Fort Lauderdale Injury Lawyer Blawg

Florida law provides for incentives to the parties in a Fort Lauderdale, Florida vehicular accident lawsuit to settle before a jury verdict. The statutes are the Demand for Judgment - Offer of Judgments statutes. When the injured party of a Fort Lauderdale, Florida accident case files an Demand for Judgment for a specific amount against a specifically identified defendant or wrongdoer of an accident lawsuit and a jury thereafter returns a verdict that is greater than 125% of the amount that the Plaintiff victim of the accident lawsuit demanded, the Court shall (meaning it must) award the Plaintiff their reasonable attorney's fees and costs incurred from the date that the Demand was served upon the defendant in the lawsuit until the date that the judgment is entered. This risk for the defendant and ultimately its insurance company to pay attorney's fees and costs can sometimes strongly influence a car, or slip and fall, or products liability defendant and or its insurance company to settle to avoid the risk of paying significant additional sums of money.

For example, if the person who caused an automobile accident in Fort Lauderdale, Florida is only insured for $10,000 and they receive an Offer of Judgment to settle for within, or up to, the total amount of the defendant's liability insurance benefits, and the defendant loses at trial and a jury awards a judgment that is greater than 125% of the amount that was demanded (for example, a $10,000 Demand for Judgment with a verdict from the jury that is returned at greater than $12,501) then the defendant and its insurance company would be responsible for the injured plaintiff's attorney's fees and costs (which, alone, could be many multiples greater than the amount that was originally demanded).

In the 1970s Johnson & Johnson manufactured an intrauterine birth control device (IUD) called the Dalkon Shield. "THE STORY OF THE DAL-kon Shield is a story of loss and suffering and bitterness and pain. It is a story of individual heartbreak and corporate defeat. And it is a story that points up the difference between science and law." Tens of thousands of intended users developed serious health consequences from this product raging from pelvic inflammatory disease, to infertility, to suffering wrongful death. It turned out that there were memos issued from the research department warning the company that such risks were apparent but nevertheless, Johnson & Johnson made the calculated risk to go ahead and distribute these products at the expense of women's health and lives - driven by corporate greed.

There are countless cases of corporations knowingly placing defective products before the intended users simply to make ridiculous sums of money at the risk of the consumers' health and lives. While no single industry need be particularly vilified, it would be hard not to point the finger of scorn at the tobacco industry. Just how many lives have been lost and how many Florida loved ones have been affected by that industry alone may never truly be counted.

The point of these blogs is to identify the importance of having checks and balances in a functioning society and to identify the role that Plaintiffs Fort Lauderdale Personal Injury Attorneys play in protecting and championing the lives of Florida victims of products liability injury.

While industry seems to be an unbeatable opponent for the average victim to attempt to hold accountable for, Fort Lauderdale and Florida victims of defective products should know that in our great state of Florida and our great country of the United States of America, each of us are as powerful as the largest corporation standing before a jury of our peers.

Traffic was backed up for more than 20 miles on Florida's I-75 on June 25, 2010 shortly after 4 pm due to what appeared to have been a single vehicle accident. The vehicle appeared to have been a cargo van carrying an excessive load of lumber. Apparently the van skidded across all three lanes of the southbound traffic before leaving the roadway into the swale on the west side of I-75. The cargo van suffered extensive damage mostly to the roof in the area above the driver's seat, leaving much concern about the fate of the driver.

The roadway displayed gouge and yaw marks cutting across all 3 southbound lanes at an almost 45 degree angle to the path of travel.

It seemed as though the van may have been overloaded with building lumber and that the load of lumber may not have been properly secured or evenly distributed inside the van; although this is preliminary speculation.

Our immediate concern was whether the driver could have also been impaled by the load of lumber which appeared to have been 2"x4"x8's, which appeared to have been stacked to the height of where it would meet the rear of the driver's skull. Furthermore, the cargo van did not appear to have been equipped a barrier wall separating the driver from the cargo area that might have possibly retained the load from striking the front seat occupants in the event of a sudden stop or crash.

Continue reading "Overturned Van Accident On Florida's I-75 June 25, 2010!" »

This is important to the defense attorney and the insurance company because if they can demonstrate that the injured Plaintiff is partially at fault, whatever amount a Fort Lauderdale Broward County Jury may award the injured person in a verdict will be reduced by that percentage before the ultimate judgment amount is entered by the Judge of the Court.

So for example, if the jury awards the injured plaintiff of a Fort Lauderdale, Florida motorcycle, scooter, SUV, pickup truck or other vehicle accident the gross sum of $100,000 dollars, but the jury determines (through the persuasion of the insurance company's defense attorney) that the plaintiff was 25% at fault for causing a Fort Lauderdale, Florida personal injury accident, the injured Plaintiff will receive a judgment that is reduced by 25% of the verdict or a net judgment in the amount of $75,000.

Continue reading "Who's At Fault For Causing Injuries in a Fort Lauderdale, Florida Intersection Accident - Part III?" »

If the accident was witnessed and if there is a consensus of the facts from independent witnesses, then that determination is more easily assisted. If one vehicle was coming from a corner with a stop sign and the other vehicle had the "right of way" that assists the trier of fact in determining fault. If there was a traffic control light oftentimes both of the vehicles involved in a Fort Lauderdale, Florida intersection accident may claim that they had the green steady or green turn signal indicator, and beyond that there is an endless list of other often false explanations that the party at fault attempts to use to avoid their responsibility.

A Fort Lauderdale, Broward County Circuit Court will weigh all the evidence in order to determine who is at fault and to what percentage. Florida's Tort Law allows a Fort Lauderdale, Florida jury to consider each party's fault and determine what percentage, if any, of the fault may be attributable to each party involved in a Fort Lauderdale, Florida car, SUV, minivan, motorcycle or truck accident. This procedure of assigning percentages of fault is referred to in Florida as determining "comparative fault".
Most of the time defense attorneys and the insurance companies that are providing the actual defense for most vehicular accident law suits attempt to attribute some percentage of fault against the innocent victim of a Fort Lauderdale crash in order to minimize the amount of money that the defendant and ultimately, its Florida insurance company may need to pay.

Traffic intersections were created as a means to allow vehicular commuters to travel easily to destinations that are linked through Fort Lauderdale Florida's well-designed meeting roadways. Nevertheless, without some form of appropriate control over the intersection it is inevitable that accidents will occur since two vehicles coming from adjacent roadways that intersect cannot travel through the same intersection at the same time, simultaneously.

While as incredible as it may seem, there are still some intersections that have absolutely no traffic control device, most intersections are controlled by either a yield, or stop sign, or an electronic traffic light control device with various colored instructional lamps.

Unfortunately, even with such logically placed traffic control devices, Fort Lauderdale, Florida car, motorcycle or truck drivers still seem to collide at intersections.

And if one or both of the vehicle's occupants suffer personal injuries and rightfully intend to seek compensation pursuant to Florida's No Fault Laws, fault still needs to be determined. And except for those rare occasions where the wrongdoer fully accepts and admits their liability and accepts responsibility causing the accident, it may ultimately require a court of law to determine who or whom are at fault.
If the accident was witnessed and if there is a consensus of the facts from independent witnesses, then that determination is more easily assisted. If one vehicle was coming from a corner with a stop sign and the other vehicle had the "right of way" that assists the trier of fact in determining fault. Continued in Part Two in following blog

In the 1970s Johnson & Johnson manufactured an intrauterine birth control device (IUD) called the Dalkon Shield. "The story of the Dal-kon Shield is a story of loss and suffering and bitterness and pain. It is a story of individual heartbreak and corporate defeat. And it is a story that points up the difference between science and law." Tens of thousands of intended users developed serious health consequences from this product raging from pelvic inflammatory disease, to infertility, to suffering wrongful death. It turned out that there were memos issued from the research department warning the company that such risks were apparent but nevertheless, Johnson & Johnson made the calculated risk to go ahead and distribute these products at the expense of women's health and lives - driven by corporate greed.

There are countless cases of corporations knowingly placing defective products before the intended users simply to make ridiculous sums of money at the risk of the consumers' health and lives. While no single industry need be particularly vilified, it would be hard not to point the finger of scorn at the tobacco industry. Just how many lives have been lost and how many Florida loved ones have been affected by that industry alone may never truly be counted.

The point of these blogs is to identify the importance of having checks and balances in a functioning society and to identify the role that Plaintiffs Fort Lauderdale Personal Injury Attorneys play in protecting and championing the lives of Florida victims of products liability injury.

While industry seems to be an unbeatable opponent for the average victim to attempt to hold accountable for, Fort Lauderdale and Florida victims of defective products should know that in our great state of Florida and our great country of the United States of America, each of us are as powerful as the largest corporation standing before a jury of our peers.

Continue reading "Fort Lauderdale, Florida Personal Injury Victims of Defective Products - Part 3" »

The vast majority of the time a well intentioned corporate entity knows how to provide enough emphasis in the areas of quality control to prevent an undesirable outcome from a product that is released for the Florida consumer's use. But there are the occasions when certain entities release a product that can or does produce devastating injuries for the ultimate Florida user. And while our Florida and National government's through its various agencies, attempt to prevent such an outcome the reality is that the task is impossible; i.e., it is impossible for the government to oversee the research or design or production or distribution of every item that is released in the Florida or United States streams of commerce.

A defective product may appear on the retail level due to a number of issues. A product could have been poorly designed and the manufacturer or designer simply lacked all of the safeguards or the ability to foresee its outcome. The corporate entity could have forsaked appropriate manufacturing guidelines whether intentionally to cut costs, or as a careless oversight.

The corporate entity could have also made a calculated risk judgment whether to intentionally deliver a potentially dangerous product to the market, anticipating that the profits to be earned from the sale of this dangerous product would ultimately outweigh the costs of either paying governmental fines or for paying for the righteous claims and lawsuits brought by the innocent victims who have been harmed by the corporation's indifference - to be continued in next blog.

Needless to say, our lives have for the most part greatly benefited from the extraordinary advancements from science, technology and in medicine. There are amazing minds at work not only in Florida universities, but throughout this great country, feverishly working to provide a better life for society. Brilliant minds are at work causing advancements in the technology world that have allowed for the input of secondary intelligence to advance the products and devices that are intended to improve our lives. With the aid of computers, man is assisted in accelerating the research and development of concepts and designs to better our lives whether it be in the area of computer science, or in the areas of pharmaceutical advancements, research on animals, stem cell research or artificial prosthesis - man and computer have combined in a mission to provide the most unthinkable advancements for our lives.

We, the ultimate consumer are the intended beneficiaries of these advancements. Unfortunately, everything in life bears a cost; research and development come at an extraordinary price tag which must somehow be justified by corporate interests. Untold hundreds of millions of dollars are invested each year into the areas of research and development by corporate entities who in addition to intending to help society's lives need to justify the expenditures by ultimately producing ever increasing profit margins for investors; regardless of how well intentioned the inventors or researchers or designers may be. Continued in part two - next blog entry

While many a victim report an experience of smelling gunpowder, which they believe is the sign that the vehicle is about to explode, what they are really sensing is the aftermath of the explosion that caused to airbag to deploy. The smoke that the Fort Lauderdale car crash victim experiences is caused by the release of dust-like particles and gases which consists of cornstarch, French chalk or talcum powder, which are used to lubricate the air bag during deployment. Newer airbags use talcum powder, cornstarch and nitrogen gas. Under certain circumstances, if the occupant of a Fort Lauderdale car accident remains in the vehicle too long they can experience irritation of the throat and eyes; but they would have to remain in the vehicle for minutes for that to occur.

The modern day airbag which is deployed during a Florida automobile accident generally deploys at a speed of approximately 180 miles per hour and is still capable of deflating all within 0.4 seconds. As a result of that extraordinarily rapid deployment many victims of Fort Lauderdale car accidents who receive the benefit of an airbag may nevertheless suffer burns to their arms, upper body or face, as well as fractures to their upper extremities, chest area, ribs and face. Nevertheless, the United States government, as well as Florida considers the likely avoidance of fatal injuries from the deployment of airbags, to far outweigh the potential risks of burns and fractures.

This Fort Lauderdale personal injury firm is currently litigating a case for a mother and her 2 young sons who were involved in a potentially fatal intersection accident in 2008 in Miramar, Broward County, Florida, but for the deployment of the Lexus' airbags. And while our clients survived from the initial impact which was caused by the wrongdoer, the mother who was driving the vehicle suffered burns to her upper body as well as significant spinal column injuries, and one of her young sons sitting in the front seat sustained a fractured thumb which was grossly dislocated.

Continue reading "Learn About Air Bag Deployment in Fort Lauderdale Florida Car Accidents - Part 3" »

Initially, airbags were intended as a seat belt replacement considering the low voluntary implementation of seat belt usage in the 1970's. There are many reasons why that concept had to change, including, but not limited to the fact that unseat-belted occupants were much more likely to suffer unnecessary injuries once the airbag was deployed than occupants who were employing the shoulder harness and lap belt restraint system. Passengers of vehicles would have a tendency to position themselves low in the seat when not wearing a seat belt and would take the brunt of the airbag deployment directly into their face which would likely cause fatal head injuries.

Today, airbag systems are now designated as Supplemental Restraint Systems (SRS). Initially, an airbag was introduced as an option in 1980 on Mercedes Benz S-class vehicles. Porsche became the first car in the world to have standard driver and passenger airbags, followed by the Honda Legend. But it was Chrysler that made airbags standard across its entire product line.

The victims of most car accidents including victims of Fort Lauderdale car accidents, first experience after the deployment of an airbag due to a collision, is the sensation that the vehicle is on fire due to the experience of the passenger compartment filling up with an obnoxious smoke, followed by the experience of the foul smell of the chemicals that are used to lubricate the deployment of the airbags.

While there is a very simple scientific explanation for what has occurred, the victim of a Fort Lauderdale car crash with airbag deployment's first reaction is to immediately exit the vehicle under the fear that the vehicle is on fire or is about to explode. Unfortunately, this causes many a victim who might otherwise be well advised to remain motionless at the risk of causing additional injury to rush from the vehicle. Continued in next Blog....

Probably no other vehicle safety device has had as a profound impact on saving the lives of occupants in a car crash than the air bag. An air bag is a flexible device which under the right circumstances inflates as a cushioned barrier to prevent fatal injuries in car accidents. Most vehicles in the 2010 production cycle have airbags installed which are designed to inflate and deflate in 0.4 or less than half a second. They are currently required by law to protect both the driver and front seat passenger of every new vehicle. They are considered a passive device since the occupants of the vehicle are not required to activate or use the air bag, contrary to a seat belt which must be employed by the car's occupants in order to provide its benefits. John Wenrick designed the original safety cushion device in 1952. Dr. David S. Breed invented the sensor for crash detection which works in conjunction to deploy the airbag at its appropriate moment. Airbags were first introduced to Florida automobile occupants in the 1970's while seat belt usage was quite low.

Today, in addition to the traditional airbag in the steering wheel and passenger side dashboard, airbags have been designed and installed in the lower dashboard to protect the driver's and front passenger's knees; there are side airbags contained in the front and rear side door panels; in the seat sides to protect against mid-body fatal blows; there are air curtains that can run the full length of both sides of the modern vehicle for side impacts or roll-over accidents; there are airbags available for the entire roof in the event of a rollover accident to prevent fatal head injuries; there are rear curtain air bags to prevent fatal injuries to the rear occupants of vehicles equipped with a third row seated near the rear glass; and there is now a center airbag that will be deployed in the event of a potential fatal accident which will deploy in the center of the rear seat to prevent fatal injuries to rear occupants who can otherwise be thrown about the compartment. Continued in next Blog...

But what if a Fort Lauderdale driver crashed as a result of either striking the debris in the roadway or while attempting to avoid it? Who could be responsible?

Well, one could argue that whoever lost the debris in the roadway was careless in the operation of their vehicle and therefore should be liable for the ensuing accident. One could also argue that if the identity of the owner of the product that was in the Fort Lauderdale Broward County roadway or the driver and owner of the vehicle transporting the product that ended up in the roadway could not be discovered then the accident victim should be entitled to seek benefits under his uninsured motorist coverage of his own policy. This would be predicated upon the sensible argument that the loss of product coming off a Fort Lauderdale vehicle is by definition, the careless operation of a vehicle; and if the identity of the wrongdoer cannot be discerned, Florida law permits a claim for uninsured motorist benefits against an unknown or "phantom" wrongdoer.

This Fort Lauderdale Personal Injury Law Firm represented the victim of just such a set of facts, which went to trial in 1992. In that case our client was driving northbound on I-95 in Broward County, Florida and suddenly discovered a large furniture box blocking his path just over the crest in the roadway. While he predictably swerved to avoid striking the box not knowing what might lay inside and how much damage it could have done, he lost control of the vehicle and struck the retaining wall as well as guardrail suffering knee and back injuries which required surgery. Allstate Insurance Company denied his claim for uninsured motorist benefits from his policy for the damages caused by a phantom vehicle, stating that his accident did not fall under the definition of an uninsured accident because there was no other vehicle involved and therefore, he was not involved in an automobile accident; but a Broward County Circuit Court jury of his peers ruled otherwise on the issue of coverage. In fact, the Court was obliged to award Attorney's fees against Allstate pursuant to F.S.627.428, because of Allstate's wrongful denial of insurance benefits.

Continue reading "A Fort Lauderdale Accident Caused By Debris In The Road - Is Anyone Responsible? Part Two" »

Let's say you were injured on a Fort Lauderdale or Broward County roadway due to debris lying in the roadway. On Friday, June 4,2010 westbound I-595 in Broward County, Florida was temporarily shut down due to boxes containing glass products that were dumped all over the roadway, from approximately Nob Hill Road to Hiatus Road. All I-595 westbound traffic was diverted off the highway causing enormous backups, delays and lots of lost tempers. Let's say an accident ensued as a result of this event. Who would be responsible?

Well, if it was two vehicles striking each other because of their own carelessness the matter would be handled as any other Florida automobile accident pursuant to Chapter 627 of the Florida Statutes -The Florida Automobile Reparations Reform Act. Under those circumstances responsibility would lie with the at fault driver for causing the accident and damages would be paid if the victims suffered "threshold injuries" as defined in that act: i.e.; damages would be awarded if the victim either: 1) suffered a wrongful death; 2) permanent and significant scarring or disfigurement; 3) a significant loss of an important bodily function; or 4) a permanent injury, within a reasonable degree of medical probability.

Continue reading "A Fort Lauderdale Accident Caused By Debris In The Road - Is Anyone Responsible?" »