South Florida Injury Law Blog

A 23-year-old graduate student and cycling enthusiast was killed earlier this month when his bicycle was struck by a car in a mid-afternoon hit and run in St. Augustine.

Traffic homicide investigators say that Bryan Wrigley, a physical therapy student at St. Augustine University, was riding his bike on County Road 214 in St. Johns County earlier this month when he was struck by a blue Ford pickup truck and left for dead by the driver who sped away. Wrigley's body was later found in a nearby ditch by a passing motorist who noticed debris in the road.

"Deputies said evidence at the scene suggests that [Wrigley] was riding a bicycle west when he was hit by a westbound vehicle," Jacksonville's News 4 reports. "A resident in the area reported seeing a dark blue older-model Ford Ranger extended cab pickup truck 'leaving the area in a reckless manner.'"

The pickup was driven by a white man, possibly in his 20s, last seen traveling west on Road 214.

630 bicycle riders nationwide were killed in accidents involving motor vehicles in 2009 - the lowest number in six years - according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The 107 Florida bicycle deaths were the most in the country. Almost three-fourths (72%) of nationwide bike fatalities occurred during the daytime between the hours of 4 a.m. and 8 p.m.

The NHTSA advises drivers to "allow at least three feet clearance when passing a bicyclist on the road, look for cyclists before opening a car door or pulling out from a parking space and yield to cyclists at intersections and as directed by signs and signals." Additionally bicyclists should increase their visibility to drivers by wearing fluorescent or brightly colored clothing during the day and utilize lights and reflectors on both the front and rear of the bike at night.

Continue reading "Florida Cyclist Killed in St. Augustine Hit and Run" »

Auto accident claims under Florida's Personal Injury Protection (PIP) system are on the rise across the Sunshine State and particularly in South Florida, according to a recent report.

PIP, Florida's "no fault" auto insurance program, is designed to quickly provide benefits for a person injured in an automobile accident, regardless of fault. Florida drivers are required to carry a minimum of $10,000 in PIP coverage, which provides payment for medical, wage loss and death benefits resulting from an accident. The system also limits an insured person's right to sue for non-economic losses such as pain and suffering.

A report from the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) - the state body charged with monitoring the insurance industry - indicates that the number of PIP claims increased 26% to 386,464 statewide in 2010. South Florida, however, saw an even more dramatic jump as PIP claims skyrocketed by 48% and the region's insurers paid out more than $1 billion in claims.

The OIR report examined PIP claims from 2006 to 2010 as reported by 31 companies that make up more than 80 percent of the state's property insurance market.

The report comes as Florida lawmakers are considering new PIP legislation that would require medical providers and policyholders to testify under oath and would extend the amount of time insurers have to pay claims from 30 to 90 days when the insurer suspects the claim may not be legitimate. The Sun Sentinel's Julie Patel reports that "[s]upporters, including insurers and some consumer advocates, say fraudulent PIP claims are driving up premiums and legislation...hasn't done enough to fight it."

Almost 236,000 traffic accidents occurred statewide in 2009. Accidents are often caused by negligent operation such as high speed driving, failing to obey traffic signals and distracted driving.

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently issued new child seat safety guidelines. These latest guidelines advise parents to keep children in each type of restraint for as long as possible before moving the child up to the next type of safety seat. Parents should look at the height and weight limitations for their child's car seat, and continue to use that car seat until their child grows out of the seat. These NHTSA guidelines could mean that some children stay in rear facing restraints, forward facing car seats, and backseat boosters for much longer than their parents initially anticipated.

The NHTSA's safety seat guidelines are consistent with the American Academy of Pediatrics' (AAP) advice on the issue. Both groups stress that there is no rush to transition a child into the next type of restraint. For example, toddlers should continue to use rear-facing safety seats until they are either two years old, or reach the maximum height or weight for their rear-facing seat.

The NHTSA has specific recommendations for children of every age, but their advice generally follows some basic principles. First, parents should always follow their car seat's instructions and their vehicle's owner manual when installing their child's safety restraint. If parents are unsure about how to install a car seat, they can visit a certified technician who can check their car seat's installation for free. Second, parents should carefully select a car seat based on their child's age, height, and weight. Once parents have purchased a car seat, they should keep their child in that car seat for as long as possible, so long as the child fits the seat's height and weight requirements. Lastly, the back seat is the safest place for a child, and so children under the age of 13 should always ride in the back seat.

As Florida personal injury attorneys, we see first hand the difference that proper safety restraints can make in an accident. Child injury frequently occurs after a car accident because kids are improperly restrained. Luckily, the NHTSA makes it easy for parents to select the right car seat for their child.

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In hospital lingo, medical errors and preventable infections are called "adverse events." In legal lingo, the term "medical malpractice" is used to describe an act of professional negligence by a health care provider in which the provider deviates from commonly accepted standards of practice, and that deviation results in injury or death to a patient. From a legal perspective, adverse events are not always equivalent to actionable medical malpractice because adverse events sometimes occur even when the hospital staff exercised the utmost diligence.

A new study published in the medical journal Health Affairs shows that about one out of every three people admitted into a hospital encounter some type of adverse event during their stay. The findings of this study suggest that incidents of medical malpractice are actually much higher than previously estimated.

Previous studies that addressed adverse events in hospitals relied heavily on voluntary methods of data collection. In other words, hospitals were trusted to accurately report on their own medical errors. The Health Affairs study used a new method to collect data, and according to the study, the actual frequency of medical errors in hospitals is ten times higher than what the federal government and hospitals had previously reported.

The editor-in-chief of Health Affairs commented on the recently published study and said, "Without a doubt, we've seen improvements in health care over the past decade, but overall progress has been agonizingly slow." The American Hospital Association (AHA) responded to the study by saying that hospitals "are dedicated to improving patient quality and safety." According to the AHA, the Health Affairs study "offers new insights that hospitals can use for quality improvements."

In related news, the US Department of Health and Human Services recently launched a new on-line tool to help patients choose and compare different health care facilities. At hospitalcompare.hhs.gov, consumers can review patient satisfaction data for local hospitals. For example, a patient contemplating a surgical procedure can compare local hospitals and hopefully make an informed decision about where to seek medical care based on data collected from previous patients. Data is currently available for dozens of Broward County health care facilities.

Continue reading "New Study Finds that Medical Errors are Grossly Underreported; On-line Tool Makes it Easy for Floridians to Compare Healthcare Facilities " »

On Wednesday of last week, two truck drivers were injured in a crash involving three tractor trailers on the Florida Turnpike in Palm Beach Gardens. The accident occurred after a semi-truck slowly entered traffic in the path of an oncoming UPS truck, which was driving at full speed. The collision destroyed the fuel tank on the UPS truck, and moments later, a Honda Civic hit the fuel tank and sent it flying into opposing traffic. A third truck swerved to avoid the tank, but jackknifed.

Only a week earlier on the same freeway, a dump truck collided into a tractor trailer, which caught fire and left the driver with third degree burns. Both of these recent accidents on the Florida Turnpike caused major traffic delays.

While truck and big rig accidents are relatively uncommon, they can be devastating. Because big rigs are so large in comparison to the other vehicles on the road, there is a high potential for serious injury after a big rig accident. Tractor-trailers, trucks, and big rigs also have huge fuel tanks, so an accident with one of these large vehicles can cause a major fire hazard.

Truck and big rig accidents also tend to involve multiple vehicles. From a personal injury lawyer's perspective, the more parties involved in an automobile accident, the more complicated it can be to resolve all of the conflicts between the parties. An experienced personal injury attorney can help those injured in multi-car accidents to make claims against all appropriate insurance policies and, if necessary, pursue just compensation in a court of law. A good multi-car accident attorney will be extremely organized, know all of the relevant law, and have the persistence it takes to resolve a complex legal dispute.

Continue reading "Tractor Trailer Crashes Wreak Havoc on the Florida Turnpike, Raise Issues About Liability In Multiple Viehicle Accidents" »