• 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.
Our client, a kind and gentle man from Peru, was working the night shift operating a Miami airport shuttle bus when he was hit broadside by a drunk driver blowing a red light at high speed. The impact sent our client through the open driver’s side window onto the pavement 30 feet away. He lost consciousness, and was left with multiple traumatic injuries including orthopedic fractures and a closed head injury with post concussion syndrome.
It was clear that the crash was entirely the other driver’s fault. But was my client wearing his seat belt and shoulder harness at the time? This was a critical issue. Under law, the seat belt defense provides that one’s damages should be reduced to the extent that the injuries resulted from the failure to wear an operative seat belt. In this case, my client could not definitively say whether or not he was belted. There as memory loss from the head trauma. But forensically, if he was belted, he would not and could not have been ejected.
Jury verdicts reducing damage awards because of the seat belt defense swing wildly. Sometimes an injured plaintiff’s recovery can be reduced by as little as 20%, and sometimes as much as 60% or more.
Weighing risk versus reward, my client gratefully accepted a confidential settlement in the mid-six figure range, one of the richest on record for similar cases, and today. I am glad to report, he and his family enjoy a measure of peace to compensate for his unfortunate injuries.
Not generally well known is the fact that the Florida Department of Insurance maintains a database of liability claims against physicians that’s freely available to the public. Every year, doctors and their insurers must report any claim, final judgment, settlement, insurance payment and any claims handling expense in excess of $5,000.00.
– They must report: – The name and address of the doctor – His or her insurance coverage. – The date of the occurrence – The date of the claim – The injured person’s name, address, age and sex (which is confidential and not a public record), – The other doctors involved in the claim – The date and amount of any judgment or settlement – A summary of the occurrence creating the claim, including the name of the institution where it occurred – The diagnosis and/or misdiagnosis – The operation or procedure, and – Injury involved
In our medical malpractice cases, we routinely consult this site for intelligence about the physician whom we are investigating, or the ranges of settlement being made by the insurance company. Check out the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation Medical Professional Liability Claims here.
If you’re a patient at Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital, it could have made a big difference whether your physician is acting on behalf of the University or on behalf of the Hospital.
The University is a privately-owned, deep pocket institution, fully collectible, and entitled to no special treatment under law. Whereas Jackson Memorial is a county Hospital, a public institution, covered by Florida sovereign immunity law, which carries all kinds of restrictions and limitations on recovery.
Legally, the question has now been put to rest. If you’re treated by a University of Miami doctor while at Jackson Memorial Hospital, by law, that doctor is deemed to be an agent of the Hospital, not an agent of the University.
A 2011 amendment to Florida’s sovereign immunity law specifically states that physicians from a medical school are agents of the state and entitled to sovereign immunity when the medical school contracts to provide medical care in a teaching Hospital. In accord with that change, Jackson and the University have re-written their long-standing operating agreement to provide that all UM faculty members are covered by sovereign immunity, even when caring for private paying patients, not just indigents.
As a result, the University is “immune” from getting sued because by law, its doctors are legally deemed agents of the public hospital with sovereign immunity. This arrangement has gone far in discouraging malpractice claims at Jackson–to the benefit of the Hospital and University, but also to the detriment of those patients who may have experienced the consequences of malpractice.
So you think you’re “fully insured,” right? Think again. With so many crazy drivers out there, remember that Florida doesn’t require bodily injury coverage, and as a result, there are millions of drivers out there who are uninsured if they injure you.
Uninsured motorist coverage provides coverage in your favor if, God forbid, you’re injured by a driver who has no bodily injury coverage, and is therefore, uninsured for the harm he or she has caused.
Under those circumstances, if you have uninsured motorist coverage — “UM” for short–you can proceed against your own insurance company as if you were proceeding against the at fault driver.
This coverage– uninsured motorist or underinsured motorist coverage–is so important that you have to sign not to buy it. Insurance companies must offer it to you if, and only if you purchase bodily injury coverage, which covers you if you accidentally injure someone else.
I hate telling an injured client that I can’t help her because there’s no insurance coverage. So get UM and hope you’ll never need it. But if you do, you’ll be glad it’s there.
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.
