Florida Injury Lawyer Blog

FORT MYERS, FLORIDA : According to the Florida Highway Patrol, 46 year old Georges Pameni was killed in a tractor trailer accident when the truck he was driving collided with another tractor trailer on I-75 yesterday.

Georges Pameni, of Marietta, Georgia was driving his tractor trailer north on I-75. Truck driver, Steven Miller, 49, of Estero was also northbound on I-75.

Apparently, a load of stone was dropped on the Bayshore Road overpass by a dump truck. While that lane was being cleaned up, it was closed and traffic was being diverted into another lane.

The Florida personal injury lawyers at Hannon & Boyers recently represented the family of a truck driver in a wrongful death case when their loved one was killed in a tractor trailer accident. Our injury attorneys have handled numerous cases involving truck accidents where a thorough knowledge of the Federal laws regulating truckers helped secure a significant award for the survivors. In this case, experienced injury lawyers would investigate the trucking company and driver of the dump truck that caused the road closure. It is likely that they created a dangerous condition that contributed to cause the crash.

Continue reading "Fort Meyers, Florida Tractor Trailer Accident Leaves One Dead " »

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

Posted In: Catastrophic Injuries , Dangerous/Defective Construction Equipment , Death , Florida Truck Accidents , Florida Wrongful Death , Transportation Accidents

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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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WILDWOOD FLORIDA - A semi tractor-trailer accident killed a father and son who were working on the Florida Turnpike this morning in Sumter County as they were making repairs to the guardrails just North of Highway 301.

The victims, Luis F. Jimenez, 49, and his son Edward Jimenez, 24 were killed just after 10:30am when a car and a tractor-trailer collided sending the car over the guardrail according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Florida injury lawyers would look to hold the negligent driver responsible for the tragic death of this father and son. In addition, they would investigate to determine whether or not adequate safety proceedures were in place for the road work being performed.

According to turnpike officials, the father and son were working on the guardrail with one other worker who was not identified.

The accident closed the northbound lanes of the turnpike for several hours between Highway 301 and I-75 which spans about 3 miles.

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

Posted In: Catastrophic Injuries , Death , Florida Auto Accidents , Florida Truck Accidents , Florida Wrongful Death , Transportation Accidents

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Hialeah, Florida - The body of 28 year old, Odin Torres, a Miami woman was recovered from the debris caused by the collapse of a huge construction crane in New York Saturday. The crane accident destroyed a four-story building in Manhattan when it toppled.

Six others were also killed in the accident. They were all construction workers.

The crane collapsed when a steel collar used to secure it to the building under construction fell while it was being installed. It caused damage to another steel collar below it that also supported the crane. Once the crane's support system had been compromised, the counterweights at the top of the crane caused it to fall, according to the New York City Department of Buildings.

It was reported that Odin Torres was visiting New York for the St. Patrick's Day holliday.

When contractors and construction workers are careless, innocent people often pay the ultimate price. The Florida personal injury attorneys at our firm have handled numerous construction site accidents where people were seriously injured or killed as a result of the negligence of contractors or defective construction equipment. We handle cases where Florida residents are injured in other states and sometimes associate with a local lawfirm, though that is not necessary in all cases. From what I have learned so far about this New York crane disaster, it sounds like the crane and its support system were negligently designed. It is also clear that the construction crew was negligent in installing the crane. Once the support collar fell and impacted another one, a thorough inspection should have been conducted of all of the support collars to insure that their integrity had not been compromised.

Unfortunately for Odin Torres and her family, that obviously did not occur.

.

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

Posted In: Catastrophic Injuries , Construction Site Accidents , Dangerous or Defective Products , Dangerous/Defective Construction Equipment , Death , Florida Wrongful Death , Premises Liability

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DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA — A serious automobile accident left three people dead and two others injured Sunday when a car traveling South in the northbound lanes of Interstate 95 crashed head on into another vehicle in Palm Beach County, Florida. The fatal auto accident also contributed to two other injury wrecks. Several people injured in the crash were sent to Delray Medical Center for emergency medical treatment including one police officer.

The fatal accident between a white Mercedes and a black Pontiac occurred at approximately 5:10 a.m. just south of Atlantic Avenue.

According to police, Boris Rapoport of Quebec was driving the Mercedes when it struck the Pontiac which was being driven by North Lauderdale resident, Kenneth Richard Jenkins, 25.

Rapoport and two others who were in the backseat of the Mercedes, 79 year old Renee Rapoport, of Quebec, and 83 yeaqr old Robert S. Rutman, of Boca Raton, were killed in the crash. 69 year old Angelina Pauglica, of Quebec, who was also in the Mercedes, had surgery after being admitted to the hospital in critical condition.

According to Lt. Tim Frith of the Florida Highway Patrol, Jenkins was also taken to Delray Medical Center and is expected to survive.

Delray Beach police Sgt. Toby Rubin and 4 others sustained injuries when their cars collided while Rubin was chasing the wrong-way vehicle.

Investigators said that after the head-on collision, a white Honda was hit by a blue Hyundai trying to avoid the wrecked automobiles, police said. Edward Duggan (the driver of the Honda), and his wife, Christina of Short Hills, N.J. were heading north to Palm Beach International Airport when their car was hit. The Duggans were not seriously injured and were not hospitalized.

Investigators said the driver of the blue Hyundai, 35 year old Lake Worth resident, LaShawn Antoinette Brown, also avoided serious injury.

According to her mother, Rosetta Brown, Brown was admitted to St. Mary's Hospital in West Palm Beach later that day with strong neck and back pain.

Our Florida injury lawyers handle auto accident cases in Palm Beach County regularly and know full well the tragedy that can result from careless driving on our highways.

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

Posted In: Catastrophic Injuries , Death , Florida Auto Accidents , Florida Wrongful Death , Transportation Accidents

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Broward County, Florida - One woman was killed Sunday in a bus accident on the road to the Langerado Music Festival just North of I-75 (Alligator Alley).

A spokesperson from the Broward County Medical Examiner's office said that 36 year old Constance Leach of Clewiston, Florida, died from injuries she sustained in the crash.

According to Florida Highway Patrol spokesman, Sgt. Mark Wysocky, the accident occurred on Snake Road, a few miles north of Interstate 75 in Broward County when the pick up truck driven by Leach collided with a tour bus. The crash was reported in the early morning hours on Sunday.

Our Florida injury lawyers have represented many families whose loved ones were seriously injured or killed in charter bus accidents across the state of Florida. Through our investigation of many of these crashes, we have discovered that bus drivers are often hired and placed behind the wheel of these huge vehicles without adequate training or experience. Too often, tour bus drivers are pushing the limits of safe operation in order to deliver passengers to their destination earlier. Lives are lost or forever changed when negligent charter operators put profits ahead of people by hiring unqualified drivers and failing to adequately train them.

Leach, a stay at home mom, leaves behind her four children and two grandsons, according to her sister, Tammy Leach.

Continue reading "Fatal Tour Bus Accident in Broward County, Florida Leaves One Woman Dead " »

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

Posted In: Catastrophic Injuries , Charter Bus Accidents , Death , Florida Auto Accidents , Florida Wrongful Death , Tour Bus Accidents , Transportation Accidents

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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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