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The holidays are a time to spend with family and loved ones and celebrate the season. People especially look forward to New Year’s Eve and the chance to start all over again with a clean slate. But sadly, for far too many people, New Year’s is a time of endings. That’s because there is a surge in drunk drivers. Revelers are out late to ring in the New Year, and fail to plan ahead, call for a ride or just stay where they are. Instead, they risk their own lives – and the lives of their companions and everyone else sharing the road – to make it to their destination. newyearseve

Technically and statistically speaking, New Year’s Eve isn’t actually horrible when to impaired drivers. The worst comes after midnight, on New Year’s Day. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, more than half of all fatal crashes on New Year’s Day involve a driver who was drunk or impaired. Intoxication by alcohol is typically measured by whether one had a blood-alcohol concentration that exceeded 0.08.

New Year’s Day exceeds even July 4th when it comes to the percentage of fatal crashes stemming from alcohol intoxication. On that day, 42 percent of all deadly accidents involve a drunk driver. The third is St. Patrick’s Day, on which 40 percent of all roadway deaths involve impaired motorists.  Continue reading

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It was supposed to be one of those memorable nights you look back on fondly with friends years later. Instead, it was the last night of Mason Zisette’s life. The 16-year-old was killed while on a double-decker, open air tour bus in California in the summer of 2014. He was aboard celebrating the 16th birthday of a female friend. As the bus passed under a pedestrian bridge, Zisette stood up. His head struck the bridge. At first, it seemed only like a small bump on his head. But he lost conscious almost immediately. He never woke up. He suffered a traumatic brain injury from which he ultimately died. teen

Now, following a jury trial that named the girl’s parents, the tour bus company and the driver, his parents have been awarded $26 million in damages. It’s believed to be the largest amount ever awarded in California for the wrongful death of a minor. The bus company was assigned 70 percent of the blame. The girl’s parents shouldered 25 percent of the blame. Zisette, meanwhile, was just 5 percent negligent for his own death.

His parents say the money is not going to bring their son back. However, they intend to use it to help press for legislation that will help change the laws and improve bus safety, which the parents say his sorely lacking. They don’t want another child to suffer the same kind of wrongful death as their beloved son, whom they called “exuberant” and “full of joy.”  Continue reading

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People shopping for the holidays – or really any time – have an expectation that they’ll be reasonably safe when they go to the store. That means the boxes will be safely stacked, spills will be cleaned up and the walkways cleared of debris or other hazards. It also means that businesses take care to avoid creating a condition that would invite violent crime on customers. grocerystore

Failure to provide adequate security – whether in the form of armed guards or staff or lighting – is a form of premises liability. That means if you suffer a violent attack while at a shopping center, the store could be responsible to pay you damages. There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to security, though, and that’s where these cases can get tricky. One of the ways that plaintiffs can prove the store knew or should have known about the risk is by showing a pattern of similar activity in the recent past either on site or nearby or at similar kinds of stores. 

Recently, there has been scrutiny on one of the largest retailers in the country to address ongoing problems with crime at it stores that have drained law enforcement resources, bled into neighboring communities and jeopardized the safety of customers. Bloomberg recently chronicled the issue. This time, it’s labor activists pushing for action from the corporation. Specifically, the labor groups want the retailer to improve security in its stores and in its parking lots nationwide. Continue reading

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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. motorcycle

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

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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. doctor

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

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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. intersection

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.

Continue reading

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A Florida man alleges he suffered permanent personal injury in a pedestrian accident he says occurred when two police officers left him intoxicated by the side of U.S. 98 North last summer. The 29-year-old says he’ll never walk again without assistance, and is seeking to collect damages from the department that employed the officers, as well as from the officers personally. crosswalk

He was one of 7,870 people injured in pedestrian accidents in Florida last year, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV). The agency’s latest traffic accident statistics report indicates there was a nearly 2 percent increase in pedestrian injuries in the Sunshine State last year. There was a 3 percent increase in the number of overall pedestrian crashes (from 8,838 in 2014 to 9,085 in 2015), as well as a 4.3 percent increase in the number of pedestrian accident fatalities (from 606 in 2014 to 632 in 2015).

The total number of traffic accidents last year was 374,342 – a 9 percent increase from the year before. Pedestrian accidents comprised 2.4 percent of all traffic crashes, but 23.6 percent of all fatal crashes last year.  Continue reading

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A horrific school bus crash in Tennessee made international headlines when the driver, ferrying 37 children, strayed from the route and crashed, leaving six children dead and dozens injured. Questions have been raised as to whether the 24-year-old driver intentionally crashed the bus and whether the district should have been aware that he was a possible risk on the road.school bus

The reality is that school bus accidents – especially fatal ones – aren’t all that common. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that between 20004 and 2013, there were 1,214 school-transportation related fatal crashes. Approximately 134 people die in school vehicle-related crashes and about 8 percent of those are actually on the bus. About one-fifth are pedestrians and bicyclists. Most are people in other vehicles.

In the recent Florida case of Davis v. Baez, plaintiff was a student pedestrian who was injured when she was struck by another vehicle while crossing a darkened, busy street early one morning to get to her bus stop. Normally, the school bus driver wouldn’t be liable in a case like this, but the driver – allegedly and against the school district’s policy – instructed students at this particular stop to cross the street and be waiting for him at the bus stop on the east side of the street when he arrived. He told them if they didn’t cross before he got there, he wouldn’t stop to pick them up. However, school policy required that the students be allowed to wait on the east side of the street until the bus arrived, at which time the driver would extend his flashing stop sign to halt traffic in both directions so students could cross safely to the stop.  Continue reading

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There are approximately 4,000 large truck and bus crashes annually in the U.S., with most resulting in at least one serious injury or death. These vehicles are prevalent on our nation’s highways, where they cause significant wear-and-tear on the roads. Poor road conditions contribute to about half of all fatal crashes in the U.S., according to a study by the Transportation Construction Coalition, making it a more significant contributing factor than drunk driving, speeding or failure to wear seat belts. trucks

All this makes the latest report from TRIP all the more troubling. TRIP is a national research group based in D.C. The latest study opines a $740 billion backlog in infrastructure spending in order fr our nation’s roads, bridges and highways to be safe. Researchers further noted that the deterioration of roads is going to happen even faster as the rate of vehicle travel continues pick up and local and state governments find themselves coming up short to fully fund needed maintenance and repairs.

The shortfall was tallied by an analysis of data complied by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), as well as state and federal bridge and road condition information.  Continue reading

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Another Florida appellate court has struck down a state law that restricts the amount of money that can be awarded for pain-and-suffering in a medical malpractice lawsuit that results in injury. The Florida Supreme Court had already declared that medical malpractice damage caps on such cases resulting in death were not constitutional. However, the question of whether damages could be capped in cases that “only” resulted in injury was left unanswered. gavel

Now, the 2nd District Court of Appeal joined the 4th DCA’s prior opinion, holding that these non-economic damages are also not constitutional. The Florida Supreme Court is still weighing the 4th DCA’s opinion on the issue.

This could result in the biggest change in Florida injury litigation in more than a decade. Two years ago, the Florida Supreme Court ruled in McCall v. U.S. that medical malpractice damage caps – imposed by a 2003 state law under then-Gov. Jeb Bush – were not constitutional in cases where the patient had died. Now, the 2nd DCA has ruled in Port Charlotte HMA v. Suarez that the same is true when the patient survives medical negligence. This backs the findings of the 4th DCA in North Broward Hospital District v. Kalitan.  Continue reading

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