wrongful death attorney

In any injury lawsuit against the government, there are a number of legal protections afforded those entities that can make these cases challenging.

One of the strongest legal defenses for emergency responders is the public duty doctrine. It’s a principle of personal injury law that holds government owes its duty of care to the public at-large, not individuals. So individuals could only prevail in these injury cases if they could show some special relationship existed, and not simply that the agency had breached a duty to the general public (i.e., “a duty to all is a duty to no one”).

Florida has not recognized the public duty doctrine since 2001, following the passage of F.S. 768.28, which spells out the waiver of sovereign immunity in tort actions. Now, Illinois joins the growing number of states to abolish the public duty doctrine, after a divided decision in Coleman v. E. Joliet Fire Prot. Dist. Continue reading →

The parents of an infant who died tragically in a hot car that was parked outside a Florida daycare facility for seven hours in the summer will not be able to collect any compensation from the driver’s personal insurance policy.

That’s according to a new ruling by Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal in Bryant v. Windhaven Insurance Co., which is part of a larger case in which the parents are seeking justice from the van driver personally, as well as the day care center (his employer) and the landlord of the property where the incident occurred.

This ruling will only affect the case insofar as it relates to the van driver’s personal liability. He may yet still be found personally liable and obligated to pay, but he will not have his personal insurance company to be responsible for that payment if that happens. Continue reading →

Articles Tagged with wrongful death attorney

Coleman v. E. Joliet Fire Prot. Dist. – Illinois Abolishes Public Duty Doctrine

Child Hot Car Death Not Covered by Driver’s Personal Insurance, Says FL 3rd DCA