Broward wrongful death lawyer - Ansara Law Personal Injury Attorneys

Florida Wrongful Death Lawsuits Bring Closure, and a Safer Future

Ansara Law Personal Injury Attorneys — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 16:14:52 GMT

Florida wrongful death lawsuits can help families obtain a measure of accountability from those whose wrongdoing took their loved ones from them. But beyond that, they can make the future safer by compelling changes that may prevent someone else from being harmed in the same way. Through all this, it is our hope as Broward wrongful death attorneys, that surviving family members find some measure of peace and closure.

An example of this was seen recently in the $8.2 million Florida wrongful death lawsuit against a bridge operation company facing allegations of negligence in the death of a 79-year-old West Palm Beach bicyclist who died after plummeting from a bridge that was abruptly raised while she was in the midst of crossing it. She’d been just 10 feet away from the edge of the bridge when she fell to her death in the gap. The bridge tender at the time of the incident has been arrested and faces a single count of manslaughter by culpable negligence. (She told investigators she had gone outside to visually check that the bridge was clear before raising it, but video evidence and other testimony have thus far contradicted this, according to local news sources.)

Meanwhile, the decedent’s family filed a Florida wrongful death lawsuit against the bridge tender’s employer, a company called Florida Drawbridges, Inc. Plaintiffs in this case not only sought monetary damages for their lawsuit, but also industry-accepted safety changes to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again to another Florida family. In their filing, the family specifically stated they wanted an outcome that resulted in “change to preclude this preventable tragedy from occurring in the future.”

Ultimately, that’s what they got in addition to the $8.2 million settlement. Among the procedural changes that the defendant drawbridge company agreed to undergo:

Subjecting all bridge tender applicants to successfully pass criminal background checks.
To schedule recertification training with all current bridge tenders.
To facilitate periodic audits of operations with out-of-area supervisors.
To require all bridge tenders to watch a 23-minute video on the decedent’s life, driving home the profound price one family paid because one of its bridgetenders allegedly failed to use due caution.

The family reportedly donated a significant portion of the settlement proceeds – including the creation of an annual $30,000 scholarship that will carry on for the next three decades. As the family’s wrongful death attorney was quoted as saying, the family wanted fundamental changes to be central to this settlement agreement. “At the end of the day, we got those changes. Hopefully at the end of the day, this never happens to another family.”

Damages in Florida Wrongful Death Lawsuits

Proving wrongful death in Florida (as codified in F.S. 786.16 – 786.26) requires evidence that:more

A death occurred.
The defendant owed a duty of care to decedent.
An act or omission by the defendant breached that duty of care.
The wrongful act was the direct cause of the fatal injury to decedent.
Financial damage resulted from the injury or death.

As our Broward wrongful death lawyers can explain, when these cases are settled or won at trial, the takeaway for the plaintiffs is referred to as “damages.” Damages can be paid for things like medical bills, lost wages, funeral costs, loss of earning potential, pain and suffering of the decedent, loss of consortium (of the decedent’s spouse or children), loss of prospective net accumulations of an estate, etc.

Survivors who may bring a wrongful death action in Florida include a decedent’s spouse, children, parents or other blood relatives or adoptive siblings. (This is not applicable for medical malpractice wrongful death cases, for which only spouses and children under age 25.)

Even though no amount of money is going to bring back a loved one, the courts quantify these damages in dollar amounts. And financial compensation is important for many families in wrongful death litigation, particularly if the decedent suffered a long illness (racking up lots of medical debt) or was a primary wage earner/caregiver within the family. But as the aforementioned case shows, wrongful death claims can also be opportunities to compel important change.

It’s important to discuss your primary goals with your wrongful death lawyer at the outset of your case.

Call Fort Lauderdale Injury Attorney Richard Ansara at (954) 761-4011. Serving Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.

Additional Resources:

F.S. 768.21, Florida Statute Wrongful Death Damages

More Blog Entries:

How Fort Lauderdale Pedestrian Accident Victims Can Obtain Compensation for Injuries, Jan. 15, 2022, Broward Wrongful Death Attorney Blog

Florida Supreme Court to Weigh School Liability in Parkland Shootings

Ansara Law Personal Injury Attorneys — Sat, 13 Apr 2019 15:26:24 GMT

In a case likely to be closely-watched both for the high-profile nature of the underlying incident and the precedent it’s likely to set for victim compensation claims against school districts and other Florida government agencies deemed liable in mass casualty incidents. the Florida Supreme Court has accepted review of a lawsuit against the Broward County School Board for failure to protect children from the mass shooting incident at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

When oral arguments are held in late August, justices will be analyzing whether damage caps applied to government liability claims should be adjusted when multiple people are harmed or killed. The court scheduled for the same day a similar case against the Florida Department of Children and Families.

Florida Sovereign Immunity Law Caps Damages for School Liability

Broward wrongful death lawyers can explain the key issue will be an interpretation of Florida’s sovereign immunity law, F.S. 768.28. If you sue a state government agency – whether it’s a police department, city government, school district or larger state agencies – those damages are capped at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident. The question is whether these deaths all occurred as a part of one incident, and thus all parents are required to split the $300,000, or whether each shot fired was a separate incident, and thus entitling each individual claimant to $200,000.

Unfortunately, some are already skewing this to make it appear as if these parents who have lost their children or teens who were seriously injured and traumatized are out for a payday. The reality is firstly that no amount of money is worth the life of your child, and every single one of those moms and dads refuse every dime if it meant they could have their child back. Secondly, even the rate of $200,000 is quite low for a Broward wrongful death case damage award, especially when the decedent is a high school student full of a promise who should have had their whole lives ahead of them.

The biggest reason this matters – one of the primary motivations in all Florida wrongful death claims – is to make such incidents less likely in the future. How?

Higher, Per-Person Damage Awards Make More Sense – and Safer Schools

Consider that 17 people died in that shooting, 14 of them were students. If only just the student’s families’ sought compensation (employees would presumably be covered by workers’ compensation death benefits), that would mean $300,000 split 14 ways, or about $21,000 each. That might cover the funeral expenses and some change. However, presuming each parent is awarded the max per-person $200,000 claim, that’s a total of $2.8 million the school district must pay out. (Several personal injury claimants are not included, so the total amount awarded in the event the court rules in their favor could be higher.)

Obviously, school boards and administrators should want schools to be safe places just for the sake of it. But how much more inclined will they be to add expensive potentially life-saving security features to the school if it’s known there is grave risk to the children and also the school district’s budget?

The Broward County School Board argued that while separate claims exist for each person injured or killed at school, the aggregate cap according to statute is still $300,000.

School Board Asserts Florida Claims Bill is Parents’ Only Alternative

The board submits the only way parents could receive more than that $300,000 cap would be if the Florida Legislature passes what is known as a claim bill. Lawmakers have the ability to take up individual court cases – one-by-one – and instruct government agencies to pay more than what is technically allowed under the law.

Claims bills are rare because they often take years to go through the pipeline – and then on top of that, the entire Florida Legislature needs to agree on it.

Late last year, a Broward County Circuit judge decided the case in favor of the school board. Parents of the slain children and those personally injured appealed, and normally, that would mean getting on the Fourth District Court of Appeal docket. However, the 4th DCA instead certified the case, meaning it was instead sent straight to the Florida Supreme Court, being that it is “a matter of great public importance.”

If your child is injured at school in Broward County, contact Fort Lauderdale Injury Attorney Richard Ansara at (954) 761-4011. Serving Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.

Additional Resources:

State Supreme Court to hear arguments over financial liability in Parkland shooting, April 12, 2019, By Jim Saunders, The Miami Herald

More Blog Entries:

Florida Tort Reform Bill Could Harm Personal Injury Plaintiffs, Lawyers Say, March 6, 2019, Broward School Injury Attorney Blog