Jacksonville Injury Attorney Blog

In Middleburg, Florida, located about 30 minutes south of Jacksonville, two people died after their car collided with the back of a school bus. As a result of the auto collision, the car caught on fire. The driver and front passenger died as a result of the accident. A passenger in the rear of the vehicle suffered non-lifethreatening personal injuries. All three were wearing seatbelts.

The driver of the car ran into the back of the schoolbus at the intersection of Hall Boree Road and Blanding Boulevard in Middleburg. The reason for the driver's failure to stop safely is not currently known.

As Jacksonville car accident attorneys, we see more rear-end collisions than any other type of automobile accident. Often, the driver causing the accident was distracted by something and failed to appreciate that traffic ahead came to a stop.

Early Sunday moring, firefighters were called to a single car accident on County Road 208 in Hilliard, Florida. When they arrived they found the vehicle on its driver side near a power pole.

One of the occupants was thrown from the vehicle, and the other had to be cut from the vehicle. Both died. Neither were wearing their seatbelts. The cause of the vechicle accident is unknown.

As Jacksonville injury lawyers, we see this type of scenario far too often. When a vehicle rolls over in a crash, passengers that are not seatbelted usually suffer catastrophic, if not fatal, injuries. Serious personal injuries and wrongful death can often be avoided by simply wearing a seatbelt.

Continue reading " Two Die in Nassau County Car Accident in Hilliard " »

Late last night, a pickup truck traveling on Martin Luther King Boulevard in St. Augustine, Florida, left the road and struck a power pole. According to police, the driver of the pickup then got into a friend's pickup nearby in an attempt to flee; however, the friend then lost control of his truck and struck an air conditioning unit connected to the United Way building on Weeden Street.

The first driver has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident. Both drivers are under investigation for suspicion of driving under the influence. The two accidents left local Florida Power and Light customers without power for hours.

In January of 2007, officers of the Jacksonville Sheriff's office set up an undercover drug sting by posing as drug dealers near the home of 80 year old Isaac Singletary. Mr. Singletary, carrying a gun, confronted what he thought were actual drug dealers and demanded that they get off of his property. Gunfire erupted and Mr. Singletary was killed.

Mr. Singletary's family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Jacksonville alleging that the officers acted improperly and violated his civil rights. The attorneys for the City of Jacksonville have filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The Court has yet to rule on the motion.

Civil rights lawsuits are complicated cases which are usually filed in federal court. In order to prevail, the plaintiff will typically have to prove the victim's loss was the result of a policy or custom of a city or county. Often, the city will defend such cases on the grounds that the action taken was the result of a split second decision by an officer and not the result of any policy or custom.

If a simple mistake is made by an officer and the mistake is not attributable to a policy or custom then the case is likely a simple negligence case and not a civil rights case. The downside to this is that the City of Jacksonville, like all Florida municipalities, has a statutory limitation of liability of $100,000.00 per claimant and $200,000.00 per incident for negligence claims. Federal civil rights cases have no such limit.

Continue reading " City of Jacksonville Seeks to Dismiss Wrongful Death Lawsuit for Police Shooting " »

Tuesday afternoon, two pickup trucks collided in Jacksonville's westside. A nineteen year old pregnant woman was thrown from one of the pickup's beds and died. Her unborn child did not survive.

The pickup in which the young woman was riding turned left in front of the second pickup on Normandy Boulevard near the intersection with Parrish Cemetary Road. The woman who was ejected from the bed of the pickup was airlifted to Shands-Jacksonville Medical Center, where she died. According to authorities, three other people suffered personal injuries in the crash, including a 4-year-old girl in the second pickup.

Although there are circumstances where riding in the bed of a pickup is legal in Florida, it is never a good idea. Of course, pickup beds do not have seatbelts or other safety devices and being thrown from a vehicle in any accident often results in tragic, if not fatal injuries.

Continue reading " Pregnant Woman Dies in Accident on Jacksonville's Westside " »

The mother of a twelve year old boy has served a notice on The City of Jacksonville of her intent to initiate litigation resulting from her claim that the nurse at his Duval County school failed to timely respond to his headache and swelling. The boy had a shunt in his head in order to drain fluid from his brain, a fact that was known to the school.

According to the mother, her son's shunt had filled with fluid and his head began to swell, yet two hours was allowed to pass before he was sent to the hospital. Tragically, the boy died the next day allegedly due to excess fluid and pressure on his brain.

Any negligence claim against a municipality in Florida must be presented in writing six months before a suit seeking damages for personal injury or wrongful death can be filed. For the most part, negligence suits against a Florida city are capped at $100,000.00 per person and $200,000.00 per incident. In severe instances, the Florida Legislature can pass a claims bill allowing for compensation in excess of these limits; however, that is very rare and entails a lengthy and expensive process.

Continue reading " Notice of Wrongful Death Claim Served on The City of Jacksonville For Student's Death " »

In 2008, there were 14,064 car accidents in Duval County - Jacksonville. With a total population of 859,421 in Jacksonville, the rate of car crashes per 1000 people comes to 16.36. The statewide average was 12.94 vehicle crashes per 1000 residents.

Although Jacksonville's rate of automobile accidents is higher than the state average, it is lower than ten other large cities in Florida, including Miami, Orlando, Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale and Tallahassee.

Continue reading " Jacksonville's Car Crash Rate Higher Than Average in Florida " »

A tractor-trailer carrying chlorine and other chemicals on Interstate 75 in Halmilton County, about one hour west of Jacksonville, Florida, left the road and crashed. Parts of I-75 were shut down for hours.

Because of the location of I-10 and I-95 in Jacksonville along with its large industrial port, trucks carrying toxic chemicals routinely pass through the City. Accidents involving these trucks can cause serious personal injuries to those involved in the trucking accident, and due to the chemicals being transported, to those nearby as well.

Continue reading " Chemical Truck Crash on I-75 West of Jacksonville Shuts Down Traffic " »

Our blog entries below reflect a significant number of traffic deaths occuring to pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcylists in the Jacksonville area. Jacksonville is no different than the rest of Florida in this regard. In 2008, 16.8% of all traffic accident deaths in Florida were suffered by pedestrians, 4% were byclists and 17.8% were motorcyclists. This comes to over 38% of all Florida traffic fatalities!

With our warm climate in Florida, a lot of people run, walk and bike along our roadways. Unfortunately, when there is an accident between a vehicle and a person walking, bicycling or driving a motorcycle, the consequences are often fatal.

These accident statistics from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, further demonstrate that safety equipment is not used often enough. For example, seventy-two percent of the bicyclists killed were not wearing helmets and thirty five percents of those dying in motorcycle accidents were not wearing helmets.

Continue reading " Pedestrians, Bicyclists and Motorcyclists Account for Greater Than 38% of All Traffic Deaths in Florida " »

In Atlantic Beach, near Jacksonville, Florida, a 77 year bicyclist was struck by a man driving a sport utility vehicle.
The bicyclist was airlifted to Shands Jacksonville Medical Center with serious personal injuries.

The driver of the SUV was charged with driving under the influence. According to the police report, that driver had one or more prior dui arrests.

Jacksonville's Beaches are a popular place for people to ride bicycles. However, there are not well defined bicycle lanes and many of the sidewalks do not have curbcuts allowing for bicylists to stay on sidewalks. Compounding this problem is that the beaches are also a popular place for consuming alchol and there is a lot of vehicle traffic. Sadly, these types of accidents can result.

Continue reading " Bicyclist Critically Injured After Being Struck by Truck " »

Yesterday, in Alachua County, near Gainesville, Florida, a school bus driver lost control on a wet dirt road and crashed into a tree. Five children suffered minor personal injuries from flying glass. The driver was cited for driving too fast for the conditions.

Whether bussing children to school is handled directly by county government or contracted out to private companies, it is obviously of the utmost importance that drivers act with care. Most bus drivers are very safe and have good driving records. However, sometimes unsafe bus drivers are hired and the results can be catastrophic.

In Florida, when a county operates school buses, there is a $100,000.00 liability limit for personal injury to a child if the driver is negligent. When a county, such as Duval County, Jacksonville, contracts with private companies to operate the bussing system, there is no such limit.

Continue reading " School Bus Crashes Into Tree With 41 Children on Board " »

Late last night, a young man was struck from behind by a car while he was driving a scooter on Beach Boulevard in Jacksonville Florida. The car that rearended him left the scence. The victim was thrown onto the road and struck by a second car. The driver of the second car left the scene as well.

The vehicle accident happened at 2:20 a.m. Of course, given that both drivers that struck the victim left the scene, it is currently unknown if drinking was involved. Sadly, the driver of the scooter died at the scene from his injuries.

Continue reading " Man Dies After Rear End Collision While Driving Scooter " »

Duriing the last 24 hours many streets in Jacksonville have been shut down due to flooding from heavy rains. The Arlington Expressway and portions of Beach Boulevard were flooded with as much as three feet of water and had to be shut down, causing severe traffic jams and numerous car accidents.

This slow moving rain cell came from South Georgia, through Nassau County, Duval County and then St. Johns County. In some places rain was reported to be falling at the rate of 9 inches per hour.

Especially during the summer months and early fall in Jacksonville, we experience dramatic weather that makes driving all the more dangerous. As Jacksonville accident lawyers, we see many vehicle crashes with serious personal injuries that are caused in part to the weather. Heavy rain decreases visibility and greatly increases breaking distance. When possible it is best to avoid traveling during such weather conditoins, to drive carefully when driving cannot be avoided and to make sure your windshield wipers are in good condition.

Continue reading " Heavy Rains in Jacksonville Shut Down Roads and Causes Accidents " »