In most Florida personal injury cases, it’s necessary to prove that the “tortfeasor” (aka alleged wrongdoer or defendant) owed a legal duty of care to the person who was hurt. By breaching that duty of care and causing injury, the tortfeasor is responsible to pay financial damages to those adversely impacted.

There are many different kinds of torts. But when it comes to Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawsuits, there are a few types we see crop up time and again.

1. South Florida Car Accidents

Auto accidents are the root of most personal injury claims in Florida. All motorists owe one another – as well as passengers, pedestrians, bicyclists, and other road users – a duty of care to obey all traffic rules and use reasonable caution behind the wheel. If they violate traffic laws and someone gets hurt, they can be held liable. Even if they don’t explicitly violate the law but failed to use reasonable care when driving, they can be held legally liable in a Florida personal injury case.

It’s worth noting that (at least for now) Florida is a no-fault car accident state. What that means is that all motorists are required to carry a type of insurance coverage called personal injury protection, or PIP. This coverage will kick in and cover up to $10,000 in damages (medical bills, lost wages, etc.) to the insured and other parties covered by the policy – regardless of who is at fault. However, if the injuries sustained in the crash meet the “serious injury threshold” as outlined in F.S. 627.737, those hurt can step outside that no-fault system and pursue financial recovery from those who were at-fault in the crash. (Generally, a serious injury is defined as one that results in significant or permanent loss of a key body function, permanent scarring or disfigurement, or death.)

Florida follows a system of pure comparative fault, per F.S. 768.81, which basically means everyone is expected to bear legal responsibility for damages that is proportionate to their level of fault. (This applies in many different types of Florida personal injury cases.) As it pertains to Fort Lauderdale car accidents, if the plaintiff (person filing the claim) is found to bear a percentage of the blame for what happened, their financial recovery will be reduced by that percentage. For example, let’s say you’re injured in a crash with another driver, you suffer $100,000 in damages, but are found 20 percent at fault. The most you could collect from the other driver would be $80,000.

2. Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Medical malpractice cases are those that involve doctors or other health care professionals who fail to provide care that meets basic standards given their specialty and facility.

South Florida medical malpractice cases require the testimony of a plaintiff expert witness of the same skill and practice area as the defendant. What’s more, while most personal injury cases have a four-year statute of limitations, medical malpractice cases must be filed within two years.

3. Product Liability Lawsuits

Companies and organizations that design, manufacture, and distribute products to the public can be held legally responsible if their products hurt someone who is using it the way it’s designed. These entities can also be found liable for using products incorrectly, so long as such use was reasonably foreseeable.

Fort Lauderdale product liability cases fall under the umbrella of “strict liability,” a legal theory that means those harmed don’t have to prove negligence or that the defendant necessarily did anything wrong. Strict liability can also apply in dog bite cases, as well as those involving abnormally dangerous conditions or inherently hazardous activities. (Defendants may argue that the person injured knowingly assumed the risk, but a skilled injury lawyer will know how best to challenge this defense.)

4. Slip-and-Fall Lawsuits

Slip-and-fall lawsuits are a type of premises liability case. That is, the person or entity who owns or controls the property has a responsibility to ensure the site is reasonably safe – especially if they’re welcoming members of the public there for the owner’s financial benefit.

Fort Lauderdale slip-and-fall lawsuits have gotten more difficult to win over the last decade, thanks to the passage of F.S. 768.0755. This provision of the law stipulates that if someone slips and falls on a transitory foreign substance in a business establishment, the person who is injured has to prove the business had actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition and failed to take reasonable action to remedy it. Constructive knowledge can be proven with circumstantial evidence tending to show the condition had existed for a substantial length of time or occurred with such regularity that it was foreseeable. That’s a rather high proof burden. Working with an experienced Broward personal injury lawyer will be your best shot at winning.

If you are injured in Broward County and need some insight into your legal options for financial recovery, our dedicated legal team can help answer your questions and – if hired – help formulate an effective strategy to obtain just compensation.

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

Additional Resources:

F.S. 768.81, Comparative Fault

The teen had been walking to the Broward mass transit bus stop site with his mother when she had a problem with her shoe and fell. She urged him to hurry and catch the bus so he wouldn’t be late. He ran to the side of the large glass doors. A passenger shouted to the driver that there were “runners.” For reasons that aren’t clear, the driver shut the doors, closing in on the teen’s hand. Then, the bus pulled away, dragging the teen alongside and then partially running over him, all while his terrified mother watched and horrified bus passengers could hear his cries.

That was four years ago. Now 18, the boy has graduated from high school, but his life has been forever altered by the severe injuries – including traumatic brain injury – that he suffered that day. He was in a medically-induced coma for a full month. He struggles with neurocognitive disorder. He grapples with depression and central auditory processing disorder, which means he has trouble understanding speech. He also contends with neurospychological impairment in processing speed and memory. His motor dexterity is impaired, and he suffers with a wide range of other physical limitations.

Now, county commissioners have agreed they will pay the family $850,000 for their claim. That might sound like a lot, but it will likely only cover a fraction of the boy’s losses and he won’t even receive it all right away. They’ll still have to fight for some time longer. That’s because personal injury claims against government agencies are capped at $300,000, per the state’s sovereign immunity law. However, the remaining $550,000 will be available only if the state Legislature approves a claims bill. The bill has already been introduced by a Broward County Democrat in the state Senate, but there still needs to be a companion bill filed in the state House. That process could take years.

Meanwhile, the family’s medical bills have already topped $640,000.

State prosecutors insisted throughout this case that plaintiff’s hand wasn’t actually stuck in the door and that the teen actually ran alongside the bus before falling.

A passenger testified he saw the boy running alongside the bus, attempting to get on. He shouted to the driver to stop. Instead, the door closed. Asked why he didn’t stop, the driver could only respond with a series of, “I don’t know.” Passengers then said they heard a sickening, “thump.”

The driver was initially suspended without pay for a full two weeks and then demoted to a coach service attendant, cleaning and servicing the buses. However, when he appealed that ruling he was later given his old job back.

Recently, The Sun Sentinel reported that in addition to numerous safety concerns about the fitness of Broward transit drivers, many passengers have reported some drivers to be discourteous and unprofessional.

Last year, the Sentinel reported the Broward County Commission intended to crack down on accident-prone mass transit bus drivers. An investigation by the paper in 2013 revealed that Broward County Transit drivers with long histories of accidents and citations were often allowed to stay on the job, requiring at least five accidents in a rolling 24-month time frame to warrant termination.

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

Additional Resources:

Broward settles case of teen run over by bus, Feb. 1, 2017, By Brittany Wallman, The Sun Sentinel

More Blog Entries:

Baugh v. Cuprum – $11 Million Ladder Injury Verdict Affirmed, Jan. 31, 2017, Fort Lauderdale Bus Accident Lawyer Blog

Now, they’re in the running to work alongside software engineers with MIT to improve their app before it goes on the market. They’ll also receive $20,000 from the Verizon Foundation. It was one of 1,200 submissions nationally, and this was one of eight teams chosen to compete.

The goal of the app is to slash the number of student concussions and prevent traumatic brain injuries among young athletes. It’s an issue close to home for these Fort Lauderdale students, where just last year, 1 in 5 junior and varsity football team players – 10 out of 48 – suffered a concussion-related injury.more

It would work like this: A device would be placed into each player’s helmet. When the player is struck, a message would be sent to the coach’s mobile device (smartphone, iPad, laptop, etc.). That message would inform the coach of how hard the player was hit, and provide other statistics on the level of force.

In turn, this would give the coach critical information about how best to address the situation. So even if a player initially seemed fine, the coach’s would be able to better judge how best to address the player’s medical needs.

From a personal injury lawyer standpoint, this information could also be beneficial if the coach did not take appropriate action. For example, if the force data indicated the player should be taken out of the game and examined by a health care professional – and the coach fails to do this – it could be used as concrete evidence of liability.

The hope, though, is that these sorts of missteps will be avoided entirely. We know coaches want to do right by their players. The idea is to give them the right tools to make those judgment calls easier and more precise.

Concussions are mild traumatic brain injuries that often result from having one’s head and upper body shaken violently. There is a misconception that these injuries are somehow unique or uncommon. Not so.

It’s estimated more than 50 percent of high school athletes have sustained a sports-related concussion before they even enter high school. Nearly 40 percent of college athletes have a history of multiple concussions.

Worse, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports nearly 70 percent of students with concussion symptoms don’t report it. A mobile app like this would make it harder to hide it.

Why is all of this so scary? First of all, the frontal cortex of the brain doesn’t fully develop until age 25. Damage to the brain at such a young age can be greatly detrimental to one’s development.

Post-concussion syndrome is a complex health condition that involves symptoms that last for weeks, months or even more than a year after concussion. It involves problems with dizziness, fatigue, anxiety, insomnia, irritability, headaches and emotional changes.

The Pine Crest student app could potentially help to identify these problems before they develop into something more serious. Once it’s finished, rights to the app would be fully retained by the students and available for download in Google Play.

If your child has suffered significantly as a result of a concussion or other sports-related head injury, call our Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawyers today.

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

Additional Resources:

Fort Lauderdale students win $20k grant toward concussion app, Feb. 2, 2016, By Carlos Suarez, ABC Local 10

More Blog Entries:

Uber Lawsuit Filed As Miami Considers Driver Screenings, Feb. 2, 2016, Fort Lauderdale Injury Attorney Blog