Florida Injury Lawyer Blog

Crime Victims Rights

Miami, Florida - Victims of violent crime have the right to receive compensation in certain cases. In Florida, Personal Injury Lawyers can file a civil lawsuit for negligent security or inadequate security in order to secure compensation for the victim and his or her family. These negligent security or inadequate security cases arise when land or business owners fail to take reasonable steps to protect their guests and patrons from foreseeable violent crime on their premises.

When these attacks occur on the premises of a business, the business operator and the land owners may be liable for the harm caused by third parties.

Unfortunately, most victims of violent crime have no idea that they may be entitled to compensation. Florida law imposes a legal duty on land and business owners, to provide a safe premises for their patrons.

Yesterday, a man who allegedly stabbed a twenty-four year old woman to death in a Manhattan grocery store was arrested in Miami, Florida.

The operators of a grocery store and the owners of the property or shopping center where it is located, are in the best position to know about the criminal activity in the area of their premises. For that reason, they have a duty to take reasonable precautions to protect their invited guests and the general public from foreseeable criminal attacks. That duty could include a duty to implement reasonable security measures to protect their guests.

Negligent or inadequate security cases usually arise out of violent criminal attacks including:

1). Rape
2). Murder
3). Robbery
4). Assault and Battery, and more recently,
5). Acts of Terrorism

Continue reading "Miami, Florida - Crime Victims Compensation Available In Some Cases" »

Posted by James Hannon, Esq. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Brain Damage , Catastrophic Injuries , Crime Victim's Rights , Death , Florida Wrongful Death , Inadequate or Negligent Security , Paralysis , Paraplegia , Premises Liability , Quadriplegia , Spinal Cord Injuries , Traumatic Brain Injury

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Miami, Florida - When large commercial trucks crash, the accidents are rarely “minor fender benders” and the results are often catastrophic. With over 8 million trucks on the road, accidents involving these vehicles are a fact of life.

But the chances of a truck accident occurring, especially a fatal truck accident, are higher in Florida than almost any other state and higher in the Miami area than in all but two other locations in Florida. Florida ranks third in the nation in fatal truck accidents. Only Texas and California have more.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, a disproportionate number of truck accidents occur in just three areas of Florida:

1). Hillsborough County, which includes the city of Tampa on Florida’s west coast;

2). Polk County, which includes the cities of Lakeland and Bartow in Central Florida, and

3). Miami-Dade County, which includes the cities of Miami, Homestead and Hialeah in
     South Florida.

One reason for this is because a higher volume of large trucks, including semi tractor-trailers, travel through these communities than in most others.

There are some roads that are particularly dangerous within these communities. For example, Interstate 60 connects Florida’s East and West coasts and runs right through Polk County near Lakeland and Bartow in Central Florida. I-60 is basically a country road – much smaller than most interstates. Similarly, Krome Avenue, in the Miami area, hosts many tractor trailers and is also just a two lane, country road. Another smaller road that sees an unusually high number of truck accidents is Overseas Highway, which runs through Key Largo, Islamorada, Marathon and Key West in the Florida Keys.

Truck accidents are also a familiar sight on Florida’s larger highways (The Florida Turnpike, I-95, I-75, I-595) just because of the volume of large trucks traveling on them. But the interstates are not alone.

The Florida Injury Lawyers at our firm have extensive experience in representing the victims of truck accidents in each of these areas and throughout the State. Through our experience, we have learned not only who the best expert witnesses are in the trucking industry and how to use the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations to prove negligence on the part of truck drivers and the trucking companies that employ them, but also that there are usually multiple factors involved in determining the cause of an accident involving a large commercial truck.

In the year 2002, large trucks were involved in over 70,000 accidents across our state according to Florida’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV). That represents almost 1/3 of all Florida motor vehicle accidents for that time period.

Continue reading "Florida Truck Accidents Among Most Frequent in US" »

Posted by James Hannon, Esq. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Brain Damage , Catastrophic Injuries , Death , Florida Truck Accidents , Florida Wrongful Death , Miami Truck Accidents , Paralysis , Paraplegia , Polk County Truck Accidents , Quadriplegia , Spinal Cord Injuries , Transportation Accidents , Traumatic Brain Injury

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Florida - Florida personal injury lawyers filed a lawsuit on behalf of John Graziano, who suffered a severe traumatic brain injury in an automobile accident last August.

The defendants - wrestling superstar, Hulk Hogan and his family. Graziano's parents are suing Hogan under Florida's "Dangerous Instrumentality Doctrine" which holds the owner of an automobile vicariously responsible for the negligent operation of that vehicle.

Experienced Florida personal injury lawyers know how to use Florida's laws to achieve substantial compensation for their seriously injured clients.

Hogan's son, Nick Bollea, was driving a car registered in his father's name at the time of the crash.

The August 2007 auto accident (see my post on March 13th about this crash) left Bollea's friend, Graziano with permanent brain damage and other serious injuries that will require daily nursing care for the rest of his life.

Bollea faces charges of reckless driving involving serious bodily injury. He will be tried on these charges next month.

The Graziano family filed a lawsuit against Hulk Hogan (Terry Bollea), his wife Linda and son Nick, charging them with negligence.

Continue reading "Florida - Personal Injury Lawyer Sues Hulk Hogan For Brain Damage And Other Injuries Suffered in Son's Car Accident" »

Posted by James Hannon, Esq. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Brain Damage , Catastrophic Injuries , Florida Auto Accidents , Transportation Accidents , Traumatic Brain Injury

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Clearwater, Florida - Law enforcement released crash scene photographs from their investigation into the automobile accident involving Nick Bollea (Hulk Hogan's son) and John Graziano. Graziano, who was seriously injured in the acccident and sustained severe brain damage, is depicted in some of the photographs while in the hospital.

The lawyer for the Graziano family has asked the media to refrain from releasing some of the photographs which he says are particularly gory and troubling.

The Florida personal injury attorneys at our law firm always seek to protect the privacy of our clients and their families while working tirelessly to achieve substantial compensation they deserve. When a loved one has suffered catastrophic injuries, the family shouldn't have to worry about anything except making sure he or she is receiving the medical attention they need.

Typically when the police investigate a severe traffic accident, officers take photos of the vehicles at the scene. It is not as common for them to take photos of the victims in the hospital, but it does happen when they believe it is necessary in order to complete their investigation.

A spokesperson for Tampa Bay's Channel 10 News said that "some of the photos of Graziano are so horrific we can't show them on TV...". His family is concerned that they will show up on the Internet.

Lawyers representing the Graziano family criticized the Bollea family for staging what they called a “Valentine's Day publicity stunt.“ The entire family except for Terry Bollea (Hulk Hogan) went to visit Graziano in the hospital and called a news conference.

Continue reading "Police Accident Investigation Photos Released in Bollea Car Crash " »

Posted by James Hannon, Esq. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Brain Damage , Catastrophic Injuries , Florida Auto Accidents , Transportation Accidents , Traumatic Brain Injury

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EXPANDED RECALL ALERT:

Florida residents beware: the nationwide recall on pre-filled heparin flush syringes and viles manufactured by Am2Pat, Inc. d/b/a Sierra Pre-filled and B. Braun Medical, Inc., due to contamination with the Serratia marcescens bacteria, has been expanded. Unfortunately; for many patients using this dangerous and defective drug, the recall was too late. Several reported cases of the infection were in Florida as well as in other states. The Food and drug Administration (FDA) warned that patients and clinicians should immediately stop using these products.

On January 25, 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a class 1 recall of Sierra heparin or saline pre-filled syringes. A class 1 recall is the FDA's most serious and is reserved for those situations where using the defective product "will cause serious injury or death."

This FDA recall expanded upon a Dec. 20, 2007 recall by Manufacturer, Am2Pat, Inc. which targeted only one lot of the pre-filled heparin syringes that were contaminated with Serratia marcescens bacteria. The FDA has since broadened the recall after receiving reports of additional infections linked to Sierra's pre-filled saline syringes as well.

State health departments have been notified by the CDC that Am2Pat intends to extend the recall of its prefilled heparin and saline flush syringes to encompass all distributed lots of these products because of concerns these syringes may be contaminated with the gram-negative bacteria, Serratia marcescens.

These syringes were manufactured by Am2Pat and may be labeled as: Am2Pat, Sierra Pre-filled, or B. Braun. All of these products will bear the National Drug Code or NDC prefix of: 64054.

These products have been distributed to in-patient and out-patient facilities and directly to patients by home-care companies such as Maryland based Caremax Medical resources, LLC.

In a seperate notice, heparin products manufactured by Baxter were also recalled due to contamination.

Anyone having questions regarding the manufacturer of prefilled syringes they are using should call the distributor company that provided the syringes.

Continue reading "Florida Residents Affected: Expanded Recall Alert for Contaminated AM2PT, Sierra Pre-Filled and B. Braun Pre-Filled Heparin and Saline Flush Syringes" »

Posted by James Hannon, Esq. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Brain Damage , Catastrophic Injuries , Coma , Dangerous or Defective Products , Dangerous/Defective Drugs , Death , Defective Pharmaceutical Products , Florida Wrongful Death , Infection , Pharmaceutical Defects , Recalled Heparin Syringes

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