Jacksonville Injury Attorney Blog

The intersection between J. Turner Butler Boulevard and Interstate 95 on Jacksonville's Southside may get some much needed improvements.

Currently, the intersection is congested and includes some awkward traffic patterns. For example, drivers turning on to Northbound I-95 from Westbound JTB must switch lanes and merge with traffic coming from Salisbury Road just a few hundred feet prior to the exit to get onto I-95.

Daily, there are backups in the mornings getting on to I-95 and in the evenings getting on to JTB from I-95. Some help has already taken place as evening congestion on Eastbound JTB has been alleviated by the opening of additional lanes in the section of JTB near Kernan Boulevard.

It is also the site of many car accidents. At or near this intersection there were 448 car crashes from 2004 through 2008. Funding for the much needed changes has not been established; however it is a top priority according to state officials.

With the warm weather, our local waterways have once again become crowded with boaters. Unfortunately, every spring and summer, we also see an increase in boating accidents. Sunday night a small motorboat crashed into the Cesery Boulevard Bridge in Jacksonville, totalling the boat. Surprisingly, no personal injuries were reported.

Witnesses say the driver of the boat was pulled from the water by people in a nearby fishing boat. The driver was then taken to shore and left the area. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is investigating.

Given that the driver of the boat left the scene, it seems that alcohol may have played a factor in this boating accident. For some reason, some boaters think it is acceptable to operate a boat while intoxicated. The results of doing so can be tragic. Just last April, five people died in an accident in the Palm Valley area of Ponte Vedra. That accident involved an overloaded boat with numerous intoxicated passengers and an inexperienced driver operating the boat.

Continue reading " Boat Crashes Into Jacksonville Bridge " »

A Clay County motorcyclist died last night after an accident with a car. The motorcylce accident occured on U.S. Highway 17 in Green Cove Springs, which is about thirty minutes south of Jacksonville, Florida.

The motorcyclist was traveling northbound on U.S. 17 near the intersection with Heath Road. The vehicle was crossing U.S. 17 on Heath Road when the collision occured. The motorcycle struck the right front of the vehicle and the motorcyclist was thrown off the motorcycle. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the car stated that he did not see anyone approaching as he crossed U.S. 17.

As Jacksonville motorcycle accident laywers, we frequently handle cases involving serious personal injury or wrongful death where the driver of a vehicle failed to see a motorcycle approaching. Motorcyle drivers must remember to employ defensive driving tactics, maintain a heightened alert, and always wear a helmet.

Continue reading " Motorcyclist Killed in Accident in Green Cove Springs " »

Earlier this year, the Florida Legislature enacted a law that will make it harder for people suffering personal injuries as a result of slip and falls to make a recovery. Slip and fall accidents often involve the presence of a liquid on the floor of a store or other premises open to the public. A customer that slips as a result of a substance on the floor often has no way of knowing how long the substance was on the floor or whether the store employees were aware of its presence.

Traditionally, Florida law required a plaintiff prove that a business either knew of the dangerous condition that caused the fall or prove that it existed for a long enough time that the business should have found it and eliminated it. However, in 2001, the Florida Supreme Court removed that burden from plaintiffs in the case of Owens v. Publix Supermarkets when it ruled that the existence of a hazardous substance on a floor meant the owner failed to maintain the premises in a safe condition.

The legislation essentially reverses the Supreme Court decision. Now, plaintiffs will again have to prove that a substance that caused a fall was either known to the store employees or that it was present for a sufficient length of time that it should have been discovered and removed prior to the fall.

As Jacksonville injury lawyers, we have handled numerous personal injury cases resulting from falls, including falls resulting from substances on floors, stairways that have no handrails, staircases without uniform riser or step sizes, and the presence of items on a floor which cause a person to trip.

Often fall cases result in surprisingly serious personal injuries. We have handled fall cases causing injuries including: a broken femur; a broken fibula; a froken maxilla (jaw); broken elbow or radial head; herniated vertebral discs; shoulder injuries requiring surgery; and ligament injuries to the knee.

Continue reading " Florida Slip and Fall Legislation Makes it Harder to Recover for Injuries " »