Law Firm Blog

For people that have a problem with some aspect of their home, such as needing roof shingles replaced, getting an air conditioning unit repaired, or even just fixing a leaky faucet, professional help is usually required. It’s both normal and expected in American life that when you have an issue with something that requires technical expertise, there’s no point in trying to do it yourself; you get someone who knows what they’re doing to do the job right.

However, when you invite a professional into your home to get some work done, you, as a homeowner are now taking on certain legal responsibilities. Your home is your own, and you may do it with as you please, but when a visitor arrives at your home, especially one you are contracting to get some work done, you now have an obligation. You are supposed to make sure that your home is reasonably safe for that visitor as the work gets underway.

Your Duty Of Care

Premises liability is a law that states that any owner of a property, whether it is a commercial building like a shopping mall or a... ...read full post

It can happen suddenly. One minute you are browsing the aisles at your local grocery store and the next, you’ve slip and hit the ground. Slip and fall accidents happen more frequently than people realize and often times can cause severe injury. In somes cases, these falls may be the fault of the property owner or manager. In those instances, you may have a case to get compensation for your injuries.

How Do Slip And Fall Laws Work?

In the state of Florida, slip and fall law falls under the category of a personal injury case. They usually happen on property or premises that are owned or maintained by someone and the property owner is held legally responsible. It is the responsibility for you, the “plaintiff” to show that the owner, the “defendant,” did not act in a reasonable manner, that is, they were negligent. For example, it is reasonable for grocery store to mop up any spills in their aisles.

What Is Considered Negligence In A Slip And Fall?

Unless it is a rare case involving intentional conduct by the defendant, a slip and fall... ...read full post

The steps taken immediately after suffering a slip and fall case will serve as the building blocks of your case. For this reason, it’s important to know what to do if you plan to seek compensation for the injuries you’ve suffered. Slip and fall cases can lead to painful, difficult, and sometimes life-altering injuries, and when caused by a property owner’s negligence, could lead to a settlement for the injured party. The steps to follow for a successful slip and fall case are:

• Seek medical assistance – Your number one priority should be your health, or the health of a loved one, after suffering a slip and fall. Even if one doesn’t believe they’re injured, soft tissue injuries, in particular, can be invisible immediately following a slip and fall accident. Without seeking immediate medical attention, any injuries suffered may not be considered when seeking compensation later on.

• Report your accident – As soon as possible, your slip and fall accident should be reported to the property or landowner responsible for the property your accident was on. The details... ...read full post

One of the single most common causes of injury in the state of Florida is a slip and fall accident. While the average fall might scuff up the knees and leave a couple of bruises, a surprising number also leave behind serious injuries. Broken bones, soft tissue injuries, spinal cord injuries, and traumatic brain injuries just some of the common repercussions of a slip and fall accident. Under Florida law, property owners have a legal duty of care to provide safety to visitors, and if a slip and fall occurs due to a property owner’s negligence, one may be able to receive compensation.

After a slip and fall accident has occurred, there are some things a person should do retain their right to a settlement. A few steps that must be taken after a slip and fall include:

• Seek medical attention – Even if you believe your slip and fall hasn’t caused any injuries, one can never be sure until they’ve been evaluated by a medical professional. Soft tissue injuries and some TBIs might not show symptoms straight... ...read full post

There is no other cause of injury in the United States that can beat out slip and fall in terms of causing widespread injuries and costing citizens millions of dollars every single year. The single most common cause of injury in Florida, slip and fall accidents can cause injuries ranging from a simple scraped knee on the sidewalk, to devastating traumatic brain injuries, broken bones, or spinal cord damage. In order to better understand the severity and impact of slip and fall accidents in Florida, 8 important statistics are:

• Over 1,000,000 people in the United States visit the emergency room each year due to a slip and fall accident – The number of people in the United States that require emergency medical attention due to a slip and fall each year is over a million, and this only includes those who seek emergency medical treatment. Often, because some injuries don’t cause symptoms until later, those who suffer a slip and fall accident may not seek emergency medical attention and instead visit their personal care physician later on. While over 1 million... ...read full post

Premises liability, the so-called “slip-and-fall” laws, are all about the responsibility of the owners and property managers have to the people who enter their premises. This responsibility is strongest toward guests, or invitees, and weakest towards trespassers who go where they aren’t supposed to. In between are employees and others who are expected to know more about the property and help keep it in good shape.

Premises liability has a few requirements if a plaintiff wants to sue a person or business, and that means there are plenty of situations where the property owner isn’t at fault for what happened. Here are a few examples to help you understand where the law begins and ends.

Assault By A Fellow Invitee

If one guest attacks another, the premises manager usually isn’t responsible. They may be partly at fault if (for instance) the location is a bar and they’ve allowed a patron to have a few too many drinks, and if the invitee was acting aggressively they may have wanted to ask them to leave, but in general an adult guest is responsible for his or her own... ...read full post

Getting injured at work is something that no one hopes happens to them. And yet, at the same time, if it’s going to happen anywhere, work is the place with the highest likelihood, simply because many people spend eight or more hours, five days a week, in the workplace. Depending on the line of work, there are certain physical risks as well. But some workplace injuries are much more common than others. Are you at risk from any of these?

Machine Injuries

This is an especially dangerous risk in factories that put people in proximity of large, industrial hardware. Anything that is designed to manipulate materials as quickly as possible can do untold damage to a human being when placed in the same situation. Depending on the type of hardware, machine-related accidents can result in limb loss or even death.

Repetitive Motion Injuries

While not as serious as limb loss, or death, repetitive motion injuries are incredibly common in today’s working world, across many different fields and industries. Workers in factories who constantly repeat the same assembly motions are just as prone to this as musicians playing their instruments, or... ...read full post

Florida is one of the biggest tourist destinations in the USA, if not the world. The mild climate means that many “snow birds” flock to this state during the winter, when temperatures here are still pleasant and warm. But beyond that, the many world-class tourist destinations, such as the resorts and parks around the Orlando area, or the many beaches, or even historical sites, such as Hemingway’s home in the Keys, means that visitors come for many other reasons.

So it should come as no surprise that accommodations in Florida are a pretty big business. Beyond the standard hotels, there are also entire apartments and homes professionally maintained as rentals or long-term stays. But now added to this mix is “AirBnB,” part of the sharing economy where average, everyday people use their own property, such as a car, or home, to make money on the side as amateur taxi drivers or hoteliers.

With cheaper prices than hotels, it’s no surprise that AirBnB rooms, apartments, and even entire condos or homes are a popular way for people to stay in Florida. It’s even less surprising when you consider just how lucrative certain properties can be... ...read full post

The term slip and fall is often used in personal injury cases in which a person slips or trips on someone else’s property. This type of personal injury case can also fall into the category of a premise liability claim.

Typically, slip and fall cases will occur on someone else’s property, and when this is the case, the owner of the property may actually be responsible for any injuries that may have been sustained due to the slip and fall.

Rental Properties

While slip and fall cases are pretty straightforward when it comes to most residential and commercial cases, the lines may become a bit blurred if you are renting a property and you slip on the premises. When are you able to, as a renter, hold the landlord responsible for your injuries?

To establish a slip and fall case, to begin with, one must prove that negligence was the cause of the fall. If negligence cannot be proved, then there is absolutely no case for liability. Therefore, you must be able to adequately prove that your landlord is... ...read full post

On June 1st, the Environmental Protection Agency made an announcement, tentatively going forward with approving new uses of asbestos in the USA. The new ruling, which is quite broad, and unfocused, allows for the introduction and integration of many new asbestos products into general usage, as long as the EPA itself approves the new usage. The EPA, however, is not relying on established protocols or guidance for the dangers of asbestos that have already been documented. Instead, they will be using new guidelines that are much more general, unspecific, and, in fact, will allow for far greater exposure of asbestos to the public since they don’t rely on existing medical or scientific data to evaluate these new uses.

So what does this mean for people in homes and buildings in Florida?

State Law Still Matters

Even with the EPA now seemingly moving forward to bring more new asbestos products back into mainstream use, this does not change two critical factors; the medically documented danger of asbestos, or the premises liability that may be associated with it.

Florida personal injury law still firmly upholds the rights of the... ...read full post

When you own or manage a property, you take on a responsibility to keep your guests safe. You also need to keep your employees safe, but that’s covered by other areas of law since they’re expected to enter dangerous areas and operate dangerous equipment, something your guests should avoid. If something does happen, it could end up as your responsibility, either directly because your property is too dangerous or indirectly because your employee endangered a guest.

Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to reduce your risk of liability lawsuits. Many businesses and homeowners forget about these things, and doing so can open you up to serious damages. As such, this is also a checklist for people injured on someone else’s property: if the things on this list weren’t present when you were injured, you may have a strong case for a premises liability suit.

• Make Regular Inspections (With A Paper Trail)

Age catches up with everything, people and property alike. An old shelf could start to buckle under the weight of new inventory, an old water heater could start... ...read full post

People expect to remain safe and sound while operating their vehicles, and why not? Today's cars have anti-lock brakes, air bags, seat belts, and tons of other safety devices. However, auto accidents are anything but forgiving, and they can leave people with a host of different injuries. Even with advanced protection, car crash damages often include...

• Concussions And Traumatic Brain Injuries
• Burns, Lacerations, And Contusions
• Neck, Back, And Spine Injuries n
• Broken Or Fractured Bones
• Organ Damage, Internal Bleeding, And Even Death

It only takes a moment for a person's life to change dramatically. Looking away from the road to check a text, adjust the radio, or talk to a passenger can turn into a nightmare quickly. If a driver's attention is elsewhere, they may fail to apply the brakes when traffic stops in front of them, accidentally swerve into another lane, or miss seeing a pedestrian crossing the street. Vehicle operators should always remain aware of their surroundings and avoid distractions. With any luck, these actions will keep them and others safely out of harm's way.

If you or a loved one sustains injuries from an... ...read full post

It’s summer in Florida, and that means that many people will be taking advantage of both the free time and the hot weather to have some friend and/or family get-togethers in the swimming pool at home. This is an excellent time to remind home owners that while your swimming pool is your own, you do have a responsibility to make it a safe space. And while most people understand that this applies to guests who may visit, it also applies to strangers that you may not have invited. But how is that even legal?
It all depends on whether or not you respect your responsibilities as a pool owner with regards to premises liability.

 
Your Normal Obligations
 

Of course, when you have guests over, especially children, you know that it is important to make sure that the environment is safe. For example if you have a toddler that can’t swim, but are the only supervising adult present, then leave the child alone at the pool while you check on something that may be roasting in the oven, that’s negligence. You are responsible for maintaining a safe pool environment, and... ...read full post

The June 14th derailment of the “Sandblaster” rollercoaster in Daytona Beach Boardwalk has once again raised awareness about the fallibility of large, complex machines like amusement attractions. Amusement attractions are offered in large, open spaces that are open to the general public. Of course, the typical understanding is that in payment for admission into the park, or dispensing tickets for a specific amusement, customers are treated to a safe, but entertaining ride experience.

That clearly did not happen at Daytona Beach Boardwalk where a mother and her co-worker were thrown from the derailed front car, and fell over 30 feet to the ground. The other passengers, meanwhile, had to be rescued with ladders from local firefighters called to the scene. The victims on the ground were immediately hospitalized. While it’s unclear what circumstances led to the derailing of the rollercoaster car, one thing is clear; it should not have happened under ordinary circumstances, and there are even safeguards in place that are specifically created to prevent this.

 
Mandatory Inspections
 

Any facility, whether it is a temporary fairground that moves around the state or country, or a permanent facility, such as the... ...read full post

On June 14, 2018, what started out as just another night of fun and amusement at the Daytona Beach Boardwalk turned into a nightmare of fear and pain for 10 amusement-goers in a roller coaster. The ride, dubbed the “Sandblaster” was going through another circuit of the rollercoaster tracks when the unexpected happened. The front car completely derailed from the tracks.

Amanda Bostic, 34, of Knott County, Kentucky, was in the front car, along with a co-worker, and her two children. She and her co-worker, despite being belted into the roller coaster car, were thrown from the vehicle when it went off the rails, falling over 30 feet to the ground. Her children remained stranded in the car, that was still attached to others in the roller coaster, but was now fully off the rails. The car hung suspended above the air as the ride finally ground to halt when staff and onlookers realized what was happening and the ride was shut down.

While the two injured victims on the ground were immediately seen to by paramedics and sent to the hospital for further treatment, the two... ...read full post

When a preventable injury occurs as a result of environmental factors, this is what is known as premises liability. It means that there was a basic safety responsibility that the property owner was legally required to maintain, and then failed to do so. Inadequate lighting in stairwells that causes a fall is one example, but security on a property can be another. But how does security “fail?” When is security doing all it can, but still failing to achieve its objective, and when is security not fulfilling its legally required obligations?

 
More Than Just Staff
 

Usually when people think about security on a property, the first thing that comes to mind is an armed security officer that is present in order to maintain order, and defuse potentially dangerous situations. In some cases, the mere presence of a security officer can be a major deterrent, causing thieves, for example, to forego robbing a residential community, due to the higher than average presence of security measures.

But it’s not just a security officer that represents a security measure. Cameras, for example, that are designed to provide surveillance are also a security measure.... ...read full post

There’s the old saying that “a man’s home is his castle,” which is just a fancy way of saying that when you own your own home, you have certain legal rights as a homeowner that the law will observe and use to protect you. People cannot just come into your home without permission, or ignore your requests to leave, should you make them. People cannot break into your home with the intent to take your belongings for themselves, or to harm or injure yourself or other residents.

America in general, and Florida in particular, have very well-defined legal protections in place for people who are simply trying to maintain the sanctity of their own home, or defend themselves from people who would intrude on their homes. Florida’s “stand your ground law” is an example of this, where, if you are in your home, and find yourself experiencing a home invasion, there is, in the eyes of the law, reasonable cause for you to use a legally acquired firearm to defend yourself.

However, even the stand your ground law has limits, and while it is understood that you have... ...read full post

To some it is considered just a punchline in a joke, or an excuse by greedy people to exploit insurance money from honest businesses and homeowners. But others, slipping and falling in a home or public space is not just a clumsy, embarrassing mishap, it can have very real medical repercussions that can affect a person for months, years, or even permanently. Slipping and falling while out in public or visiting someone else might not seem like such a serious incident, especially when compared to something more dramatic like a car accident. But the human body has a lot of vulnerabilities, and a slip and fall accident can cause a variety of different medical problems depending on the type and severity of fall.

 
Soft Tissue Damage
 

This is the type of injury that can sometimes be very difficult to detect because it doesn’t show up on x-rays. If you get a sprained muscle, or even tear a tendon or ligament, initial medical diagnoses may miss this, especially if the true extent of damage only becomes known in the days or weeks following the injury. Because these... ...read full post

There is a particular type of lawsuit that is well known even in public circles amongst people without any expertise in law. The general category of such lawsuits is called “premises liability.” What it means in more practical terms is that someone has a professional and legal obligation to make a space safe for people, and if there is a failure in that responsibility that results in injury, then the injured people may take those property owners to court to sue for damages.

Most of the time, the most well-known examples of premises liability come from public spaces. The ongoing investigation right now to determine the cause of the tragic bridge collapse at the Florida International University, for example, is likely to be a case of premises liability on a large scale once the final cause of the collapse is known. In that particular case, it’s clear that there was no outside force that impacted the bridge under construction, it simply fell apart, seemingly on its own. That means that the resulting deaths and injuries from the public in this public area are possibly the result of the negligence... ...read full post

Natural gas may not be quite as high in public awareness or popularity as electricity, but it is still an incredibly valuable resource that modern society relies on quite a bit. When properly handled, natural gas can do everything from let us cook, dry our clothes, heat our homes and, at an industrial level, even allow companies to generate the electricity that we use. So in actuality, there’s quite a lot of natural gas that gets pumped around, even in a state like Florida that doesn’t necessarily use it extensively in furnaces for heating purposes.

This also means that in a great many cases, the pipeline and other infrastructure components designed to deliver natural gas, and allow it be easily used, are all considered part of a property. And if the natural gas and delivery usage systems are part of the property, then that means that property owners—whether public or private—have a legal obligation to ensure that the gas is working safely and as intended. If they do not do this, it can mean that a personal injury lawyer may be able to step in if an accident... ...read full post

One of the great things about the American landscape is that for people looking for good value, there are wealth of older structures all over the country that just need a little bit of time and attention in order to be restored into something that may be beautiful, useful, historical or in some cases, all three. Plenty of Americans take advantage of the numerous existing, older properties around the country to acquire a new home, or a new workplace, or other facility.

However, for all the positives of buying older buildings like historical value, or in some cases, simply lower prices to save on money, there are negatives to consider as well. One of these is that, depending on the age of the building, there may be one, or several aspects of the structure that are not compliant with modern building code and regulations. Asbestos is one big red flag for all states in the USA now, despite the fact that for decades, it was used to help prevent buildings from burning down.

 
Long Term Effects
 

Asbestos is a fiber-like material refined from six different minerals. Structurally, it presents many advantages;... ...read full post