Jacksonville Injury Attorney Blog

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 " »