Florida Trial Attorney

I have been involved in two terrible situations involving clients who own dogs that I wanted to share.  Florida has a dog bite statute that says you are automatically responsible for the injuries caused by a dog bite in Florida, except if the person bitten was provoking the dog or unless the premesis where you keep the dog had a visible sign that reads, "warning, bad dog."   The legislature of this state, in their infinite wisdom, decided it would basically create a strict liability situation against the dog owner whenever his or her dog bites someone.   The crazy result of this law is that if you take your dog to the vet or to a groomer and it bites anyone while in THEIR custody and control, you are still responsible for the damage done by your dog, even if you were 100 miles away at the time and you entrusted your dog to a professional to provide medical care or grooming services. 

You would think that a vet or a groomer assumes the risk of a dog biting them and ...

Florida has had a "no fault" system in place for over twenty years. The legislature, in 2012 just passed major changes to the law that are creating headaches for everyone. This system basically says that no matter whose fault an accident is, everyone has to go through their own insurance for all expenses up to $10,000.00 for injuries and out of pocket expenses. It is designed to cut down on lawsuits for smaller accidents where no permanent injury exists, and the bills are under $10,000.00.

This system takes away someone's right to go to court to seek damages for injuries or out of pocket expenses from these minor car accidents unless the out of pocket expenses exceed $10,000.00. So, if you own your own car and have an accident, you are on the hook for the first $10,000.00 of your own medical bills and are precluded under the P.I.P. law from suing the other driver for the first $10,000.00.

The new P.I.P. law, which is being reviewed by the courts now, is trying to say the following: ...

At 4:00 a.m. a car rear ended a sweeper truck. The driver of the sweeper truck, Carlos Enrique, had serious injuries, but lived. The driver of the truck that hit him was not so lucky. In my experience as a personal injury trial lawyer in Florida, nothing good can happen on the road at 4:00 a.m. At that hour, people are getting into their cars to drive home from a night of drinking. Other innocent victims are just getting an early start on the day to go to work. When the paths of the late night partiers cross with the early morning risers, nothing good can happen. In my Florida Personal Injury practice, I specialize in traumatic and fatal car crash cases. I always tell my clients that they must drive defensively. You must look in all directions and move out of the way of any fast or suspicious vehicles. It just may be a drunk driver.

June 6, 2010

On June 5th, 2010, 17-year old Michael Ferraz Lanzoni was killed in a motorcycle accident on Wiles Road in Coral Springs, Florida. It was late morning on Saturday when Lanzoni ran into Andrea Baigorria’s Ford Escape while she was making a left turn. The Coral Springs Police reported that witnesses saw Lanzoni driving his motorcycle at high speeds prior to the accident.

Lanzoni was wearing a helmet, but the force from the crash caused his death on the scene. Baigorria was taken to Coral Springs Medical Center but was shortly released after being treated for minor injuries.

There are more than 5,000 motorcycle fatalities and 96,000 motorcycle injuries reported in the United States every year, according to the most recent statistics from the Bureau of Transportation (http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/). Not surprisingly, this is more than any other vehicle type. One of the leading causes of these deaths and injuries is simply not ...

Leslie Peterson of Deerfield Beach lost control of her car, struck a fence and died yesterday near the Adios Golf Club. No one is sure when the deadly accident occurred because she was in an area that could not be seen from the road. Three hours could have gone by from the time of her crash until the time she was found. If Ms. Peterson had a GPS device in her car, like OnStar or TelAid, she may have lived. These products will notify a central reporting location of any deployment of an airbag. This would have automatically resulted in fire rescue responding to the scene, possibly giving Ms. Peterson the life-saving help she needed. These devices save lives. Many people have this service in their car. If you don’t, get a car that does – it could save your life if you are in a serious car accident in Florida!!