car accident

April 9, 2018

Liability When Poor Road Conditions, Construction, Cause Florida Car Accident

The majority of car accidents in Fort Lauderdale are the result of driver error, often distraction, impairment or speeding. However, poor road conditions can be a causal or contributing factor. It’s imperative for injury attorneys examining your claim for damages to carefully analyze whether this may be grounds to file claims against additional parties, such as the local municipality, the state or construction company. car accident

In most of these cases, we must show the defendant had a duty of care to maintain the roadway, breached that duty with negligent maintenance, and/ or failed to adequately warn drivers of a potential danger.

Crashes in construction zones are a unique – and serious – problem. The U.S. Department of Transportation reports that in 2015, there were nearly 97,000 crashes in work zones nationally – representing an almost 8 percent increase since 2015 and a 42 percent increase since 2013. Of course, crashes overall have gone up as well, but the increase in these crashes is over-represented. More than a quarter of them involved injury to at least one person and 642 of them resulted in at least one death. More than 40 percent of those deadly crashes were rear-end collisions. Continue reading

December 26, 2017

Be Wary of Drunk Drivers in South Florida This New Year’s Holiday

By Ansara Law Personal Injury Attorneys

New Year’s Day is all about the celebration of new beginnings. Unfortunately, it’s one that is all too often associated with tragic endings, at least on the roads.

An analysis released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reveals Jan. 1st is the single deadliest day of the year when it comes to alcohol-related crashes involving motor vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians. The IIHS late last year looked at the most recent five years of deadly crash information, and discovered that on that day, an average of 70 people were killed in collisions where at least one driver, pedestrian or cyclist had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher. In fact, 62 percent of all deadly crashes in the U.S. on that day were attributed to impairment by alcohol, which is almost double the overall rate of 35 percent.

In just looking at occupants of motor vehicles (excluding large trucks), an average of 83 people were killed in car accidents on New Year’s Day over that five-year time frame, compared to an average of 59 on any other given day.

It especially doesn’t bode well this year that overall traffic deaths have spiked, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports the number of alcohol-impaired driving crashes in rose nearly 2 percent between 2015 and 2016. Nearly 10,500 people died in drunk driving accidents last year. Continue reading

November 14, 2017

Pizza Deliver Crash Raises Questions of Employer Liability

By Ansara Law Personal Injury Attorneys

When an employee acting in the course and scope of employment is negligent and causes injury to someone else, the employer can be held vicariously liable for those injuries – even if there is no evidence the employer did anything wrong or breached any duty of care.

However, Florida employers may also be held directly liable if there is evidence they breached some duty of care. Usually we see this manifested in legal theories such as negligent hiring or negligent supervision.

Recently, the Indiana Supreme Court affirmed a long-standing rule in that state that plaintiffs have to pick one or the other: Vicarious liability or direct liability. Continue reading

November 7, 2017

Legislators Fight to Overturn Florida’s No-Fault Car Insurance Law

By Ansara Law Personal Injury Attorneys

Florida is a no-fault state when it comes to car insurance, which means per F.S. 627.736, motorists have access to $10,000 in medical and wage loss benefits from their own insurer – regardless of who is at fault. It also means they cannot sue the at-fault driver for further damages unless they have a broken bone, have lost the use of an important body function, suffered a permanent disability or scarring. Wrongful death claims also may be pursued outside of no-fault laws.

Lawmakers in Florida are working to change this. HB19, sponsored by a South Florida Republican and slated for consideration during the 2018 session, would repeal Florida’s Personal Injury Protection law that was first enacted in the early 1970s. The law would scrap PIP coverage and replace it with bodily injury liability coverage. Most states require bodily injury liability coverage (which covers others’ injuries if you’re at-fault in a crash). While most insured drivers in Florida have it, it’s not technically required. The state’s Financial Responsibility Law does mandate drivers be responsible for a minimum of $20,000 in damages to others if they’re at-fault in a crash, so most motorists opt to purchase it so they can avoid personal liability.

A House panel recently voted 18-7 to propel the measure forward to the House Floor when the new session starts in January. Continue reading

September 28, 2017

Holding Bars Liable for Contractors’ Drunk Driving

By Ansara Law Personal Injury Attorneys

As far as dram shop laws go, Florida’s is pretty weak. It’s not that F.S. 768.125 isn’t worth considering in your drunk driving accident claim, but it can only be applied in limited circumstances. A dram shop law is one that allows claimants to hold a bar or liquor license holder accountable for failure to prevent a patron from becoming inebriated before getting behind the wheel and seriously injuring himself or others.

The circumstances under which drunk driving accident victims in Fort Lauderdale can assert a dram shop claim are when:

The driver was served alcohol, despite being under the legal age of 21.
The bar staff knew or should have known driver was a habitual alcoholic, and yet continued to serve him drinks anyway.

June 14, 2016

Florida Tractor-Trailer Accident Victim Dies One Year Later

By Ansara Law Personal Injury Attorneys

One year after a tractor-trailer accident rendered him critically injured, trucker Chris Liddy – a father of three, husband and bicycling enthusiast – has died.

The Orlando Sentinel reported the sad news after a year-long fight for his life that ended recently in a hospice facility in Central Florida. He was just 40-years-old. Friends and family told reporters Liddy loved the open road, whether it was driving his tractor-trailer or bicycling across the state – a hobby he had fervently dedicated himself to in recent years.

The truck accident that caused his injuries occurred last July. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Liddy’s truck collided with another tractor-trailer on the Turnpike in St. Lucie County one morning shortly after 5 a.m. Investigators later told WPTV NBC-5 that the two trucks were traveling southbound with the other truck a short distance ahead of Liddy. For an undetermined reason, Liddy’s semi struck the rear trailer of the other vehicle. Liddy then struck a median guardrail and jackknifed. Continue reading

April 16, 2016

Vicarious Liability in Car Accident When At-Fault Driver is On-the-Job

By Ansara Law Personal Injury Attorneys

A local auto dealership may be facing a vicarious liability lawsuit soon, following a tragic car accident in Delray Beach in which a mechanic behind the wheel lost control of the car and smashed into a motorcycle, fatally injuring one of the riders.

According to The Sun-Sentinel, the Ed Morse Toyota Scion, which is part of the larger Ed Morse Automotive Group, offered condolences to the family of the decedent, a Canadian woman who was the rear passenger of the bike.

Police with the Delray Beach department allege that a mechanic for the auto dealership was speeding along Dixie Highway when he reportedly lost control of the vehicle, a 2002 Lexus sedan. He was reportedly test-driving the vehicle. Continue reading

March 25, 2016

Rish v. Simao – Low Impact Car Accident Defense

By Ansara Law Personal Injury Attorneys

Just because a Fort Lauderdale car accident occurs at relatively low speeds does not mean it cannot cause serious injuries. Consider that a typical passenger car weighs about 2,000 pounds. If that vehicle makes impact at 10 mph, it’s going to strike with 3.7 tons of force.

Of course, this has the potential to cause injuries.

Still, that won’t prevent the at-fault driver from asserting the low-impact defense if they can help it. They will try to introduce as evidence pictures of the minimal amount of damage to the vehicle. They may also introduce witness testimony to illustrate the crash occurred in stop-and-go traffic or while vehicles were not traveling fast. They may also highlight the fact that plaintiff refused medical attention immediately after the crash, insinuating that plaintiff may be exaggerating the extent of his or her injuries. Continue reading

December 13, 2015

Porsche Points Finger at Paul Walker for Crash That Killed Him

By Ansara Law Personal Injury Attorneys

Nearly two years to the day Fast and Furious star Paul Walker died in a car crash, his father has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against auto maker Porsche. It’s the second such lawsuit against the German car manufacturer. The first was filed by Walker’s teen daughter, Meadow.

The 40-year-old movie star was a front seat passenger in a rare 2005 Porsche Carrera GT, driven by professional racer friend Roger Rodas. The vehicle struck a lamppost and tree in suburban Los Angeles. The vehicle burst into flames shortly after impact, and Rodas and Walker, 40, were burned beyond recognition.

Although investigators with the county and state deduced that high speeds were likely the core cause of the crash, the lawsuit filed by Walker’s father asserts the vehicle lacked important safety features found not just on other high-end racing cars, but on the company’s basic models. Continue reading