South Florida Injury Law Blog

In a September post, we explained that state and local authorities are cracking down on staged car accidents and educating drivers on the various ways in which fraudsters try to cause accidents on the road in order to collect on insurance. Now it looks like the crackdown is bearing fruit, at least in the form or arrests. A pair of Miami women were recently arrested and charged with insurance fraud, racketeering, grand theft, patient brokering, organized scheme to defraud and operating an unlicensed clinic for their roles in an alleged accident staging scheme, according to the Sun Sentinel's Julie Patel.

The women, 61-year-old Rebeca Velazco and her 41-year-old daughter Daisy Sarmiento, were arrested in connection with a scam through which perpetrators staged accidents and submitted fraudulent medical bills in support of their insurance claims. Earlier this year, 25 individuals involved in the scam were charged as part of a bust that officials deemed "Operation Dark Horizon."

Reports show that staged accidents cost Florida drivers about an extra $50 a year in insurance premiums. Three Sunshine State cities - Tampa, Miami and Orlando - are in the top five cities nationally for questionable medical claims associated with staged accidents. In Miami alone, there were more than 500 suspected staged car accidents in 2010.

As state leaders are mulling calls for a complete overhaul of Florida's Personal Injury Protection (PIP) - the "no fault" auto insurance program designed to quickly provide benefits for a person injured in an automobile accident, regardless of fault - law enforcement is taking aim at drivers trying to game the current system. The state's Department of Financial Services Division of Insurance Fraud, which includes 155 law enforcement officers, made close to 1,000 insurance fraud-related arrests last fiscal year.

"This is far from the end of our efforts to fight such frauds," Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle. said in announcing the earlier arrests.

Continue reading "Florida Staged Car Accident Crackdown Nets Miami Pair" »

In a "panic stop," a car driver causes a rear end accident by suddenly slamming the brakes. Such collisions are some of the most common in the state. According to Florida officials, many of them are staged.

Earlier this month, Miami police officers demonstrated the panic stop and other staged accidents at a training facility in order to educate South Florida drivers on the fraudulent behavior that is raising personal injury protection (PIP) insurance premiums and encourage them to report such behavior.

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.

While the number of reported Florida car accidents continues to drop overall, PIP claims - and insurance premiums - are rising. The state Office of Insurance Regulation reported in April that the number of PIP claims increased 26% to 386,464 statewide in 2010. In South Florida, the uptick was even more dramatic: PIP claims skyrocketed by 48%, with the region's insurers paying out more than $1 billion in claims. Officials say the rise in claims is in part due to staged accidents. According to the Sun Sentinel's Danielle A. Alvarez, "Florida drivers each pay an additional $50 a year in insurance premiums because of fraudulent personal injury protection-related claims."

In addition to staging an accident, perpetrators also often work with sham clinics to charge insurance companies for medical exams and procedures that simply never happen.

Continue reading "Florida Cracks Down on Staged Car Accidents" »

As Florida personal injury attorneys, we understand that people who are injured in an auto accident want their cases resolved as quickly and effectively as possible. A recent ruling from the state's Fifth District Court of Appeal, however, makes clear that the speed in which a case is resolved depends largely on the trial court's schedule.

"Although a delay approaching eighteen months to obtain a two-week civil trial in a circuit court in Central Florida is shocking, we have to recognize that under the new regime of ever-decreasing resources, this may be - or may become - the norm," the Court said in Parkinson v. Kia Motors Corporation, denying a petition for a writ of mandamus that would have required the trial court to set a trial date in a wrongful death suit.

The underlying lawsuit was brought by the representative of a man who was killed in an auto accident while driving a vehicle manufactured by the defendants. According to the court "[h]e was stopped in a line of traffic when a motor vehicle being operated at a high rate of speed by an alcohol intoxicated driver struck the rear of the Kia. The complaint lodged claims for negligence and strict liability against each corporate defendant on the theory of enhanced injury crashworthiness," which holds an auto manufacturer independently liable in a car accident case for damages caused by the manufaturer's negligence.

The plaintiff filed a Notice of Jury Trial on June 24, 2010, estimating that the trial would take 15 days. While the trial court considered the petitioner's motion for summary judgment, the defendants filed a motion to strike the notice of trial, effectively putting the scheduling a trial on hold. The trial court granted the motion, noting that because of the number and complexity of outstanding legal issues, the case was not "ready" for trial. The trial court said that it thought the case might be ready for trial by 2012, and offered to set a date in 2012. The plaintiff sought an order from the appellate court directing the trial court to set a trial date.

Although frustrated by the delay, the court denied the petition, citing Garcia v. Lincare, Inc., 906 So.2d 1268 (Fla. 5th DCA 2005) for the proposition that "the trial court has discretion to determine which date is chosen for the trial. In doing so, the court may of course consider such issues as discovery completion, availability of witnesses and counsel, and the court's own schedule." Accordingly, the court determined that "[a] 2012 trial date may be unacceptable to [the plaintiff], but we are not in a position, at this stage, to micro-manage the scheduling of this trial."

Continue reading "In Florida Personal Injury Cases, The Waiting is Often the Hardest Part - Parkinson v. Kia Motors Corporation" »

If a trial judge is going to mess with a Florida personal injury plaintiff's hard earned damages award, the judge better have a good reason for doing it, according to a recent ruling by the state's Fourth District Court of Appeals.

In Adams v. Saavedra, the Court reversed a trial court's reduction of a jury's damage award to a plaintiff in a vehicle accident case, finding that the reduction was not supported by the evidence presented at trial.

Plaintiff Robert Adams was injured in an accident when the motor scooter he was driving collided with a car driven by defendant Mauricio Saavedra. According to a scooter passenger, Defendant caused the accident by backing out of his driveway and into both the east and westbound lanes of traffic about three to four feet ahead of the scooter. Plaintiff sustained facial fractures as well as a comminuted fracture of the right femur, which required surgery to insert a steel rod into his leg. He also began to suffer from migraine headaches following the accident.

At trial, Plaintiff and Defendant presented differing recollections of the accident, including where and how it occurred. The jury returned a special interrogatory verdict in favor of Plaintiff, finding Defendant was negligent and solely at fault. It awarded Plaintiff $640,587.56 in total damages, covering medical expenses, lost wages and pain and suffering.

The trial court granted Defendant's motion for remittitur, reducing the damages award for pain and suffering by 40 percent. In overturning this decision, the Court of Appeals ruled that the trial judge failed to provide an adequate reason for reducing the damages award.

Continue reading "Appellate Court Warns that Judges Should Not Reduce Florida Jury Awards without Good Reason - Adams v. Saavedra" »

Even the good guys make mistakes sometimes. Former Miami Heat basketball player Alonzo Mourning, a humanitarian and long time South Florida fan favorite, was charged with leaving the scene of a Miami car crash earlier this week after two early morning accidents on the Julia Tuttle Causeway.

Mourning's crash was the second of two on the Tuttle Causeway, which connects Miami Beach with I-95 across Biscayne Bay, shortly after 3 a.m. on July 17. First, a westbound Chevy Impala slammed into a concrete barrier after it was hit from behind by an Audi A4. As the drivers waited for police, Mourning and his wife crossed the Causeway on their way home to Coral Gables after attending current Heat player Chris Bosh's wedding. The former Georgetown University star's blue Porsche Panamera S "slid into the Audi A4, one of two crashed cars in the middle of the highway, near the Interstate 95 intersection," according to the Miami Herald's Diana Moskovitz.

Neither of the other two drivers was in their car when the second accident occurred. Mourning got out of his car, checked on the Audi driver, William Candelario, and continued home where he called police more than an hour after the crash. The Herald reports that when police told him to go back to the Causeway, "Mourning and his wife returned to the accident scene in Tracy Mourning's SUV.... She drove." Florida Highway Patrol told the Herald that alcohol was not a factor in the accident.

Mourning, who was traded to the Heat by Charlotte in 1995, played in seven All Star games and was a member of Miami's 2006 NBA champion squad after returning to basketball following a kidney transplant in 2003. He retired in 2009, taking a front office job with the Heat. Off the court, he's known for his charitable work on causes such as supporting at risk youth and families as well as raising money for kidney disease research.

Mourning was charged with leaving the scene of a crash with property damage, a second-degree misdemeanor, and cited for leaving the scene without giving information, which could result in a fine and points on his license. In addition, Mourning is one of several people named in a civil suit filed on behalf of Candelario, who was charged with careless driving.

Continue reading "Former Miami Heat Star Charged for Leaving Scene of South Florida Car Accident" »

The metro Miami morning commute came to a grinding halt on Wednesday as Authorities closed U.S. 1 in both directions after a fatal hit-and-run near Coconut Grove left one person dead and caused a second accident on the same stretch of road just minutes later.

The Miami Herald's Lidia Dinkova reports "[i]t all began at 6:30 a.m., when a white pickup truck collided with a silver-colored Honda at Southwest 17th Avenue, causing the driver to crash into a tree on the median, said Napier Velazquez, spokesman for Miami Police." The Honda driver, reportedly a woman in her 70s, died at the scene of the accident. The pickup truck driver sped off before police arrived on the scene.

The carnage from the first wreck appears to have spawned a second one. Minutes after the accident, a white pickup truck traveling southbound on U.S. 1 crashed with a silver-colored Nissan Sentra and a silver-colored Toyota RAV4. No one was injured in the second collision and it is unclear whether the accidents are related.
"At this point we don't know if the driver of the white pickup truck slowed down or stopped to help the lady in the first crash," Velazquez told the Herald.

Almost 236,000 traffic accidents occurred statewide in 2009. Florida car accidents are commonly the result of negligent driving. A legal term, negligence generally refers to a failure to act reasonably when one has the legal duty to do so. All drivers have the duty to drive safely and reasonably on the road, and when unreasonable driving leads to an accident, injured parties may be entitled to compensation.

If you are in an automobile accident, you may be entitled to compensation for health care benefits, even if you were at fault. Florida law requires all automobile insurance policies to carry a minimum amount of "no-fault" insurance for reasonable and necessary medical expenses. This statewide requirement is designed to ensure that those injured in car accidents can seek proper medical care, regardless of who is at fault for the accident.

Continue reading "Miami Car Accident Leaves One Dead, Causes Second Accident, Raises Issues of Negligent Driving and No-Fault Insurance" »

Motorcycle deaths were slightly lower over the first nine months of 2010 than in the same period the previous year, according to a new report. Yet while the downturn mirrors statistics nationwide, officials are cautioning bikers to remain vigilant on the road.

The report issued by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) in April states that 286 Florida motorcyclists died over the first nine months of last year, compared to 293 over the same time frame in 2009. Meanwhile, motorcycle fatalities dropped by more than two percent nationwide.

A local motorcycle enthusiast tells The Tampa Tribune's Keith Morelli that "the dangers to bikers mostly are vehicle drivers on phones, either talking or texting or motorists just not paying attention when they switch lanes or make turns." In addition to death, motorcycle accidents can also result in brain and spinal injuries, broken bones and paralysis.

Despite the decrease in fatalities thus far, GHSA - a nonprofit association representing state highway safety offices across the country - points out that the national drop is slight compared to 2009, in which biker fatalities plummeted by 16%, snapping 11 straight years of increases in motorcycle deaths. The organization also notes that the use of Department of Transportation compliant motorcycle helmets dropped by 13% over the same period in 2010, a freefall that the GHSA calls "alarming."

"To prevent an increase in motorcyclist fatalities in 2011, states should work to increase helmet use, provide motorcycle operator training to all who need or seek it and reduce motorcyclist alcohol impairment and speeding," the organization cautions. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that helmets saved 1,829 motorcyclists' lives in 2008 and that an additional 823 could have been saved if all motorcyclists had worn helmets.

Continue reading "Florida Motorcycle Accident Deaths Down in 2010" »

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.

Continue reading "South Florida Personal Injury Claims Rising" »

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office created a new task force to target aggressive and reckless driving behaviors. According to the Sun-Sentinel, the task force's most recent operation took place on January 27, 2011. On that day, Broward sheriff's deputies, Florida Highway Patrol troopers, and other officers from surrounding counties worked together to target aggressive driving along Interstate 75 and the Sawgrass. In a four hour period, about 20 officers handed out more than 100 citations for reckless driving, careless driving, speeding, illegal lane changes, and tailgating.

According the the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), aggressive driving has been on the rise over the past two decades. Between 1990 and 2007, aggressive driving increased nationwide by 51 percent. Moreover, in 2007, aggressive driving accounted for 66 percent of all traffic fatalities, and Florida specifically was one of the worst offenders.

So, what exactly is aggressive driving? According to the NHTSA, "most of us know it when we see it," but the term is formally defined as "occurring when an individual commits a combination of moving traffic offenses so as to endanger other persons or property." Florida law defines aggressive driving as committing two or more illegal and unsafe driving behaviors simultaneously or in rapid succession.

From these definitions, we can get an idea about the types of behaviors that aggressive driving task forces target. High speed driving, tailgating, careless weaving between lanes, and even racing are all on an aggressive driving task force's radar. Additionally, the NHTSA considers running red lights, stop signs, and other traffic control devices to be among the most dangerous forms of aggressive driving.

Local authorities hope that an aggressive driving task force will bring attention to risky driving behaviors that too often result in fatalities.

Continue reading "Palm Beach County Task Force Targets Reckless and Aggressive Driving" »