Jacksonville Injury Attorney Blog

Two SUVs collided head-on on County Road 210 in St. Johns County last night. The car accident happened on the section of 210 between I-95 and U.S. 1. Although in St. Johns County, the area of this accident is near suburban areas of south Jacksonville.

The driver of a Chevrolet Trailblazer crossed the center line and struck a Ford Explorer traveling in the opposite direction. It is unknown why the Trailblazer crossed the center line; however, alcohol is supected in the accident.

The driver of the Explorer died at the scene. The driver of the Trailblazer was airlifted to Shands Jacksonville Medical Center, for injuries that are not life threatening.

In situations where a person is killed in an auto accident due to another person's negligence, the family members have the right to bring a claim for wrongful death. Florida's Wrongful Death Act allows a surviving spouse, children, and in some cases, parents and other relatives to recover for pain and suffering, or lost support and services, or both, from the negligent driver. The act also allows the estate of the person who died to recover for funeral expenses, medical bills and for the loss of savings the person would have accumulated over his or her lifetime.

Continue reading " Alcohol Suspected in Fatal St. Johns County Head-on Collision " »

Thursday night a serious car accident happened in Palatka, Florida, at an intersection where a traffic light was out. Palatka is located about one hour south and west of Jacksonville, Florida.

A vehicle traveling north on Mosely Avenue and a vehicle traveling west on St. Johns Avenue collided in a "t-bone" fashion. The vehicle that was t-boned was propelled into a nearby building. A passenger in that vehcle suffered personal injuries and was taken to the hospital.

Where a missing or malfunctioning traffic control device causes a car wreck, the municpality responsible for maintaining the light, whether it be the City of Palatka or Putnam County, may be responsible if it was negligent in maintaining the light. Of course, liability and the potential to recover for personal injuries does little to erase the pain of such injuries. Police advise that when a traffic light is out that all drivers should treat the intersection as a four way stop.

In Clay County's Green Cove Springs, the police department is installing cameras at three intersections plagued by people running red lights. The cameras are designed to photograph the license plates of vehicles running a red light. The camera footage will also be available in the event a car accident occurrs at the intersections.

The Green Cove Springs Police Department reports that there is an average of thirty people who run the red light at the intersection of U.S. 17 and State Road 16 alone. The City of Jacksonville is planning to install similar cameras in Duval County later this year.

As injury attorneys practicing in both Clay and Duval Counties, we see many accidents caused by drivers running red lights. These car accidents cause some of the worst personal injuries as an oncoming car usually has little opportunity to avoid a head-on or "t-bone" collision. Hopefully, these cameras will deter people from running red lights and will decrease the number of accidents.

Continue reading " Green Cove Springs Installs Red Light Traffic Cameras " »

Friday morning, a series of accidents occured on Philips Highway in Jacksonville's southside near Bayard. First, a rear-end accident occurred after traffic stopped for a school bus. In that accident, a pick-up truck rearended a car causing the pick-up to flip and land on its roof. Both the driver of the pick-up and the car were injured and taken to Shands Jacksonville Medical Center.

After police responded to the scene, a police cruiser was struck from behind by another pick-up truck. A Jacksonville Community Service Officer was injured in that accident.

Secondary auto accidents often happen after an initial accident. This is because traffic tends to slow due to the first accident and because people are distracted looking at the accident scene instead of looking forward.

Accidents with emergency vehicles at the scene of an auto accident are all too common as well. Florida law requires that drivers yeild to emergency vehicles by vacating the lane closest to the vehicle if travelling on a roadway with multiple lanes in each direction. Failure to do so is a fineable traffic offense.

A jury in Gainesville, Florida, determined that the University of Florida Shands Teaching Hospital committted medical malpractice causing a woman permanent brain injuries.

The woman went to Shands after suffering unexplained headaches. It was determined she had an anuerysm in her brain that had not ruptured.

An anuerysm is a swelling in an artery caused by weakening of the arterial walls. If an anuerysm is not repaired, it can rupture causing catostrophic bleeding.

Surgery was performed to insert coils into the woman's aneurysm. Lawyers for the woman claimed that the surgeons accidentally perforated one of the arteries in her brain.

From there, her lawyers contended, the medical malpractice continued. She was kept on a blood thinner despite having symtoms consistent with a stroke. The blood thinner worsened the bleeding in her brain. As a result, the woman suffered permanent brain damage, partial paralysis, impaired vision and pain.

Continue reading " Alachua County Jury Awards $23 Million Verdict in Medical Malpractice Case " »

A vehicle carrying six people between the ages of 17 and 20 on I-75 left the roadway, became airborne and then hit a pine tree. No one in the car was wearing a seatbelt. The driver and the front passenger were both killed in the accident. All four back seat passengers were ejected from the vehicle and suffered serious personal injuries. The single vehicle accident happened in Columbia County on I-75 just north of Lake City, Florida. The cause of the accident is being investigated.

Car accidents like this are a stark reminder of the need to wear seatbelts. No one escaped from this accident without injuries. Of course, it is not a certainty that seatbelts would have helped, but the probability is that they would have.

In Florida, seatbelts are required by law, and for good reason. Seatbelts are the single most effective traffic safety device for preventing death and injury, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Wearing a seat belt can reduce the risk of car crash injuries by fifty percent. Nationwide, seat belt use is higher than ever; however seat belt use remains lowest among young drivers.

Continue reading " Two Killed and Four Injured in Columbia County Car Accident " »