Florida Injury Lawyer Blog

Broward County - A Plantation accident involving three vehicles has injured a police officer and his dog. The accident happened on Tuesday, October 4, 2011, when an SUV struck Plantation police officer Curtis Hampton's car head-on. Hampton's car was then hit by a Toyota that was behind him. Hampton, a 25-year police veteran, suffered multiple fractures. His K-9, Rudi, is recovering. Police are investigating the cause of this multiple-vehicle accident.

Our Coral Springs personal injury lawyers are here to help people and families injured in auto accidents in South Florida. According statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were 6,391 fatal head-on accidents and approximately 603,000 head-on injury accidents involving multiple vehicles in 2009 in the U.S. These statistics involve the front of the vehicle as the initial point of impact.

Continue reading "Car Accident Lawyer: Plantation Accident Injures Police Officer" »

Palm Beach County - The parents of a child born with no arms and only one leg received a $4.5 million dollar jury verdict earlier this month. The parents of Bryan Santana, nearly 3 years old, sued their obstetrician and clinic for negligence in failing to detect their son's birth defects before he was born. The jury sided with the parents and awarded them the verdict to help pay for their son's medical expenses. According to the Sun Sentinel, St. Mary's Medical Center also missed detecting the child's birth defects on three ultrasounds and settled confidentially with the child's parents.

According to the March of Dimes, approximately 120,000 babies are born with birth defects every year in the U.S. Currently about half all U.S. states, including Florida, recognize the wrongful birth statute. Under this statute, parents can file a lawsuit on behalf of children born with abnormalities and claim they would have terminated the pregnancy if their health care provider would have alerted them about their child's disabilities.

Continue reading "Coral Springs Medical Malpractice Attorney Discusses Recent Verdict for West Palm Beach Parents of Child Born with Only One Limb " »

Palm Beach County- An SUV rollover accident has resulted in the death of a teenage boy. The accident, which happened shortly before 9pm on Sunday, September 25, 2011, involved a Ford SUV, which veered off I-95 and rolled over, ejecting 16-year-old David Benitez and 14-year-old Donia Otano. Two cars hit Benitez, and killed him, after he was ejected from the SUV. The SUV was driven by 39-year-old Hialeah resident Midialia Otano Rodriguez, who along with two other passengers, were in critical condition. A sixth passenger had minor injuries. The cause of this accident is currently being investigated.

The latest accident statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicate that in 2009, a total of 8,267 people were killed in rollover accidents in cars and light trucks including utility trucks, pickup trucks, and vans in the U.S. According to the report, out of the 4,091 people killed in utility trucks in 2009, 56% (2,294) were killed in rollover accidents.

The Coral Springs personal injury lawyers at Law Offices Cytryn & Velazquez understand that you may have many legal questions after an accident. Frequently asked questions include:

Do I need a lawyer after an accident?
Should I try dealing with the insurance company on my own?
Can you help me with property damage?
Am I entitled to a rental if my car is damaged?
How much is my case worth?

Continue reading "Car Accident Lawyer: Palm Beach County Rollover Accident Kills Teen" »

Broward County - Fort Lauderdale was recently named the most dangerous city in the United States for drivers, according to a CNBC report. Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) were gathered to assemble a list of the 15 most dangerous cities in the U.S. for driving, which showed that Fort Lauderdale had the highest fatality rate per 100,000 people. Three other Florida cities - Orlando (which came in second), Jacksonville, and St. Petersburg, also made the list.

As Coral Springs personal injury lawyers who handle Fort Lauderdale car accidents, we are familiar with the many causes for car accidents in South Florida. According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, careless driving topped the list of contributing causes of Florida car accidents in 2009, resulting in 49,568 injuries and 386 fatalities. Other contributing factors include improper lane change, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, following too closely, improper passing, and disobeying traffic signals.

Continue reading "Car Accident Lawyer: Fort Lauderdale Number One Most Dangerous U.S. City for Motorists" »

Broward County - The driver of a pickup truck who struck the back of a utility truck on the Florida Turnpike has apparently died as a result of this truck accident, which took place on September 21, 2011. Florida Marlins president David Samson, along with other witnesses, tried to rescue the driver. They were ultimately unsuccessful in their efforts. The Florida Highway Patrol will provide a report on the accident.

As Coral Springs car accident lawyers who handle truck accidents as one of our practice areas, we think it's important for people to learn about statistics from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. For example, 224 fatal accidents and 76,817 injury accidents involved a rear-end crash with a moving vehicle in 2009 in Florida. The major causes of Florida car accidents, according to the report, is careless driving and failure to yield the right-of-way.

Continue reading "Truck Accident Lawyer on Davie Crash Which Killed Pickup Driver" »

According to a recent Sun Sentinel article on red light cameras, Pembroke Pines has one of the least amounts of red light camera citations per day in South Florida. In Broward County, the intersection with the highest number of tickets per day is eastbound West Sunrise Blvd and NW 15th Ave in Fort Lauderdale, with 20 red light citations each day. Compare that with the Pembroke Pines intersection of SW 136th Ave and Pine Boulevard which has, on average, less than one ticket per day.

On average, 856 people are issued red light camera citations every day in South Florida. Around 339,000 tickets have been issued in South Florida as a result of red light cameras.

Most red light camera tickets, according to the Sun Sentinel article, take place on Friday in Broward County, and on Saturday in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade Counties. Fort Lauderdale, Aventura, and Coral Gables issue the most citations per intersection every day.

As Coral Springs accident lawyers, we hope red light cameras are effective in helping to reduce the number of car accidents in Florida's roads. According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, disregarding a traffic signal led to 56 traffic fatalities and 5,190 injuries in Florida in 2009. Driving over the stated speed limit led to 106 deaths and 650 injuries that same year.

Continue reading "Coral Springs Car Accident Lawyer Discusses Red Light Camera Citations in South Florida" »

Broward County -- After losing control of the Chevy Camaro he was driving, Dustin Wayne See hit a guardrail and flipped the vehicle into a condominium building in Fort Lauderdale, in late August 2011. See was injured in this Fort Lauderdale car accident. Thankfully no pedestrians or building residents were injured.

According to the NHTSA, U.S. car crashes result in around $43 billion dollars worth of property damage each year. Property damages includes damage to vehicles, objects inside the vehicles, roadway signs, lightpoles, guardrails, homes and other structures.

As Coral Springs personal injury lawyers, we help people who have been injured in auto accidents and have also suffered property damage caused by the negligence of other drivers. Other types of damages that we help injury victims to recover include medical costs, loss of income, disability, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life.

Continue reading "Fort Lauderdale Car Accident Injures Driver of Car that Flipped Into Condo Building" »

Broward County - A man from Coral Springs suffered critical injuries after falling from a concrete wall on I-95 and landing on the street below. Jonathan K. Holley was sitting on the concrete wall on I-95 after being involved in a Fort Lauderdale car accident. According to police, Holley had been helped to the highway's shoulder following his accident, which took place on August 14, 2011 shortly before 6:30 a.m.

As Coral Springs car accident lawyers, we often read news stories like this one regarding auto accidents in Broward County, and provide legal analysis on our blogs.

In the incident noted above, if the other driver was at fault, the at-fault driver may be responsible for the victim's injury from the fall. Even though the at-fault driver's conduct operates in combination with some other cause (e.g., dizziness, vertigo, etc.) that led to the victim's fall, such other cause was itself reasonably foreseeable and the driver's conduct contributed substantially to producing the fall or the fall was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the at-fault driver's conduct and the driver's conduct contributed substantially to producing the victim's fall.

In more general terms, Florida law provides that, if the Coral Springs victim was not at fault in the crash, and the crash was the other party's fault, the other party would likely be responsible for any further harm that the victim suffered if the harm was "reasonably foreseeable" and the crash substantially contributed to the further harm. In this particular case, if the fall was caused because the victim was delirious, or dizzy, etc. as a result of the crash, a jury may be able to find that at-fault driver liable for the injuries suffered from the subsequent fall from the wall.

Continue reading "Fort Lauderdale Car Accident Injures Coral Springs Resident " »

Broward County, Florida: A Pompano Beach car accident led to the death of a 30-year-old man on Friday, August 26, 2011. Daniel Kocik, from Fort Lauderdale, lost control of his vehicle on I-95 after an SUV towing a trailer struck his car. Police are currently investigating the accident.

According to statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, speeding was the number one cause of accidents in the U.S. in 2009, accounting for 21.3 percent of the accidents that year. The second largest cause of car accidents, (17 percent) was attributed to drivers deviating from their lanes or running off the road.

As Coral Springs accident attorneys, we understand the hardships that families face after losing a loved one. We're here to help victim's families understand their rights regarding the filing of a wrongful death lawsuit. An attorney will investigate your case and help protect your rights.

Continue reading "Pompano Beach Car Accident on I-95 Kills Fort Lauderdale Resident" »

Five people were injured in an amusement park accident on August 19, 2011 in New Jersey. The accident happened when the mast of a pirate ship ride snapped, resulting in minor injuries to four patrons and the hospitalization of a teenager. An investigation is ongoing to determine the cause of the accident. Earlier this summer, an 11-year-old girl was killed in a Ferris wheel accident at the same amusement park

As Coral Springs injury lawyers, we are familiar with statistics from the National Safety Council. They report that approximately 1,783 people were injured at fixed-site amusement parks in the year 2005 alone. According to the Council, an estimated four people are killed every year at fixed-site amusement parks.

Continue reading "Coral Springs Personal Injury Lawyer Comments on New Jersey Theme Park Accident that Injured Five " »

Broward County, Florida - A shooting earlier this summer in Lauderdale Lakes ended with the death of two men and 10 people injured. The incident occurred after 3 a.m. in late June at a bar in a Lauderdale Lakes shopping center, when two men began fighting. One of the men allegedly took out a gun, causing the security guard at the bar to pull out his gun. When the bar patron refused to put away his gun, shots were fired, resulting in the death of the two men who had originally gotten into a fight. The security guard was not hurt in the shooting.

As Coral Springs personal injury lawyers, we help people who have been victims of security negligence in South Florida. According to stophandgunviolence.com, 79 people are killed each day as a result of firearms in the U.S. In order to avoid injuries and deaths from the use of guns, nightclubs should search patrons and have them go through a metal detector as is done at airports and other public places such as the courthouse.

Continue reading "Lauderdale Lakes Nightclub Shootout Kills Two" »

After coming across some news stories regarding flip flops and car accidents, as Coral Springs personal injury lawyers, we thought it was important to share this information with our blog readers. Florida's year-round warm climate translates into flip flops being a common choice of footwear. However, driving while wearing flip flops may be dangerous, as illustrated by the following news stories:

In August 2011 in New York, three pedestrians were killed after the driver of a Toyota Highlander SUV driven by a female driver ran them over, eventually crashing into a church. It's possible that the driver's foot or flip flop got stuck on the gas pedal, according to police.

Another flip flop-related car accident happened last summer in New York, when a female driver hit another vehicle after her flip flops got caught between the brake and gas pedals in the car she was driving. A male passenger inside the other vehicle suffered cuts to his head.

Continue reading "Coral Springs Car Accident Lawyer Warns Drivers About the Potential Dangers of Driving with Flip Flops" »

Five people were injured in a Tamarac car accident on Friday, August 19, 2011. Three vehicles were affected in this multiple-vehicle accident - a Dodge Caravan, a Toyota Camry, and a Nissan Versa. The cause of the accident has not been released.

As Coral Springs car accident lawyers, we help accident victims whose lives have been affected by the negligence of other drivers and vehicle manufacturers. Car accidents happen for a wide variety of reasons, including reckless driving, driver distraction, failure to obey traffic laws, failure to yield the right of way, speeding, drug or alcohol use, defective vehicle manufacture, and improper road and highway maintenance.

According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, there were 25,957 car accidents in Broward County in 2009. Of those accidents, 20,249 resulted in injuries and 189 were fatal. It may come as no surprise that Friday afternoon traffic - specifically during the 4 o'clock hour - experienced the largest number of motor vehicle accidents in Florida in 2009. The highest number of deadly accidents took place during the midnight hour on Sunday, not surprising, Saturday night going into Sunday, when you'd most expect the largest amount of drunk drivers on the road. Be wary of your children driving after midnight: remember, it's not always you or them, it's: "the other guy."

Continue reading "Tamarac Car Accident Injures Five" »

Just a day before starting his senior year of high school, Tamarac teen Randolph Bieszczak died in a boat accident on the C-14 canal in Coral Springs. The accident took place on Sunday, August 21, 2011, when Bieszczak and his friend Nicholas Messier were on a tube being towed by a 17-foot motorboat. The tube they were riding on crashed into rocks close to the shore, killing Bieszczak and injuring Messier. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is currently investigating the accident.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, 389 people were injured in Florida boat accidents in 2010. The most common type of injury was laceration, which is the type of injury that Messier suffered in the above boating accident.

As Coral Springs boat accident lawyers, we help people who have been victims of the negligence of boat drivers in Florida. In the particular case noted at the start of this post, it's hard to imagine there was not at least some negligence on the part of the boat driver. If the boat is insured, there could be an action against the driver and owner of the boat. The boat is also considered a dangerous instrumentality under Florida law, which may create liability upon the owner even if the owner was not in the boat at the time and even if the owner was not negligent.

Continue reading "Coral Springs Boat Accident Kills Tamarac Teen" »

Coral Springs injury lawyers understand the dangers pedestrians face on Florida roads, so it comes as no surprise that four Florida metropolitan regions are ranked as some of the most dangerous areas for pedestrians in the U.S., according to a recent New York Times article.

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach ranked 4th as the most dangerous metropolitan areas for pedestrians in the country. Orlando topped the list, followed by Tampa and Jacksonville. This research comes from Transportation for America, a nonprofit group focused on pedestrian and transportation safety in the U.S.

According to Transportation for America, over 47,700 pedestrian fatalities occurred in the U.S. from 2000 to 2009. In addition, over 688,000 pedestrian injuries happened in that same time period, which means a pedestrian was hit by a vehicle every 7 minutes. Pedestrians make up about 12% of the total number of traffic fatalities in the U.S.

In addition to Transportation for America's report, research from the Governors Highway Safety Association also ranked Florida as one of the most hazardous places for pedestrians in the United States. According to a recent report, Florida had the second highest number, in the U.S., when it came to pedestrian deaths in 2010.

Continue reading "Fort Lauderdale Pedestrian Accident: Miami-Ft Lauderdale Ranked as One of the Most Dangerous Places for Pedestrians in the United States" »