Articles Posted in Personal Injury

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On March 24, 2023, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Florida House Bill 837 in to law. The new law has major alterations to personal injury claims that will impact Florida claimants. While Florida House Bill 837 had honorable goals to stabilize the insurance market and allegedly bring down the cost of insurance for Floridians.  It has been a law since March but have you received any discounts on your insurance policies?  We didn’t think so… The reality is that this law will make it more difficult for the injured to collect the damages they deserve and so far, we haven’t seen any reduction in premiums. The insurance companies are the only ones benefitting from this awful piece of legislation.

Some key changes:

  • The statute of limitations in personal injury cases was reduced from four years to two years. A statute of limitation creates the time you have from the date of an injury or accident to take legal action. This change highlights how crucial it is to contact an experienced personal injury lawyer quickly after an accident or injury. Waiting too long to reach out to an attorney could harm your chances of receiving the compensation you deserve for your injuries.
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You may have come across the news headlines regarding the court decision against McDonald’s, involving a burn caused by a chicken nugget. As a plaintiff’s Personal Injury attorney, I’ve not only seen these headlines but also heard firsthand the reactions to this case, which, while not surprising, continue to disappoint me. So, I thought it would be a good idea to address this issue directly.

First and foremost, many people seem to have formed hasty conclusions based solely on the headlines, something along the lines of, “Well, nuggets are supposed to be hot, what did they expect? This is ridiculous!” However, once you delve into the details of the incident, it becomes apparent that the situation is not as absurd as it may initially seem. Food should never cause harm. Let me emphasize this: YOUR FOOD SHOULD NEVER BE SO HOT THAT IT CAUSES INJURY. It’s a straightforward concept when you think about it, yet some still view verdicts like this as examples of excessive litigation.

In this specific case, a toddler accidentally dropped a hot chicken nugget into her lap, and it became trapped between her thigh and the seatbelt. Consequently, the scalding chicken came into contact with the child’s leg, resulting in severe second-degree burns. Many may dismiss this as frivolous litigation, but there is nothing frivolous about it. Reasonable individuals and businesses should not serve food that is so hot it can injure someone if it touches their skin. This is a legitimate case, and the injury is undeniably real. Admittedly, asking the jury for $15 million may have seemed excessive, but the beauty of the legal system lies in the jury’s ability to determine appropriate awards based on the evidence presented. In this case, the jury awarded $800,000, a significant sum but far from the initially requested $15 million.

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You probably have some kind of car insurance, since the law requires it. However, oftentimes you may not know what your car insurance actually pays until it’s too late. After a car accident, you call your insurance company, they might ask you follow-up questions by mail or phone, and then a month or more later, one of the people involved in the accident gets a check covering the some of their eleigible expenses. Just what are all those details that the insurance companies are working out before they decide how much to pay? Different types of car insurance pay for different things, and in some cases, they can even cancel each other out. If you are not sure if the amount that the insurance company offered you after your accident is correct, contact an attorneybefore you accept the settlement offer.

What is PIP Insurance?

All registered vehicle owners in Florida must carry PIP insurance, as well property damage liability insurance. PIP stands for Personal Injury Protection, which covers up to $10,000 of medical expenses and lost income when someone gets injured at an accident, regardless of who is at fault for the accident. In order to get PIP insurance to cover your accident-related expenses, you must seek medical treatment within 14 days of the accident. If a driver collides with a pedestrian or bicyclist who does not own a car (and therefore does not have PIP insurance), the driver’s PIP insurance might also pay the medical expenses and lost income of the pedestrian or bicyclist. If the drivers involved in the accident have additional optional car insurance, such as bodily injury or uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, then the amount covered by PIP gets subtracted from what the other types of insurance must cover. This is called the PIP setoff.

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Aaron Papero, Esquire Freeman Injury Law

So, you slipped or tripped and fell and injured yourself while in the common area of your condominium. What duty does the Condominium owe to you as a tenant or invited guest otherwise known as an “invitee”?

Under Florida law, a landowner owes you two duties:

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Holiday illness compensation claims in South Florida can be made when a buyer of a holiday vacation package suffers an illness that is covered by contract warranty agreement the customer signed with a travel agency.

Many such claims have centered on holiday traveler food poisoning in South Florida or while on a cruise. The most Florida Foodborne Illness Surveillance and Investigation Annual Report indicated a total of 37 outbreaks for 2011. Foodborne illness statistics in Florida were most recently updated by the state health department in 2011, and tourism has increased steadily since then, so we can expect the true numbers are likely higher.

Common Holiday Illness Compensation Claims in Florida

Some of the most common types of illness resulting in holiday illness compensation claims in South Florida include: Continue reading →

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If you are injured while on holiday in Florida from Canada, Europe, Australia or elsewhere, you may be searching for holiday compensation solicitors in South Florida.

VisitFlorida.org reveals Canada has the most international visitors to Florida, followed by the United Kingdom, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Germany. An estimated 12 million international visitors flock to Florida each year for our renowned beaches and boating, splashy theme parks and cruises and cosmopolitan cities and resorts. When any of these activities results in injury

Where Can I Find Holiday Compensation Solicitors in South Florida After Injury?

For the most part, the foundation of personal injury law in these nations is very similar (having derived largely from the Old English judicial model), it is important to point out a few key differences. There aren’t technically “solicitors” or “barristers” the way there are in your home country. There are simply lawyers, a term used interchangeably with attorneys.  Continue reading →

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There are an estimated 423,000 hotel rooms in Florida, spread across nearly 4,520 properties, according to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulations. As an experienced Orlando hotel injury attorney can explain, owners of hotels and resorts aren’t required to guarantee their guests will never be hurt on site. They do however owe a duty of care to provide guests with a property that is safe, clean and free of conditions that are foreseeably dangerous. When they fail to provide this, it’s considered a duty of care breach, and companies can be liable for injuries that result.

Florida hotel injury cases fall into a category of tort claims known as premises liability. Because guests of a hotel or resort are presumably there for the benefit of the property owner, they are deemed “business invitees” under Florida law and, as such, are owed the highest legal duty of care by the business. That means not only to property owners (and managers) have a responsibility to warn of or correct known dangers on site, they must also routinely inspect the property for any dangerous conditions that may otherwise be unknown.

Premises owners and occupiers have a duty to warn of or correct known dangerous condition on the premises – and to regularly inspect the premises for any unknown dangerous conditions. For example, an Orlando hotel injury attorney might file an injury claim on your behalf if the hotel or resort owner failed to promptly discover and/ or clean a spill from the floor in the lobby or a broken stairway railing. If we can help prove it was this breach of care that caused your injuries, you have a strong case for damages. These can include all related medical bills and expenses, lost wages/ time off work, out-of-pocket expenses, loss of earning capacity, inconvenience, physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of spousal support, etc.  Continue reading →

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When a spinal cord injury attorney examines the value of an injury lawsuit, he or she will look carefully at the long-term prognosis. In most cases where a spinal cord injury is “complete,” the likelihood one will ever walk again – or regain function of any significant degree at or below the injury site – is infintesimal. A spinal cord injury lawsuit centering on an incomplete injury may be return somewhat lesser damages for the greater chance there could be regained function, motion or feeling at or below the site of the injury. Still, if these functions aren’t restored within the first six months, the chances they will ever be are quite small.

However, the results of a recent experimental spinal cord injury treatment, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, reveals how a Florida woman was one of a handful of paralyzed patients who is reportedly “walking” again. The Citrus County woman, 23, was one of the patients who suffered a complete spinal cord injury, “signifying no voluntary movement or sphincter function below the level of injury.” Though some did retain some level of sensation, they were not expected to recover independent walking. The 14 test patient subjects were roughly 2.5 years to 3.3 years post-traumatic spinal injury for whom recovery was not forthcoming with locomotor training alone. Researchers with the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center gave the patients some 278 epidural stimulation (electrical nerve stimulators placed in the spinal cord) and gate training over a period of 15 to 85 weeks.

All experienced voluntary movement with the implant, and also improved their bowel and bladder function. Four achieved independent standing and trunk stability. Two achieved over-ground walking (not on a treadmill). In addition to the young woman from Florida, the other person who regained walking function had been paralyzed from the neck down. When the stimulator is off, he is unable to even sit up. When it’s on, he can take small steps with a walker. Continue reading →

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One of the most frequently-asked questions of an Orlando medical malpractice lawyer is: How long does a medical negligence claim take? It’s an important one, so we understand why it is raised so often. However, the best answer we can give is: It depends. 

Some medical negligence claims can take a few months to resolve. Others can take several years. In cases wherein plaintiff must lobby a state lawmaker to file a legislative claims bill in order to collect on a trial court’s medical malpractice verdict against a public hospital or practitioner, it’s not unheard of for it to take over a decade. The same is true of general negligence claims, but one of the main reasons medical negligence claims can take so much longer is not only are they more complex, plaintiffs must meet the pre-lawsuit screening standards set forth in Chapter 766 of Florida Statutes, which deals with medical malpractice and related matters. These include the requirement to have an expert witness who meets the qualifications as set forth in F.S. 766.102, required notice before filing action, court-ordered arbitration, mandatory mediation and settlement conferences and immunity for a number of entities.

This is why many Orlando medical malpractice lawyers and injury attorneys will try if possible NOT to have the case classified as such. Although some cases can be categorized no other way, not all injuries that occur in a hospital are the result of medical negligence.

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A recent feature in The Chicago Tribune detailed the lifelong struggle of a child – now a man – diagnosed with Erb’s palsy shortly after birth. Today, the young man is now a junior at a university in Illinois, overcoming countless challenges following his birth injury in Florida that an Erb’s Palsy lawyer can explain impacts as many as two in every 1,000 babies, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

The story detailed how the mother and son first realized the uphill battle they’d both face: When he was 6-years-old and cried because he was unable to tie his shoe with a single hand. His mother, however, would not allow her son to use the word, “can’t,” and instead spent months teaching herself to tie her own shoe one-handed so she could teach her son. That kind of persistence paid off, and today, the 6-foot-6-inch shooting guard (whose parents – both former college basketball stars themselves – still live in Florida) is considered an inspiring success story. However, a birth trauma attorney recognizes that such heartwarming successes do not come easy.

Those who suffer from birth injuries like Erb’s Palsy can expect long-term difficulty impacting not just their physical ability, but social development, educational opportunities and career prospects.

How a Palm Beach Erb’s Palsy Lawyer Can Help Continue reading →

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WEST PALM BEACH
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West Palm Beach, FL 33409
Phone: 561-999-9999
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8751 W Broward Blvd #106
Plantation, FL 33324
Phone: 954-999-9999
Toll Free: 800-561-7777
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Miami, FL 33156
Phone: 786-517-9774
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Fax: 954-979-1225
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258 Southhall Ln #140
Maitland, FL 32751
Phone: 407-999-9999
Fax: 407-956-3820

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