Florida Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Published on: May 15, 2019

Summer Motorcycle Safety Awareness in SWFL

Florida is the most popular state in the nation for motorcycle riders.

It is also the most dangerous. ridersafety-300x261

May is Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month. Our motorcycle injury attorneys in Fort Myers encourage motorists to take seriously safety messages like “Look Twice, Save a Life.” Do not assume motorcycle safety is a rider’s responsibility. Most riders do whatever they can to stay safe. The reality is that the vast majority of motorcycle accidents involving passenger vehicles are the fault of the vehicle’s driver.

Published on: May 2, 2019

Florida Car Accident Lawsuit Alleges Rideshare App Distracted Driver

by Leland Garvin

A South Florida car accident lawsuit alleges rideshare technology used by Lyft Inc. is unreasonably dangerous as designed, contributing to driver distraction and increasing the risk of serious crashes. Lyft, like the other ride-share technology platforms, doesn’t own a fleet of vehicles nor does it technically employ the drivers. The app connects people looking for rides with vetted drivers, insured by Lyft’s liability policy when the app is in use, despite the drivers’ independent contractor status. car accident lawyer

Fort Myers injury lawyers know Lyft, Uber and other rideshare services have paid a fair number of Florida car accident lawsuit claims, alleging the drivers were negligent in causing crashes that resulted in injury. Rideshare drivers have been accused of distraction before, but not, to our knowledge, specifically in relation to use of the app itself.

This complaint, filed in the 15th Judicial Circuit Court in Palm Beach County, states that the crash occurred in January on State Road A1A as plaintiff was exiting local resort where she worked on foot. The lawsuit alleges that the plaintiff has suffered extensive injuries, including brain trauma as a result of a driver who was distracted by the required Lyft app. Continue reading

Published on: April 15, 2019

$1M Florida Personal Injury Lawsuit Damage Cap Proposed by Lawmakers

by Leland Garvin

Florida lawmakers are seeking to limit the amount of non-economic damages that can be recovered by plaintiffs in personal injury lawsuits. Fort Myers personal injury lawyer

Specifically, HB 17 would impose a $1 million cap on payments made to injury claimants for intangible losses like pain and suffering, emotional anguish and loss of life enjoyment. While it’s true these losses are more subjective than things like medical bills or lost income, they are no less worthy of compensation.

As long-time Fort Myers personal injury lawyers, we know tort reform efforts like this are nothing new in Florida. Insurers and big corporations have lobbied intensely for them for decades. Proponents argue reform is necessary to keep consumers’ insurance rates in check and prevent frivolous claims and outrageous damage awards.

Published on: March 15, 2019

Teen Drivers at High Risk of SWFL Traffic Accidents

by Leland Garvin

The National Safety Council has launched “DriveitHome,” a nationwide campaign urging parents to play an active role in their child’s driving education.

Here in Southwest Florida, our car accident lawyers in Fort Myers and Cape Coral know teenagers and young adults are involved in a disproportionately high number of serious and fatal motor vehicle collisions. Most parents believe they understand the risks and are doing enough to help educate their young drivers; however, traffic collisions remain the leading cause of death for children. Put another way, your child is more likely to die in a traffic collision than by any other means. ambulance-300x201

Drivers under the age of 19 are three times more likely to be involved in a fatal traffic collision than drivers over the age of 65, the second-most-dangerous age group. The DriveitHome campaign reports more than 2 million young drivers take to the roads each year and are involved in nearly 1 million reported crashes. Nearly half of all crashes occur at night, despite far fewer drivers on the roads.

Published on: February 28, 2019

Spring Break Dangerous Time for Tourist Injuries in Southwest Florida

by Leland Garvin

The Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox have rolled into town for Spring Training and Spring Breakers are right behind them.

The next two months will be the most exhilarating of the year in Southwest Florida; and the most dangerous. tourbus-300x185

Over the next two months, nearly 1.5 million people will visit Lee County, about twice the county’s residential population, adding more than $1 billion to the local economy. Our injury lawyers in Fort Myers know traffic accidents are a primary threat, but far from the only risk facing visitors and residents through the height of tourist season.

Published on: February 14, 2019

SWFL Boating Safety in Focus

by Leland Garvin

A series of high-profile boating accidents has safety advocates preaching caution as we head into the height of Southwest Florida’s tourist season.

With nearly 1 million registered vessels and more than 600 serious boating collisions each year, Florida is by far the most dangerous state in the nation, with California as the only other state to report more than 300 boating accidents a year. boats-300x225

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports 52 more reported boating accidents occurred in 2017, compared to the previous year. A total of 766 boating accidents were reported, killing 67 people. Southwest Florida is home to nearly half of the state’s 10 most dangerous counties for boaters, including Monroe County (ranked 1st – 105 reported boating accidents), Lee County (ranked 5th – 39 reported accidents), Collier County (ranked 7th – 31 boating accidents) and Charlotte County (ranked 10th – 18 boating accidents).

Our boating injury lawyers in Fort Myers know the leading type of Florida boating accidents continues to be collisions, either with a fixed object or another vessel. Falls overboard are a leading secondary type, as well as a leading cause of death, making life vests crucial. Last year, 81 percent of those killed were not wearing a life jacket. Continue reading

Published on: January 30, 2019

North Fort Myers Pedestrian Deaths Illustrate SWFL Walking Risks

by Leland Garvin

Two people have already been killed in Lee County pedestrian accidents this January; a reminder that Southwest Florida is among the most dangerous areas in the nation for walkers. streetsigns-300x200

Citing the area’s rapid growth and inadequate infrastructure, Smart Growth America’s landmark 2016 report, Dangerous by Design, ranked the Fort Myers-Cape Coral area as the nation’s deadliest for pedestrians. The just-released 2019 update to that report identified many Florida metro areas as being among the nation’s deadliest for walkers. Most dangerous cities include Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, Lakeland-Winter Haven, Jacksonville, Bakersfield, California; Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, and Jackson, Mississippi.

Six of the most dangerous cities in America (and 8 of the top 10) were all located in Florida. While Fort Myers-Cape Coral avoided again being named most dangerous, our pedestrian injury lawyers in Fort Myers know that’s likely not because Southwest Florida has gotten safer.

“Our best guess is that some other places in Florida got worse,” Emiko Atherton, executive director of the National Complete Streets Coalition, told The News-Press.

In the two most recent incidents, a 12-year-old was hit and killed as she walked along Durrance Street in North Fort Myers. A few days later a 70-year-old Canadian woman was trying to cross the northbound lanes of 41 in North Fort Myers when she was hit and killed by a motorcycle. The motorcyclist also died in the crash.

Published on: November 21, 2018

Recovering Damages After Hit-and-Run Accident in SWFL

by Leland Garvin

Police are looking for the driver who struck a group of people in a Fort Myers parking lot before speeding away. Lehigh Acres car accident lawyer

WINK News reports a woman driving a red four-door car drove into the group of pedestrians just off Marsh Avenue in Fort Myers. Police were trying to determine whether the driver did so intentionally before driving away. One adult and two children were taken to the hospital.

Unfortunately, hit-and-run collisions are a common occurrence in Southwest Florida.

Consulting an experienced car accident lawyer in Fort Myers can determine the best course of action following any traffic collision.

Published on: October 31, 2018

SWFL Explosive Growth Increases Road Risks

by Leland Garvin

Fort Myers has again been named the fastest growing city in America. Fort Myers car accident attorney

Fox4 News reports Lehigh Acres has ranked the seventh fastest growing city in America with Cape Coral ranked 24th. The annual Wallet Hub report looked at the economic growth in 515 cities over the last seven years to come up with the list.

With the accolades come the accidents. The end of Daylight Savings Time on November 4th will bring early darkness to the afternoon commute. Snowbird and seasonal traffic will soon follow, making it a great time to emphasize the need for improved road safety as we head into the year-end holidays.

The reality is that decades of explosive growth have made the roads of Southwest Florida increasingly dangerous; meanwhile, the Lee County Commission has continued to pander to developers and keep in place deeply slashed development “impact fees” which have left our roadway and pedestrian infrastructure outdated and massively underfunded.

Our growth has been staggering by any measure. Lee County’s population was barely 100,000 in 1970. By the year 2000, we had grown to 440,000 and today we are nearing 800,000.

Published on: October 19, 2018

Florida Supreme Court Rejects Daubert Expert Standard, Returns to Frye

by Leland Garvin

UPDATE: Since this writing, the Florida Supreme Court has done an about-face, deciding the more rigorous Daubert analysis will in fact be the new evidentiary standard in Florida cases, both civil and criminal. This will mean the bar to bring – and prevail – in Florida injury lawsuits is raised. In its May 23, 2019 decision In re: Amendments to the Florida Evidence Code, No. SC19-107, the court (now with three new governor-appointed justices since the last ruling) held Florida’s evidence standard should align with that used by federal courts and most other states. The court previously rejected adoption of Daubert following a 2013 legislative amendment, citing procedural issues and “grave constitutional concerns.” In this 5-2 ruling, the court now says those concerns are unfounded.

On October 15, 2018, the Florida Supreme Court, settled the long-running debate about the appropriate admissibility standard for expert opinions thought Florida state courts. In a case that began with a plaintiff who developed mesothelioma after years of exposure to asbestos, the Florida Supreme Court held that Frye, not Daubert, is the appropriate test.

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A sharply divided Florida Supreme Court on Monday said a controversial 2013 law about expert-witness testimony was an unconstitutional infringement on the court’s authority.

Florida Personal Injury Law Blog