As showcased on ABC News, Semi-tractor trailer trucks, those big 18-wheelers pose a particular hazard on the highway because their size and weight can cause huge damage in a crash, and because they have big blind spots.
A big semi-tractor has blind spots in front of it, behind it, to the left and to the right. The chart here shows where the trucker cannot see. And if the truck driver can’t see you, you’re in danger. So avoid the areas shown on the chart when you’re on the highway.
After an accident with a truck, it is important for your lawyer to place the trucking company on notice to preserve all relevant records, including (but not limited to) those required by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the federal government agency that regulates truck safety.
Twice in my career, I represented young men who sustained permanent brain damage in collisions with a big truck on the highway. Neither one of them could tell me how the accident happened. The brain injury took away any memory of it. We had to forensically re-construct what happened and prove what happened using witness’ accounts, circumstantial evidence, and forensic expert witness testimony. These are hard fought battles. Today, both of the young men I refer to are doing well after fighting their way back through years of therapy.
But in general, yes, ride share services such as Lyft and Uber both have insurance coverages in place that provide ample protection to passengers and drivers.
– If you’re in an accident caused by the ride share driver, there is usually $1-million in coverage placed by the ride share company.
– If the accident is caused by a another vehicle, then your recourse is against the other vehicle. But…
– If the accident is caused by another car that has no insurance, the ride share service typically has uninsured motorists coverage for the benefit of both the ride share passenger, and the ride share driver.
– If the accident was caused by carelessness on the part of both the ride share driver and the other driver, then your claim would be against both the Uber/Lyft driver and the other driver.
Regardless of who was at fault, if you own a car and it’s insured, your PIP or no fault insurance will “follow” you while in the ride share vehicle, and pay up to $10,000.00 in benefits to cover 80% of your medical bills in excess of your deductible without regard to who as at fault.
Lyft and Uber also provide insurance to protect the ride share driver. However, the amount of coverage depend on the status of the ride share vehicle in transit. Is the car carrying a passenger? Is the car on its way to pick up a passenger? Is the car just driving around waiting for a ride call? The amount of insurance coverage available will vary depending on the status of the vehicle under these different scenarios.
Locating and identifying available insurance coverages is one of the most important parts of the personal injury lawyer’s job. Each situation is factually specific, and there is no one size fits all. As ever, the advice of a qualified attorney should be sought out if you or a loved one are injured in a crash involving a ride share vehicle.
God forbid, you’re assaulted at a hotel, mall or apartment building. Prior to now, if you sued the property owner for negligently failing to provide sufficient security to deter the crime, the property owner could not defend himself by blaming the assailant for the injuries. The landlord’s hands were tied: Nowhere on the verdict form was the property owner allowed to include the criminal assailant who had actually committed the crime as a liable party in a civil suit for money damages.
That now changes. Property owners being sued for negligent security can now defend themselves in Florida civil court by blaming the criminal for crimes and injuries inflicted on their property–even if the criminal is not an actual party to the case. At trial, the new law says, “the jury must consider the fault of all persons who contributed to the injury.”
For every dollar of fault apportioned by a jury to the assailant in a negligent security case, the landlord or property owner will pay less, and the injured victim’s damages will be reduced. Afterall, the criminal assailant is rarely collectible; whereas, the property owner usually has deep pockets.
This “reform” is going to reduce recoveries in negligent security cases by millions. But one may ask, is it fair to compare the fault of one who acts in a negligent or careless manner with the fault of one who acts with malicious criminal intent? And will this change in the law result in greater care for safety on the part of property owners or less?
There is a longstanding and widely used practice in the world of personal injury called Letters of Protection.
Suppose you’re hurt in an accident and you don’t have medical insurance. Under those circumstances, some physicians (who typically cater to personal injury victims) accept a written promise from the injured patient and his attorney to pay the doctor’s bills from the proceeds of the case–a letter of protection.
This practice has led to abuses in the form of exaggerated charges, and exposes the physician to claims of bias arising from a financial interest in the outcome of the case. The new law attempts to purge abuses of this practice in several ways:
The name of any person who referred the client to the physician with the letter of protection must be disclosed (Attorney client privilege does not apply and if the attorney referred the client, it must be disclosed.)
Doctors must code their charges in accord with standard insurance charges.
Most significantly, the new law specifically allows discovery of the details behind the referral relationship between the law firm and the doctor: How many cases has the firm referred? How much money has been involved? This could be embarrassing for certain large volume personal injury mills who keep using the same questionable doctors over and over.
LOPs are not necessarily a bad practice. Abused, they can result in exaggerated diagnoses and overcharges. But for a genuinely injured client with no other means of paying for care, they can be invaluable.
I just sent a referring attorney a check for $50,000.00 as a referral fee. He was thrilled.
$50,000.00 is quite a windfall for a lawyer for “just making a phone call.” But bar rules contemplate that the referring lawyer not just make a call, but participate and assume “secondary responsibility” for the case and client. For assuming this “secondary responsibility,” the referring attorney may receive “a maximum of 25% of the total fee.” By the way, the referring attorney not only participates in the fee, but also can be liable if the case is mis-managed and results in a mal-practice claim.
Referral fees in excess of 25% are strongly frowned upon. If the referral fee exceeds 25% the lawyers must obtain permission from the court.
Lawyers are not, repeat not, allowed to share fees with non attorneys, and if discovered to have done so, the lawyer would be subject to discipline including in one recent case suspension from practice.
We are fortunate to have built a network of attorneys over the years who often turn to us to handle their clients’ personal injury cases, through steady, aggressive and ethical representation. If you’re an attorney interested in co-counseling your client’s personal injury case with an attorney who gives each individual case and client personal attention, we may be a good fit for you.
The tragic death of five teenagers on the Palmetto Expressway because of a drunk driver going the wrong way puts a spot light on the issue of punitive damages for drunk driving in Florida. Florida law clearly recognizes that persons injured by a drunk driver are not only entitled to “compensable damages” –damages intended to compensate for one’s injuries such as medical bills, lost earnings, and pain and suffering–but also damages intended to punish the drunk driver. Florida law treats punitive damages resulting from drunk driving differently than punitive damages in other cases. Rather than requiring “clear and convincing” evidence, drunk driving can be proven by “the greater weight of the evidence,” a much lower standard. Also, unlike other punitive damages cases, there is no cap on the amount that can be recovered when punitive damages are sought for drunk driving. Insurance does not provide coverage for damages resulting from drunk driving. Insurance only covers for damages resulting from “Negligent” or :”Careless” conduct; whereas, drunk driving is intentional. But a good personal injury lawyer will still press for such damages–to anger a jury, and to pressure the insurance company to pay its policy limits.
• In Midtown Miami: NE 2nd Ave. and NE 36th Street • In West Kendall: SW 117th Ave. and Kendall Dr. • In Coconut Grove: S. Dixie Highway every intersection south of I-95 • In South Miami-Dade: SW 117th Ave. and SW 152nd St. • In Fort Lauderdale: A1A and Las Olas Blvd. • In Miami Beach: Alton Rd. and Dade Blvd. • In Doral: NW 87th St. and NW 36th St. • In Miami: Brickell Ave. Bridge • Pembroke Pines: Pines Blvd. and S. Flamingo Rd.
And remember, if you’re in an accident,
• Call 911 • Move your vehicle out of the flow of traffic if possible • Exchange driver’s information • Get yourself checked out • Take pictures
It started as a small cut. But the client was elderly, in her 80’s, and had pre-existing blood circulation problems. With the passage of time, the opening in the skin grew larger, and larger. And treating and dressing the wound became more and more difficult. The poor woman wound up with a 6-inch long and several inches wide opening in the flesh covering the top of her foot. The condition persisted and defied treatment for months, requiring highly specialized care.
An apparently minor accident on the job developed into a serious chronic injury for my client, who ultimately went on to recover–following a period of utter misery. Photos of the condition–which we will NOT publish here–provided compelling evidence which supported a confidential settlement with a major national supermarket chain, and the gratitude of a much relieved client.
Not far from my home in North Miami Beach, a shrine marks the spot where a 10-year old boy named Anthony Reznik was struck and killed in the crosswalk by a driver who blew a red light.
No such shrine marks the spot just a few blocks from my office in North Miami where three teenage boys en-route to a soccer tournament were mowed down on the sidewalk by a drunk driver. But the loss of life is certainly no less tragic.
These incidents comprise examples of a disturbing truth: Florida has the greatest number of pedestrian fatalities in the United States–people killed while on foot by careless, or reckless and wanton drivers. And the numbers are still going up, 899 pedestrian deaths last year–a 31 percent increase over the year before. A profile of such cases:
The most likely victims are children or elderly. Most occur in the evening or at night The most likely offenders are drivers under the influence or distracted with cell use, or those rolling a stop sign. The most likely places are intersections, roadsides or shoulders and parking areas Many are hit-and-run
Obtaining justice for many of these tragic losses can be highly problematical. The at fault driver cannot be identified, or they are not insured, and in many cases, they cannot be prosecuted criminally for lack of evidence showing criminality as opposed to simple carelessness.
Counsel’s best advice is not much different from what your mother would say: You need to be aware of where you are, and what’s going on around you all the time, and if you let your guard down, catastrophe can occur. And even then, it may not be enough.
Can the bar that unlawfully sold alcohol to a minor defend itself in a dram shop suit by blaming the minor?
No says a Florida appellate court, holding that by willingly and unlawfully selling alcohol to a minor, the bar becomes liable for injuries caused by the minor driving while intoxicated, and cannot shrug off blame by blaming the person to whom they served alcohol in violation of law.
In general, the dram shop act protects bar and restaurants from claims for injuries caused or sustained by customers who get drunk at the establishment, and then cause an injury while behind the wheel. There are two narrow exceptions: One is where the bar or restaurant “knowingly and unlawfully” serves alcohol to someone who is underage. Two, the other is where the bar or restaurant knowingly sells alcohol to a person they know to be addicted to alcohol.
By “unlawfully and willfully” serving a person under the drinking age, the court explained, the bar becomes liable for the injuries caused by the minor’s intoxicated driving. The bar should not be permitted to blame the teenager when it was the bar which unlawfully sold alcohol to the minor. The purpose of the law, the court said, is to protect the minor.
Ironically, the pedestrian injured in the case, struck while crossing the street, was also an underaged minor, who was intoxicated after having left another bar. She could not be blamed for her condition the court ruled, because the bar that served her was at fault for willfully and unlawfully serving her alcohol.
Personal Injury Attorney Mark Wolin proudly serves Florida and South Florida communities in Miami-Dade County, Monroe County and Broward County including Aventura, Bal Harbour, Bay Harbor Islands, Biscayne Gardens, Biscayne Park, Davis Harbor, El Portal, Hallandale, Hallandale Beach, Hialeah, Hollywood, Hollywood Beach, Liberty City, Little Haiti, Little River, Miami, Miami’s Upper East Side, Miami Beach, Miami Gardens, Miami Shores, North Bay Village, North Miami, North Miami Beach, Opa Locka, Pembroke Pines, Pembroke Park, Sunny Isles Beach and Surfside, Florida. View our privacy policy here.
