Personal Injury

Published on: March 23, 2022

What’s Included in the Free Consultation With a Naples Injury Lawyer?

Taking legal action is sometimes the best strategy following a Florida injury in a car crash, slip-and-fall, or medical mistake. However, doing so is typically inadvisable without the aid of a Naples injury lawyer. The first step in that process may be something called a “free consultation.”

You may have heard the term, but how much insight/advice is actually included in that? What should you bring to it? What questions should you ask? If you schedule one, are you obligated to hire that lawyer/law firm? Will you actually speak with a lawyer of will the consultation be with a staff member?

The consultation is at no charge to you and a great opportunity for you to glean important information about your rights, what your case may be worth, the possible outcome, and how a lawyer might help you pursue damages. There is no obligation for you to hire that particular attorney during the consultation. In fact, it may be advisable to consult with more than one Naples injury lawyer before deciding which one you ultimately hire (if you hire one at all). It’s a risk-free way to gain a better understanding of your legal options and to make an educated choice about which attorney will be the best fit to help you do it.
Continue reading

Published on: March 10, 2022

Suing in the Sunshine State? 5 Fast Florida Injury Lawsuit Facts to Know

by Leland Garvin

South Florida injury lawsuit Every Florida injury lawsuit is different, and the law is always evolving. That’s why when you ask any lawyer a seemingly straightforward question, you almost always get: “It depends.”

That said, there are some common questions our Fort Myers personal injury lawyers have noticed frequently arise, whether we’re talking about car accidents, nursing home injuries, slip-and-falls or medical malpractice.

If you’re thinking of suing for a personal injury or wrongful death in the Sunshine State, here are five facts to know: Continue reading

Published on: March 4, 2022

Product Liability Legal Battles: Can E-Commerce Shops Be Liable for Defective, Dangerous Products?

by Leland Garvin

Florida product liability lawyer Florida product liability claims can be the subject of complex legal battles, often owing to the difficulty in establishing the chain of commerce.

Under Florida law, when a product has been defectively designed or manufactured or when there are label defects, several entities may be held strictly liable. Potentially liable entities include the manufacturer as well as any others allegedly involved in the design, manufacturing, or sale of the product.

As our Florida product liability lawyers can explain, the chain of commerce has been raised in a growing number of injury cases in recent years aiming to hold accountable large e-commerce retailers like Amazon. If a store like Home Depot sells you a defective chainsaw and it causes serious injury, the store can be held liable because of its role in the chain of commerce. However, e-commerce makes it a little tricky. It’s been the position of Amazon that the doctrine of strict products liability doesn’t apply because e-commerce platforms don’t distribute, manufacture, or sell many of the products on the site. Rather, it asserts it is merely “an online marketplace.” Amazon insists it should be the third-party sellers who are legally responsible for dangerous product injuries.

However, that argument was rejected in a California appellate decision last year – the first of its kind at the state appellate court level. Although that ruling isn’t precedential for Florida, it could be instructive in future cases.

The ruling is particularly noteworthy considering more than 360 million products are sold on Amazon Marketplace a year in the U.S. alone. Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal reported that more than 4,000 banned, unsafe and mislabeled products had been sold on the company’s platform. These products ranged from toys with choking hazards to defective motorcycle helmets. Dozens have resulted in federal lawsuits alleging serious injury and death. Continue reading

Published on: February 23, 2022

How Often Do Florida Personal Injury Lawyers Win?

by Leland Garvin

South Florida personal injury lawyers When Florida personal injury lawyers take on a case, they’re frequently successful at negotiating a settlement – often before a lawsuit is necessary and long before the pre-trial or trial phase.

There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, there are very few cases that go to trial at all. Although many Hollywood depictions of the justice system focus on the courtroom drama of trials, the reality is trials are lengthy, expensive, often emotionally-trying. Most everyone involved in a civil case will aim to avoid the risk of going to trial if a fair resolution can be reached without one.

Another reason is that injury attorneys accept cases on something called a contingency fee basis. That means they aren’t paid attorney’s fees unless they win. If they do win, their fees are deducted as a percentage of the overall settlement amount or verdict award. Just speaking candidly, injury attorneys are unlikely to accept cases with extremely long odds. The good news about this for plaintiffs is, No. 1, they have the benefit of a frank assessment of how aggressively to pursue their case at the outset. No. 2, someone with a strong injury case won’t be hindered by a lack of an upfront payment.

All this said, when we are hired to take on a case, we don’t rush to settlement if it’s not advantageous for our client. Our goal is to secure the best possible outcome for them. That means meticulous investigation, skillful negotiation with insurers and the commitment to see the case to the best conclusion for our clients. As longtime civil trial lawyers, we have the experience to know when it’s wise to settle, when it’s best to pursue a trial and also how to prepare for either possibility. That’s another benefit of a contingent legal fee as the greater the amount of money that the lawyer can recover for you the greater their fee will be.

Our South Florida injury lawyers offer free initial consultations so that potential clients can get a no-risk, straightforward analysis of their chances of success and possible strategies. Continue reading

Published on: February 18, 2022

Are Food Delivery Drivers More Prone to Florida Distracted Driving Crashes?

by Leland Garvin

Food delivery services, such as Uber Eats, Grubhub, and DoorDash, have been doing booming business in recent years. The online food delivery industry is now generating more than $26 million annually, and nearly one-third of Americans say they used food delivery services twice a week. But as their popularity has risen, so too have reported Florida distracted driving crashes attributed to their drivers.

Last year, there was the tragic case of an Uber Eats driver allegedly slamming into the back of a motorcycle in Tampa, killing a 19-year-old University of Tampa student on the rear of the bike and permanently injuring her brother, the operator. The 33-year-old food delivery service driver was reportedly on her phone making a delivery near campus when the crash occurred. According to The Tampa Bay Times, the police cited the driver for failure-to-yield, but the citation was tossed when the traffic officer failed to appear in court – a ruling the police department is appealing. No criminal charges have been filed, but the victim’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit. They allege Uber, its subsidiary, and the driver are all liable for their daughter’s untimely death. Specifically, they say the driver was rushed and inattentive/on her phone, and that Uber is negligent in failing to train her and for encouraging driver distraction with a feature that prompts workers to communicate with customers while they’re driving. Plaintiffs also say the company hired the driver despite a poor driving record that included citations for speeding, carelessness, and a crash.

Similar cases have been reported from Boston to San Francisco. There are currently numerous, ongoing personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits against the drivers, vehicle owners, and delivery app companies.

Factors in Food Delivery Driver Crashes

The reality is food delivery drivers have always been slightly more prone to crashes, even before smartphones were everywhere. In fact, they have one of the highest occupational fatalities rates in the U.S. Primary factors driving up crashes for food delivery drivers: Continue reading

Published on: February 9, 2022

Differences Between Florida Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Cases

by Leland Garvin

Southwest Florida personal injury lawyer When it comes to civil litigation, there are many similarities and differences between Florida personal injury and wrongful death cases. As longtime South Florida injury attorneys, we will do our best to explain some of these – and why they matter.

Let’s start with some of the ways in which personal injury cases and wrongful death cases are analogous. To start, they are both torts, which are claims stemming from a wrongful act that resulted in legal liability. They can result from the same types of accidents, including:

Car accidents.
Slip, trip and fall accidents.
Medical malpractice.
Dangerous/defective products.
Dangerous property/premises liability.
Nursing home neglect and abuse.
Workplace accidents.

Both are claims for which civil litigants can pursue damages (financial compensation for losses). Further, both have a set period of time in which they can be filed, called a statute of limitations.

But there are numerous key differences, namely who files the claim, what type of damages they can collect and how much time they have to pursue it. Continue reading

Published on: January 26, 2022

4 Myths About Fort Myers Personal Injury Claims

by Leland Garvin

In our many years practicing civil law, we have come to recognize there are many misconceptions surrounding Fort Myers personal injury claims. Some relate to the motivations of personal injury attorneys (no, we aren’t paid if we file frivolous claims that quickly get tossed). Others misconstrue how the processes works (no, you aren’t guaranteed a payout just because you were seriously hurt).

The reality is that Fort Myers personal injury claims are more complex than they might initially seem, and obtaining full and fair compensation isn’t the cake walk some presume. It often requires meticulous investigation and research, extensive consultations with expert witnesses and painstaking negotiations with hard-nosed (and well-prepared) defense attorneys.

If you’re hurt because of someone else’s wrongdoing, you may have a potential claim. It’s necessary in most cases to prove negligence, or that someone’s breach of a duty of care resulted in your injury. Injury lawyers often extend the courtesy of a free initial consultation, so it’s a good idea to at least reach out to one, even if you aren’t sure whether you have a case.

Published on: January 19, 2022

How Florida Injury Lawsuits Could be Impacted by Recreational Use Statute

by Leland Garvin

South Florida injury lawsuit Florida has some of the best outdoor recreation the country has to offer, with 8,400 miles of shoreline (including lakes and springs), 11 national parks and nearly 200 state parks, campgrounds, preserves, recreational areas and trailheads. Although we don’t have data for how many injuries occur at these sites every year, we do know that pursuing a Florida injury lawsuit after an incident may require overcoming the recreational use defense.

In any negligence lawsuit, a key question is whether the defendant owed the person injured a duty of care. The recreational use statute, codified in F.S. 375.251, limits the duty of care owed by the owner/manager of property to guests when the land, water or park areas have been made available to the public for recreational purposes without charge. The idea is to encourage land owners – including the government – to make areas available for public outdoor recreation by limiting their liability for injuries that may occur on site. The statute allows that if a landowner opens its land to the public for outdoor recreational use, it holds no duty of care to keep that area safe for entry or use by others and no duty of care toward a person who goes to the area and no duty to warn of hazardous conditions.

The statute broadly protects landowners against Florida premises liability claims, but it does not necessarily mean if you’re injured at a state park or on the beach in Florida that you can’t be compensated. If you are injured on private property that is open to the public for recreation, a complete analysis of the land ownership and whether the statute was strictly followed is important. It’s also important to discuss your legal options with a skilled Florida injury lawyer.

Published on: November 3, 2021

Dangerous Home Elevators Prompt CPSC Warning to AirBnB, Vrbo, Other Vacation Rental Sites, Owners

by Leland Garvin

Florida elevator injury lawyer Dangerous home elevators in use at rental properties throughout Florida and across the country have sparked an urgent call from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission for action by the vacation rental industry. At issue are gaps in the elevators that can pose a risk of serious physical injury and death, particularly for small children.

“These injuries and deaths are horrific, and we need the property owners and rental agencies to disable elevators immediately until they have been inspected,” wrote Acting CPSC Chairman Robert Adler.

Florida is a very popular spot for residential vacation rentals. According to one online platform, there are more than 215,000 Florida vacation homes for rent just on their site alone. The actual number of residential rentals is probably much higher, though it’s not clear how many of those sites have dangerous home elevators inside them.

The reported risk with residential elevators is that occupants can be fatally crushed in a space that exists sometimes between doors. As our Florida elevator injury attorneys can explain, with a deep gap between the outside door and the inside door, a child can go in, close the outside door without opening the inside door. They then get entrapped between the two. If the elevator moves, it’s going to have tragic consequences. A 2019 investigation by The Washington Post indicated more than a half million residential elevators in the U.S. pose a risk.

As Fort Myers injury attorneys, we recognize this is not the first thing people want to picture when planning a getaway. Given the seriousness of the risk, however, vacationers as well as property owners must take the CPSC warning seriously. Continue reading

Published on: October 27, 2021

Naples Injury Attorney Explains Accident Report Privilege in Florida Crash Cases

by Leland Garvin

Naples injury attorney

Florida law requires that police be called when a motor vehicle crash occurs. The investigating officer will arrive and be tasked with documenting the scene, interviewing witnesses and preparing a crash report.

At the same time, the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees those accused of crimes the right to refuse to answer questions that could be used against them in a criminal proceeding. To prevent a possible constitutional violation, Florida law has carved out something called accident report privilege (which is not exactly a privilege, but more on that later). Basically, statements made to an investigating officer for purposes of completing the crash report can’t be used in criminal proceedings OR a civil injury lawsuit.

As a Naples injury attorney can explain, there are a lot of different reasons for this protection – constitutional and otherwise. But it’s important to note because it could have a negative (or positive) impact on your ability to recover damages from the at-fault driver. The good news is that if you work with an experienced attorney, he or she can usually obtain that same information elsewhere – especially when the details can still be gleaned during the discovery process. Continue reading