Jacksonville Injury Attorney Blog

Last night, a sport utility vehicle (SUV) crashed on I-10 in Baker County, Florida, killing one occupant. The single car accident happened near Macclenny, which is about thirty minutes west of Jacksonville, Florida.

At least three people were ejected from the Ford Explorer when it overturned. Five people were in the SUV. The cause of the accident and the rollover are being investigated by the Florida Highway Patrol.

Typically, only non-seatbelted people get ejected in rollover accidents. Being ejected often results in the most serious of personal injuries in rollover accidents.

Some years back, there were a flurry of accidents and lawsuits regarding the liklihood of Ford Explorers to roll over. These cases were often matched with complaints about Firestone tires having defects causing the vehicle operator to lose control ultimately resulting in the SUV rolling over. Ford Explorers have since been engineered to be less likely to roll over. The age of the SUV in this accident has not been reported.

Continue reading " Baker County Single Car Accident Kills One " »

Recently, I met with an eighteen year old woman who had been injured in an auto accident on Hodges Boulevard on Jacksonville's Southside. The collision resulted in serious damage to both cars. Within a few days of the accident, an adjuster from the insurance company for the at-fault driver visited her. At that time, her back was a little stiff and painful, but she had already improved some and expected to feel fine within a few days.

The insurance adjuster offered her what seemed to the young woman to be a generous offer of $1,500.00 to compensate her for her "trouble." In exchange, the adjuster had the woman sign a general release, in which the woman gave away all rights to pursue the at-fault driver, or the insurer, for her injuries.

Well, you guessed it, the woman's injuries did not get better. In fact, her pain worsened and her doctors were discussing the possiblity of surgery. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do. Releases obtained under such circumstances may be terrribly unfair but they are almost always enforceable.

I always tell clients injured in car accidents, that we will not know the value of their claim until they have completed their medical care. A few days after a car accident is no time to make such an important decision.

Continue reading " Beware of Insurers Making Settlement Offers Soon After a Car Crash " »

Yesterday, a boating accident occured on Black Creek in Clay County, Florida, when the operator of the boat left the boat's steering and throttle controls to pump the boat's fuel bulb. The boat struck a tree or tree limb which was several feet above the water near the shore of the creek.

Two teenagers, both from Middleburg, died at the scene from what has been reported to be blunt force trauma to the head. The operator of the boat, a 49 year old man, was taken to Shands Jacksonville Medical Center. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is investigating this boating accident.

It seems that every year we have a boating accident with one or more fatalities in the Jacksonville area. Jacksonville is an area with a lot of waterways and a lot of boats on the water. As it stands, in the State of Florida only persons born after January 1, 1988, are required to obtain a Boating Safety Education Id card. To obtain the card requires attending a boating safety course. The operator in this boat accident was born before that time and, thus, was not required to obtain the license.

Another tragic boating accident happened in April of 2009 on the Intracoastal Waterway in the Ponte Vedra area, in which there were multiple fatalities. The boat involved in that accident struck a residential dock. The operator of that boat was a woman in her early 40's that had little or no boating experience. Despite her lack of experience, because of her age, she was exempt from the safety course requirement.

The age limit for requiring the safety course is arbitrary and does not reflect on a person's knowledge of boating safety. Perhaps it is time for the State of Florida to require all persons operating a boat to complete a boating safety course.

Continue reading " Two Teens Killed in Boating Accident in Clay County " »

A man operating a motorcycle was involved in a serious accident yesterday. The motorcycle was traveling south on Jammes Road. When nearing the intersection with Bartholf road a car pulled into the path of the motorcycle causing the driver to lay the motorcycle down into a slide.

The operator of the motorcycle was not wearing a helmet and was rushed to Shands Jacksonville Medical Center with serious personal injuries.

Motorcycle accidents are far too common. It seems that with more things distracting drivers these days, such as cell phones and texting, the small window for observing a motorcycle can be easily compromised with drastic results for the motorcycle operator and any passenger.

Simultaneously with these increased distractions, Florida has made it legal for motorcycle riders to go without wearing helmets. This makes for a dangerous combination.

As a side note, our firm handled a very similar car accident at this same intersection with the at-fault driver making the exact same mistake.

Continue reading " Motorcyclist Suffers Critical Injuries in Accident on Jacksonville's Westside " »

A St. Augustine man was seriously injured when his car and a tractor trailer truck collided this morning. The car accident happened on State Road 207 in St. Johns County, Florida.

The Florida Highway Patrol reports that the tractor trailer was turning off of Deerpark Boulevard in an attempt to travel north on 207. The car was traveling south on 207. The tractor trailer had to cross the car's path of travel to get to the northbound lanes. The car struck the tractor trailer and drove under the trailer portion it.

Troopers reported that the driver of the tractor trailer failed to see the car and pulled out directly into its path. The reason for the truck driver's failure to see the approaching car was not provided. The driver of the car was taken to Flagler Hospital by St Johns County Fire Rescue with serious personal injuries.

Continue reading " St. Augustine Man Seriously Injured in Accident with Tractor Trailer " »

President Obama mentioned tort reform aimed at reducing frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits in his State of the Union Address last week. Following suit, Democrats are considering various proposals; however, those proposals fall short of the Republicans' goal of placing a $250,000.00 cap on non-economic damages for medical malpractice cases. Non-economic damages are those designed to compensate for pain and suffering.

The general public seems to have bought into the idea that there is a plague of frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits. In Florida at least, nothing could be further from the truth. Medical cases are extremely expensive, very complicated and hard to win. The majority of personal injury attorneys in Jacksonville do not even accept medical malpractice cases.

Prior to even being allowed to file suit in Florida, an attorney representing a client in a medical malpractice case must get the case reviewed by a doctor who is actively practicing in the same field as the doctor involved in the suspected malpractice. This is an expensive process as the reviewing doctor will typically charge anywhere from $300.00 to $750.00 per hour. Often, many hours are involved if the records to be reviewed are voluminous.

If the reviewing doctor signs a sworn statement that malpractice occured, only then can the process be started. The plaintiff's attorney must then issue the doctor a pre-suit notice of intent to sue. The doctor has at least 90 days to investigate the claim. During this 90 day period, both sides must respond to requests for information or requests for statements to be taken.

Only at the expiration of the 90 day period can suit be filed. Suit typically takes one to two years to get to trial. During this time, several expert witnesses are usually needed and the expense to the plaintiff's attorney typically ranges from $30,000.00 to $80,000.00 to handle the case through trial.

Juries are notoriously kind to doctors. By far, doctors prevail in the majority of cases that get tried. Medical malpractice insurers know this and do not offer signficant settlements in all but the most egregious of cases. Of course, even if the plaintiff does prevail at trial Florida has already enacted caps limiting recovery for pain and suffering.

Why would any attorney want to take on a frivolous case? They don't. In fact, medical malpractice cases with merit are turned down all the time by attorneys. this is because unless the alleged malpractice caused catastrophic injuries, the value of the case will be far surpassed by the expense in hiring expert witnesses.

Its easy to be in favor of making it even harder to bring medical malpractice cases until you are the victim of medical malpractice and you learn that attorneys are not willing or able to accept your case.

Continue reading " Tort Reform: Nationwide Limits on Damages in Medical Malpractice Cases Being Considered " »