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Government agencies owe a duty to ensure public walkways and thoroughfares are correctly designed and adequately maintained to minimize the risk of danger to pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists. When a dangerous condition results in an unreasonable risk of injury to members of the public, the agency may be liable to pay damages resulting from that injury.

An expose by the Sun Sentinel last year revealed Fort Lauderdale alone has 106 miles of bad sidewalk – enough to stretch from here all the way to Fort Pierce. On top of that, there are more than 850 miles of road throughout the city that really need sidewalks, but don’t have them. As the city strives to improve accessibility for all road users, this is a major challenge.

But even cities that are working toward improvements can’t escape liability if they are aware of a certain problem and fail to fix it or warn the public about it. Take for example the recent case of City of Beech Grove v. Beloat, a trip-and-fall injury lawsuit weighed by the Indiana Supreme Court. Continue reading →

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Property owners and property managers have a responsibility to make sure their site is safe for lawful guests. This duty includes residential landlords, who have many responsibilities to their tenants and tenant guests, including ensuring they are safe from an unreasonable risk of harm. 

This could include things like:

  • Broken stairways
  • Unlit parking lots
  • Lack of security/ locks on the doors
  • Not having working smoke detectors

A recent case of Lompe v. Sunridge Partners before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit shows how landlords and property management companies can be liable for failing to make sure their properties are in safe condition. In this situation, it was a broken HVAC system that was the source of serious injury for a young college student. Continue reading →

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Courts are reticent to allow the introduction of evidence pertaining to insurance coverage in accident cases. The reason is that unless it is somehow pertinent to the cause of the crash or extent of the injuries, it can be prejudicial to a jury. 

For example, if jurors know that a certain defendant has no insurance, they may decline to impose a significant award of damages to the plaintiff – knowing the defendant is going to have to come out-of-pocket for that expense. Similarly, if jurors had knowledge that a defendant had a sizable insurance policy, they may be inclined to impose a heftier damage award – because they know the insurance company can pay.

Courts prefer to simply take it out of the equation.

In the recent Maryland case of Perry v. Asphalt & Concrete Servs., Inc., a pedestrian was struck and severely injured by a dump truck wherein neither the driver nor the vehicle had the proper liability coverage. But was this fact admissible?  Continue reading →

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Hot air balloon rides, which have been around since 1783, are thrilling, romantic and even relaxing. They can also potentially be dangerous, particularly when the operator has limited experience. 

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recorded 775 hot air balloon accidents between 1964 and 2014, with 70 of those involving fatalities. Of those who died, 16 occurred between 2002 and 2012. Although the agency stresses that hot air ballooning is relatively safe, there have been a number of deadly incidents in recent years that raise concern. Consider, for example, the hot air balloon that caught fire mid-air over Egypt, killing 19 of the 21 people on board.

The recent case of Roberts v. T.H.E. Insurance Co. was, thankfully, not a fatal hot air balloon accident case. In fact, the plaintiff wasn’t even in the balloon at the time of the accident. However, she did reportedly suffer injuries when the operator, taking his chances with tethered rides on a windy day, didn’t properly affix the tethers, according to court records. When the wind kicked up, the basket came barreling toward plaintiff, knocking her over and causing her to suffer injury.  Continue reading →

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In general, property owners and managers are bound by law to ensure lawful guests – particularly consumers and members of the public – are reasonably safe from foreseeable harms on that property.

However, there is one major exception, and it’s important to understand when it might apply. It’s called the “Recreational Use Statute,” and every state has one. In Florida, it’s codified in F.S. 375.251. The intention is to compel large land owners to allow public use of their property for recreational purposes by significantly reducing any potential liability he or she might face for injury by those guests.

Florida’s recreational use statute states that no land owner or lessee who provides the public with a park area or land for outdoor recreation cannot be presumed to extend any assurance that the area, land or water is safe for any purpose. The term “outdoor recreational purposes” can include (but isn’t limited to) activities that include things like swimming, boating, hiking, picnicking, motorcycling, pleasure driving, hunting and more. Continue reading →

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Pedestrian accident deaths have been a significant issue in Florida for decades. This is largely a result of our streets being designed primarily for motor vehicle traffic – wide roads, high speed limits and few safe spaces to walk or opportunities to cross. 

But it’s increasingly becoming a major problem on a national scale.

The new Spotlight on Highway Safety Report, released by the Governors’ Highway Safety Association (GHSA), reveals the pedestrian fatality count for 2015 (when it’s released) is expected to have increased 10 percent over 2014. That would be the largest year-over-year increase since national records have been kept.

As researchers put it, “We are quite alarmed.” Continue reading →

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Bus accidents are relatively rare, but the rate tends to be higher with commercial companies that require drivers to travel long distances, often overnight.

Driver fatigue is a major problem in the industry – which is popular for Orlando tourists – and it’s why the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) sets limits on driver hours. It’s the same agency that is responsible for ensuring drivers are qualified, buses are in good working condition and the company adheres to industry rules.

However, the legal liability of the FMCSA for bus accidents may be extremely limited. That fact was further underscored in the recent case of Pornomo v. U.S., before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.  Continue reading →

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Auto insurance policies can contain complex legalese that can be difficult to sift through, particularly in the wake of a devastating auto accident. 

These policies are purchased not just because they are often required by law, but also because they offer necessary financial protections to to those who survive and also to those who survive them. However, establishing insurance liability when there are so many caveats to coverage can be a challenge.

In the recent case of Nodak Mutual Ins. Co. v. Koller, the guardian of a child whose mother perished in an all-terrain vehicle accident sought to establish maximum coverage from the insurer. The insurer, however, fought to establish that only the lesser “step-down” coverage was applicable. The outcome hinged on whether decedent driver was a household resident of the insured, his stepfather. Continue reading →

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Federal regulators are mulling a proposal to demand a recall of 90 million additional Takata airbags in the U.S., which would more than triple the number of defective products identified. 

So far, 29 million of the devices have been recalled, with reports that they explode when deployed, sending metal shrapnel and other debris flying into the faces of front seat passengers and drivers. So far, 10 deaths have been linked to the problem and hundreds of others have suffered serious injuries.

At the behest of 10 automakers, a team of rocket scientists set out to identify the source of the rupturing airbags. They discovered the problem was a trifecta of issues: Humidity exposure, defective design and defective manufacturing. This was exacerbated by the fact the company used a volatile substance, ammonium nitrate, in the products.  Continue reading →

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There is much discussion nationally about “tort reform,” and this idea that it’s somehow quite easy to take home millions of dollars for a frivolous filing. This isn’t true, and the reason we tend to hear so much about lawsuits with multi-million-dollar verdicts is they are rare.

Truth is, most successful lawsuits are settled out-of-court before they ever make it to the trial phase. They also don’t tend to be multi-million-dollar payments with inclusion of punitive damages, but rather adequate sums that  help to compensate the victim for substantial losses.

When a plaintiff signs off on a settlement, he or she must be very cautious in reading the language contained therein. They need to make sure they aren’t signing away important rights to which they may have wanted to avail themselves at a later time.  Continue reading →

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