Florida drivers have a bad reputation. It’s known far and wide because of our visitor industry. Actually, Florida ranks #17 of the 50 states in terms of per-capita traffic fatalities. We have 16 people killed annually per 100,000 residents. In contrast, the traffic death toll in #1 Montana is 28.2 per 100,000. However, when all … Read more
Motorcycles are involved in just under 4% of all vehicle accidents but account for nearly 15% of fatalities. More than 95% of riders involved in a crash sustain an injury of some kind, with roughly half of these severe injuries. There’s no mystery in this. Cars envelop passengers in a protective barrier. Motorcycles don’t. Florida’s … Read more
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), there are about 9 million ER visits annually for children’s accidental injuries. About 12,000 of these injuries prove fatal. Kids being kids, sometimes their injuries are an inescapable outcome of living a normal life, nobody’s fault. But in some cases, negligence is what led to the accident, … Read more
Uber. Lyft. Transportation network companies (TNC). The so-called “ride-sharing” services burst into the lives of Floridians in 2014 and have changed the way we get around. Along with expanded choices in transportation, we’re having to adapt to a new type of personal injury case, those involving ride-sharing vehicles. Injured passengers, drivers, and other injured parties … Read more
Anyone who’s been seriously injured can relate to the feelings of helplessness, of vulnerability, the menacing sense of despair as the medical bills piled up and earned income dwindles. Personal injury attorneys can readily describe the profound sense of relief they see in so many new clients when the contingent fee compensation relationship is explained. … Read more
Personal injury claims by tenants against their landlords are not uncommon in Florida, where about 35% of residents are renters. Landlords, like all property owners, are subject to claims of negligence by any person injured while legitimately on their premises. Florida law (83.51 Landlord’s obligation to maintain premises) goes further, recognizes that a landlord’s duty … Read more
If you’ve been injured on public property, you need to be aware that pressing a personal injury claim will be different in certain ways from the process you’d go through for a claim against a private owner. It used to be that governments couldn’t be sued at all, but that “sovereign immunity” doctrine began to … Read more
Slip and fall claims relate to injuries suffered as a result of slipping (or tripping) on someone else’s property. Such accidents are common, second only to car crashes in terms of emergency room visits. American hospital ERs treat about 1 million slip and fall cases each year. The conditions resulting in slip and fall accidents … Read more
You’ve been rear-ended, with extensive damage to your car. You’re bleeding. The driver who hit you was also injured, and his front end smashed up. A bad day, but the one ray of light is your confidence that it had to be the other driver’s fault. Not so fast. Evidence discovered by the other driver’s … Read more
Doesn’t it seem like lawyers and judges have a language of their own? One that sometimes looks and sounds like English, sometimes doesn’t, but is always strange and hard to understand? That’s because they do. “Legalese” is the unflattering description of it. Legal English has its peculiar vocabulary, structure, and logic. It includes terms from … Read more
