Articles Posted in personal injury

Two firefighters, one from Broward County and another from Palm Beach, suffered serious injuries in an airboat collision in the Everglades with a vessel operated by an employee of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).

Now, both are suing the agency, alleging vicarious liability for the negligence of the operator and also direct liability for failing to train employee to know, understand and operate the agency’s airboat safely.

According to a report from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the two firefighters were on a leisure trip in the Everglades, traveling by airboat down a narrow channel along Alligator Alley. It was then they both spotted another airboat traveling in the opposite direction, straight toward them.
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When we are prescribed medicine or the use of medical devices by our doctors, we trust that those devices are safe for the purpose intended when used as directed. We also trust that if there are risks known to the manufacturer of those drugs or devices, they will be disclosed so we can make educated choices about the course of treatment.

Unfortunately, there are some larger pharmaceutical companies that appear more concerned with driving up profits than protecting patients, and have the deep pockets to consider any resulting litigation a “cost of doing business.” This dynamic is highlighted in a phenomenal, in-depth, 15-story series by veteran reporter Steve Brill in the The Huffington Post.

Titled, “America’s Most Admired Lawbreaker,” the series delves into systemic problems of a multi-billion company, Johnson & Johnson, accused of illegal promoting anti-psychotic medication Risperdal to children and the elderly – with horrible side effects for children and potentially fatal outcomes with the elderly. The company aggressively marketed these products to these populations, while hiding information about breast development in boys and lethal outcomes for older users.
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A county health department suspended the license of a water coaster amid a series of lawsuits alleging the amusement park ride caused them to suffer back injuries and spinal injuries.

A local news outlet in Rockford, Ill. has identified at least seven lawsuits against the park district pertaining to the “Splash Blaster” water roller coaster since July 2014. Six of those seven claims were filed in 2015. Two individuals even suffered severe back injuries on the very same day.

The ride reportedly works like this: There’s a two-person, inflatable raft transported by a conveyor belt that operates some 35 feet above the ground. The raft then takes a sudden, dramatic drop through an unlit tunnel and is then shot through the rest of the ride with high-powered water jets. Passengers have no control, and riders aren’t able to choose their raft; instead, they are simply given the next available raft in the system. Many of the pending lawsuits center around the fact the rafts were not properly inflated and therefore didn’t give riders the proper bodily support as they proceeded through the ride.
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A 10-year-old Florida boy has endured weeks of hospitalization and has suffered severe brain damage after suffering ill effects of exposure to fumigation chemicals in the family home, his parents say.

Although the family has not yet filed a personal injury lawsuit, that seems a likely next step for the Palm City family. The once athletic, outgoing boy has lost 90 percent of his motor function. He is unable to walk and talk, and he is still suffering from seizures. He’s lost all function in his left arm and left leg. It’s unclear whether he’ll recover or to what extent.

According to media reports of the ordeal, the family hired a company to spray their home for termites. The job was handed off to a subcontractor, who performed the work on Aug. 14th. Two days later, the family was told by the company it was safe to go back inside and resume their lives.
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Recently, a fifth-grade teacher was killed at an Ohio amusement park after he entered a restricted area to retrieve his cell phone, which had fallen from his pocket while riding a roller coaster.

In the wake of the accident, many were sharply critical of the victim, saying he should not have been in the restricted area and the blame for his death is his own.

While it may be true victim shares some portion of the liability for his own death by entering an area that was restricted, an expert in human factors and ergonomics recently opined to a local newspaper that this tragedy could have almost certainly been prevented with a few relatively inexpensive modifications to park security and policy.
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The slip-and-fall injury case of Sorrels v. NCL dealt with the issue of coefficient of friction. This is a determination of how slippery a given surface is, and it can be an important point to make when asserting that a certain surface, as manufactured, was too slippery for its intended purpose.

The higher the coefficient of friction – or the ratio of force necessary to move on a horizontal surface – the less slippery a surface is.

Different industries have different standards for surface coefficient of friction. For example, the acceptable COF for the tile of an office building will be lower than the COF necessary for the walking surface a boat, where it’s foreseeable that water would regularly be found on that walking surface.
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Just last month, a Boston Red Sox baseball fan was seriously injured when shards of a broken bat flew into the stands at Fenway Park and struck her in the face.

The 44-year-old’s injuries were initially characterized as life-threatening, though she is now expected to survive. She was transferred from a hospital to a long-term rehabilitation center weeks after the incident, which occurred as she watched the second inning of the game from behind the third baseline.

Major League Baseball officials said they were reviewing fan safety at stadiums following the accident, but the question of whether she will be able to hold the stadium accountable is a difficult one.

There are two key defenses in spectator sport injury lawsuits: Assumption of risk and liability release.
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Slip-and-fall accidents in Florida have gotten harder in recent years to pursue in civil court, after legislators heightened the proof standards five years ago.

As a general rule, property owners and businesses owe the utmost duty of care to provide a safe space to guests. This includes keeping the floors clear of debris and slippery substances that might pose a fall risk to patrons.

However, up until 2010, people who did suffer a slip-and-fall needed only to show an out-of-place (transitory) foreign substance caused the accident. But now, with amendments to F.S. 768.0755, the burden of proof is on the injured person to show the business had actual or constructive knowledge of the hazard and failed to address it or warn of it.
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Just because a person signs a waiver of liability before engaging in a certain activity does not mean the owner or organizer cannot be held responsible.

It’s true that waivers of liability can complicate matters, and it’s also a fact that many Florida courts have upheld these waivers as valid. However, that does not mean a case is rendered hopeless just because one exists.

While these waivers needn’t spell out each and every possible injury that might arise from a given activity, they can’t protect against gross negligence or willful, wanton or intentional misconduct. The intent of all parties involved is considered a key issue. These waivers (sometimes referred to as “exculpatory clauses”) are disfavored by the court, but they are generally upheld if the intent to clear one party of all negligence is both clear and unequivocal.
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We tend to think of motor vehicle accidents as the greatest danger to children. And there is truth to that. Crashes are a top cause of death among U.S. children, claiming hundreds of lives each year.

But the bigger risk for many children may surprise you: Falls.

Every day in the U.S., approximately 8,000 children are treated in U.S. emergency rooms for fall-related injuries. This totals 2.8 million children injured every year. Hundreds of children die as a result of falls, which are almost always preventable. On average, 40 percent of these are toddlers and 275,000 sustain traumatic brain injuries.
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