• 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.
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.
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.
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.
