• 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
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.
The answer is yes, but with certain restrictions. Florida law recognizes a right to privacy, and courts are supposed to weigh and balance the competing interests in protecting personal information with the need to discover relevant evidence–evidence that could be critical in determining fault.
In one leading case, the court permitted an expert to inspect the cell phone of a driver killed in a crash with a truck for the nine-hour period immediately surrounding the accident.
Distractions from cell phone use and texting are said to be responsible for as many as one out of every four crashes. Call Detail Records (CDR) can reveal:
– The precise time when a call is placed – The number placing the call – The number receiving the call and – The length of the call
It can also show timestamps on text messages and data reflecting GPS use like google maps or Waze.
Some phone companies will honor a subpoena; others require a court order. A competent attorney should be able to obtain either of these. However, time is of the essence. Federal regulations require the phone companies to maintain the call detail records for 180 days (six months). But upon request, phone companies are required to maintain the data for an additional 90 days. So if cell phone use or text messages appear to be an issue, the request for records should be made as soon as possible.
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.
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.
Florida leads the nation in the deaths of nursing home residents and staff due to COVID-19. And the state has one of the lowest rates of vaccination among nursing home staff in the country, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Yet now, seniors who succumb to COVID because their residential facility failed to maintain safe protocols, will virtually be unable to sue for damages.
That’s the effect of the COVID-19 Shield Law, Florida Statute 768.38, said to among the toughest of its kind among the 33 or so states with similar laws.
The law covers not only nursing homes, but businesses, schools, government agencies, hospitals and religious facilities as well. Among other things:
To sue, you must have an affidavit from a licensed Florida physician swearing that the plaintiff’s COVID-19 resulted from the defendant’s acts or omissions;
Even then, the defendant will not be liable if the defendant made a “good faith effort to substantially comply with standards and guidelines at the time….”
The defendant will not be liable unless its actions constituted “gross negligence” proven by “clear and convincing evidence.”
There’s a 1 year Statute of Limitations, rather than the 4-year statute of limitations for negligence cases, and 2-year statute of limitations for medical malpractice.
The net effect is that the bar has been set so high, it is nearly impossible to prove a case. Lawyers won’t be bringing cases that they might otherwise have accepted. Posing the question: Do we really want to spare liability, and allow for lax standards, where the need for due care is greatest? And a new surge is on the rise?
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.
