The company, Pirate’s Cove Boat Club, rented the boat to Nicholas Dudas-Szabo and Mohammed Sameni. The men claim that the boat did not have a flare or a radio when it began taking on water due to a defective bilge pump. When they couldn’t find a radio, they looked for flares, but according to the lawsuit, the flares were expired and did not work. The men were left stranded for hours although they were able to dial 911 and get ahold of the Dunedin sheriff who eventually rescued the men.

Though they were not physically injured, they are suing the Pirate’s Cove Boat Club for negligent infliction of emotional distress. The question: can they collect damages from their boating accident?

Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress (NIED) Claims in Florida

This is not among the most common claims that you will find, particular as the centerpiece of a personal injury lawsuit, but since the two men in question did not sustain physical injuries, it is what they are left to sue for. To their credit, negligence, in this case, is easy to establish. But a successful negligence claim requires that a plaintiff prove injuries. So, here we’ll talk about proof of injury in an emotional distress claim.

Florida follows what is known as the impact rule which is only followed by a handful of states. The rule states that the plaintiff must have been in physical contact with something, however innocuous, that resulted from the defendant’s negligence. In other words, the impact rule states that the plaintiff in a case must have sustained some kind of physical injury. This makes Florida one of the most difficult states in which to prove an NIED claim.

The rule is very old, dating back to 1893, and has been abandoned by most jurisdictions due in large part to the fact that it simply excludes NIED claims from litigation. More commonly found is “zone of danger” standards which would certainly apply in the aforementioned case.

The question, that the court will be forced to answer is whether or not extended contact with the water counts as a “physical injury” that would allow the plaintiffs to pursue a cause of action against the defendants.

While this rule is enforced in order to prevent Florida’s courts from being flooded with fraudulent or frivolous lawsuits, there are precious few exceptions that allow even cases like the one above to proceed on their own merit. The plaintiffs would need to show that the psychological stress of the incident caused some other physical condition. This can include panic attacks, anxiety, difficulty sleeping, or things of that nature.

Have You Been Injured by Another’s Negligence?

If so, contact the personal injury attorneys at the office of Alan Goldfarb P.A. for a free consultation. Our Miami legal team is eager to assist you today.

Resource:

https://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/Men-stranded-in-shark-infested-waters-after-Dunedin-rental-boat-sank-suit-claims_170518194

Meanwhile, texting while driving is a major cause of distracted driving accidents, a category of traffic accidents for which Florida ranks second in the country.

The bill is set to make texting while driving a primary offense, meaning that police officers will be able to pull you over if they catch you texting and issue you a citation.

Florida remains one of only four states in which an officer cannot pull over a driver for texting.

Texting While Driving and Florida Personal Injury Lawsuits

While Florida is a no-fault state when it comes to traffic accidents, no-fault may be a deceptive description of how the system works.

Every Florida driver is required to carry $10,000 worth of PIP (personal injury protection insurance). PIP covers medical expenses, lost wages, and other economic damages. It doesn’t matter who caused the accident, the driver’s own PIP coverage pays out in the event that they are injured.

In a no-fault state, PIP insurance covers only 80% of the insured’s medical expenses and 60% of their lost wages. On top of that, there’s a deductible.

So, let’s say you make $3000 a month. You are driving on your way home from work while another driver is texting. They run a red light and t-bone your vehicle. You have $5000 in medical expenses. You lose two months from work in recovery.

Even though you make $3000 a month, you are only eligible to collect 60%. That’s $1800 for each month or a total of $3600. In addition, you have $5000 worth of medical expenses. You can only get $4000 paid off through insurance. So basically, through no fault of your own, you’ve managed to incur $2400 in lost wages and $1000 in medical expenses. You can add whatever your deductible is on top of that.

Exceptions to Florida’s No-Fault Insurance

Under Florida law, drivers must turn to their own insurance for compensation when they are injured. There are, however, exceptions.

• If a driver suffers a permanent physical injury in a traffic accident, then they can sue the at-fault driver.
• If the injured party’s losses exceed $10,000, then they can sue the at-fault driver.

Florida’s no-fault insurance is not a perfect system. It’s not even a good one. It doesn’t punish at-fault parties for poor driving, and it does punish the injured party’s merely for being unfortunate. There are, however, situations in which hiring a personal injury attorney to litigate your claim against a negligent driver are allowed.

If you’ve been in a car accident and sustained permanent injuries or losses totaling more than $10,000, reach out to the Miami attorneys at the office of Alan Goldfarb, P.A. and we can help to recover your damages.

Resources:

sun-sentinel.com/news/transportation/fl-reg-florida-second-most-distracted-20170412-story.html

nbc-2.com/story/38228240/texting-while-driving-bill-gaining-new-life

When The Home Isn’t Safe

One of the most important jobs a landlord has is making sure that they keep the building and the grounds safe for their residents. This includes maintaining the front gate, the locks on the doors, and whatever other security systems are in place. If one of these things falls by the wayside, any number of horrible incidents could happen. Sometimes the worst case scenario could even happen. It did in Florida in 2005.

Clara and Chauncey Sanders lived in the Gatehouse on the Green Apartments in 2005. Chauncey was in his senior year of high school while Clara was taking care of her three month old son and in school to be an architect. One day in September, an intruder came into the complex, went to the siblings’ apartment, and shot and killed them. It was later learned that the entrance gate to the complex was broken for about four months. Suspiciously, the gate was fixed the very next day.

The family of the siblings sued the owner of the apartments, claiming negligent security was the cause of their deaths. Unfortunately, the case is ongoing, 11 years later. There have been multiple motions, jury decisions, and new lawyers over the years, and the family has been awarded damages only to have them taken away or put on hold. Most recently, in 2015, the family celebrated a jury award in the Florida Supreme Court. The jury found they were entitled to $1.8 million. However, on June 28, the Fourth District granted the owner of the apartment’s motion for a rehearing, and now the case is set to continue until September. This comes at a terrible time, as it seemed that the 11-year-old case was finally coming to an end. Despite evidence that would seem to point to negligent security, the family will have to wait a while longer before they get an answer, and can finally begin to put this behind them.

Contact Us for Help

As tragic as the occurrences are, they do happen. There are many small things that could go wrong, or be left not taken care of, that could lead to someone getting into your home or apartment. If something is stolen from you, your home is broken into, or someone is injured by an intruder, Contact us at the office of Alan Goldfarb, P.A. in Miami. Our attorneys will help you figure out what your options are, whether it is filing suit against your landlord for negligent security or filing against the person who committed the offense. Either way, we will help you take your next steps.

These startling and shocking numbers beg the question: what are Florida’s laws on hit-and-run crashes? The answer to that question has several different considerations that are discussed below.

Duty to Render Aid and Call the Authorities

Florida law is clear as to what a person is required to do following an accident. Florida Statutes 316.062 plainly state that the driver of any vehicle involved in an accident that causes damage to another person or vehicle is required to do the following:

• Give his name, address, vehicle registration number to the other driver of the accident;
• Produce the same information and driver’s license to any police officer investigating the accident;
• Render reasonable assistance to any person injured in the accident; and
• Call and report the accident to the nearest police officer or law enforcement organization.

These are the duties that arise when someone is involved in an accident in Florida. And violation of any of these duties is considered a noncriminal traffic infraction. But there are different penalties for hit-and-run when alcohol is involved, or someone is killed or seriously injured.

Florida’s New Law on Hit-and-Run Accidents

In 2014, Florida’s new laws on hit-and-run accidents went into effect. Under the terms of the new law, if someone is in an accident where another person is seriously injured or killed, and they fail to fulfill the obligations as outlined above, they can be found guilty of a number of felonies as follows:

• Leaving the scene of an accident where another was simply hurt can result in a third degree felony.
• Leaving the scene of an accident where another was seriously hurt can result in a second degree felony.
• Leaving the scene of an accident where another was killed, or where the person leaving was driving under the influence of DUI, can result in a first degree felony conviction and a mandatory minimum jail term of 4 years.

These mandatory minimum jail terms and felony convictions are in addition to the threat of losing a driver’s license.

As you can see, Florida’s laws on hit-and-run accidents have severe consequences for violations. Violating them can result in serious jail time, licence suspension, and fines. But beyond the criminal liability is civil liability as well. The civil law places on each Florida driver a duty to drive their vehicle reasonably. If a driver fails to drive reasonably (a hit-and-run accident, for example) and causes damage to another, they are liable for those damages.

We all need to remember that we are sharing the roads as we drive. But when someone forgets, and causes an accident, they should be held responsible. At Alan Goldfarb, P.A., we believe that injured victims should be compensated fairly and justly. We serve clients in the Miami area, and are prepared to assist you today.

This latest ruling comes after Florida’s Supreme Court ruled last year that the pain and suffering damages cap in wrongful death cases violates the state’s constitution. In that case, Estate of McCall v. United States, a woman died after bleeding to death as she gave birth to her child. The woman’s family brought a wrongful death suit based on negligence, and after they won their case, the court was forced to reduce the jury’s verdict to $500,000, as mandated by Florida law. But Florida’s Supreme Court ruled that such a law had no rational basis in trying to solve the problem of high medical malpractice insurance costs.

Fourth District Court of Appeals Follows Estate of McCall

At the time Estate of McCall v. United states was decided, critics argued that the case would lead to Florida’s additional caps being overturned. And that is exactly what happened in North Broward Hospital District v. Kalitan.

In this newest case to overturn Florida’s cap law, a woman went into surgery for a routine carpal tunnel procedure. She was treated by a student learning how to become a nurse anesthetist, and during intubation her esophagus was ruptured. After she woke up she complained of chest pain, but the doctor sent her home without a thorough examination. Soon after she came home she was rushed to the emergency room by her friend where doctors there had to perform life-saving surgery. After all of this grief, she sued her original surgical team for medical malpractice. After a trial where both cases were presented, a jury awarded her a verdict of over $4,700,000; $4 million of that award was for pain and suffering, both in the past and future.

It was in this context of facts that the Fourth District Court of Appeals felt they were bound to follow the Supreme Court’s ruling in Estate of McCall v. U.S. The caps on how much a litigant can receive for pain and suffering were passed in the early 2000s when many states were passing such laws. The reasons given for passing these caps were many, including that medical malpractice insurance costs were so high that doctors would choose not to practice in Florida. It was also argued that medical malpractice costs were contributing to skyrocketing healthcare costs. As a result the Florida legislature passed law limiting how much a person could collect for personal injury cases in medical malpractice.

At the time the laws were passed, critics insisted that they would not reduce insurance costs, and would not reduce hospital costs. And now Florida courts are overturning those laws because they are ruling that passage of the laws has no rational basis in either goal. This is welcome news to victims of malpractice who deserve to be justly compensated for the negligence of others.

A Law Firm for All Personal Injury Cases

If you or someone you love was injured in any way in Miami due to someone else’s negligence, contact us. At Alan Goldfarb, P.A., we represent victims of personal injury. We will review your case and give you your legal options.