South Florida Personal Injury Lawyers

Police have identified the victim of a fatal two-vehicle crash Tuesday night at St. Augustine and Old Kings roads. Doug Lee Rickman, 20, lived in the 6200 block of Suwannee Road, just a few blocks from the crash scene.

Rickman was a passenger in a vehicle heading north on St. Augustine Road when it was struck by a vehicle heading in the opposite direction that was making a left turn onto Old Kings. It was not known if Rickman was wearing a seat belt. No information was released by police on the identity of the two drivers or if any traffic citations were issued.

A 39-year-old man was killed this morning after his pickup smashed into a car on Wiles Road, police said.

The man, who has not been identified, was driving westbound on Wiles Road when he struck a blue Chevy Impala around 10:45 a.m., police spokesman Capt. James Hanrahan said.

His pickup then rolled over and he was ejected.

A deputy was taken to the hospital with minor injuries today after he was in a crash while responding to an armed robbery call, authorities said.

The wreck happened in the 3400 block of Northwest 9th Avenue, Broward Sheriff’s spokesman Mike Jachles said.

Deputies were responding to the robbery of a taxi driver shortly before 11 a.m.

They have arrested two people in the robbery who are in custody outside a house at 61 NW 56th Court. A third person involved in the robbery is believed to be inside the house, Jachles said.

On Feb. 16, 2006, plaintiff Diego Baizan was born. The delivery was performed by obstetrician/gynecologist Dr. Shahram Razman, at St. John’s Riverside Hospital, in Yonkers.

Diego’s birth concluded a relatively short delivery process. During the hour that preceded 7 p.m., his mother, Mariana Baizan, presented to the hospital. At about 7:54 p.m., Mariana Baizan was attached to an external electronic device that monitored the fetus’s heartbeat. The monitor’s initial readings indicated that Diego’s heart was generating more than 160 beats per minute. Such a rate is slightly faster than the typical rate. The monitor also indicated decreasing variability of the heart’s rate. The readings were deemed nonreactive, which may be indicative of a potential problem.

At about 8 p.m., Razman noted that Baizan’s cervical dilation measured about 6 centimeters. The cervix was fully effaced. Diego’s head was detected in the zero station, which is an area above the entrance of the birth canal.

At about 8:20 p.m., Baizan’s cervical dilation measured about 8.5 centimeters. Doctors recorded a prolonged deceleration of the rate of the fetus’s heartbeat. As a result, Diego’s heart was generating about 90 beats per minute. Such a rate is much slower than the normal rate of a fetus’ heart. The monitor continued to indicate decreasing variability of the heart’s rate, and its readings were deemed nonreassuring.

At about 8:40 p.m., Razman determined that Baizan’s cervix was fully dilated. He ruptured her amniotic membrane, and meconium was observed. Although meconium is frequently detected during labor, it occasionally indicates that the fetus is suffering distress. The delivery commenced, and Diego was born at 9:03 p.m. Doctors soon determined that Diego had sustained a hypoxic event that caused damage of his brain. As a result, the child suffers cerebral palsy. Baizan claimed that the hypoxic event could have been detected and addressed before significant damage occurred.

Baizan, acting individually and as Diego’s parent and natural guardian, sued Razman and St. John’s Riverside Hospital. The plaintiffs alleged that Razman and the hospital’s staff failed to timely monitor and deliver Diego. They further alleged that those failures constituted malpractice.

The plaintiffs and Razman negotiated a $2.1 million pretrial settlement. The matter proceeded to a trial against St. John’s Riverside Hospital.

Plaintiffs’ counsel claimed that Diego’s hypoxia began after his mother arrived at the hospital. She contended that the fetus’s heart was not promptly monitored, and she argued that the hypoxic event could have begun before the monitoring had begun. She further argued that a Caesarean delivery should have commenced at about 8 p.m., when the monitor’s first nonreactive readings were observed. She claimed that those readings were clear indicators of fetal distress. She argued that a prompt Caesarean delivery would have prevented Diego’s residual injuries.

The plaintiffs’ medical experts agreed that the monitor’s readings suggested that Diego was not receiving sufficient oxygen. They contended that an immediate response was warranted, and they opined that every lost minute compounded Diego’s injuries.

Defense counsel contended that pathological findings indicated that Diego’s hypoxic event preceded his mother’s arrival at the hospital. He also contended that the hospital’s staff appropriately monitored Diego, and he claimed that the monitor’s readings did not suggest that an earlier delivery was necessary. He claimed that an expeditious vaginal delivery presented less risk than a Caesarean delivery would have presented.

Diego sustained a hypoxic event that caused damage of his brain. During the first few hours of his life, he suffered seizures. He also required the administration of oxygen.

Diego suffers cerebral palsy, cortical impairment of his vision, impairment of his speech and delays of his mental development. His nourishment is delivered via a gastric tube, and he requires around-the-clock assistance of all of his activities. His weekly regimen includes multiple sessions of occupational therapy, physical therapy and therapy that addresses his speech. Plaintiffs’ counsel contended that Diego will not obtain employment, that he will not complete high school and that he will always require constant residential assistance.

Diego’s mother sought recovery of Diego’s future medical expenses, the cost of his future custodial and residential care, the cost of his future rehabilitation, his future lost earnings, and damages for his past and future pain and suffering. She also presented a derivative claim.

Defense counsel maintained that Diego’s injuries preceded his mother’s arrival at the hospital.

The jury found that the hospital was liable for Diego’s injuries. It determined that Diego’s damages totaled $77,418,670.

Diego Baizan

$3,000,000 Personal Injury: Past Pain And Suffering

$6,132,880 Personal Injury: future medical cost (68 years)

$40,190,509 Personal Injury: future cost of custodial and residential care (68 years)

$3,184,960 Personal Injury: future cost of rehabilitation (18 years)

$20,000,000 Personal Injury: future pain and suffering (68 years)

$4,910,321 Personal Injury: future lost earnings (38 years)

A Sacramento County jury has awarded $16.5 million to the family of a 28-year-old woman who died after participating in a radio station’s water-drinking contest.

Jennifer Strange, a mother of three, died of acute water intoxication in January 2007 after the challenge to see which contestant could drink the most water without going to the bathroom. A Nintendo Wii video game system was the prize for winning the “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” contest.

On Thursday, jurors found Philadelphia-based Entercom Communications Corp. and its Sacramento subsidiary liable for the actions of its employees at Sacramento radio station KDND-FM. The station fired 10 employees after the death.

During the trial, Entercom argued that Strange should have known the contest could be dangerous.

A wreck Tuesday night at South Old Kings and St. Augustine roads killed one person and injured two.

Tom Francis of the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department said earlier that three people were injured in the crash, which occurred shortly after 8:30 p.m.

One later died, authorites said, according to Times-Union news partner First Coast News. No information about the victims was available.

Emely Santana’s son is dead. Awilda Velez’s son is headed to prison.

On Wednesday, the two grieving women, perhaps the most unlikely to unite, grasped each other and wept outside an Orange County courtroom.

Velez’s son, 21-year-old Richard Figueroa, pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of the crash where he struck and killed 18-year-old Giovanni Perez.

The mothers’ long embrace, surrounded by dozens of tearful friends and relatives, followed an excruciatingly emotional hearing that ended with Figueroa being sentenced to two years in prison, followed by five years probation.

A state prosecutor said Figueroa and Perez were in a crowd that had gathered June 14 to watch street racing near a warehouse in south Orange County. Someone had yelled that the cops were coming, and the crowd quickly dispersed.

Figueroa sped away in his vehicle, and Perez stepped or ran in front of the moving car.

Figueroa drove away from the scene and had even claimed that he struck a deer, the prosecutor said. Figueroa eventually turned himself in.

During Wednesday’s proceedings, relatives of both men spoke, and so did Figueroa.

“I feel guilty of this nightmare I’ve created,” said Figueroa, who instead of facing the judge, turned around to face Perez’s family as he spoke.

“I am very, very sorry for what I did,” he said. “I wish I could go back in time.”

Since the accident, Figueroa’s spent time creating a brochure to teach people about the perils of illegal street racing. He told the court he’ll never be the same person.

But the most provocative point in the hearing came when Nilda Kiles, a family friend of Figueroa, was making a tearful statement to the court. She asked for forgiveness from Perez’s family. “We’re sorry from the bottom of our hearts,” Kiles said through an interpreter.

And then, Circuit Court Judge Roger McDonald asked Perez’s mother and father to come up to the front of the courtroom and embrace Kiles.

The women held onto each other and wailed.

Friends and relatives who filled nearly every courtroom bench sobbed too. Courtroom officers ended up passing a tissue box around.

McDonald offered comforting words and advice for the families.

“Both families could spend the rest of your lives angry, the pain of losing a son, the pain of having a son go to prison, can’t be changed,” he said.

McDonald asked, as a judge and a father, that the families continue to embrace each other and work together to make Orange County a safer place.

“Some good can come out of this tragedy,” he said.

The family of a Connecticut woman who died after her chenille bathrobe caught on fire while she was making tea has sued the retailer.

Attorneys for the estate of 80-year-old Atwilda Brown filed a lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court in Hartford against Blair LLC, claiming wrongful death and product liability. The lawsuit seeks $30 million.

Brown was severely burned Feb. 12, 2005, when her robe ignited as she made tea in her East Windsor home. She died two weeks later.

Federal authorities say the robes are linked to nine deaths. The Warren, Pa.-based Blair recently expanded its recall of more than 300,000 chenille products it imported from a Pakistani manufacturer.

Plantation residents and Interstate 595 commuters can expect to see a fiery explosion Thursday morning as a 10,000 gallon propane tank explodes.

The controlled explosion and flames are expected to start at 9 a.m. just off Pine Island Road and the New River Canal — on the north side of I-595.

The company that owns the tank needs to get rid of it. According to firefighters, the easiest way to empty the tank is by burning the propane gas it contains.

The fire is expected to burn until noon.

Plantation firefighters will be on hand to monitor the flames The company that owns the tank needs to get rid of it. According to firefighters, the easiest way to empty the tank is by burning the propane gas it contains.

The fire is expected to burn until noon.

Plantation firefighters will be on hand to monitor the flames

A woman riding a power wheelchair was stuck by a car in South Daytona Monday afternoon and died several hours later from her injuries, police said today.

The accident occurred just after 1:30 p.m. on S. Ridgwood Avenue, just north of Woodland Boulevard, South Daytona police Lt. Ron Wright said.

Diane Elizabeth Knoop, 69, of South Daytona, was attempting to cross Ridgewood, also known as U.S. Highway 1, and rode her wheelchair into the path of a car driven by Mary Louise Peless, 58, of Daytona Beach, Wright said.

Peless, who was southbound, was unable to stop and her car pushed the victim and her wheelchair about 25 feet, Wright said.

Knoop was taken to Halifax Health Medical Center where she died more than four hours later. Peless was not injured.

Although the investigation has not been completed, preliminary findings are that Knoop cause the crash by not crossing at a designated crosswalk, Wright said. Police do not expect to file any charges against Peless, he said.