Jacksonville Injury Attorney Blog

Yesterday, we reported on a fatal accident that occurred on Highway 121 in Nassau County, Florida. In that blog entry, we wrote about how common serious car and truck accidents are on the portion of Highway 121 located in Nassau County.

Unbelievably, another fatal trucking accident happened on Highway 121 this morning. Like Sunday's accident, this morning's involved a pick-up truck colliding with a tractor-trailer. Tragically, a young man was killed when his pick-up truck drifted across the center line and struck a semi truck. The driver of the pick-up was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from his vehicle. The driver of the tractor-trailer, from St. Augustine, suffered minor personal injuries.

We can only hope that state and local authorities recognize the danger of this highway and take some measures to improve its safety.

Continue reading " Deja Vu: Yet Another Death on Highway 121 in Nassau County " »

One person died and another was seriously injured last night when a pickup truck struck a tractor trailer on Highway 121 in Nassau County, Florida. The tractor trailer was backing into a driveway at the time of the collision. The person critically injured was rushed to Shands Jacksonville Medical Center.

The portion of Highway 121 in Nassau County has been the scene of many serious car accidents over the years. This portion of the highway parallels the St. Mary's River and has many curves. In addition the roadway is narrow and there is no median or other structure separating oncoming lanes of traffic. Finally, the speed limit on most of the roadway is 55 and drivers often exceed that speed.

Our belief is that work needs to be done to improve the safety of this highway. Perhaps slower speed limits, increased patrolling, widening the road or constructing a median would prevent additional accidents.

Continue reading " Another Serious Auto Accident on Highway 121 in Nassau County " »

After a three week trial, a jury here in Jacksonville awarded the survivors of a woman that died from a smoking related illness $17 million. The award was comprised of $6m in compensatory damages and $11.3 million in punitive damages.

The woman developed lung cancer after smoking cigarettes since age 16 in 1946. The plaintiff's claims focused on allegations that the cigarette manufacturer ignored health concerns while marketing their product as glamorous.

Jacksonville has been at the forefront of tobacco litigation before. In 2001, an Orange Park man was the first person to be paid by a tobacco company for personal injuries attributed to cigarette smoking. That payment followed a jury verdict in favor of the man in 1996 and several appeals.

Central to these cases is the application of Florida law on comparative negligence, which reduces a plaintiff's recovery by the plaintiff's percentage of fault. In yesterday's verdict, the jurors found the woman to have been 35% to blame for smoking despite health warnings. The tobacco company was found to be 65% at fault. In accordance with Florida law, the recovery for pain and suffering was, thus, reduced by 35%.

So far, the majority of the sucessful cases against the tobacco companies have been brought by persons who began smoking before health warnings were required to be placed on each package of cigarettes. Persons who began smoking after that time will probably have a harder time deflecting comparative negligence arguments by the tobacco companies.

Continue reading " Jacksonville Jury Awards $17 Million in Smoking Suit " »