Law Firm Blog

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

Not many people have the kind of money you need to own a supercar. This class of vehicles includes extremely powerful sports cars designed by specialty manufacturers that only make a few hundred of each model per year, and they all come with a six-figure price tag (sometimes seven). As such, the only owners tend to be the very wealthy and car lovers who are willing to save up for the purchase.

However, you can also find a few places that rent out supercars like Lamborghinis and Ferraris, especially in a state like Florida where millions of vacationers visit every year. However, when you’re driving something that expensive and that powerful, the rules of the road are more important than ever. Be sure to remember everything you know about defensive driving when you’re on the highway or in the city, and keep in mind that supercars bring their own challenges.

Remember You’re Driving A Wide-Body Car

Most supercars are wider than the average sedan or SUV. This is because a wider body with the wheels set farther apart is more stable, especially when taking... ...read full post

Workers’ comp is a type of insurance that just about every business with employees in all 50 states has to carry. The insurance covers lost income and medical bills when an employee gets injured on the job, and it’s a no-fault type of insurance. That means it doesn’t matter if the person at fault is the employer, the employee, a third party, or just bad luck: workers’ comp will pay out the same no matter what.

What Makes Contractors Different

There are exceptions to the blanket coverage that workers’ compensation provides. The biggest one is contract workers, who don’t get any insurance coverage at all. One big reason is because of how contracting works: an employer can bring contract workers in for a single specialized job, let them do their thing, and then leave as soon as the job is done. You could also bring contractors in to replace a regular employee who’s out sick or on maternity leave, plus individuals can hire contractors to redesign their house.

Contract work lets companies bring workers in without worrying about employee paperwork, and... ...read full post

It’s often the case that people who are new to lawsuits and litigation think that every case goes to trial, complete with a 12-person jury, surprise witnesses or evidence, and finally a ruling by the jury that will stand as the final word. However, this cinematic view of civil lawsuits takes a lot of liberties with how real suits work. In some ways, real-world lawsuits are simpler than this conception of the legal system, and in other ways, it’s much, much more complicated.

A Majority Of Cases Never Go To Trial

This is for one simple reason: settlements. At any time before the jury gives a verdict, both sides of a lawsuit can settle with each other. The terms of this settlement can be just about anything: money, an admission of fault, a replacement of lost property, and so on. So long as both sides agree to the terms, the lawsuit becomes settled and stops there. There are several reasons why this is the most common result:

• Bringing a suit to trial costs more money than settling out of court.
• One... ...read full post

On October 6, a stretch limousine got into a fatal crash in upstate New York. The limo in question had failed its latest state-required safety inspection, and its driver didn’t have a license to drive the extra-long vehicle. Because of this accident, all 18 people in the limo died along with two pedestrians who were unfortunately close to the scene. The accident is one of the all-time worst automobile crashes in the United States, and the country hasn’t seen a transportation accident of any kind this bad since a plane crash in 2009.

There’s no doubt that the accident was tragic, but there’s also no doubt that it was avoidable. It’s clear enough that the limo company, Prestige Limousine, wasn’t following regulations like it should have, and that fact is very likely the cause of the accident. However, part of the problem may have been with the design of the limo itself.

What Makes A Limousine

There are very few companies out there that build limousines from the ground up. They’re specialty, luxury vehicles that often come with extensively customized interiors or else get sold... ...read full post

In a state like Florida, blizzards and snow days aren’t an issue. Between all the water and the low latitude, Florida weather has to go very wrong before snow can have a chance of falling. However, hot days can happen any time of year, and since many Florida jobs take place outside and all year round, that makes heat stroke a real possibility no matter which month it is. If you don’t want to faint from heat on the job, you should keep hydrated and watch the thermometer.

Know The Risks

Thanks to the state’s hot and humid climate, it’s never that hard to work up a sweat. If you work outside in Florida, and especially if you perform hard labor as part of your job, you might get heat stroke if you don’t or can’t take care of yourself. Professionals like construction workers, road workers, and lifeguards are all at risk of suffering from heat stroke, although lifeguards have the advantage of taking a dip in the water whenever they need to cool down. Chefs can also suffer from heat... ...read full post

The brain is a complex, tricky organ, and it’s not always easy to tell how it’s doing. The human brain is a major energy hog, and so while the average person burns 1,300 calories staying alive each day, the brain alone is responsible for a little over 300 calories per day. That’s around one-quarter of the total number, an incredible amount of energy to be spending on an organ that weighs just three pounds on average.

The brain is so dense with nerves and uses so many chemicals and electrical signals that even today medical science can only scratch the surface when it comes to understanding the brain and the human mind. While doctors can test injuries to other parts of the body and figure out the problem with a good chance of success, a brain injury can slip past unnoticed and not make itself known until days after the injury took place. Still, there are a few reliable symptoms and indicators you can use to decide when to see a doctor.

The Blow Itself

If you take a hard blow... ...read full post

For the most part, “dog bite” laws apply when one person owns or is responsible for an animal, that animal hurts another person, and then that second person wants compensation for the attack. They’re called “dog bite” laws because they usually come up when a dog attacks a person, but they can apply to any animal so long as a person is responsible for them. But dogs don’t just attack humans—they will also sometimes attack other dogs. So what happens then?

The Status Of Dogs

Legally speaking, a pet dog is considered part of the owner’s personal property and not a person. This means dog bite laws don’t apply to them. However, if someone’s dog destroys your personal property, you’re entitled to fair compensation for it. For a dog, this compensation can be the difference in the dog’s value (which could be a lot if you’re raising a purebred) based on before and after the attack. It could also be the cost of the dog’s veterinary bills, including procedures, medicine, and boarding, depending on which one is higher.

Malice... ...read full post