Jacksonville Injury Attorney Blog

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued an alert for the potential for personal injuries caused by certain foods - guacamole and salsa. Of course, both of these dishes are common in our restaurants in Jacksonville.

Guacamole and salsa have been shown to be linked to salmonella and E. Coli. The biggest problem with these food products come from freshly made dishes instead of processed items. Freshly made products usually do not contain preservatives and stringent production safeguards when being made.

Salmonella and E. Coli are two of the most common food-borne illnesses in the United States. In the last few years we have seen alerts from certain fresh vegetables including spinach and tomatoes. Such illnesses, which can cause personal injuries and wrongful death, can lead to a product liability or negligence case against the manufacturer of the product, the distributor of the product and the restaurant or grocery store selling the product.

Because it is often difficult for the consumer to prove how toxic bacteria or other substances got into food products, Florida law allows for the consumer to bring a "strict liability" defective product case, where all companies involved in the manufacturing, distribution and sale of the product may be liable if the the product was defective an unreasonably dangerous.

Continue reading "Food-borne Illnesses Continue to Cause Injuries" »

A recreational vehicle (RV) was involved in a single vehicle accident this weekend as it was traveling south on I-95 in St. Johns County when the right front tire blew out. The driver lost control of the RV, which veered off the highway and crashed into several trees. Both the driver and a passenger sufferred personal injuries and the passenger was taken to Shands Jacksonville Medical Center.

Sometimes tires can fail due to excessive wear. Other times blow outs are the result of a manufacturing defect and can lead to a product liability case for personal injuries. Such cases are very expensive as one or more expert witnesses are needed to analyze the tire to determine the cause of its failure.

If you have a tire blowout or vehicle rollover case it is important to hire an attorney with the experience and financial ability to thoroughly pursue your case. It may be important that the attorney you hire be willing to front all costs of expert witnesses, as such expenses can easily exceed $25,000.00.

Continue reading "RV Accident in St. Johns County Injures Two" »

Back on June 5, the last day of school, a fifteen year old was driving a Ford Explorer with eight other teens as passengers. As they traveled on I-295 near Pritchard Road in Jacksonville, Florida, a tire blew out and the vehicle flipped over.

All eight of the passengers were ejected from the vehicle. None of them were wearing seatbelts. Tragically, five of those ejected died. The driver was wearing his seatbelt and was not ejected and did not suffer serious personal injuries.

The driver has been charged with eight felony counts of driving without a license in a car crash where people were killed or suffered personal injuries. The mother of one of those killed asked the Judge to allow the driver to be released from jail because she did not blame him, instead she blamed the manufacturer of the blown tire.

Several years ago, there was a lot of news coverage about both tire defects and Ford Explorers resulting in rollover accidents. If the tire was defective, the parents of the injured or killed teens may bring a product liability case against the manufacturer. Such a case will focus on expert analysis of the remnants of the blown tire and efforts to explain what caused it to fail.

Cases such as this are complex and expensive. Expert fees will likely range in excess of $100,000.00. Just because a tire blew does not mean that it was defective. The tire may have been very old and need of replacement prior to the accident or it may have struck an object in the road causing it to separate or blow out.

Continue reading "Defect in Tire Blamed in Jacksonville Auto Crash that Killed Five" »

Three Florida plaintiffs took on pharmaceutical giant, Hoffman-La Roche, for bowel injuries suffered as a result of their use of the drug Accutane. Each of the plaintiffs alleged that they contracted ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease as a result of using the acne medicine.

The injured plaintiffs alleged that the drug was a defective product in that the manufacturer failed to adequately warn of the possibility of severe bowel injuries as a side effect of the medication. The jury agreed with the plaintiffs and awarded them $13,000,000.00.

If you have any questions regarding injuries which may have resulted from a defective product, please contact our Jacksonville personal injury attorneys for a free consultation.

A North Florida woman, Rachel Jollimore, was a passenger in a Yamaha Rhino all terrain vehicle (“ATV”) when the driver attempted to complete a turn when driving off road. Tragically, the Rhino rolled onto the passenger side and pinned Ms. Jollimore under the ATV. As a result, she suffered a brain injury and she has a permanent shunt implanted in her brain to allow fluid to drain.

Jollimore’s lawsuit alleges that the Rhino is too narrow, which makes it susceptible to tipping. The Rhino has been popular, in part, for this very reason. The Rhino’s narrow width allows it to be carried in the bed of a standard pickup truck. These types of product liability cases are known as "design defect" cases, in that the plaintiff alleges that the product was improperly engineered.

Product Liability cases such as this are expert intensive. The plaintiff will hire one or more engineers to examine the Rhino and testify about complex engineering issues, such as center of gravity, the steepness of the terrain at issue, the cause of the rollover at issue, the existence of other available, safer designs. Yamaha will probably raise defenses including the fault on the part of the driver and the failure to follow safety procedures for the ATV.

Nationally, there have been numerous lawsuits against Yamaha for rollover accidents involving Rhino ATVs. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (the "USCPSC") is investigating the safety of ATVs. According to the USCPSC, each year more than seven hundred deaths and 135,000 injuries result from ATV accidents. Alarmingly, more than one-third of these accidents cause injuries to children under the age of sixteen.

If you are injured by reason of a defective product, please feel to contact one of our Jacksonville injury attorneys.

Related Links

CPSC ATV Safety Guidelines

4-H ATV Safety