Jacksonville Injury Attorney Blog

Medicare rates nursing homes throughout the country on a scale of one to five stars, with one being the lowest. Four nursing homes in Jacksonville received the lowest rating. They are: Glenwood Nursing Center in Arlington; West Jacksonville Health and Rehab Center on the Westside; Palm Garden of Jacksonville in Spring Park; and San Jose Health and Rehab Center in Mandarin. All of these facilities are located in Duval County, Florida.

Nursing home abuse and neglect are concerns for all nursing home residents and their families. If you are concerned, one step you should take is to look at the Medicare ratings located at www.medicare.gov/NHCompare/. The State of Florida, Agency for Heath Care Administration, also has ratings of every nursing home in the state located at http://ahcaxnet.fdhc.state.fl.us/nhcguide/

You should also tour the facility. Look for cleaniness, a lack of foul odors and polite and eager staff. Also consider the quality of a nursing home's medical director. Once your family member becomes a resident, make frequent visits, ask questions, request meetings with the staff and medical director if you have concerns and do not hesitate to have your loved one transferred if you sense a problem.

As Jacksonville nursing home lawyers, we have seen many types of nursing home abuse and neglect including: failing to provide adequate nutrition; undiagnosed infections; clostridium difficile infections (c. diff.); sepsis; failing to provide proper medication; failing to timely transfer a resident when serious complications arise; and neglected bedsores.

Continue reading "Four Jacksonville, Florida, Nursing Homes Get Lowest Grades" »

As Jacksonville nursing home attorneys and medical malpractice attorneys, from time to time, we review cases on behalf of clients who signed an arbitration agreement prior to being admitted to a hospital, nursing home or assisted living facility.

Such agreements purport to require that any claim, dispute or lawsuit for medical malpractice, or nursing home abuse or negligence, be submitted to an arbitrator instead of a jury. In our opinion, in the event that negligence is proven, arbitrators are likely to award less than juries. In addition, such agreements often limit the damages you can recover and prevent you from being reimbursed your lawsuit costs in the event that you are sucessful. Lawsuit costs for medical malpractice cases often exceed $50,000.00.

Although such agreements can sometimes be challenged and found to be unenforceable, often they are enforceable ,and, as set forth above, greatly limit your rights. Our recommendation is to never sign such an agreement.

Continue reading "Beware of Arbitration Agreements When Being Admitted to a Hospital or Nursing Home" »

A transportation company purchased insurance for its tractor trailer from a large international insurance company. However, before the insurer provided the company a copy of the insurance policy, the eighteen wheeler was stolen.

The insurer then denied the claim because the policy required that the truck be stored in a secured facility when not in use; however, the company that owned the truck was not given the policy prior to the theft and had no knowledge of such a requirement.

The trial court ruled that the insurer was not allowed to deny the claim on this basis, because the transportation company had no idea the truck had to be stored in a secure location. The District Court of Appeals upheld the trial court's ruling.

Our Jacksonville insurance dispute attorneys handle insurance claim denial cases frequently. Often insurers are happy to accept premiums but reluctant to pay losses. In Florida, if you have to sue your own insurer and you are sucessful, you are entitled to recover the attorney fees spent on the case.

In many such instances, we agree to handle cases on a contingency basis, meaning we only get paid if we are sucessful and we get paid in addition to the value of your claim. In this manner, you can hire an insurance claim denial attorney without paying anything out of pocket and, if we are sucessful, you get 100% of the value of the insurance benefit.

Continue reading "District Court of Appeals Rules that Insurer Must Cover Loss Where Insurer Tried to Deny Claim Based on Policy Forfeiture Where Insurer Failed to Give Policy to Insured Before Loss Occurred" »

A man from Elkton, Florida, near St. Augustine was killed Thursday night in a single car accident when the truck in which he was a passenger rolled over. The man along with the driver were in Jeep Grand Cherokee on State Road 207, when the vehicle left the roadway. The driver then overcorrected, causing the SUV to flip.

The deceased was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the vehicle. The driver was also not wearing a seatbelt either and was seriously injured. The driver was taken to Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine. The official FHP report says alcohol was involved.

Once again, we see an example where an unbelted occupant of a vehicle is ejected in a vehicle rollover crash and killed. Ejection from a vehicle that flips is very common due to inertia causing the body to remain in place while the vehicle tumbles around that person causing the occupant to forcefully strike windows, doors or open spaces, such as an open window or the open top of a convertible car.

When personal injuries or wrongful death occurr in a car accident in Florida when a person is not wearing a seatbelt, the recovery for such injuries or death can be severely reduced. If the defendant can prove that the person would have received less significant or no injuries, then the jury is to award only for the injuries that would have occurred if the person was seatbelted.

An attorney for an injured plaintiff can face serious challenges proving that the same degree of injuries would have resulted if the injured person was belted.

Continue reading "SUV Flips Near St. Augustine - One Man Dies" »

A car crash on Interstate 95 occurred in McIntosh County, Georgia, when a tractor-trailer rear-ended a minivan. A three year old boy was killed and two adults and two other children suffered personal injuries and were taken to area hospitals. The auto wreck happened shortly before 1 p.m. in the southbound lanes of I-95.

McIntosh County is halfway between Savannah and Brunswick, about an hour and a half north of Jacksonville, Florida. Witnesses say that the truck was traveling at a high rate of speed prior to the automobile accident. The driver of the truck is from Jacksonville, Florida.

Tractor-trailer accidents often involve the most serious of personal injuries and wrongful death. Due to the immense weight of tractor-trailers, breaking distances can be quite large. As such drivers of eighteen wheelers must be especially careful of traffic conditions in front of them.

We are currently handling a similar case that occurred on I-10 in Jacksonville, where, thankfully, the victim in the car did not die, but did suffer serious personal injuries. Traffic conditions, especially during holidays and in areas of construction can cause sudden stops even on interstates, making it all the more important for all drivers to be on the lookout for slow down or stop conditions.

Continue reading "Truck Crashes Into Car on I-95 in Georgia" »

A vehicle traveling west on Valley Forge Road near the intersection with Edgewood Avenue in Jacksonville struck a sign and a telephone poll and went airborne. All three occupants were ejected from the vehicle.

A woman died in the single vehicle accident and the other two people, including a baby, were hospitalized with personal injuries. The woman was pronounced dead at Shands Jacksonville Medical Center. Police are still investigating the cause of the accident. Thick fog may have played a role.

Car accidents such as this are all too frequent in Jacksonville. Whether any of the ejected occupants were wearing a seatbelt is unknown. It is also unkown if the baby was properly restrained in an infant car seat. It is very common for unrestrained occupants to be ejected from a vehicle if it flips or becomes airborne, often throwing occupants through closed windows. Obviously serious personal injury or wrongful death can result from being ejected.

Seatbelts are not only legally required to be worn in Florida, they can prevent ejection in rollover accidents and can prevent the resulting devastating injuries.

Continue reading "Single Car Accident in Jacksonville Kills One and Injures Two" »

At a Southside Jacksonville apartment complex, fire and rescue personnel responded to numerous complaints of residents smelling gas. As a result of the natural gas leak, carbon monoxide levels were dangerously high in several apartments. Several people were treated and others were taken to Shands Jacksonville Medical Center and Baptist Medical Center for injuries.

This incident brings to mind several dangerous scenarios that we have run across as Jacksonville injury lawyers. First, gas leaks, especially propane gas, can cause catastrophic explosions and fires. The results from such an incident can include devastating personal injuries and wrongful death.

Such leaks can result from faulty regulators, leaks in piping, and accidents causing a rupture of piping. Since liquid propane gas is heavier than air, when it leaks it can "pool" in a home instead of dissipating. This pool of gas is highly flammable and can be ignited by many sources including heaters or electric motors that cause sparks.

The second type of incident called to mind is the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning. Since carbon monoxide itself is odorless, the accumulation can cause deadly consequences to unsuspecting victims. Various household appliances, that operate on gas, can cause carbon monoxide to build inside a home, if there is not proper ventilation.

Continue reading "Gas Leak in Jacksonville Apartment Complex Causes Injuries" »

A motorcyclist was traveling on New Kings Road in Jacksonville, Florida, when a Honda Civic attempted to make a left turn across the motorcycle's path of travel caused a serious collision.

The driver of the car was intending to turn left onto I-295 Northbound. The driver of the motorcycle was in critical condition following the crash.

Left turns across oncoming traffic represent the second most common type of car accident we see as Jacksonville car accident lawyers, the most common being rear-end collisions. Drivers turning left must yeild to oncoming traffic. Often such drivers mistake the speed of oncoming cars and the length of time it takes them to accelerate from a stop to cross the oncoming lanes. Also, motorcycles can be more difficult to see.

Left turn auto collisions typically result in a "T-bone" collsion with serious personal injuries, and, at times, fatal accidents.

Continue reading "Car Turning In Front of Motorcyle Causes Collision and Serious Injuries in Jacksonville" »

A Flagler County jury returned a $5.1 million verdict in a wrongful death case resulting from a fatal trucking accident. A tractor trailer struck a husband and wife driving a minivan. The accident happened at a rural intersection and the plaintiff claimed that the truck driver ran a stop sign.

The wife was killed instantly and the husband suffered personal injuries including a pelvic fracture. The two had recently retired and moved to Palm Coast, Florida, located about one hour south of Jacksonville.

In wrongful death truck accident cases such as this, it is important that the attorney for the plaintiff thoroughly investigate the driver and the employer's decisions regarding hiring and retaining the driver. In addition, it is important to determine how many hours the trucker had been driving in order to determine if federal laws limiting the number of hours a driver can work in a given time period were violated.

Continue reading "Flagler County Jury Awards $5.1 Million in Fatal Truck Accident Case" »

Last night, a pedestrian was struck by a sport-utility vehicle at a Jacksonville Northside intersection. The SUV was traveling on North Main Street near 53rd Street when the man was struck. It was raining at the time of the accident.

The victim was taken to Shands Jacksonville Medical Center with life-threatening personal injuries. A relative told the Times-Union that he died.

Car accidents involving pedestrians seem are far too common in the Jacksonville area. Of course, these types of accidents cause devastating if not fatal injuries to a pedestrian.

Continue reading "Pedestrian Struck by Car in Jacksonville Suffers Life-Threatening Injuries" »

This morning, on I-95 near downtown Jacksonville, one car accident lead to two more. After an initial vehicle accident, a police officer was on the scene. A work truck then collided with the officer's patrol car. Following that, an ambulance following the work truck crashed and rolled over.

The ambulance was carrying a patient, whose status is unknown. However the police officer and three others suffered personal injuries and were taken to a Jacksonville hospital.

Auto accidents such as this bring two things to mind. First, Florida law requires drivers to move out of the lane closest to a police vehicle that is stopped on the side of the road. Second, all drivers must maintain a safe distance behind cars in front of them in the event of sudden stops.

Continue reading "Five Vehicle Accident on I-95 in Jacksonville Leaves Four Injured" »

This afternoon, a fire broke out in an Arlington apartment complex in Jacksonville, Florida. The roof collapsed killing one person and causing personal injuries to two others. Jacksonville Fire and Rescue responded and called it a three-alarm fire. The cause of the fire has not yet been reported.

Fires can lead to personal injury and wrongful death cases if the fire was caused by the negligence of others. In an apartment complex, such negligence could result from improper wiring, lack of sprinkler systems, lack of fire extinguishers or propane gas leaks.

As Jacksonville injury lawyers, we have handled cases involving personal injuries resulting from fires. Burns can cause some of the most serious and life altering injuries possible.

It is important that people always make sure they have fire extinguishers on hand and that they have a plan of escape in case of fire. Persons living on a second or higher floor should have a second way of leaving the building in case a stairwell is engulfed in flames. We have seen burn cases resulting from liquid propane (LP) gas, faulty wiring, cooking, water heaters set too high, and space heaters.

Continue reading "One Person Dies and Two More are Injured in Jacksonville Apartment Fire" »