Head injuries can be among the most serious types of personal injuries seen in the West Palm Beach area. Not only can these accidents result in death, in cases where they do not prove fatal, they can leave a victim with a traumatic brain injury (TBI). A traumatic brain injury can result in the need for a plaintiff to undergo multiple surgical and non-surgical medical procedures, and will leave plaintiffs unable to do many of the things we take for granted like walking, eating, using fine or even gross motor skills, talking, and they may have trouble concentrating on simple tasks, memory issues, trouble returning to work, and in many cases, these victims will not make anything close to a full recovery.
This means the plaintiff will often have extensive medical bills, rehabilitation costs, and the need for full-time care. In some cases, the plaintiff will no longer be able to live alone and may require moving to a full-time care facility. In other cases, plaintiffs will be fortunate enough to have family members who are retired or can afford to stop working, but even this will cause a tremendous financial burden to the members of plaintiff’s family and this is why we say that not only the plaintiff, but the plaintiff’s family members can also be devastated by a serious accident resulting in a traumatic brain injury.
According to a recent news article from the Palm Beach Post, a woman died after she fell from a swing at a trade show. Authorities have said the South Florida woman was a design consultant and was attending a trade show as those in her industry often do. There was a swing set up on display so that people attending the convention could sit on it and it try out to see if they wanted to incorporate the swing into some of their future designs. While this woman was sitting on the swing, she fell and landed on her head. First responders arrived at the scene quickly and determined she had suffered a fatal blunt force trauma and she was soon pronounced dead. As with any death, authorities conducted an initial investigations and determined where was no criminal activity so the death was ruled accidental. It should be noted there have been no reports of formal accusations of negligence in connection with this head injury which resulted in the death of a Palm Beach woman.
However, as West Palm Beach personal injury lawyers can explain, when we hear the term accident, it does not have the same meaning in the context of personal injury law as it does in everyday language. We often hear someone say it wasn’t anyone’s fault and that something was just an accident. In the law, if an accident occurred because someone did not act as a reasonable and prudent person so as to avoid foreseeable injuries to foreseeable persons and property, this is not simply an accident, but is an example of negligence. Negligence is the basis for filing most personal injury lawsuits in West Palm Beach, and throughout South and Central Florida.
The first thing we must do is look to see if the defendant owed a duty of due care to plaintiff. If defendant was operating some type of event, ride, or even a swing demonstration, they likely owed a duty of due care towards anyone who would be likely sitting on that swing. If they knew or had reason to know the swing was likely to result in some type injury to someone sitting in it, they would likely have a duty to either place adequate warnings on the device, or to say that it was for display only and not to be used as we tend to see in many stores with similar displays.
Call Freeman Injury Law — 1-800-561-7777 for a free appointment to discuss your rights. Now serving Orlando, West Palm Beach, Port St. Lucie and Fort Lauderdale.
Additional Resources:
NEW: South Florida woman dies after falling from swing at trade show, June 14, 2018, By Cecilia Mazanec, Palm Beach Post
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Ex-Royal Caribbean Worker Wins $20.3M Verdict in Florida Injury Lawsuit, June 20, 2018, Orlando Personal Injury Attorney Blog