child injuries

Published on: July 8, 2022

Florida Premises Liability Law Allows Special Protections for Children, Even Trespassers

Florida premises liability law places certain legal responsibilities on property owners to use reasonable care in protecting lawful guests from foreseeable dangers. Trespassers, however, are given very few protections, aside from the duty to avoid willful harm. The primary exception, as our Fort Myers child injury lawyers can explain, is with regard to young children.

It’s called the “attractive nuisance doctrine.” Although trespassers have no right to expect landowners to maintain a safe property on which they can trespass, it’s different for young children. Unlike adults, it’s understood small kids lack the ability to perceive danger or make reasonable judgments about how to protect themselves. Therefore, if there is something dangerous on site that might be interesting to curious youths, landowners have a responsibility to take measures to keep them out and protect them from their own misjudgment.

As noted in the 1990 Florida Supreme Court case of Martinello v. B&P USA Inc., attractive nuisance isn’t a separate cause of action or theory of liability. Instead, it’s a doctrine that imposes a duty on the landowner or occupant to trespassing children that otherwise wouldn’t exist under circumstances of non-liability to trespassers. The exception is spelled out in F.S. 768.075. Continue reading

Published on: October 20, 2021

Naples Accident Lawyer On Product Liability Claims in Crash Cases

by Leland Garvin

Nothing is more devastating than the wrongful death of a child. As a longtime Naples accident lawyer, I’m unfortunately all-too-aware that motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of child deaths in the U.S. I also know most of these deaths are preventable – not only by the drivers involved but sometimes by auto manufacturers who fail to ensure the vehicles they sell are safe.

Car accident lawsuits against the makers of vehicles are a type of product liability claim. These are injury lawsuits, but rather requiring proof of negligence (the standard in a typical car accident case), Florida product liability claims are generally pursued under a legal theory called strict liability. This requires plaintiffs to show the product was unreasonably dangerous as designed or because of a manufacturing defect or because the warnings/instructions were insufficient.

When Vehicles Are Dangerously Manufactured, Designed

Published on: April 23, 2020

Report: Doctors Expect “Huge” Spike in Child Injuries at Home During Pandemic Isolation

by Leland Garvin

child injuries The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has created unprecedented financial and personal challenges in Florida and across the country. Parents especially are under a great deal of pressure. With schools out and distance learning underway, parents are expected to stay informed, prepare meals, remain calm, care for basic needs, teach and often continue to work.

The problem is parents cannot work and provide adequate supervision, particularly for younger kids. This is why healthcare providers are bracing not only for an uptick in COVID-19 patients but also for child injuries.

Parents are essentially doing five jobs at once, schedules are less structured and children are doing what they often do best: Testing limits to see what they can get away with. That could mean climbing on things they are not supposed to, doing dangerous backflips on the backyard trampoline, riding scooters around the block without helmets or wrestling with siblings. Continue reading