South Florida Personal Injury Lawyers

A federal jury awarded $24.2 million to two men who were severely burned by electrical wires when they trespassed onto railroad property and climbed atop a rail car.

Jeffrey Klein and Brett Birdwell, who were 17 at the time of the accident, sued Amtrak and Norfolk Southern Corp. after being burned by a 12,500-volt electrical wire in Lancaster in August 2002. In their lawsuit, they argued that the companies should have placed warning signs alerting people to the wires, which power locomotives.

Klein, who was burnt over 75 percent of his body, was awarded more than $11 million in compensatory damages; Birdwell, who was burned over 18 percent of his body, was awarded more than $588,000. The jury also awarded a total of $12.5 million in punitive damages.

Attorneys for the companies said the two teen were old enough to recognize the dangers. But a lawyer for the teens said while they were trespassing, the law did not provide landowners with “blanket immunity.”

The accident occurred after the men, who are now 22, decided they wanted to see the view from the top of the boxcar, according to the lawsuit. Klein was shocked by the wire, without touching it, and Birdwell was burned while he tried to help his friend.

Klein suffered second- and third-degree burns across much of his body and now has limited use of his left hand. Birdwell, who is now serving with the Army in Afghanistan, spent a year recovering from his burns.

The companies can appeal the verdict.

A judge has approved a partial settlement in which families of 21 people killed in a 2003 Chicago nightclub stampede will receive $1.5 million, attorneys announced Thursday.

Under the settlement approved Wednesday by Cook County Circuit Judge Kathy M. Flanagan, E2 club owners Calvin Hollins and Dwain Kyles and building owner Lesly Benodin will pay into a fund established for the plaintiffs.

They were then dismissed as defendants in a lawsuit filed by the victims’ families.

But Kyles; Hollins; Hollins’ son, Calvin Hollins III; and a fourth man, party promoter Marco Flores, still face criminal charges of involuntary manslaughter in the Feb. 17, 2003, stampede, said Melvin Brooks, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys. All four have pleaded not guilty.

Dozens of people were crushed in a narrow stairwell at the E2 nightclub when someone used pepper spray to break up a dance floor fight and sent the crowd into a panic. Bodies jammed the door as people still inside tried to push their way out.

A grand jury indictment said the owners willfully packed the club with about 1,200 people the night of the stampede, roughly five times its capacity of 240.

A number of individuals and corporations still remain as defendants in lawsuits, Brooks said. The city is also a defendant, accused of failing to ensure the building was safe. The city has contended the club owner and operator were responsible.

Ed Grasse, one of the attorneys for the settling defendants, said he was pleased Flanagan approved the settlement.

“We’re very happy to get this piece of the litigation over with and give some closure to the families,” Grasse said.

Door latch defects have caused doors to be opened and vehicle occupants to be thrown out of the vehicle. The ejections from the vehicle due to the door latch defect have lead to numerous deaths and serious injuries. Ejections cause injury to the vehicle occupant when they impact the road and/or object hit and when another vehicle does not have time to swerve out of the individual’s way. Though modifications have been suggested to prevent door latch defects from occurring, changes were not made immediately, if at all. Unfortunately when vehicle defects like door latch problems exist, the consequences are deadly.

Paralysis is the loss of functioning or feeling because of injury or disease to a person’s nervous system. In 1995, Christopher Reeve severely damaged his spinal cord and suffered paralysis from the neck down after a horse fall. Despite the devastation of the accident, Reeve became a spokesman for spinal cord injury and paralysis, using his celebrity to raise national interest. There is no cure for a spinal cord injury and paralysis, but Reeve’s advocacy increased researching funding, giving hope to trauma victims, families and friends.

Approximately 40 percent of all spinal cord injuries are caused by motor vehicle accidents, the leading cause of all new spinal cord injuries every year. Depending on where the location of the injury is will determine what type of paralysis is suffered. Usually, injuries higher in the spinal cord will cause more paralysis. An injury at the neck level, for instance, is more likely to cause paralysis in both arms, legs and make it impossible to breathe without the aid of a respirator, but a lower injury may affect just the lower parts of the body.

For people under 65, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of spinal cord injury and paralysis. Should a spinal cord injury be suffered, recovery typically will start between a week and six months after injury if it occurs, but doctors will usually view any impairments lasting after a one to two year period as permanent. Adjusting to paralysis, in addition to causing high financial costs, can be very difficult emotionally and psychologically to adapt to.

Paralysis will likely affect just about every aspect of life. More than half the people living with a spinal cord injury and some degree of paralysis were injured between the ages of 16 and 31, so patients are usually affected during their youth. Not only can a spinal cord injury cause paralysis, but a number of other complication, such as urinary tract problems, pressure sores, lung and breathing problems, bowel management difficulties, spasticity, autonomic dysreflexia, sexual dysfunction and many other conditions.

Though there is still no way to reverse damage to the spinal cord and paralysis, advances in recent years have been considerable. Focusing on preventing further injury and new paralysis injuries from occurring, in the meantime, needs more attention. Because of the significant impact auto accidents have on paralysis sufferers, auto manufacturers and federal regulators have been criticized in recent years for failing to implement stricter standards and include basic safety measures in vehicles.

A new report on auto industry data released March 30, 2005 showed automakers have misled government regulators and the public for years by claiming roof strength and injuries in rollover crashes are unrelated. For years, automakers have been trying to fight off liability in lawsuits by arguing head and neck injuries, like paralysis, occurred in rollover crashes when the vehicle occupants dive into the roofs, but the new report analyzed Ford’s own tests to show roof crush does occur prior to injurious neck loads during rollovers.

The report was released at a particularly important time since regulators were on the verge of proposing new roof strength standards that would update standards dating from 1971 after years of making unfilled promises for changes to be made. Safety experts have criticized the agency’s failure to implement changes despite the 6,000 to 7,000 of the 10,000 rollover deaths that occur every year attributed to roof collapse and roof crush. Public Citizen consumer advocacy group president, Joan Claybrook, said one of the “basic tenets” of auto safety is to prevent injuries, yet the auto industry has continued to mislead the NHTSA and the public strictly for financial reasons, allowing a higher number of deaths and devastating injuries, like paralysis to be suffered.

Although possible to retain sensation after a spinal cord injury, most traumas will cause permanent disability or loss of movement, or paralysis, or other sensation loss

Frail skeletons and fluorescent Jack O’ Lanterns decorate homes, while children disguised as witches, ghosts and goblins begin flocking out onto neighborhood streets in search of treats. As Halloween approaches, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) wants you to know that like children, Halloween’s hidden dangers also come in disguise.CPSC is aware of serious Halloween-related injuries involving burns from flammable costumes and decorations, including ignition from open flames, such as candles and Jack O’ Lanterns. Additional incidents have involved abrasions from sharp objects attached to masks or costumes.

“One of the greatest problems is kids dressed up in homemade costumes that are not flame-resistant,” said Acting CPSC Chairman Nancy Nord. “If parents make a costume, choose inherently flame-resistant fabrics, such as nylon or polyester, and avoid long draped items that could cause an entanglement hazard.”

To help keep children safe, CPSC enforces the Flammable Fabrics Act and recalls products at Halloween and throughout the year that can cause injury.

Make this year’s holiday a safe one by following these safety tips on costumes, treats and decorations:

Costume:

• When purchasing costumes, masks, beards and wigs, look for flame-resistant fabrics such as nylon or polyester, or look for the label “Flame Resistant.” Flame-resistant fabrics will resist burning and should extinguish quickly. To minimize the risk of contact with candles and other fire sources, avoid costumes made with flimsy materials and outfits with big, baggy sleeves or billowing skirts.
• Purchase or make costumes that are light, bright and clearly visible to motorists.
• For greater visibility during dusk and darkness, decorate or trim costumes with reflective tape that will glow in the beam of a car’s headlights. Bags or sacks also should be light colored or decorated with reflective tape. Reflective tape is usually available in hardware, bicycle and sporting goods stores.
• Children should carry flashlights to see and be seen.

Treats:

• Warn children not to eat any treats until an adult has examined them carefully for evidence of tampering.
• Carefully examine any toys or novelty items received by trick-or-treaters under three years of age. Do not allow young children to have any items that are small enough to present a choking hazard or that have small parts or components that could separate during use and present a choking hazard.

Decorations:

• Keep candles and Jack O’ Lanterns away from landings and doorsteps where costumes could brush against the flame.
• Remove obstacles from lawns, steps and porches when expecting trick-or-treaters.
• Indoors, keep candles and Jack O’ Lanterns away from curtains, decorations and other combustibles that could catch fire. Do not leave burning candles unattended.
• Indoors or outside, use only lights that have been tested for safety by a recognized testing laboratory. Check each set of lights, new or old, for broken or cracked sockets, frayed or bare wires, or loose connections. Discard damaged sets.

A woman who suffered severe injuries after being run down by a defective lawn mower has settled a personal injury lawsuit against Wal-Mart for $1.8 million in compensation.

Joyce Burnside, 58, purchased a lawn mower from a South Carolina Wal-Mart store. According to the claim, she was riding the mower around her lawn when it began to turn over.

The suit claims that Burnside jumped off the machine, but the defective mower continued to chase her 30 feet across her lawn until she was blocked in by a tree. The lawn mower’s sharp blades were still running and sliced into Burnside causing her to sustain serious, permanent injuries to her arm.

The machine cut off most of Burnside’s left hand, leaving only her thumb and forefinger. Her left elbow was also severely crushed and she endured 18 unsuccessful surgeries in an effort to correct the disfigurement.

The personal injury lawsuit filed against Wal-Mart, the retailer of the lawn mower, sought monetary damages for Burnside’s economic and non-economic losses including pain and suffering, medical bills, disfigurement, and more. Murry, the Manufacturer of the product filed for bankruptcy.