South Florida Injury Attorney Blog

The St. Petersburg Times recently ran an article on the complications faced by two sisters who are trying to track down the truth about their mother's death. Their mother, Anne Talley, died after going into cardiac arrest at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in 2007. The sisters, one of whom was on the scene that night, dispute claims about how quickly the casino staff called 911 after Talley collapsed and what other steps they took to treat her before emergency medical technicians arrived. They want the casino to release records that could end the dispute -- but because the casino is owned by the Seminole Tribe, they cannot force the issue. The Seminoles, as a sovereign nation, are immune from lawsuits under the legal concept of sovereign immunity.

Sovereign immunity is a legal concept saying governments can't be sued, simply because they are governments. That includes Indian tribes, whose land is technically a kind of foreign nation. It also applies to the federal government, states and many local governments. Governments often waive their immunity for specific purposes, such as a lawsuit alleging wrongdoing by government officials, but they're under no special obligation to do so. In fact, when they do lift it, they frequently make it more complicated and difficult to sue them than it would be to sue a private individual or business. For example, many government agencies require you to go through a non-judicial grievance process before you may sue, or notify them that you plan to sue within a very short time after an accident.

The idea behind sovereign immunity is to protect public funds (and thus taxpayers) from lawsuits that could bankrupt them. But in an age when governments can and do get liability insurance, it's hard to see this doctrine as anything other than a convenient way for governments to avoid responsibility for their own actions, or the actions of their employees. Because the Seminoles decline to turn over the records or simply settle, the sisters have no other recourse. In fact, the article notes that they lost their lawyer because there was nothing else he could do for them. That may all be perfectly legal, but it denies them access to justice, the chance to file a Florida wrongful death lawsuit and perhaps peace of mind over their mother's death. (Victims of cruise ship injuries who have signed unfair contracts are in a similar situation.)

Because of these severe restrictions on lawsuits against the government, I always tell clients with these claims to act as quickly as possible after an accident. If you are suing a government entity that has waived its immunity, you often must still meet requirements with very strict deadlines -- some as short as 30 days. If you're considering this kind of claim, I urge you to contact my firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, as soon as possible to preserve your access to the courts. We offer free consultations, so there's no risk in speaking to us to learn about your rights and your options.

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Posted In: premises liability , wrongful death

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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.

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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.

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The Sun-Sentinel ran a piece recently on the problems faced by small businesses operating out of a warehouse in Pembroke Park, not far from our own main office in Pembroke Pines. The article says the warehouse has housed 300 small businesses in former storage units for as long as 30 years -- but an inspector has only recently discovered that none of them are up to the fire code. Because the units were originally storage rather than commercial or industrial buildings, they didn’t need back doors -- but as businesses, they do.

I sympathize with these business owners. It’ll take creative thinking to solve the problem posed by the building’s structural limitations. But as a businessman myself, I know it’s very important to solve the problem, and there are two reasons why. One is the obvious one: Nobody wants a loss of life. If a fire ever does happen, every cent put into preventing unnecessary deaths will be worth it. You might remember the disaster at the Station nightclub in Rhode Island in 2003, in which 100 people died and many others were injured. In that case, there were fire exits -- but they were obscured by smoke, causing a stampede for the front door. The club was also above its capacity and didn’t have sprinklers installed because of a grandfather clause in local laws.

The other reason may not seem quite as clear for folks who aren’t personal injury attorneys or owners of large businesses. If you’re a business open to the public or clients, you have a legal responsibility in the State of Florida to keep your premises free of dangers, or warn people of any you can’t fix. And you’re legally liable for any injuries that take place if you don’t meet those responsibilities. For the folks in the Pembroke Park warehouse, that means that they could be sued for wrongful deaths or serious personal injuries if they’re unlucky enough to have a catastrophic fire break out without the right safety measures in place. Nobody wants the financial or moral responsibility for that kind of tragedy.

If you’ve been seriously hurt by a preventable danger on someone else’s property, contact Cohn, Smith & Cohn for a free evaluation of your case.

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Posted In: premises liability

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