South Florida Personal Injury Lawyers

In January 2005, plaintiff Douglas O’Neill, 25, worked for SeaRiver Maritime in Qutar on a ship called the S/R Mediterranean, performing tank gauging tests. One day while he was measuring the level of crude oil in a tank, he was exposed to high levels of hydrogen sulfide, a highly toxic chemical. Exposure to hydrogen sulfide can lead to respiratory problems, headaches, neurological difficulties and cognitive deficiencies.O’Neill sued SeaRiver Maritime and S/R Meditterranean, claiming negligence under the Jones Act and unseaworthiness.

O’Neill claimed that his employer did not provide him with any safety equipment to protect him from the hydrogen sulfide, and failed to properly supervise the crew and train employees. Also, plaintiff alleged, the defendants concealed the nature and extent of the hazards of exposure to hydrogen sulfide. O’Neill alleged that after the exposure, he reported health problems to his captain but received inadequate treatment. The captain failed to mention in his report on the incident that O’Neill was exposed to hydrogen sulfide, but he did tell onshore medical staff about the exposure two weeks after it happened.

Defense counsel argued that there was no proof that O’Neill was exposed to a high level of hydrogen sulfide. On the contrary, the defense maintained, O’Neill was wearing a sealed self-contained breathing apparatus while testing, and the testing took only 15 minutes, during which time the level of hydrogen sulfide level was low, according to monitor readings.

A bench trial was conducted.

O’Neill claimed that exposure to hydrogen sulfide caused damage to his brain, lungs, heart and eyesight. He also suffered from memory problems and severe headaches. He began treating with a toxicologist two weeks after the exposure, but alleged that he continued to experience breathing problems, headaches and memory loss despite the treatment. He was also treated by neurologists, who found that he suffered from severe cognitive deficits. He alleged that he could no longer work, exercise or physically exert himself after the exposure. He sought damages for past and future medical expenses.

He also sought damages for past and future lost earnings, alleging that he was making $47,000 per year at the time of the accident and had a work life expectancy of 35.1 years.

O’Neill also sought damages for past pain and suffering.

Plaintiff’s counsel reported that the amounts he asked the jury to award in the various categories of damages were in the same range as the amounts ultimately awarded by the judge.

Defense counsel maintained that there was no proof that hydrogen sulfide exposure caused O’Neill’s injuries and that doctors failed to eliminate other possible causes of O’Neill’s alleged neurological difficulties.

Judge Samuel Kent found the defendants 80% at fault and O’Neill 20%, stating that he should have been more proactive in his medical care. O’Neill’s gross damages were determined to be $800,000, of which amount he netted $600,000.

A Fort Collins woman is suing Vail Associates, saying the company’s negligence caused her finger to be partially amputated while getting on Chair 5 in 2005. Elizabeth A. Neal filed a complaint in Eagle County Court recently seeking an unspecified amount of damages in relation to Jan. 3, 2005, incident. A spokeswoman for Vail Mountain could not be reached for comment. Neal’s complaint says she suffered “a partially amputated finger, permanent nerve damage, skin graft surgery, scarring, shock, loss of employment, emotional distress and pain and suffering.” The complaint says Neal was loading onto Chair 5 when she was injured. Chair 5, or High Noon Lift, serves Sun Down and Sun Up bowls. Vail Associates did not properly operate and maintain the loading area of Chair 5, the lawsuit says. The complaint also cites violations of the Ski Safety Act and the Passenger Tramway Safety Act. Vail Associates is a subsidiary of Vail Resorts that operates Vail Mountain.

A Lancaster County jury has awarded a woman nearly $8 million after she suffered serious injuries resulting from a pharmacy error that led her to take too much medication.

A judge ordered Eckerd Corporation, owner of the pharmacy, to pay the victim, Tiffany Phillips, $7.7 million for its role in the mistake.

CVS was also involved in the mistake, but it settled its lawsuit with Phillips under undisclosed terms, said Mike DeAngelis, CVS Spokesman.

What Happened?

Tiffany Phillips, 28, went to Eckerd to fill her prescription for a drug to help her cope with her recent kidney transplant, said Ronnie Crosby, Phillips’ attorney. Phillips received the transplant to replace the lone kidney she was born with.

Eckerd did not have enough of the drug, prednisone, so a pharmacy technician called a nearby CVS for the medication, the suit said. But there was a miscommunication, which eventually resulted in Phillips being told to take five times the recommended dose of the drug for three days.

Crosby said that the computer system at CVS warned that the prescription was unusual, but one of the workers overrode the flag manually.

As a result, Phillips’ new kidney, which she had obtained from her mother in the transplant, failed. She was hospitalized and underwent another kidney transplant, this time from an organ donor.

“The initial transplant was a perfect match,” said Crosby.

Crosby said that after taking too much of the drug, Phillips cannot use dialysis. She also cannot have a third transplant, Crosby said.

“This is it for her,” he said. “The net result is this has reduced her life expectancy.”

According to DeAngelis, no CVS employee was disciplined for the mix-up.

The Verdict

The jury found that the pharmacies were 90 percent at fault and ordered a payment of $2.7 million for damages and $5 million more for punitive damages.

On Sept. 24, 2004, plaintiff Mark Wasilow, 42, a vice president of an electronics company, and James Smith were flying radio controlled model airplanes at Apollo Field in Van Nuys. Smith’s plane flew directly at Wasilow, striking him in the leg.Claiming physical damages, Wasilow sued Smith for negligence.Wasilow claimed that Smith failed to uphold the primary rule of flying safety by taking his eye off the plane he was flying.

Smith admitted that he took his eye off his plane and lost control of it, but he contended that he did so because Wasilow’s plane was flying directly at his head, startling him.

Defense counsel also claimed that Wasilow was standing in an unsafe zone near the runway, while the park rules mandated that plane flyers stand on a concrete path about 20 feet from the runway.

Wasilow claimed he wasn’t standing in an unsafe area nor did he fly his plane anywhere near Smith prior to the accident.

Smith’s plane, which was about 3-feet long, tore through Wasilow’s interior thigh, severing his femoral artery. He was taken by ambulance to an ER. He then treated with physical therapy and medication.

Wasilow ended up with a very large scar and severe pain which was diagnosed as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, preventing him from walking normally, playing with his kids, and having sex.

Wasilow demanded about $100,000 in past medical specials, adding about $30,000 in future medical costs.

Wasilow claimed $250,000 in past lost wages, adding an unspecified demand for pain and suffering.

Wasilow’s wife, Elizabeth Wasilow, 42, a legal secretary, made an unspecified claim for loss of consortium.

The jury returned a defense verdict, finding no negligence. Defense attorney Mark A. Weinstein said the trial’s turning point was Mrs. Wasilow’s loss of consortium claim because their marriage nearly dissolved twice within three years of the incident. Mrs. Wasilow stated in declarations in one action that Mr. Wasilow was a liar who could not be trusted and that he could not hold down a job because he couldn’t get along with other employees. 

A school bus driver lost control of his vehicle, striking more than a dozen students as they left school Friday, then slammed into a retaining wall, officials said. Seventeen children were injured, one critically.

The driver said that the vehicle developed some sort of mechanical problem that left it “somewhat steerable but out of control,” Pennsbury High School Principal William Katz said.

Fourteen students on foot who were struck and three others on the bus were taken to hospitals, officials said. The injuries ranged from minor to severe.

The driver did not appear to suffer any medical problems and was taken to a police station for questioning, Falls Township Public Safety Director Neil Harkins said. The driver - whom Harkins described as an older man - works for the school district, he said.

“For reasons we don’t understand, the driver lost control of the bus,” said Pennsbury Superintendent Paul Long.

Students who saw the accident described a chaotic scene at the high school, which has two adjacent campuses.

The bus jumped a curb outside one of the school buildings, drove over a sidewalk, barreled down an access road, mowed down a fence and slammed head-on into the retaining wall. In all, the bus traveled about a half-mile.

Jeff Kardos, 14, of Yardley, said he saw a security guard drive alongside the bus to try to warn students to get out of the way. After it hit the wall, students scrambled out the emergency door at the back, said another student, 15-year-old Matthew Walters, of Levittown.

Kardos said the driver told him he had turned the key off and put the bus in gear in an attempt to control it, but could not bring it to a stop.

The accident occurred at about 2:20 p.m. as the students were being dismissed from the school, which is about 20 miles northeast of Philadelphia.

The injured were taken to St. Mary Hospital, Lower Bucks County Hospital and Frankford Hospital-Bucks.

A 17-year-old girl in critical condition was being transferred to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, St. Mary Hospital spokeswoman Kathleen Smith said.

Four other students at St. Mary were in good condition and a fifth was treated and released. The six students originally taken there ranged in age from 14 to 17, Smith said.

Frankford Hospital-Bucks received one victim, a 17-year-old girl who had only minor injuries and was expected to be treated and released, spokeswoman Maria Slade said.

Like thousands of Honda and Acura owners, Todd Gillick received a letter stating he could be part of a class-action lawsuit. 

“It was a very confusing letter to me,” Gillick said. “To be honest with you, I didn’t know what to make of it.” 

The litigation is nearly 70 pages long and claims that the odometers on the vehicles rack up miles too quickly — meaning warranties expire too soon and lease customers have to pay for miles they didn’t drive. Honda said the odometers might be off by as much as 4 percent.

Now, a proposed settlement would cover all Hondas and Acuras with model years between 2002-2006 that were purchased or leased between April 13, 2002, and Nov. 7, 2006.

“Right now, I don’t plan to do anything about it,” said one Honda owner.

For some drivers, an extra trip to the service shop is easier than a visit to an authorized Honda or Acura dealer. But, for those who choose to participate, Honda said it would expand mileage agreements by 5 percent, including warranty agreements, lease agreements and service contracts.

For example, a vehicle with a three-year, 36,000-mile warranty would be extended to a three-year, 37,800-mile warranty.

“I think if I would have had issues with the vehicle that maybe were warranty-sensitive, then, at that point, it would have mattered a little bit more,” Gillick said.

A study has found that those who have recently been released from prisons are at significantly higher risk of dying than those still in jail and those in the general population.

The death rate for former prisoners was about four times higher than that of current inmates, and more three times higher than that of the general population, even when sex, race, and age were accounted for.

The leading cause of death: drug overdose. Thirty percent of the extra deaths were from overdose.

More Study Findings

The study also found that the highest death rates were among prisoners who were released within the two weeks prior to their deaths. These inmates were found to be 13 times more likely to die than the general population, and again, the vast majority of the extra deaths – 80 percent – were from drug overdoses.

The other leading causes of death were suicide, murder, and heart disease.

Ingrid A. Binswanger, the doctor from the University of Colorado who initiated the study said she was surprised at how marked the differences in death rates were. The findings, she said, could point to a big problem. In the United States, about 700,000 inmates are released from prisons each year.

“These are preventable deaths, particularly the overdose deaths,” said UCLA public health professor, Martin Y. Iguchi. “We need to pay much more attention to inmates as they re-enter society.”

Joan Petersilia, a criminologist, said the study would highlight the effects of what happens to prisoners when they are released. For example, some states take psychiatric medication away from inmates when they are released leaving them to seek help for themselves. Many of them don’t, and as a result, many die or suffer relapses.

Study Specifics The study is to appear in the New England Journal of Medicine today. It observed 30,237 former inmates of the Washington state prison system between 1999 and 2003. The researchers cautioned that the statistics may not reflect national trends, though similar findings have been reported in studies conducted in Australia and Finland.

On Sept. 13, 2005, plaintiff Emile Green, a 47-year-old deckhand, was working for SeaRiver Maritime of Austin on a ship, the S/R Mare Island in the San Francisco Bay. When it was time to dock the ship, the captain instructed Green to use one rope, rather than three, to secure the the vessel to the dock. Green picked up a rope and threw it toward the dock. When he did, he felt pain in both shoulders.Green sued SeaRiver Maritime and S/R Mare Island, claiming negligence and unseaworthiness under the Jones Act. The plaintiff claimed that SeaRiver did not properly train him and gave him bad instructions. He contended that the captain should not have told Green to throw the rope when it was wet and that SeaRiver should have used a better rope to tie the ship to the dock, as that the rope used was limp and heavy. Plaintiff’s counsel argued that the captain was ultimately in charge of Green’s safety and should have known better than to have allowed Green to throw the rope. Attorneys also argued that the ship was inadequately manned and had it been fullly staffed, workers could have docked the ship using three smaller, lighter ropes rather than one large, heavy rope.Defense counsel argued that Green worked as a deckhand for many years and should have known if throwing the rope was risky. His years as a deckhand gave him sufficient training, counsel argued. Counsel further argued that the rope was adequate and that the captain did not order Green to throw that particular rope.

Green suffered a shoulder injury. He had subacrominal joint injuries and a superior labral anterior-posterior lesion. He underwent surgery and is significantly disabled. He cannot work as a deckhand anymore. Plaintiff’s counsel argued for damages that were in the range that the judge ultimately awarded.

Judge Sam Kent declared that SeaRiver was negligent, allotting 75% of the blame on the company and 25% on Green. Green was awarded gross damages of $677,765, of which he netted $508,323.75.

The widow of Aaron Bachman, one of two brothers killed in a car crash one year ago Sunday, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Thursday against the Winnebago County sheriff deputy who experts say was driving 100 mph when he collided with Bachman’s car.

Lindsey Bachman, 21, said her husband died the night of Jan. 14, 2006, because Deputy Joseph K. Boomer was speeding without activating the squad car’s emergency lights or sirens.

Also killed in the crash was DJ Bachman, 15, 21-year-old Aaron Bachman’s brother. Their sister, Kori Bachman, now 20, was critically injured and remains disabled as a result of severe head injuries.
Boomer, through his attorney at the Winnebago County State’s Attorney’s office, has long maintained the accident was not his fault. He said Kori Bachman, who was driving at the time of the crash, failed to yield to oncoming traffic.

Frank A. Perrecone, Lindsey Bachman’s attorney, said state law mandates that lawsuits of this type be filed within one year of the crash. He said his client had not been emotionally prepared to file the suit before Thursday.

“We will pursue this case very vigorously,” Perrecone said. “We will prove the facts set forth in our lawsuit.”

Sheriff Dick Meyers and Winnebago County were named in the lawsuit as well, which asks for an unspecified judgment in excess of $50,000.

Meyers declined to comment Thursday afternoon and referred reporters to the state’s attorney’s office. He also said questions for deputies should go to the state’s attorney’s office.

Also Thursday, the victims’ parents, Frank and Kim Bachman of Winnebago, filed a second civil suit against Meyers and Boomer. Their latest lawsuit says other deputies failed to provide first aid to Kori Bachman during the roughly 13 minutes between the collision and the arrival of paramedics.

Besides Boomer and Deputy Patrick Hastings, a passenger in Boomer’s car, five other deputies are named in the suit, though none of them is listed as a defendant.

Both lawsuits filed Thursday say Boomer was traveling at 100.23 mph at impact. The speed was provided by engineers at Ford Motor Co., who obtained the data from the “black boxes” on Boomer’s car.

A Rockford police reconstruction expert who analyzed the crash scene estimated that Boomer was traveling at least 82 mph. Boomer told investigators that he accelerated at the last moment to avoid the Bachman car.

Winnebago County State’s Attorney Paul Logli was not surprised by the lawsuits because of the deadline.

“We anticipated these lawsuits would be filed,” he said. “We knew it was just a matter of time.”

Logli said he would not comment on the case and that the only responses by his department would be contained in court filings.

Boomer was traveling eastbound on West State Street when his car collided with the Bachman’s Hyundai Accent, which was crossing the highway, headed south on Weldon Road. Boomer was also injured in the crash, suffering a broken wrist and minor head injuries.

No criminal charges have been filed in connection with the accident, but the Illinois attorney general’s office continues to investigate the matter.

The parents of a 3-year-old boy who relies on a ventilator sued a Texas city’s utility, saying it jeopardized their son’s life by wrongfully turning off power to their home.Frank and Ashley Tijerina say their son, Isaac, was born with his organs outside his body and requires several machines to live. They said the boy started gagging and gasping when the electricity was shut off for about 8 minutes on Jan. 4.

They worked in the dark to install a backup power source to keep the ventilator working, said Frank Tijerina, 20.

“It was like the company came to my house, put their hands around my son and choked him,” he said. “My son shouldn’t have gone through that.”

The Tijerinas asked for unspecified damages in the lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Ray Martinez, an attorney for city-owned Robstown Utilities, said Wednesday he hadn’t yet seen the lawsuit and couldn’t comment.

The day before the power was disconnected, Frank Tijerina said he paid US$605 to cancel the balance on their electricity bill. Tijerina covered the full balance in two payments made Jan. 3, the last just minutes before city offices closed.

Roland Ramos, director of finance for the city, said a record of the last payment might not have been filed in time to stop interruption of services.

A document on file with the utility shows the Tijerina household has special needs, said Roy Gutierrez, superintendent of utilities for the city.

“It could have been a mistake, I don’t know,” Gutierrez said Tuesday. “We’re all subject to making mistakes because we have a lot of different personnel involved.”