South Florida Injury Attorney Blog

Recently in the news we saw the sinking of the cruise liner off the coast of Italy. Eleven lives lost but the majority of the passengers and crew were saved. Then in the news the sister ship set sail from Miami and reporters interviewed some the passengers that were boarding for their cruise, all comments from the passengers were that they were excited for their trip. Honestly who would not cruising the blue Caribbean Sea, wish it was me, anyways back to the blog.

As a Fort Lauderdale attorney who has represented victims of cruise ship injuries over the past couple year’s injuries on board a cruise ship no matter how minor or serious they may be should not be taken lightly. This is the reason why my staff and I sat down and put together a list of procedures to follow should you find yourself a victim of personal injury whilst cruising.

1. Go to the ship's doctor to get treatment for your injury, should you require medical attention;
2. Write up an accident report with as much photographs of your injuries and submit to the Security department on board; keep a copy of the report for your record and any other medical bills that you may have incurred due to the injury;
3. Also get the ship’s Security Department report and keep for your records;
4. Your photographs should be of the immediate place where the incident occurred;
5. Should there be Witnesses make sure and get all their information;
6. You should visit the shore side doctor to check on your injury at the next port of call; keep your medical bills etc;
7. Should you decide to file suit or a claim, please see the Cruise Line ticket as that may specify where the suit/claim has to be filed. Miami is the headquarters of many of the large cruise lines so the ticket may specify Miami, Dade County, Florida. If suit is filed in the wrong location and one year has gone by, you could be thrown out of court and it will be too late to file in the correct location.

Should you be injured whilst cruising and you remember to follow maybe not all but at least some the steps we have prepared for you, seek immediate legal counsel once you are back from your trip to ensure you are compensated for your damages and medical bills incurred.

Hopefully, you will not have to worry about any of these things and you will have a safe and enjoyable vacation, however, it is better to be aware of your rights. Contact us online or at 954 431 8100 or 305 624 9186 for your FREE consultation.

As I mentioned in my previous blog I will continue with the remaining 4 tips that you should follow should you be a victim of personal injury from a slip and fall accident. See below:

1. Medical reports and bills: Should your slip and fall be serious for you to be hospitalized you should have the attending doctor note how you received your injuries.

2. Follow the advice of your medical providers and keep all appointments with your physicians, physical therapists, etc. If you skip appointments, or don't follow the advice of your medical providers, the supermarket, or its insurance company, will use this against you during your case and will claim that if you would have followed the advice, or kept your appointments, your injury would healed or improved.

3. Should you be injured at a supermarket their representative (usually a risk manager) or an insurance company representative will contact you for a statement. It is advised that you consult with legal counsel before you speak with any representative.

4. Photograph evidence try to take as much photographs of the scene.

Once you have followed these 8 tips and you have retained your legal counsel to represent you should you decide to file claim, submit all the information you have to your attorney. This information will assist your experienced attorney in slip and fall injury in filing your claim.

Should you or a loved one find yourself a victim of personal injury contact us for your FREE consultation via 954 431 8100 or 305 624 9186 or you can visit us online.

In the United States, slip and fall accidents are the second leading cause of injuries and are the cause of over 15,000 deaths each year. An injury or death from a slip and fall, or a trip and fall, are oftentimes caused by a dangerous condition left to remain on a floor of a business open to the public, such as water on the aisles of neighborhood supermarkets, for an unreasonable period of time.

Below are 8 tips which I will divide into two blogs. These tips should be followed after a slip and fall at a workplace/ supermarket/ shopping mall or any other venue where an injury is sustained:

1. Seek medical attention right away. Call 911 and wait for the paramedics to arrive.

2. Determine what caused you to fall. Look around the area where you landed for water or other substances on the floor. Look at your clothing for water or stains. If you have a camera phone, take a couple photographs. Retain all physical evidence for example clothing etc that can be used as physical evidence to be used at trial.

3. Witnesses; should there be witnesses get all contact information from them as they will be extremely important to your case if your case goes to litigation.

4. Premises liability; building management; manager on duty. Report your fall right away. If you suffer an injury due to a fall at a supermarket, report the fall to the manager before you leave. Ask for a copy of the incident report while you are still at the scene of the accident.

As an experienced Slip and fall injury attorney practicing in Fort Lauderdale we advise that you seek legal counsel to ensure you are properly compensated should you decide to file claim. contact us for your free consultation via 954 431 8100 or 305 624 9186 or online.

As it gets closer to the holiday season we can all be seen heading malls to do our shopping. I wrote in one of my earlier blogs about an employee that was involved in a slip and fall at one our local shopping malls. He retained a personal injury attorney in Fort Lauderdale and was able to file a claim for his injury.

Apparently Alex was injured when he slipped and fell just outside his office on the 3rd floor of the mall, as the mall maintenance had recently cleaned up a spill but refrained to display signage warning of the wet spot. Obviously Alex not knowing and there being no proper signage notifying Alex and mall patrons of the wet spot, he slipped and fell fracturing his patella in four places, he had to be hospitalized.

Alex’s sought legal counsel from an Attorney experienced in these types of slip and fall injury and was able to file claim against the mall’s managing office for compensation for his medicals covering his rehab and he was also able to seek future loss of wages as he was no longer able to continue pursuing his career in law enforcement as the injury limited his mobility. He was successful as he had all the proper documentation that assisted him in filing his claim.

Always hire an experienced Personal Injury Attorney should you feel that you are the victim of a slip and fall injury accident. Feel free to contact us at 954 431 8100 or 305 614 9186 to set up a FREE consultation to discuss your legal options or visit our website at www.florida-attorney.org

With South Florida rainy season still in effect sometimes just "running into" a store can be hazardous. With the weather finally holding up this past week, previously the afternoon showers, made running into a pharmacy in Miramar a dangerous task for Simone B.
Approximately three weeks ago with the ususal afternoon showers, Simone had to stop off at a pharmacy after work to run an errand. She parked and was entering the store when she slipped on the wet floor just as she entered the door. There was no notification or the yellow cones that you normally see stating "BE CAREFUL WET FLOOR". Simone hit the floor really hard and paramedics was called out, by the Store Manager as did not want to move her as they were unsure of the seriousness of her injury. Simone was taken to the hospital where she was seen by a Dr and referred for a follow up visit to a Specialist. Simone's injury was not serious for hospitalization as she only bruised her coxic bone "tail bone", but was given time off as this type of injury can be extremely painful. Simone did the follow up to the Dr just to ensure that there was no additional injury.

Simone's slip and fall caused her loss of wages, and medical costs incurred from the follow up visits to the Dr. She sought legal counsel from a Personal Injury Attorney practicing in Miramar, FL to ensure she received proper compensation from her injuries sustained from the fall.

In Florida we come across numerous slip and fall cases or personal injury claims are filed against businesses due to their own error. Should you or a loved one find yourself in a similar situation always seek legal counsel to ensure you are properly compensated. Contact us online or call us at 954 431 8100 or 305 624 9186 to set up a FREE consultation to discuss your legal options.

Fort Lauderdale has become a top cruise ship port for many reasons. As the cruise season begins many of us will take our families and loved ones on a Caribbean cruise vacation from South Florida. Cruises are wonderful experiences but present many challenges and some degree of risk. Passengers arrive in Fort Lauderdale, South Florida, and embark on large cruise ships and sometimes get injured. The most common on-board injuries are slip falls, which result in broken hips, broken legs, soft tissue injuries and sometimes brain injuries. If you, or a loved one, has been injured on a cruise ship you should contact a South Florida personal injury attorney who has experience in all the areas of law and related medical problems caused by accidents, soft tissue and bone injuries. The first thing to do is to get prompt medical attention from the ship’s doctor. Keep records of the names and titles of all medical providers you see on the ship. Take photos of both your injuries and the place where the injury occurred. Ask for the names of anyone who saw what happened or can testify as to the conditions that existed before the injury. Slip-falls onboard can occur on stairways, boarding ramps, cabin doors and door-sills. After you return to Fort Lauderdale contact a South Florida personal injury attorney and ask for a free consultation. Often an experienced South Florida personal injury attorney can assist you in obtaining a medical opinion on your injuries: some are permanent and may cause future pain and suffering, and may be compensable by filing a personal injury lawsuit in Fort Lauderdale, or Miami. Sometimes a caretaker may be negligent in mis-diagnosing the extent of the injury, and sometimes a doctor’s misdiagnosis of a slip fall injury can lead to permanent disability or a life-long limitation in your mobility. Tripping and falling are the most common onboard ship personal injuries. Sometimes food poisoning or exposure to chemicals can cause you personal injury and sometimes it can be permanent or disabling. Often you can be injured by the negligence of others or the negligence in the design of the ship or negligence in the ship’s maintenance or upkeep. Only an experienced South Florida personal injury lawyer can provide you with a legal opinion as to how to be compensated for your injury. A personal injury lawsuit can be filed in a Florida federal or Florida State court in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, West Palm Beach and Palm Beach County. A personal injury lawsuit must be filed timely or you may lose your rights to receive compensation for your personal injuries, whether from a slip fall or negligence by the ship operator or the crew. An experienced Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawyer can evaluate if your personal injuries are being litigated by others who have similar injuries, or if the ship operator has a history of negligent conduct or negligence in the operations of the ship. If you are injured and you feel your injuries were caused by the negligence of others you can sue and be compensated. Falling at a pool, on a line, being injured by falling on a wet deck, or from exposure to chemicals are all personal injury claims.

In a previous blog I touched what you should do should you be injured on someone else's property, seek immediate medical attention; then contact a Personal Injury Attorney to know your rights. Now, I will list a few things that you should NOT do should you be injured on someone else’s property, they are:

• Do not provide any statements to the property owner;
• Do not sign any statements or incident reports;
• Do not say anything that would imply fault on your part.

Depending on where you may have been injured, Personal Injury Attorney’s have found that in many cases, if you suffered the injury on public property the property owner will file a premises liability accident report, and a claims adjuster will contact you to get more information about your injuries. Again, do not give a statement to anyone that contacts you. First, consult with a personal injury attorney that specializes in premises liability cases and will be able to advise you accordingly. Many adjusters are trained to try and persuade you to settle the claim immediately and sign a release, talk to a lawyer first.

Always seek counsel from an experienced Personal Injury Attorney to ensure that your rights as the victim are protected and that you receive the proper compensation. If you or a loved one has suffered injury contact us at 954 431 8100 or 305 614 9186 to set up a FREE consultation to discuss your legal options.

Martha and Tom Divia, and elderly couple living in Pembroke Pines, had a recurring engagement of visiting their friends Lori and Jake John at their condominium in an Over 55 community in Sunrise Lakes every first Saturday of the month to play bridge. This Saturday was no different than any other even though a thunder storm had passed through the Sunrise Lakes neighborhood earlier that day. As the couple was walking up to the front door of their neighbor’s home, Tom slipped and fell on the wet walkway leading up to the front door and suffered an injury.

Paramedics were called to the scene and Tom was taken to the hospital for observation, luckily he was not seriously injured just minor bruises. If you are injured on someone else’s property you should seek medical attention as soon as possible since the severity of injuries may not always apparent. After seeking medical attention you should contact an experienced Personal Injury Attorney to know your rights should you decide to file a claim against the owner of the property or the management company.

If you are the victim of any type of personal injury, you should call Cohn, Smith & Cohn today for a free evaluation of your case. We have more than 35 years of experience successfully pursuing personal injury lawsuits in the State of Florida, and we are dedicated to getting you the fullest possible compensation for your injuries. At a free consultation, our dedicated attorneys will discuss all of your rights and options with you, to help you determine your best course of action. Because there's no further obligation to you, there's no harm in speaking to us. If you or a loved one was injured, contact us online or call us at 954-431-8100 or 305-624-9186 to set up a FREE consultation to discuss your legal options.

Grocery or food shopping is a weekly errand for everyone. On any given day during the week supermarkets across Broward County are full of shoppers. Margaret McPherson running her usual errands last Saturday, was at in the checkout line of an Albertson's in Davie, FL when her bag slipped as the clerk was handing it to her, Margaret bent over to prevent the bag from falling and spilling the groceries across the floor. She rested her hand on the credit card machine stand for support when it gave away and she fell to the floor. As minor as this injury may have seemed EMT's were called to the grocery by the store manager.

Margaret's received injuries serious for her to be hospitalized caused her loss of wages, and medical costs as she suffered serious damage to her knee and required surgery. She sought legal counsel from a Personal Injury Attorney practicing in Sunrise, Florida to ensure she received proper compensation from her injuries sustained from the fall.

In Fort Lauderdale we come across numerous slip and fall cases or personal injuries where claims are filed against businesses due to their own negligence. Should you or a loved one be the victim of a slip and fall injury you should seek legal counsel from an experienced South Florida personal injury attorney to know your rights.

Doing groceries or food shopping is a weekly errand for everyone. On any given day during the week supermarkets across Broward County are full of shoppers. A woman running her usual errands on a Saturday, was at in the checkout line of an Albertson's in Davie, when her bag slipped open while the clerk was handing it to her, as the woman bent down to prevent the bag from falling and spilling the groceries across the floor. As she rested her hand on the credit card machine stand for support, it gave way and she fell to the floor. As minor as this injury seemed Emergency Medical Services were called to the Sunrise grocery store by the store manager, and after the woman was evaluated by EMS, they determined the injury was serious enough for the woman to be hospitalized.

The hospitalization caused her loss of work, medical expenses and great pain, as she suffered serious damage to her knee and required microscopic surgery. She sought legal counsel from a Personal Injury Attorney practicing in Sunrise, to ensure she received proper compensation from her injuries sustained from the fall.

In Florida, we come across numerous slip and fall cases or personal injuries where claims are filed against businesses due negligence. Should you or a loved one be the victim of a slip and fall injury you should seek legal counsel from an experienced South Florida personal injury attorney who knows your rights and can seek proper compensation for your specific situation.

While heading back to work after lunch time, an employee at the Galleria Mall in Fort Lauderdale was involved in a slip and fall accident. The employee’s injuries occurred when he slipped on a wet spot just outside his office on the 3rd floor of the mall. A call was made to 911 and EMT’s were dispatched to the scene, and they determined that the man’s injuries were serious enough to require hospitalization.

Just prior to the incident, the floor was mopped by another employee of the maintenance company contracted to housekeeping services at the mall. The injured employee alleged the cleaning company employee, failed to post proper signs or any other warnings that the floor was wet. The injured man was hospitalized for one week and suffered a fractured patella and knee injuries due to slipping on the wet mopped floor. The injured man decided to hire a personal injury attorney.

Continue reading "Work Related Injury or Not?" »

Slip and fall injuries in South Florida are among the top reasons for emergency room visits, according to the National Safety Council. The average medical expense for a slip and fall injury is estimated at $28,000 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Slip and fall injuries are preventable, companies and businesses all over South Florida have taken precautions to reduce these injuries. The Florida Sure Step Organization lists safety tips for preventing slip and fall injuries in the workplace and by customers, among these are selecting proper flooring in stores and restaurants, properly training housekeeping, controlling access to slippery areas, and ensuring proper warning signs where there is a slippery substance on the floor.

Over the years, our office has handled cases all over Broward County, and against many large and small companies where clients have been the victims of slip and fall injuries due to a slippery and dangerous substance on the floor of a business. For example, we had a case recently, where a customer suffered slip and fall injuries at a Pembroke Pines Publix and sustained injuries to her neck and back, after inspection of the area it was revealed that there was water leaking from a freezer and there were no signs or warnings of the wet floor danger. We have handled hundreds of similar slip and fall cases caused by the negligence of some businesses.

If you were injured in a slip and fall because of a business' failure to properly clean and maintain their property anywhere in South Florida including; Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Weston, Wilton Manors, Pembroke Pines, Plantation, Davie and Miramar you may be entitled to damages for your medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages, and other future damages.

For more information on Florida slip and fall claims or your specific case, contact a South Florida Personal Injury Attorney.

Last year, I wrote about the very sad drowning death of a two-year-old boy who wandered into an apparently unsafe backyard near his home. Isaac Dieudonne, 2, walked out the front door of his new home and into the pool area of the next-door neighbor’s home, which was vacant. At least two gates leading to the pool were reportedly open, despite laws requiring self-latching gates intended to prevent this type of accident. At the time, the case attracted my attention because of speculation that the home was vacant due to foreclosure. On Oct. 29 of this year, that speculation was confirmed by a McClatchy article about the Dieudonne family’s struggle to hold someone responsible for Isaac’s death. Because the home is in foreclosure, it isn’t clear whether the mortgage holder, mortgage servicer or maintenance company should be responsible.

According to the article, the Dieudonnes’ Miramar premises liability attorney wasn’t even sure who owned the property at first. The title had changed hands several times; some documents were fraudulent or had serious errors; and was at one point being foreclosed on in two cases at the same time. As a result, the family has named 20 defendants in the case, including owners, servicers, maintenance companies and a company that was holding the title for an owner. Some of the defendants claim they didn’t own the property at the time of Isaac’s death. All of this has already complicated the case, with an unnecessary move to federal court, and with 20 corporate defendants, more delays are likely. The Dieudonnes claim that neither the side gate to the home’s backyard nor the gate into the pool were fitted with self-closing spring locks, as required by Miramar city code -- and that they’re still unsafe today.

Unfortunately, drowning in swimming pools is a well known risk for toddlers and young children, which is exactly why cities have laws about self-latching gates. Under normal circumstances, a property owner’s failure to follow those laws can expose him or her to a premises liability lawsuit like the one the Dieudonnes are pursuing. Florida law gives everyone who owns or operates a property a legal obligation to ensure that the property is safe. This includes protections against foreseeable dangers, including the danger that a small child could get into a swimming pool without supervision. In my experience as a Lauderhill premises liability lawyer, handling this in a private home is usually a matter of handling the homeowners’ insurance company. But when it’s not even clear who owns the property, the entire process gets dragged out -- and the family’s suffering unfortunately gets dragged out along with it.

Continue reading "Family’s Swimming Pool Accident Lawsuit Complicated by Pool Home’s Foreclosure" »