South Florida Injury Attorney Blog

In early November, a Miami jury awarded a man $1.2 million in a lawsuit over an extremely unfortunate accident at a batting cage. The Miami Herald reported that the young man was hit in the groin by a 60-mph pitch from a pitching machine. The accident happened after the machine was supposed to have been finished pitching; its light was off and it had finished its round of balls. But when the victim returned to the batting cage to pick up balls, at an employee's request, he was hit by an unexpected pitch that eventually sent him to the hospital.

This story is a good example of a potential Florida premises liability lawsuit that goes beyond a simple slippery floor or wobbly staircase. Premises liability laws require owners of businesses (and most other properties open to the public) to keep their properties free of hazards of all kinds, including malfunctioning equipment as well as tripping hazards and icy sidewalks. Other examples of hazards on a property might be abandoned refrigerators or cars; toxic substances or live electric wires exposed to the air; uncontrolled guard dogs; and swimming pools that aren't gated or locked to keep out toddlers.

In this case, the article suggests that the man's case focused on careless behavior by employees -- asking him to re-enter the batting cage before it was clear that it was safe to do so. In Florida and in many other states, business owners may be held legally responsible for the actions of their employees, as long as those actions were within the scope of their employment. "Within the scope of employment" generally means that the employee has to be doing job-related duties for the employer's benefit, within the hours and physical location normally authorized by the employer. For example, a delivery driver who runs a red light on the job is acting within the scope of his employment, even if his boss didn't tell him to run the light and would have told him not to.

Finally, it's worth noting that the victim in the batting cages lawsuit was awarded $160,000 in medical costs and $1 million in pain and suffering. Given the nature of the injury, I have no doubt that the victim was indeed in great pain, and may well have been deeply embarrassed as well. Such high pain and suffering damages are a bit unusual in an injury case -- but because it's hard for juries to put a value on physical pain and emotional suffering, there's no hard and fast rule. If you've been hurt on someone else's property and would like to know more about your own case and potential damages, Cohn, Smith & Cohn can help. Contact us today for a free consultation on your case.

Accidents with two different large commercial trucks took the life of a Merritt Island man in early November. According to a story in the Daytona Beach News-Journal, the man had a non-fatal accident with a tractor-trailer truck on Interstate 95 around 5:20 a.m. He stopped his truck in the highway's inside lane and got out, but was then hit by a second semi. The first truck left the scene; the Florida Highway Patrol is looking for its driver.

I am sorry to say that this sort of accident happens more often than you might think. If you're in a minor accident, your first instinct might well be to pull over onto the shoulder of the road, or the emergency lane or breakdown lane in the center, if it's closer. That's certainly safer than staying in the middle of traffic, but far too many drivers don't look for pedestrians or stopped cars in those lanes. In fact, some illegally use the shoulder to pass stopped traffic, not realizing that the reason for the stopped traffic might be an accident moving to the shoulder. The result is that some accident victims quickly become victims a second time. And if they're on foot, as this man was, death is a serious possibility.

Statistics on accidents just in emergency lanes are hard to find, but the Florida Highway Patrol has reported that 1,793 state emergency vehicles were hit by other vehicles over a five-year period, causing five deaths. That number was part of the Move Over Florida campaign, which tried to raise awareness of the importance of following the Florida Move Over Act. That law requires motorists to either change lanes or slow down when approaching stopped emergency vehicles, law enforcement or construction workers. It's more than six years old now, but Floridians still don't follow it as well as we should, for either public servants or our neighbors.

Truck accidents are so frequently terrible and traumatic because trucks are so much larger than other vehicles. Pitted against the weight and force of an 18-wheeler, a passenger car or pickup truck will almost always be crushed; someone on foot doesn't stand a chance. And because trucking companies expect to be involved in accidents, they move very quickly after a crash to limit their legal responsibilities to victims. In that situation, hiring an attorney simply evens the playing field. If you or someone you love was killed or seriously hurt in a Florida trucking accident, and you’d like to learn more about your legal rights, please contact me at Cohn, Smith & Cohn for a free consultation.

The Tampa Bay Tribune recently ran a truly tragic story about a fatal pedestrian accident in St. Pete Beach. A man and his wife were walking to the store when they were hit by a van that swerved onto the sidewalk for no obvious reason. The man survived; the woman died, leaving behind her husband and three children, as well as a mother in the Tampa area. Blood testing showed that the driver of the van had four prescription drugs in his system, including Valium and Xanax. He told police that he was not under a doctor's care. But after two doctors decided that the levels of the drugs in his system weren't high enough to impair him, the prosecutors in the case declined to charge the driver with any crime. He has received only a ticket for reckless driving.

I can only imagine how difficult it must be for this family to live with this situation, and to accept the prosecutor's decision in this case. My heart goes out to them. I am not a criminal lawyer and it would be inappropriate to judge the driver's criminal culpability, especially since the article couldn't have included all of the relevant facts. But as a Florida wrongful death attorney, I do know that sometimes the civil courts can do a job that the criminal courts cannot or will not. Families may not be able to file criminal charges over a prosecutor's objections, but they do have the right to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit.

A wrongful death lawsuit cannot bring victims of a wrongful death back, although we wish it could. Instead, it seeks to hold wrongdoers legally and financially responsible for their actions. By taking them to court, families who have lost a loved one unexpectedly can hold wrongdoers accountable under the law and sometimes prevent other families from experiencing the same loss and anguish. They can also help to replace an income unexpectedly lost, and the cost of household help, like baby-sitters, that might be necessary if the victim is a young parent, as in this case. And finally, a Florida wrongful death lawsuit also allows victims to claim compensation for the loss of their loved one's care, companionship, love and other emotional benefits.

Because a lawsuit isn't seeking to put anyone in prison, the burden of proof is lower in a wrongful death lawsuit than it would be in a criminal case. That means families may file a wrongful death claim even when there is no criminal prosecution, as in this case -- although families can and frequently do pursue both kinds of case. If you've lost someone you care about through another person's carelessness or illegal behavior and you’d like to learn more about your options, my firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, would like to help. Contact us today for a free consultation.

Florida's football team lost a player at least temporarily in early November, when third-string quarterback Cameron Newton was involved in a car accident. The Miami Herald reported that Newton's vehicle was rear-ended by a truck on Election Day, putting him in a neck brace and taking him out of the following day's practice. The News-Press of Fort Myers added that Newton suffered from headaches the next day. Fortunately, his coaches believe his injuries aren't serious.

Both papers reported that Newton's injuries ended up being more serious than his coach originally had thought. As an experienced Florida auto accident lawyer, I am not surprised. Because he plays for a top football team, Newton is probably very cautious about his health, but many people who are rear-ended don't realize right away that they're injured. That's especially true if they have minor head injuries, or minor neck injuries like Newton's. It's only in the next week or so, after they start noticing pain and other symptoms, that they finally see a doctor.

This delay can hurt not only their recovery, but also their insurance claim. Because some insurance companies will take any excuse not to pay expensive claims, delaying your claim may be taken as evidence that you are lying or exaggerating your injuries. It doesn't matter that you were honestly feeling fine, or that even doctors say symptoms of concussions and whiplash-like neck injuries don't always manifest right away. This is why I, as a Florida car accident attorney, tell my clients to start their insurance claims as soon as they reasonably can. It is much better to be perceived as fussy or a hypochondriac than it is to be stuck with tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills that you have already paid an insurance company to cover.

Rear-end accidents are notorious for causing painful and expensive neck injuries, even at parking speeds. Insurance companies are notorious for downplaying or even outright refusing to cover those injuries. If you're a victim of this type of accident, it pays to be as careful as possible about your medical treatment and how you interact with your insurance company. But if you feel your insurance company isn't treating you fairly after you've made a claim in good faith, you still have rights. To speak with an experienced Florida attorney about those rights and your case, please contact my firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, for a free consultation.

A restaurant at the Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood had a minor emergency in mid-November that could have been a major one. According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the restaurant was evacuated at about 9 a.m. after a strong smell of gas was reported. Firefighters responding to the scene found that a pilot light at the restaurant was out, which means that natural gas was leaking into the building, filling a large area with a highly flammable gas. This can cause an explosion if the gas is exposed to any source of ignition, even something as small as a cigarette lighter or sparks from faulty wiring. Luckily, the area was evacuated and the gas company was able to fix the problem before anyone was hurt.

The folks who run this restaurant are lucky twice over -- once that the problem was fixed before someone was hurt, and again that it happened so early in the day, before the restaurant could fill with customers. Florida businesses that are open to the public (and private homes with invited guests) have a legal obligation to their customers to maintain a safe environment, or warn visitors about hazards. If they fail in that obligation, by creating unsafe situations or letting safety problems slide, customers and visitors who get hurt have a right to sue them. This is called a premises liability lawsuit, and it applies even when the business didn't know about the problem, but reasonably should have known.

I can only imagine the number of Florida premises liability lawsuits that could be filed against a business that failed to detect or take care of a gas leak in a busy area, causing hundreds of people to be wrongfully killed or very seriously burned in an explosion. But premises liability also applies when someone is hurt in less extreme situations -- a slip down the stairs, holes in the floor during construction or a staircase without a handrail. In some cases, a business or landlord that fails to anticipate and protect visitors from violent crime might also be liable for their injuries under the same laws.

A premises liability lawsuit can help you secure money for your medical bills, wages you lose because of an injury and even compensation for your pain and emotional trauma. If you have been hurt outside your home by dangers that you believe your host could have and should have taken care of, you may be able to make a claim. To learn more about your legal options, please contact my firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, for a free consultation.

I am sorry to say that a Tamarac man died and his passenger was hospitalized in serious condition after a motorcycle accident on I-95. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that their motorcycle veered into a guardrail on the evening of Nov. 9, throwing both the rider and the passenger over the handlebars. This comes on the heels of the motorcycle crash death of another biker, businessman Jack Hardy of Davie.

I am connecting these tragedies because they share a feature of more and more motorcycle accidents over the past decade: The victims were well over 30 years old. The rider and passenger in the I-95 crash were both 67; Hardy was 70. In fact, the face of motorcycling across the United States is getting older. According to 2007 statistics from the federal Department of Transportation, riders under 30 had the most fatalities in motorcycle accidents in 1997. Ten years later, it was riders 40 or older. About a quarter of the motorcyclists killed in 2006 were over 50.

In a way, this trend makes sense: Motorcycles can be expensive, and older folks are more likely to have the money for a shiny new Harley. Once their kids are grown, they'll also have the time and the freedom not to worry about traveling with children who need car seats, snacks and entertainment. And it's easy to see the attraction -- people in their fifties and sixties could be considered the "Easy Rider generation," for whom motorbikes symbolize freedom and perhaps rebellion. So it could just be that as older riders become more common, the proportion of accidents involving them rises as well.

However, older people who take up biking are still beginners -- and they need to be just as cautious as 18-year-old beginners. Decades of driving cars might have given some older riders false confidence about their abilities on a bike. (Florida's mandatory education law for new riders could help.) The trend might also be related to the fact that older people just don't heal as well as people in their teens and twenties. That is, riders over 40 might not get into more crashes than others -- perhaps they just don't bounce back as well when they do crash.

But whatever the reason, this is one trend I can live without, as a rider myself and as a Florida motorcycle accident attorney. Motorcycle accidents tend to be very bad accidents, causing wrongful deaths, brain injuries, broken bones, spinal damage and other life-changing injuries. If you or someone you love was hurt in a motorcycle accident you believe is someone else's fault, you have the right to hold that person legally responsible. Contact my firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, today for a free evaluation of your case.

A woman in the Orlando area was killed in late October when she was hit by a man in an SUV. According to the Orlando Sentinel, the victim and her husband were riding across the Granada Bridge in marked bike lanes when she was struck from behind by the driver. Her husband was not injured and the driver stopped at the scene.

With so many people seeking alternative transportation in this time of rising gas prices, this sort of accident bears attention. It's worth noting that the victim was in the bike lane -- right where she was supposed to be -- and that she was struck from behind. According to a study of Orlando-area bike accidents (PDF) by a partnership of regional transport agencies, only 5% of fatal bicycle accidents happened when the cyclist was in the bike lane, and even fewer were rear-end accidents. Judging only by this very short article, it looks like the problem was in the SUV.

Finding the correct lane and staying in it protects everyone -- car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle and pedestrian -- from serious accidents. The difference is that bicyclists don't have heavy gear, seatbelts or airbags to protect them. They still have the responsibility to take care -- the Orlando study notes that intoxication and lack of lights at night are factors in multiple cyclist fatalities -- but drivers have a responsibility to take care too. Florida has generous bicycling laws that require drivers to leave three feet at the side of the road for cyclists, not counting gutters, and allows them to cross a center line to do it. Sharing the road in this way only takes an extra moment and could prevent a deadly accident like this one.

If you were hurt in a bicycle accident with a careless motorist, you have the right to hold that person responsible for the results -- medical, financial and personal. The Florida bicycle accident lawyers at Cohn, Smith & Cohn can help. To learn more about your legal options, please contact us today for a free consultation.

A bereaved husband insists that "road rage" was responsible for his wife's fatal motorcycle crash in Volusia County Oct. 18. Susana Marques of Caracas, Venezuela was visiting our country as part of the Latin American Motorcycle Association. According to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, they were on their way to a Biketoberfest event in Deltona, riding in a group of about 50, when a woman in an SUV entered the bikers' lane, forcing Carlos Marques to hit the brakes. He and his wife were thrown from their bike. Susana Marques died at a hospital later; Carlos Marques was injured.

The road rage allegations pit the club against the Florida Highway Patrol. The bikers say the woman in the SUV repeatedly cut into their lane, intentionally forcing them to brake; the FHP claims the cause of the accident was the lack of time Carlos Marques had to brake. In my opinion, as a long-time motorcyclist and an experienced Florida motorcycle accident lawyer, the FHP's statement is a bit like being told a death was caused by the victim ceasing to breathe. He clearly didn't brake in time -- the question is why. The motorcycle club rides with video cameras that may hold the answer to that question, fortunately.

The FHP also pointed out that the bikers were riding in the left lane in violation of Florida law. While this might be an explanation for the road rage the club alleges, it is in no way an excuse -- particularly since that law is not consistent across the United States and routinely ignored even by Floridians. Intentionally cutting someone off is a dangerous and irresponsible way to drive. When it causes a death or a serious injury, it might also be a crime. My heart goes out to the Marques family and the entire club.

Bikers are generally sensitive about aggressive behavior by drivers of cars, trucks and SUVs, and there are good reasons for it. One is that a motorcyclist will almost always sustain the more serious damage in an accident with a car, simply because of the weights of the vehicles and the biker's lack of a steel cage. The other is that some drivers really do have a personal problem with motorcycles, because of outmoded stereotypes or misconceptions about how the law applies to bikes. But neither is an acceptable reason to use your car as a weapon. If you're a biker who's been seriously hurt in an accident with an irresponsible cage, you may be able to win compensation for your injuries and costs. Contact us at Cohn, Smith & Cohn to discuss your accident and your legal rights.

A Space Coast man lost a leg and partial use of both arms after an attack by one or more of his cousin's three pit bulls. According to Florida Today, Roger Lindee was working on a car outside the home of his cousin, Anthony Phillips, just before the attack. Lindee claims he knocked on the door; Phillips says he burst in unannounced. It was then that Lindee was attacked by Kilo, the biggest of Phillips' three pit bull terriers. He claims two other pit bulls were also involved, a claim his cousin disputes. Either way, Lindee was mauled for several minutes until neighbors with a shovel and a pitchfork managed to remove the dogs. His right leg was amputated and he suffered broken fingers, a broken ankle and bite wounds that limit the use of his arms. Kilo was shot at the scene by law enforcement.

Many people don't realize it, but Florida law allows victims like Lindee to hold dog owners legally responsible for their dogs' vicious attacks. In fact, Florida is a "strict liability" state, which means owners are held liable for the first attack by their dogs, regardless of whether there was past evidence showing the dog is violent. Owners can escape liability by posting signs warning of a "BAD DOG," but they are also liable for general negligence, just like all Floridians. As the article implies, we also have local laws that can restrict or put down dogs determined to be dangerous.

Lindee's attack is a bit unusual among dog bite cases because he's 41 years old -- not 4 or 81. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that most adults killed or seriously wounded by dogs are elderly people, who are more fragile. However, statistics show that the vast majority of victims of serious dog attacks are children and teens. Children's short stature triggers dogs' dominance urges and puts their vulnerable body parts close to the dog's teeth and claws. In addition, younger children may not recognize when a dog is getting angry, and older kids may take risks to impress one another. The results can be tragic: sudden maulings that cause death, amputations or lifelong physical and emotional scarring for a young child.

A Florida dog bite lawsuit may not be right for everyone, but for victims like Lindee, who had multiple surgeries over more than two weeks in the hospital, it can be a way to recover the costs of an unprovoked and sudden dog attack. In most cases, the dog owner's homeowners' insurance policy covers the cost of any settlement or jury verdict. If you're a victim of an attack by a vicious dog, you have the right to ask for justice. Contact Cohn, Smith & Cohn to learn more about the laws that apply to your case at a free consultation.

This week (Nov. 10-16) is Florida Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Week, and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel noted the date with an inspiring article on former auto racer Darrell Gwynn. Gwynn, a National Hot Rod Association champion and son NHRA champion Jerry Gwynn, was paralyzed in 1990 in a racing accident. He also lost his left arm in the crash.

However, Gwynn declined to let his injuries stop him from living his life. After spending more than six months in hospitals and eventually recovering from his accident, he took on the responsibility of managing his racing team. In 2002, he started the Darrell Gwynn Foundation, a nonprofit organization for people with spinal injuries. In addition to providing wheelchairs and other medical equipment to those who can't afford them, the foundation helps to fund research to cure spinal injuries and teaches young people how to avoid a serious spinal injury. In fact, it was the foundation that successfully lobbied our state legislature to recognize Florida Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Week.

Gwynn told the Sun-Sentinel that he has two great passions in his life: racing and fishing. He combines those passions by helping to run the Hot Rods & Reels charity fishing tournaments, two Florida events that bring together recreational anglers with NASCAR drivers. One, at Homestead-Miami Speedway, will take place this Saturday, Nov. 15. The funds it raises benefit the Darrell Gwynn Foundation as well as Speediatrics, an organization that aims to ease children's stays at two Florida hospitals by adding racing themes to their children's wards.

Spinal cord injuries are extremely serious, life-changing injuries. The spinal cord is an essential part of the human nervous system, and when it's damaged, the victim can be partially or completely paralyzed. That means becoming wheelchair-bound, relearning some of the most basic tasks of life, and sometimes having to change or abandon a career. It also means lifelong medical care and a higher risk of certain medical problems. If the injury was caused by someone else's carelessness, victims can and should hold that person legally responsible for the results with a Florida spinal cord injury lawsuit. If you'd like to speak with an experienced Florida attorney about making this type of claim, please contact my firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, as soon as possible for a free consultation.

The Miami Herald reports that a Miami-Dade nursing home was placed under investigation by the police and three state agencies after a pediatrician found unexplained burns on a 12-year-old resident. Doctors found second-degree burns on the hands and thigh of the girl, who has severe cerebral palsy and can't communicate. An investigator from the state Agency for Health Care Administration, which regulates nursing homes, found no evidence that the girl had been burned, the paper reported, prompting a letter from the pediatrician to Gov. Charlie Crist criticizing the investigator for "apparent lack of due diligence" and suggesting that risk to other residents in the home is high.

The AHCA, the Department of Children and Families and Florida Medical Quality Assurance Inc. were all asked to investigate, along with Miami-Dade police. Compounding the problem is the fact that the girl is very disabled and needs help to perform daily tasks. In fact, the pediatrician and investigators believe that the burns are the result of neglect rather than abuse, in part because she's not well-equipped to provoke intentional abuse. However, no caregivers at the home could explain the burns and none stepped forward to confess. State records show eight complaints of abuse or neglect of children at the home, along with 66 regarding adult residents.

Nursing home abuse and neglect is always horrifying. People disabled or vulnerable enough to need full-time care are almost always unable to fight back; many aren't even able to tell anyone about the problems. The AHCA is supposed to shut down homes that don't meet standards, but as the doctor in this story complained, the system doesn't always work as intended. That's why it's so important for families to stay vigilant when they have a loved one in assisted care. As I have written before, families can also take advantage of the AHCA's online database that collects investigations of health care facilities.

The victim in this case may be getting extra attention because she's a child, but she could just as easily have been a disabled adult. No matter who is the victim, exploiting and abusing vulnerable people placed in your care is morally and legally wrong. If you believe someone you love is a victim of nursing home abuse or neglect, you can take legal action with a Florida nursing home abuse lawsuit, regardless of whether there is any concurrent criminal case. To speak with an experienced Florida nursing home attorney about your case, please contact our firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, for a free consultation.

In late October, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics finally released its statistical report on nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2007. As a Florida construction accident and workers' compensation lawyer, I was pleased to see that both the raw number of injury cases and the rate have gone down slightly since 2006. The agency reports 4 million overall cases of injury or illness in the workplace, down from 4.1 million in 2006, while the rate per 100 workers dropped from 4.4 in 2006 to 4.2 in 2007. (These numbers apply only to private industry; government workers are not counted.) Happily for us here in Florida, our state's rate of injury or illness is actually below the national rate -- 3.9 cases per 100 workers.

According to the agency, five individual industries saw declines: mining, construction, manufacturing, health care and social assistance, and the category of agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting. This is interesting in part because among those categories are some of the most dangerous industries in the United States. Construction, mining, agriculture/fishing/hunting and manufacturing are all well-known as some of the most dangerous civilian jobs in the United States, with high fatality and injury rates. About half of the injury or illness cases were considered serious, said the Bureau of Labor Statistics, meaning that the worker needed time off to recover, a job restriction or a temporary transfer. That number also fell, from 2.3 cases per 100 workers in 2006 to 2.1 in 2007.

The vast majority of the cases in the study were injuries, not illnesses, which accounted for 3.8 million of the four million reported cases. Health care is not among these, but the agency did note that it saw a sharp decline in skin diseases, which we hope reflects a drop in preventable hospital staph outbreaks. Among business types, general medical and surgical hospitals had by far the most cases of injury or illness, more than 253,500. That's far more than the number of cases in the next largest industry, general merchandise stores, which had about 142,000 cases.

Workplace injuries are important. People who work 40 hours a week spend about a third of their waking lives at work, where they cannot always control their working conditions. Federal and state workplace safety laws are supposed to help ensure a secure workplace and Florida workers' compensation laws are supposed to help workers get help after an injury. Unfortunately, employers and others sometimes ignore these laws in an effort to save money, regardless of the cost in human lives, pain or suffering. If you've been injured at work in South Florida and would like to learn more about your legal rights, my firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn can help. Please contact us as soon as possible to set up a free consultation.

A worker helping to widen the Florida Turnpike was hurt recently in an unusual accident with a vehicle that failed to slow. According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the worker was standing in the northbound lanes when a pickup truck in the southbound lanes slammed into the concrete median. The impact threw a sign leaned against the median on the northbound side into the worker's legs, causing a compound fracture. Fortunately, no one was killed.

As I wrote here in September, Florida is not seeing enough compliance with our Move Over Law, which requires driver to slow down substantially, and move over a lane when possible, when emergency vehicles are at the side of the road. Construction crew members are not emergency workers, but the principle is the same. Indeed, FHP Lt. Roger Reyes told the Miami Herald that this accident illustrates the importance of slowing down for people at the side of the highway. That includes ordinary folks dealing with a flat tire or another emergency. It's a small courtesy that makes a big difference to the people on the side of the road and possibly also to you.

As a Florida auto accident lawyer, I also noted with interest that the driver of the pickup truck was cited for careless driving and for driving with a suspended license. When my clients tell me about their conversations with auto insurance companies, they often mention that the claims agent asked if anyone at the accident got a ticket, or was cited or arrested. They're interested because a ticket shows that the police thought there was careless, reckless or illegal behavior involved in the accident, and that makes it easier to determine who was at fault. It can also be an important factor in a Florida car crash lawsuit.

Car wrecks can be devastating, causing deaths and permanent brain damage, paralysis, severe burns and other life-changing injuries. If you were hurt in a crash caused by someone else's careless behavior, you have the right to sue that person for financial compensation for your costs and your injuries. To learn more about your rights as an accident victim, you can contact our firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, for a free consultation.

It’s hard to find a car in the United States without antilock brakes -- but even many bikers don’t realize that most motorcycles don’t have them. According to a new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit crash safety research organization, they should. According to new research the IIHS published Oct. 22, antilock brakes reduce both a rider’s chance of fatal crashes and the chances of filing an insurance claim for a crash. (An eight-page PDF of the report is here.)

Antilock brakes keep brakes from locking up when you apply them suddenly, preventing the motorcycle from “fishtailing” and throwing its unlucky rider into the road. They’re on just a handful of bikes, generally the larger “touring” models, in part because they add about $1,000 to the price of the bike. (My own Harley Road King Classic doesn’t have antilock brakes, although it’s an option on newer models.) As the Chicago Tribune reported, the IIHS researchers found that bikes with antilock brakes had 4.1 fatal accidents per 10,000 registered bikes in one year -- 38% lower than the 6.6 per 10,000 rate for bikes without antilock brakes. Insurance losses were also 21% lower for bikes with antilock brakes.

This is important right now because the rate of motorcycle crashes is going up -- way up. Nationally, fatal motorcycle accidents have more than doubled between 1998 and 2007, partly because the number of bikers on the road and the miles they travel have also spiked. Here in Florida, the rate of fatal motorcycle accidents has also risen, though I hope that a new law requiring new motorcyclists to get training will help. As gas prices rise and commuters become more interested in alternative transportation, all issues of motorcycle safety.

As a motorcycle rider and a Florida motorcycle accident lawyer, I’m a fan of anything that could prevent serious motorcycle crashes, which all too often result in death, brain damage and other life-changing injuries. If you’ve been involved in this type of crash and you’d like to learn more about your rights, you should contact my firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, for a free evaluation of your case.

A recent article in the Florida Sun-Sentinel drew readers' attention to an extremely important tool offered by the state: An online database of information about doctors. The Florida Department of Health's Division of Medical Quality Assurance offers a searchable database providing disciplinary and background information on a wide variety of health practitioners, including professionals like pharmacists or midwives as well as a variety of conventional doctors' specialties. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation offers a different database allowing Floridians to search for lawsuit settlements or jury verdicts against a subset of licensed medical professionals (as well as attorneys).

Why should you bother? Well, as the Sun-Sentinel's article points out, more than an eighth (13.5%) of the doctors in South Florida have settled or lost a medical malpractice case, and 3.9% of Florida doctors overall have been disciplined by the state Board of Medicine. That's just a handful of Florida's more than 60,000 doctors -- but it's a handful that many people would like to avoid. This tool gives consumers a way to identify and avoid medical practitioners with a history of medical malpractice lawsuits, criminal convictions or disciplinary trouble. It's also a good way to look into the professional's education, which can affect some consumers' confidence.

This is especially important in light of the fact that Florida allows doctors to practice without any medical malpractice insurance at all, as long as they post a sign and promise to pay $250,000 in any lawsuit. As I posted in August, this has helped make South Florida the capital of uninsured doctors, with more than a third of the doctors in Miami-Dade going without insurance. Without malpractice insurance, these doctors usually won't be able to pay a legal judgment over the $250,000 limit, which leaves the patients they may hurt without any way to get the money they're legally entitled to, no matter how solid the case. Under those circumstances, it might be wise to do your homework on any new doctor.

As a Florida medical malpractice lawyer, I have seen far too many cases where medical malpractice drastically and permanently changed a client's life. An ounce of prevention in this case is easily worth a pound of cure. But if you believe you have already been hurt by a careless doctor and would like to know more about your rights under Florida law, I urge you to contact our firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, for a free consultation.

A jury in Manatee County in late October heard a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents of a young woman killed as a passenger in a fatal Florida motorcycle accident. The Bradenton Herald reports that the parents of Jaclyn Bien are suing the motorcycle's rider, Ricky Lee Rowell, alleging that his underage drinking and reckless speeding caused the accident.

According to the family's attorney, 19-year-old Bien met Rowell, then 20, at a friend's party. They went for a motorcycle ride together that night, during which Rowell exceeded 100 mph, the attorney alleged. At an intersection, they crashed, killing Bien and leaving Rowell with non-life-threatening injuries. Rowell's blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.03 -- below the legal limit for people of legal drinking age, but above Florida's 0.02 limit for underage drivers. In the Florida wrongful death lawsuit, Bien's family is seeking $5 million to $10 million in damages. However, they don't expect to actually recover the money, even if they win; their attorney told the paper that a judicial decision would be enough.

I can't presume to judge Rowell's responsibility for the accident; that's for the jury in this case to do. But as a motorcyclist, I am concerned that this kind of case invokes the worst kinds of stereotypes about motorcycles and the people who ride them. As a responsible and safe rider, I do not support the behavior alleged by Bien's family's lawyer. Underage drinking is illegal, drinking and driving is wrong for everyone, and speeding in excess of 100 mph on a motorcycle -- while fun -- is a risk even when the rider is sober. On a curve, at night and with alcohol in your system, it's a very bad risk.

The vast majority of experienced riders know that, and thanks to Florida's new-rider education law, lots of new ones will soon have food for thought. Motorcycle accidents are often very serious accidents, causing deaths, brain injuries and other life-altering injuries. If you've been hurt on a motorbike through someone else's carelessness -- whether it was a rider or a driver in a car or truck -- you have the right to hold that person legally responsible for the injuries and costs they cause. At Cohn, Smith & Cohn, we offer free consultations, so there's no harm in speaking to us about your case. contact us today to set up a free evaluation of your case.

A woman died in North Florida recently after she was struck by a set of tires that separated from a passing tractor-trailer truck. According to the Panama City News-Herald, the victim, a visitor to Florida, was walking at a rest stop on Interstate 10. As the truck passed, its left rear tires separated from the axle and bounced into her, killing her instantly. The report said the accident is under investigation.

News reports elsewhere have called this a "freak" accident, presumably meaning it was very improbable. But as a Florida trucking accident lawyer, I wonder if it was. Most drivers don't realize this, but equipment failure is a key cause of accidents with semis, tractor-trailers, 18-wheelers and other large commercial trucks. According to a 2007 study by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, vehicle-related factors were the critical reason for 10% of all large truck accidents in the study. Brake problems were the most frequently cited associated factor, showing up in 29% of the cases, with tire problems (6%) and cargo shifts (4%) also frequently cited.

There are many reasons why trucks and equipment might fail. Some are inherent flaws in the equipment itself, meaning that it was always defective, either by design or manufacture. Others are ultimately caused by poor maintenance. Federal laws require that trucking companies and independent truckers inspect their trucks every day and meet certain safety standards. But that's expensive and time-consuming, and some businesses would rather make a little extra money than take the time to ensure that their equipment is safe, even when their own trucks and cargo are at risk. A National Transportation Safety Board study in 2005 removed a full 46% of randomly inspected trucks from the road because of brake problems alone.

Each time a trucking company or trucker fails to meet these maintenance obligations -- or knowingly drives with unsafe trucks or equipment -- all of the drivers around that truck are at risk of a very serious accident. Accidents between cars and large trucks frequently cause wrongful deaths, permanent brain damage or other very serious injuries. If the accident is caused by the careless behavior of the trucking company or its driver, the victims have the right to hold them legally and financially responsible for the results. If you or someone you care about is a victim, Cohn, Smith & Cohn would like to help. To talk with an experienced Florida attorney about your options and your rights, please contact us today for a free evaluation of your case.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel ran a short article recently on a jury's award to a woman who was involved in an accident with an uninsured driver. According to the article, the plaintiff in the case was rear-ended by an uninsured driver on Military Trail in West Palm Beach, causing neck and back injuries. The plaintiff had uninsured motorist insurance, but according to the article, her insurer refused to pay that part of her claim, making a settlement offer her lawyer called "exceedingly low." Instead of accepting that settlement, which would have barred any more payments from her insurer from the accident, the plaintiff filed a lawsuit against her insurance company and recovered far more.

This story underscores one of the most basic and important tenets of Florida auto accident litigation: Do not trust the insurance company. Insurance companies, like all businesses, like to avoid spending money, and paying a claim from a serious accident costs serious money. For some victims, that means the insurer will find weak or trumped-up reasons to deny their claims, even if they've faithfully paid their premiums and even if they clearly have the coverage. Uninsured/underinsured motorist claims are especially notorious as likely candidates to be unfairly and illegally denied, especially if it was a hit-and-run driver, who legally counts as an uninsured driver but frequently is not treated as one.

This is an especially big problem because uninsured motorists are unlikely to have enough money to pay the costs of the accident themselves. It doesn't help that the uninsured or hit-and-run driver is often at fault for the accident, as in this case. The victims of these accidents are essentially victimized twice in this situation -- once by the careless drivers who hit them and again when their insurance company breaches its own contract. Often, they have no choice but to file a Florida car crash lawsuit to recover the money they need to pay for medical treatment, car repairs and other costs of the accident.

While I am pleased that Florida juries see through insurers' dirty tactics, I'm disappointed that drivers are continually forced into court to get what they're legally owed. A car wreck is already a traumatic, expensive and sometimes life-changing experience; victims don't need to fight red tape too. If you were hit by an uninsured, underinsured or hit-and-run driver in South Florida and you're facing this situation, you have rights. Contact our firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, for a free consultation to learn more about them.

The Florida Supreme Court struck a blow for injured workers on Oct. 23 when it overturned part of the provisions of the 2003 overhaul of our state workers’ compensation laws. In Emma Murray v. Mariner Health/ACE USA, the court overturned the 2003 law’s formula for awarding attorney fees in workers compensation cases, noting that the formula would result in attorneys’ fees that would be either excessive or inadequate. This violated the law’s own requirement that fees be reasonable, as well as past rulings on the subject. In this case, the formula resulted in an award of just $8.11 an hour for the plaintiff’s attorney, a fraction of the $200 an hour cited in the case as standard for Florida workers’ compensation attorneys and significantly below the $150 an hour paid to the lawyer for the other side.

It is probably easy to see why Florida workers’ compensation lawyers like me appreciate this ruling -- after all, we stand to make more money, at least in some cases. (In others, it might result in lower attorney fees than otherwise.) It might be a little harder to see why I think this is also a victory for injured workers, so let me explain. If you’re injured at work, you have the right to claim workers’ compensation benefits, regardless of who was at fault for the injury. In exchange for that right (not the benefits themselves), you give up your right to sue your employer for any wrongdoing that caused the injury.

Unfortunately, sometimes valid claims are denied, as in this case. When that’s the case, workers have to appeal their claims through administrative hearings with the state, and eventually, by filing a lawsuit in Florida courts. It is much, much easier to succeed in this if you have a lawyer, because workers’ compensation law is particularly complex. Even many other personal injury lawyers prefer to refer clients to someone who specializes in this area.

However, the formula in the 2003 law made it nearly impossible for certain injured workers to find a lawyer who will take on their cases. If all of their fees were around $8.11 an hour, as in this case, Florida workers’ comp lawyers would simply not be able to run their offices and pay their bills. As a result, fewer and fewer lawyers in Florida were willing to take on workers’ compensation cases, which left workers stuck with no benefits, no matter how valid their claims, and no recourse other than to represent themselves or use government benefits to get the health care they need.

I hope and believe that the state Supreme Court’s ruling in Murray will change that, although it will likely continue to be an important political issue. In the meantime, if you’ve been hurt in the course of your own job and you believe your workers’ comp benefits were unfairly denied, you should talk to our firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, to learn more about your legal right to workers’ compensation benefits.