South Florida Personal Injury Lawyers

On Dec. 5, 2002, plaintiff Jacqueline Moses, a 67-year-old retiree, slipped and fell in a North Miami shopping center parking lot, fracturing her wrist.Moses sued Yaeli Inc., operating as Hammocks Property, for for premises liability. She alleged that she fell and injured her wrist because the lot was poorly maintained, uneven and had loose gravel.

Hammocks Property denied liability and contended that Moses was liable for causing her own injuries. The condition of the parking lot was open and obvious and Moses was familiar with it because she had been to the shopping center on numerous occasions. Moses’ daughter operated a hair salon there and defense counsel maintained that Moses had visited her at the salon on at least five previous occasions.

Defense counsel also argued that there were no eyewitnesses and Moses was unable to identify with certainty what caused her fall.

Moses was transported to Aventura Medical Center by an ambulance. Moses sustained a fractured wrist of her non-dominant hand, requiring open reduction surgery.

The plaintiff’s husband, Barry Moses, filed a derivative claim for loss of consortium. The claim was denied upon determination by the court that the couple had lived in separate homes for the majority of the past five years.

Defense counsel argued that Moses had preexisting medical conditions that contributed to causing the fall. She has very flat feet and usually wore orthotics, which she was not wearing on the day of the accident. She also had knee valgus, a condition which caused her knees to point inward. According to the defense, the latter condition affected the plaintiff’s balance.

The jury found Hammocks Property 70 percent liable and Moses 30 percent liable. It awarded $275,000, which was reduced to. $192,500.

Authorities say a small airplane has crashed in a residential neighborhood west of Los Angeles and three people were killed.Fire Battalion Chief Mike Esparza says three people on board the plane died in Wednesday night’s crash. No one on the ground was hurt.

Witnesses say the plane started having trouble soon after taking off from Riverside Municipal Airport, less than a half mile away.

Esparza says the pilot attempted to land on a residential street, narrowly missing houses and a yard where two people were standing outside.

“The pilot did one heck of a job.” Esparza says.

Riverside is about 60 miles west of Los Angeles.

Neighbors say the plane hit a palm tree and a car, and burst into flames.

About 24,000 Indonesian-made cribs were recalled over faulty railing, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced today.

According to the recall, the wooden cribs have support spring brackets that are too long and prevent the mattresses from being fully lowered. As a result, children could climb over the railing and fall.

The recall includes various model numbers of the following Munire Furniture cribs sold at specialty stores between November 1, 2005 and November 1, 2007:

• Majestic Curved Top – model #9500
• Majestic Flat Top – model #9000
• Essex – model #7100
• Brighton/Sussex – model #9100
• Captiva – model #5100

Consumers who have purchased one of the recalled cribs should contact Munire Furniture for replacement brackets and stop using the cribs until the faulty brackets are replaced.

On June 12, 2006, plaintiffs’ decedent Cindy Conolly, 49, a social worker, was run over by an Oxnard Police sport utility vehicle while she was sunbathing on the beach. She died from her injuries.Tammy Krieger, 34, a homemaker, and Ronnie Bassett, 32, an electrician, Conolly’s adult children, sued the city of Oxnard, claiming that Conolly’s death was the fault of the officers driving the SUV.

Conolly was lying on the beach when the 6,500-pound police SUV, driven by two Oxnard police officers ran over her. She was struck by first the left front tire and then the left rear tire, smashing 13 of her ribs and fracturing her skull.

The city admitted liability.

The plaintiffs sought to depose the two officers who were driving the SUV to learn the true facts of the matter, but the city of Oxnard refused to produce the officers, claiming their testimony was irrelevant in light of the city’s admission of liability for the incident. The plaintiffs’ motions to compel the depositions were granted and the officers were deposed. They testified that they did not realize they had run someone over until 17 minutes later, when they received a 911 call summoning them back to Conolly’s location.

Conolly sustained 13 crushed ribs and a skull fracture and was pronounced dead at the scene, though witnesses said she suffered for about 15 minutes before she passed away. Krieger and Bassett claimed they were extremely close to their mother, speaking to and visiting her often. They alleged that as a result of her death they suffered the loss of her moral advice and protection due to her untimely death. Krieger testified that she relied on her mother heavily for advice with her children and life in general.

Bassett testified that the family had been together in Oxnard for his wedding the day before his mother was killed. He testified that he had been out surfing when the accident occurred, and so witnessed the “commotion” and police tape surrounding his mother’s death.

Krieger and Bassett sought damages for their loss of care, comfort and society. They also sought damages for the funeral and burial expenses.

The parties settled for $2,750,000 prior to trial with the help of mediator Rob Kaplan.

A federal judge has closed portions of Miami’s historic downtown courthouse after a report identified widespread mold infestation and ongoing water leaks, with one part of the basement termed “disgusting” by inspectors.U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno, the chief judge in Florida’s Southern District, said in a memo that parts of the basement that house court records and a stairwell used by judges were being closed until further notice.

“The new steps we are taking may in fact be premature without further microbial testing, but nonetheless we intend to err on the side of caution,” Moreno said in the memo dated Friday and obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.

Moreno took action after receiving last week a new U.S. Public Health Service study, which found mold throughout the 166,000-square-foot building that opened in 1933. Known officially as the David W. Dyer building, the courthouse is one of several in Miami’s downtown federal judicial complex.

Across the street, a new 14-story courthouse sits unused, more than $60 million over budget and three years behind schedule. Electrical problems, hurricane damage and contractor disputes are blamed for the delay, which shows no sign of ending.

In the Dyer building, inspectors “observed multiple signs of suspect microbial growth and/or water damaged building materials,” the Public Health Service report stated.

Employees have repeatedly complained about such health problems as sneezing, coughing, runny noses and lung irritation, as well as musty odors and water leaks. One law clerk in a second-floor office works from home because of “poor indoor air quality and mold,” the report said.

The report also found that a basement sump pump room is “disgusting,” has no ventilation and “is infested with pests.” And a leaking toilet above basement space used as a gym by the U.S. Marshals Service has caused suspected mold growth on walls and elsewhere.

A Garden City Beach tavern and a Murrells Inlet man are named in a civil suit that alleges both are responsible for the deaths of two women in March.The suit stems from a crash in March in which Savannah Edgar, 18, and Shanna Stines, 22, were killed.

Jeremy Nordstrom of Murrells Inlet faces two counts of felony driving under the influence causing death, one count of felony driving under the influence causing great bodily injury, and one count of drug possession in connection with the incident.

Police say Nordstrom was driving under the influence on March 31, 2007, when he crashed into another car at the intersection of U.S. 17 Business and S.C. 544, killing Edgar and Stines.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by Columbia lawyer Richard Gergel, alleges Nordstrom had been drinking alcohol at the then Wild Wing Cafe, 2700 U.S. 17 Business in Garden City Beach, before the wreck.

The suit, filed on behalf of Edgar’s and Stines’ families, charges that Garden City Wings LLC, then doing business as Wild Wing Cafe, promoted “an environment of excessive and irresponsible alcohol consumption.”

It also alleges the tavern’s management did not train its staff to sufficiently monitor and direct its alcohol sales, including how to recognize and stop serving customers who have noticeably had too much to drink.

The suit shows that Nordstrom entered the Garden City Beach tavern sometime after 10 p.m. March 30, 2007, and opened a tab, then “rapidly ordered and consumed after arrival multiple shots of liquor as well as beer.”

He showed signs of being extremely intoxicated as the night progressed, the suit alleges, including “dancing wildly with his shoes off, dancing with staff, stumbling and falling into patrons and appearing dishevelled and confused,” according to the suit.

Gergel declined to comment Tuesday about the suit.

“I’d like my complaint to speak for itself,” he said.

The owner of the former Wild Wing Cafe, now doing business as Taterz Grill after losing its franchise in an unrelated case, said Tuesday he was not aware of the civil suit.

“Without knowing anything about it, first off, our deepest sympathies go out to these two families,” said Mac Erwin, co-owner of Garden City Wings LLC. “Second of all, we don’t promote anything like that. We train our bartenders, our managers, not to over-serve people.”

Although the civil complaint requests a jury trial, a date has not been set.

Nordstrom is expected to stand trial in the criminal case in May or June, said 15th Judicial Circuit Solicitor Greg Hembree.

A Baltimore jury has awarded $5.7 million to a man who was exposed to lead paint while he was child living in public housing.The award was announced Wednesday at the end of a seven-day trial. The Housing Authority of Baltimore City must pay 24-year-old Markeath Justice $5.1 million in non-economic damages and $600,000 in economic damages.

Maryland adopted a cap on non-economic damages in 1986, but Justice’s attorney says the cap did not apply in the case because it became law after Justice’s injuries.

The Housing Authority argued there was no lead paint where Justice lived.

Brown says Justice reads and spells at a first-grade level.

Justice now lives in St. Louis.

A $6.5 million verdict in the wrongful death case of a 21-year-old Army Private who was accidentally electrocuted during basic training in 2004 was upheld on appeal on Tuesday.

Private Electrocuted

Pvt. Van Ryan Marcum was participating in a training exercise on a firing range in Fort Benning, Ga., when he leaned against an abandoned and insufficiently grounded metal latrine.

The latrine was later found to have a wiring short to a fan and also a faulty circuit breaker. When Marcum leaned on the latrine, “he completed the circuit and became the ground,” the appeals court ruling stated.

Wrongful Death Lawsuit

A private contractor, The Shaw Group, was responsible for the maintenance and repair of the latrine at Fort Benning. Marcum’s family sued the company for wrongful death, and a jury awarded the soldier’s family $6.5 million in damages.

Shaw filed an appeal, claiming it was not responsible for Marcum’s death, but the 8 th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis disagreed and upheld the original verdict.

Three men were killed and a fourth man was hospitalized Thursday morning after their car fell from a ramp on Interstate 95 and plummeted about 50 to 75 feet onto the highway below.According to the Florida Highway Patrol, a Jaguar was traveling north on I-95 at about 3:30 a.m. As the vehicle was attempting to exit onto State Road 84, it clipped the wall of the ramp and fell over, landing in the northbound lanes of I-95 below.

Of the four men traveling in the car, only one survived. He was taken to Broward General Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition.

FHP Sgt. Mark Wysocky said speed was a factor in the crash.

“Even though it was 3:25 in the morning, there’s still a considerable amount of traffic out here on 95 at any time of the day and it’s pretty incredible that another vehicle wasn’t struck or another vehicle involved,” Wysocky said.

One person was ejected near the ramp and three others were ejected near where the car landed.

The Columbus school district agreed to pay $350,000 to the family of a developmentally disabled student who was sexually assaulted at a high school.A 16-year-old girl told Mifflin High School officials in 2005 that at least two boys dragged her into the auditorium, hit her and sexually assaulted her. She said she was forced to perform oral sex while another student videotaped.

The family filed suit, claiming the district and principal Regina Crenshaw were negligent and failed to take reasonable action to prevent the assault.

The attack generated widespread criticism because school officials did not immediately report it to police, even though they are required by law to report cases of abuse.

Crenshaw was fired, though she was acquitted of a misdemeanor charge of failing to report a sex crime. Three of Crenshaw’s assistant principals were suspended without pay for 10 days and reassigned.

Two teens pleaded guilty to juvenile counts of felonious assault.

David Shroyer, an attorney for the girl’s family, said the settlement reached last week would end the claims against school administrators. Steps have been taken to improve safety at the school, such as restricting student access to unsupervised areas and cracking down on truancy, he said.

School board President Terry Boyd said the district settled to avoid having to pay more legal fees and perhaps lose the case. The settlement awaits approval by Franklin County Probate Court because it involves payment to a minor.