fitness equipment manufacturer knew that the height-adjusting carriages on its machines had the ability to loosen and fall, potentially causing serious injury risk. The company had fielded 55 user injury reports pertaining to this issue – including nearly a dozen that resulted in lacerations to the head, some requiring staples or stitches. Yet the company didn’t turn this information over to safety officials, as required by law.
  • The popular Peloton Tread+ was recalled by the company last spring after the CPSC issued a warning following numerous instances where small children (and one pet) were injured after being trapped, pinned, and pulled under the rear roller of the machine. At the time of that warning, there were at least 39 incidents of it happening – and one child’s death. Consumers using the product in a home with children were urged to immediately stop using the device. Further, all objects – including exercise balls and other equipment – were urged to be kept away from the treadmills.

These are just a few of the recently-reported exercise accident incidents, injuries caused by dangerous or malfunctioning workout equipment are nothing new.

Who is Liable for Dangerous Exercise Equipment Injuries?

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South Florida construction accident lawyerAs far as workplaces go, construction sites are among the most precarious. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that of the more than 300 workers who died on-the-job in Florida in a single recent year, the private construction industry had the highest number, accounting for 91 percent of those. The risk of a Florida construction accident is heightened when work is done at significant heights, next to a busy roadway, down in trenches, and with toxic materials, hazardous chemicals, and live electricity. The number of workers who survive – albeit with serious injuries – is even higher.

Among recent incidents of construction accident injury in Florida:

As our Fort Myers construction injury lawyers can explain, it is possible for workers injured in Florida construction accidents to sue. However, most cases are typically third-party liability lawsuits as opposed to direct lawsuits against an employer. That’s because Florida workers’ compensation laws – F.S. 440.11, in particular – holds that no-fault workers’ compensation coverage is the exclusive remedy for injury claims an employee may have against an employer. There are, however, some exceptions and (more commonly) situations where third parties are liable.

Legal Options After Florida Construction Accident Injury

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Fort Myers car accident lawyerAnother rainy season is just around the corner here for us in Southwest Florida, where an average of 56 inches of rain falls annually. Just as safely navigating snow and ice are critical skills for drivers up north, careful driving in severe thunderstorms is imperative for motorists in South Florida. As a longtime Fort Myers car accident lawyer, over the years I’ve seen too many preventable crashes caused by drivers who failed to use adequate caution during heavy rain.

Although turbulent weather can be cited as a factor in a collision, it doesn’t negate the fault of drivers who operate their vehicles with less care than they should during a downpour.

If you drive in Florida, you owe certain reasonable duties of care to your passengers, other motorists, pedestrians, construction workers, bicyclists and anyone else sharing the road. Drivers are expected to take any and all precautions to drive safely at all times. Reasonable care is expected with regard to every vehicle or person in the foreseeable zone of danger. That means mostly driving at a speed that is reasonable for the amount of traffic on the road, but it also means adjusting one’s speed and driving behavior in accordance with weather conditions.

For example, a driver caught in a sudden rainstorm may be moving at the speed limit but still deemed to be negligently operating their vehicle because of the significantly reduced visibility and increased potential to skid and slide. Continue reading

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Florida salon injuries lawyerPeople patronize Florida salons and spas with the goal of looking and feeling their best. Operators have a responsibility to follow professional guidelines and best practices and avoid using products or processes that will put their clients at risk of physical harm. Unfortunately, as our Fort Myers injury lawyers can explain, when salon service providers fall short, the outcome can be far worse than a bad haircut. Practitioners are working with dangerous, caustic chemicals, lasers, sharp instruments, and extreme heat/UV lighting. Salon injuries can be the basis for litigation and sizable damage awards.

Examples of salon injuries resulting from salon and spa negligence in Florida can include the following:

  • Burns (chemical, laser, heat, electrical, or wax).
  • Cuts from sheers, nail clipping/filing tools, or scissors.
  • Scalp injuries leading to permanent loss of hair or scarring.
  • Staph and bacterial infections.
  • Eye injuries (as a result of eyebrow and eyelash treatments).
  • Back and neck injuries.
  • Slip-and-fall injuries.

Recently, a South Florida salon injury resulted in a $1.75 million settlement after a cut during a pedicure resulted in a foot injury that ultimately forced doctors to amputate her leg. Continue reading

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Florida concert injuriesDroves of music-lovers flock to concerts and music festivals because they thrive on the rush of shared energy and musical collaboration. But the presence of so many bodies in close proximity can have deadly consequences, as we saw recently at the Travis Scott Astroworld Festival tragedy in Houston, TX. Crowd surge has been cited in the deaths of at least 9 people and the serious injuries of dozens more. Mounting lawsuits against the performer, the venue, and the organizers are asserting negligence resulting in the concert injuries and deaths.

Scott’s performances are known to be marked by rowdiness bordering on danger, and the singer has even been arrested twice in the past for encouraging people to rush the stage in direct defiance of public safety orders. Among the Astroworld injury claims filed so far, plaintiffs accuse Scott of having actively encouraged and fomented dangerous behaviors leading to death and serious injury. A criminal investigation into the deaths is also underway. Although it’s early in the investigation/discovery process, the general consensus by crowd safety experts appears to be that these concert injuries were preventable.

As longtime Florida injury lawyers and wrongful death attorneys, we recognize that while this is one of the most significant concert injury cases in recent memory, it’s sadly far from the first. In fact, previous incidents are precisely why large venues and product companies typically have a long list of stringent safety protocols that must be followed. Most notably, National Fire Protection Association standards have provisions that include things like:

  • One crowd manager per every 250 people – at the very least.
  • Expected occupant loads in excess of 6,000 require a life safety evaluation that assesses safe egress and danger mitigation for large numbers, given expected crowd behaviors, nature of the event/participants, potential severe weather conditions, hazardous materials incidents, medical emergencies, civil disturbances, etc.
  • Emergency Action Plans that include a minimum of 18 different considerations, such as building details, staff training, evacuation procedures, designated staff responsible for emergency duties (and proper training), drills, etc. These EAPs should be approved by the authority having jurisdiction.
  • In areas of assembled occupancies of up to 10,000 square feet, the occupant load shouldn’t exceed one person for every 7 square feet.

It is not immediately clear whether these provisions were followed at Astroworld, but some safety experts have gone on record to opine they likely weren’t. Standing-room only setups are known to be among the most dangerous and deadly crowd configurations at large events. It’s imperative these areas don’t get overpacked and that there are specially-trained crowd managers and medical teams on hand. Throngs of this size are supposed to be constantly monitored by these specialists, and issues promptly and properly addressed before problems pass the point of no return. Continue reading

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Florida nursing home injury lawyerThe potential for serious Florida nursing home injury rises exponentially when facilities are poorly staffed. A recent report from the Florida Health Care Association reveals nursing home staffing shortages have become more problematic than ever over the last year. A survey of long-term care facilities throughout the Sunshine State reveals a stunning 92 percent say they are short-staffed, with 88 percent revealing the problem has gotten worse since 2020.

Almost all responding nursing homes (98 percent) said they’d had to ask staffers to work overtime in the past month. Nearly 75 percent had to bring in temp agency workers to help fill full-time staff shortages. Approximately half have said they’ve cut down on the number of monthly admissions.

Among the nursing home staff positions that have proven hardest to fill:

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Naples injury lawyerTaking legal action is sometimes the best strategy following a Florida injury in a car crash, slip-and-fall, or medical mistake. However, doing so is typically inadvisable without the aid of a Naples injury lawyer. The first step in that process may be something called a “free consultation.”

You may have heard the term, but how much insight/advice is actually included in that? What should you bring to it? What questions should you ask? If you schedule one, are you obligated to hire that lawyer/law firm? Will you actually speak with a lawyer of will the consultation be with a staff member?

The consultation is at no charge to you and a great opportunity for you to glean important information about your rights, what your case may be worth, the possible outcome, and how a lawyer might help you pursue damages. There is no obligation for you to hire that particular attorney during the consultation. In fact, it may be advisable to consult with more than one Naples injury lawyer before deciding which one you ultimately hire (if you hire one at all). It’s a risk-free way to gain a better understanding of your legal options and to make an educated choice about which attorney will be the best fit to help you do it.
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South Florida injury lawsuitEvery Florida injury lawsuit is different, and the law is always evolving. That’s why when you ask any lawyer a seemingly straightforward question, you almost always get: “It depends.”

That said, there are some common questions our Fort Myers personal injury lawyers have noticed frequently arise, whether we’re talking about car accidents, nursing home injuries, slip-and-falls or medical malpractice.

If you’re thinking of suing for a personal injury or wrongful death in the Sunshine State, here are five facts to know: Continue reading

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