truck accident attorney

March 15, 2022

SCOTUS Hears Florida Personal Injury-Medicaid Reimbursement Dispute

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering a question that concerns Florida personal injury plaintiffs. Specifically, should the state’s Medicaid program be allowed to seek reimbursement for past medical care by siphoning personal injury lawsuit settlement funds that are expressly dedicated to future medical expenses? Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawyer

As our Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawyers can explain, this could impact how we as attorneys approach settlement negotiations.

The case that kickstarted the dispute in Gallardo v. Marstiller is a tragic one. A 13-year-old girl has been left in a persistent vegetative state after she was hit by a truck while getting off a school bus. She received a settlement of $800,000 against the owner of the truck, the driver, and the school board. (The cost of catastrophic injuries like this for someone so young can easily stretch into many millions of dollars over her lifetime.)

But then, the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration imposed a lien on her settlement money, asserting that it was entitled to seize $300,000 of the money that was set aside for past and future medical expenses. The district court in Florida ruled against the state, arguing the federal Medicaid Act barred the state from being reimbursed for past paid medical expenses from the portion of the settlement that is set aside for future medical expenses. In the summer of 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit reversed in favor of the state’s action.

It was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments in January and is expected to rule in the coming months. Continue reading

June 11, 2019

FMCSA Toying With Idea of Allowing Teens to Drive Large Trucks

By Ansara Law Personal Injury Attorneys

Teenagers are some of the highest-risk drivers on Florida roads. Large trucks are among the most lethal vehicles. Yet the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is floating the idea of a potential pilot program that would give 18-to-20-years-old the keys to big rigs. Fort Lauderdale truck accident attorney

As it stands, federal regulation limits allowances on interstate commercial vehicle operation to those over 21. But last month, the FMCSA announced it was seeking public comment on an initiative to address the commercial truck driver shortage by on-boarding teenage truckers.

Truck accident attorneys understand this was expand an existing pilot program that allows some 200 youths 18-to-20 to operate interstate commercial trucks – but only if they have military training. This expanded version would extend to teens without any formal military training could soon be commandeering 80,000-pound machines, for the purpose of revving up the trucking industry that is experiencing a driver shortage.

Federal regulators are asking for all public input from all stakeholders. They’re bracing for a flood, with big business trucking industry advocates on one side and independent owner-operators, safety groups, railroads and unions on the other. Some have already taken their message to the media, arguing the discussion should be about moving the minimum driving age for truckers up – not down. Even with military training, there is concern it would not be enough to combat inherent youthful immaturity, particularly among males, who are most likely to apply. Continue reading

November 29, 2016

Report: Truck Accident Risk Rises With $740 Billion Backlog of Road, Bridge Repairs

By Ansara Law Personal Injury Attorneys

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.

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

October 2, 2016

Truck Accident Victim’s Daughters Win $35M Wrongful Death Verdict

By Ansara Law Personal Injury Attorneys

It’s estimated there are approximately 15.5 million large trucks operating in the U.S., including about 2 million tractor-trailers. There are more than 1 million trucking companies and an estimated 3.5 million truck drivers. There is ample opportunity for something to go wrong, and that’s a serious problem when we’re talking about such massive vehicles sharing the roadway with smaller, vulnerable passenger vehicles.

One of those who was unfortunate enough to cross paths with a negligent truck driver was 42-year-old Velma Dismukes. She was a single mother of three girls, ranging in age from 15 to 26. She was employed as a hospice nurse in Texas and she set out one February morning in 2015 to check in on a patient at home. The roads were icy. She took it slow. Unfortunately, the semi-truck that careened into her lane was not.

According to DallasNews.com, the driver picked up the rig from the terminal that morning, set to deliver office supplies from Dallas to a smaller suburb about an hour away. He was well aware of the condition of the roads because he drove himself to the terminal. Nonetheless, he failed to install snow chains on his vehicle. This proved a deadly mistake. Continue reading