Car Accidents

December 17, 2016

Motorcycle Accident Ended College Football Player’s Career: Who is to Blame?

A motorcycle accident effectively ended the football career of a UCLA offensive lineman seven years ago in California. Amir Ekbatani’s leg was severed when a taxi van driver who failed to yield the right-of-way while making a left turn. The impact of the collision severed the football player’s left leg. He would undergo a total of 13 surgeries and he know walks with a prosthesis. He is fortunate to have emerged from the wreckage with his life.

But now, it’s not just the other motorist whom he blames. It is also the State of California, the government agency responsible for maintaining the road on which the crash occurred. Specifically, he alleges poor road design that made it difficult for the taxi driver to see the plaintiff as he traveled north on the state highway.

There had reportedly been numerous complaints made to the state’s Department of Transportation regarding the condition of the intersection, but the government agency failed to take action, according to the injury lawsuit. Continue reading

December 14, 2016

Lawsuit: Hospital Negligence In Treatment of Crash Victim Resulted in Paralysis

By Ansara Law Personal Injury Attorneys

The central question in a Florida injury lawsuit is whether a plaintiff’s paralyzing spinal cord injuries in June 2012 were the result of medical negligence or the crash for which she was being treated.

The case is Silkworth v. Boca Raton Regional Hospital. The South Florida woman alleges her injuries were caused by failure of the hospital staffers to adhere to appropriate medical guidelines in immediately immobilizing her spine in the wake of a horrific car accident. She had been a passenger in the backseat of a taxi late one night when the vehicle was T-boned by another motorist. She was rushed by ambulance to the hospital. She concedes she was in serious condition when she arrived at the hospital, but the standard of care in her case dictated that medical workers immediately immobilize her spine. But they didn’t do that, and now, she says, she is permanently paralyzed from the waist down.

Medical reports indicate plaintiff didn’t have any symptoms of paralysis until long after she got to the hospital and underwent treatment – without her spine first being immobilized. Continue reading

December 10, 2016

Delray Beach Intersection Won’t Get New Light, Despite Fatal Crash

By Ansara Law Personal Injury Attorneys

Traffic engineers have decided that despite a fatal crash in late September, a Delray Beach intersection won’t be getting a new traffic light after all. However, engineers did recommend moving forward with a number of improvements that were already planned.

The Sun Sentinel reports the crossing at Federal Highway and Northeast First Street will be updated over the next several months to include:

A sign for motorists on Federal Highway, notifying them of the upcoming intersection;
A sign for motorists on Northeast First Street, to notify them cross traffic won’t stop;
Larger stop signs for those traveling both directions on Northeast First Street;
Relocation of a garbage can and bench that reportedly obstruct motorists’ views.

November 21, 2016

West v. United Services Auto Ass’n – Asserting Bad Faith Insurance

By Ansara Law Personal Injury Attorneys

Insurance companies – whether they are dealing with first-person or third-party claims – owe a duty to act in good faith toward an injured person. Generally, though, the duty owed toward an insured is greater than that owed to a third party. In general, adjusters are not acting in bad faith simply because there is a difference of opinion about the value of the claim. However, improper settlement tactics, withholding specific reasons for a very low settlement offer and some other actions, could be evidence of bad faith.

This is why it’s often beneficial for car accident victims to seek assistance in settlement negotiations with insurance companies, particularly if the injuries involved are serious and the effects long-lasting. There is much at stake in bad faith insurance claims, which can sometimes result in plaintiff being awarded triple the amount of damages.

In the recent case of West v. United Services Auto Ass’n, there were numerous parties involved in this car accident injury lawsuit. Although the district court granted a summary judgment for the plaintiff, holding the insurance company was liable for bad faith and ordered payment of $1.4 million to his guardian ad litem. The state supreme court in Montana reversed. Continue reading

October 12, 2016

Sims v. Kia Motors of America – Plaintiff’s Expert Witness Testimony Excluded in Product Liability Lawsuit

By Ansara Law Personal Injury Attorneys

Three year ago, Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed into law amendments to F.S. 90.702 to F.S. 90.704 that changes the standard by which Florida courts determine whether expert witness testimony should be admissible. Previously, we used the “Frye standard,” which asks only whether the technique of the expert is generally accepted as reliable in the relevant scientific community. The legislative change has now instead using the “Daubert standard,” which is more stringent and requires something of a mini-trial in front of a judge before the case can proceed. Questions raise include not just whether the technique is generally accepted, but questions whether there has been empirical testing, whether there has been peer review and publication, whether there is a known or potential error rate, whether there is a maintenance of these standards and more.

The Florida Supreme Court is considering a proposal that would revert the courts back to the Frye standard. (The Florida courts can take action without the legislators on this point because it concerns a procedural element of the court.) Civil plaintiff attorneys argue the Daubert standards are too stringent and serve as a barrier to legal remedy in legitimate claims.

To understand why the importance of this standard matters in civil personal injury lawsuits, we look at the recent case of Sims v. Kia Motors of America, before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Here, the viability of expert witness testimony was critical to the product liability claim in a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from a fatal car accident. Continue reading

October 8, 2016

Gillespie v. National Farmers Union Property & Casualty Co. – Underinsured Motorist Coverage

By Ansara Law Personal Injury Attorneys

Underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage is essential for anyone who drives a car or owns a vehicle. It is the means by which people injured in a car accident by a driver with minimal bodily injury liability coverage can seek more adequate compensation. More than 1 in 4 drivers in Florida don’t have any insurance at all, and a far higher number have insurance with minimum policy limits.

In the case of Gillespie v. National Farmers Union Property & Casualty Co., plaintiff was the policyholder of a UIM policy that, when triggered, would cover not just her but her teenage daughter, who had just earned her temporary driver’s license. But the question before the North Dakota Supreme Court was whether those benefits were indeed triggered.

UIM policies only kick in when:

You are an insured under the policy;
Liability of the other party is established;
The policy limits of the other policy are exhausted;
Those policy limits are inadequate to compensate for crash-related damages.

October 6, 2016

Holt v. DOT – Court Upholds $3M Verdict Against State

By Ansara Law Personal Injury Attorneys

Fort Lauderdale car accident lawyers understand that the negligence of some parties does not necessarily negate the negligence of others.

This was the claim argued recently before the North Carolina Supreme Court, where the families of three people killed (including a mother and her 2-year-old daughter). Families of the decedents argued the state was negligent in failing to take action to install a traffic light at an intersection that was known to require it. The state, in turn, argued the sole cause of the crash were two drag racing drivers. Continue reading

September 25, 2016

Jorge v. Culinary Inst. of Am. – Vicarious Liability of Employer for Car Accident

By Ansara Law Personal Injury Attorneys

Some car accident cases are more complicated than others. This is especially true of cases in which one of the driver was on-the-job, acting in the course and scope of employment and/or was operating a company vehicle.

First, there is consideration that – generally regardless of fault – an employee injured while working can collect workers’ compensation.

Second, if the employee was at-fault and others are injured, those injured persons may seek compensation from the employer by alleging vicarious liability (via the legal theory of “respondeat superior,” which is Latin for, “Let the Master Answer”) or for direct liability (i.e., inadequate training, negligent hiring, inadequate supervision, unsafe equipment, etc.). Even if the employee wasn’t technically on-the-clock, there could be a claim for vicarious liability against the company if the worker was driving the company vehicle. That’s because in Florida, motor vehicles are known as inherently dangerous instrumentalities, and therefore, owners can be held responsible for the negligence of anyone entrusted to operate them. Continue reading

September 21, 2016

Faulty Airbag in Rental Linked to Death of Model, Gymnast, Celebrity Girlfriend

By Ansara Law Personal Injury Attorneys

Airbags are supposed to help save lives – not take them.

That’s what has Jewel Brangman’s father, Alexander, so incensed about the death of his beloved child, whom he called “my best friend.” The striking beauty was a college graduate, a model and a gymnast teacher. She lived in San Diego, and her father had moved there from New York to be closer to her. But the last Father’s Day card he ever received from her was in June 2014. In it, she told him no matter what, she’d always be his little girl.

Just months later, she was gone. She was reportedly traveling in a rental car on the Los Angeles freeway when she rear-ended a van. It was a multi-vehicle collision, involving four cars total. But while all others involved walked away with no serious injuries, 26-year-old Jewel was killed. The Honda in which Jewel was driving was reportedly equipped with a faulty airbag. The vehicle had been recalled back in 2009, but it doesn’t appear the airbag was ever switched. Continue reading

September 14, 2016

$20 Million Verdict Against Truck Company for Traumatic Brain Injury

By Ansara Law Personal Injury Attorneys

Catastrophic traumatic brain injury is a thief. It steals the remnants of a person’s identity. It takes away the lives they and their loved ones once knew. It robs them of the future they might have had.

When traumatic brain injuries occur as a result of a car accident caused by someone else’s negligence, the victim deserves to be compensated, as do their loved ones. It won’t give them back the life they had. But a just outcome in an injury lawsuit can alleviate the stress of medical bills. It can ease the financial woes caused by that individual no longer being able to work. Although nothing can return things to the way they once were, it can help families begin to heal.

Recently, a jury in the Georgia case of Khan v. Moore Freight Service Inc., recognized this. As Courtroom View Network (CVN) reported, plaintiff as awarded $20 million in damages following trial. Continue reading