“Happy” Text Has Grim Outcome for North Carolina Woman

May 20, 2014

by South Florida Injury Law Firm Auto Accidents Texting & Driving

Despite the overwhelming evidence that texting while driving is dangerous, all too many drivers are still deciding that using their smartphones can’t wait until they get to their destination. One of the latest tragic tales of a texting accident comes from North Carolina, where a young woman died seconds after posting a Facebook status about Pharrell Williams’ popular song “Happy.”

Police believe that 32-year-old Courtney Ann Sanford was driving in High Point, NC, when she posted the Facebook comment “The happy song makes me so HAPPY” at 8:33 pm on April 24th. Less than a minute after that comment went live, the High Point Police Department received a call about a car accident. The collision occurred when Sanford crossed the center median and drove headlong into an oncoming truck. The truck driver, 73-year-old John Wallace Thompson, was thankfully not injured, but Sanford’s Toyota Corolla caught on fire, and Sanford died at the scene.

Investigators found that Sanford was wearing a seat belt, but that it wasn’t secured properly. Police have also determined that she was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and that the most likely cause of the accident was Sanford’s use of her cell phone. High Point Lieutenant Chris Weisner said of this preventable tragedy, “In a matter of seconds, a life was over just so she could notify some friends that she was happy. As sad as it is, it is a grim reminder for everyone… you just have to pay attention while you are in the car.”

Despite Texting Bans, Distracted Driving is Still a Problem

In January 2014, Pew Research reported that 90% of American adults own a cell phone, and 58% of American adults have a smartphone. We’re living in a constantly connected culture, where people have become used to being able to reach their friends and family or access the internet wherever they go—even if they’re behind the wheel.

With anywhere from 387,000 to 421,000 Americans being injured in distracted driving-related accidents each year, state laws are finally beginning to catch up and discourage risky driving behavior. 43 states, as well as DC, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands, currently ban all texting while driving (Florida enacted a texting ban just this last October). 12 states also prohibit the use of all handheld phones while driving, although hands-free devices like those that use Bluetooth are still acceptable.

Unfortunately, the penalties for texting and driving vary from state to state and are often not severe enough to deter drivers who are truly determined to use their phone while they’re on the go. In Florida, for example, texting while driving is only a secondary offense (meaning a police officer has to have a primary reason for pulling a driver over before ticketing them for texting), and a first-time offense results in a fine of $30—little more than a slap on the wrist. In North Carolina, where Sanford’s accident occurred, texting while driving is a primary offense, and violators face a $100 fine, as well as court costs. Although North Carolina’s law is stricter than Florida’s, it still was not a strong enough deterrent to keep Sanford from using Facebook while driving.

Technology distractions are still a huge problem for drivers, with the CDC estimating that 1 in 5 crashes resulting in injuries were caused by distracted driving. In spite of texting bans and statistics that prove how hazardous distracted driving is, drivers who want to use their phone continue to get into the mindset that they’re capable of multitasking behind the wheel.

We Think We Can Multitask (But We Can’t)

Perhaps one of the most common rationales behind texting and driving is that the driver thinks they are “good at multitasking.” They may think that they’ve got glancing back and forth between their screen and the road down to a science, and that their acute perception makes them better at texting while driving than other people on the road.

In reality, the human brain doesn’t multitask in the way many of us think it does. David Strayer, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Utah, has been working to bust the myth that people can successfully juggle multiple tasks at once. He told Psychology Today, “Our brains don’t do two things at once; instead, we rapidly switch between tasks, putting heavy burdens on attention, memory, and focus.” He added, “Talking on a cellphone while driving (perhaps the most ubiquitous type of multi-tasking) leaves people as cognitively impaired as if they’d had two or three drinks.”

Note that Mr. Strayer is discussing talking on the phone, an activity that doesn’t even take a driver’s eyes off the road. Texting or posting social media updates, which take a driver’s eyes off the road for an average of 5 seconds, obviously creates an even bigger impairment.

What Will Get Drivers to Stop Texting?

Although it was a horrible event, Sanford’s fatal accident – which received wide coverage due to its tragic irony—will hopefully serve as a wake-up call to other drivers who have thus far paid little attention to state texting bans. Sanford’s accident shows just how quickly someone can go from using their phone while driving to losing their life, all because they couldn’t wait until they parked to update their Facebook status.

We can only hope that these personal, emotional stories hit home more than distracted driving statistics and texting laws have so far. Anyone who has ever texted or updated their Facebook status while driving should reflect on Sanford’s accident. Maybe doing this will help them to recognize that they put themselves and other drivers in a potentially dangerous situation by allowing technology to distract them. While many of us consider it a modern necessity to constantly be available to our online contacts, we need to remember that no matter what message we need to share, it can always wait until we get to our destination or find a spot to safely pull over.

Should There Be a Cap on Slip and Fall Awards?

May 19, 2014

by South Florida Injury Law Firm Slip and Fall

Each year, thousands of people are injured in slip and fall accidents. Sometimes, injuries sustained from these accidents can be severe, particularly in instances where an individual has preexisting medical problems, say in his or her hip. In certain slip and fall cases, the damages sustained can be staggering.

Because slip and fall cases can result in such serious injuries, lawsuit payouts following these cases can rack up some high sums. It’s not uncommon to see slip and fallawardsreach six figures, or even rise to the millions.

In one case, Marriott International was ordered to award $1.2 million for injuries sustained by one of its hotel guests. In this case, the court had to consider not only the case of the guest’s shattered ankle and the two surgeries that followed the fall, but also the arthritis that had developed in the ankle, the fact that the woman now walks with a limp, and countless other problems that tie in with emotional and physical suffering. Marriott International plans to appeal the $1.2 million verdict.

When payout amounts get so high, it’s common for major companies to argue and try to appeal these verdicts. During those appeal cases, the question inevitably arises: Should there be a cap on slip and fall awards?

What Would a Slip and Fall Cap Mean?

To individuals who sustain injuries following a fall, high slip and fall payouts seem fair. For defendants, though, high payouts are rarely as appealing, especially when the award numbers climb into the multiple thousands or millions.

When award prices get this high, one of the first arguments that people jump to is that there should be a cap on these types of awards. In injury cases, this debate has been going on for years. Usually the cap people advocate for relates to the amount that can be paid towards “non-economic” damages (that is, damages that are difficult to put a price tag on, such as emotional trauma). In almost all cases, a cap would not apply to “economic damages” (namely, those that include set amounts, such as hospital bills).

In many states, non-economic caps are already in place. Usually, the cap is set somewhere around $250,000 to $500,000. This means that, regardless of the details of your claim and your level of suffering, you will never be awarded more than the set amount.

The Business Perspective

Aside from the obvious benefits that award caps would have for defendants in slip and fall cases, it has also been argued that limiting damage payouts can reduce liability insurance losses in the long term. Some say that capping non-economic damages means that insurance companies will not have to fork over large sums, which means they won’t be trying to recuperate the losses from citizens by increasing premiums.

It has also been argued that capping damage payouts would lessen medical expenses across the board. Advocates claim that damage caps would allow doctors to be less fearful of being sued, meaning that they would no longer need to practice so much “defensive” medicine. (“Defensive” medicine refers to the practices of ordering an excessive number of tests and procedures to effectively cover all possibilities and lessen the likelihood of a lawsuit.) If defensive medical practices decrease, the cost of health care would go down,as well.

Damage Caps: Who Do They Benefit?

Contrary to the findings noted above, information from a 2006 report from the Confessional Budget Office showed that,“Lower premiums alone would not cut overall health care costs.” According to this report, malpractice costsare, in fact,marginal when considered in light of the wider realm of health care spending, which means that lowering them would have very little impact on overall health care costs.

In the above article, Chris Mather, the Communications Director for the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, states, “There’s nothing to back up the correlation between the high cost of premiums the doctors pay for medical malpractice insurance and lawsuits. This is about the insurance company wanting to pay the least amount possible for injury. … The civil justice system, the courtroom, is [the victims’] last resort. It’s the last place they can go to get what they need.”

Since damage caps likely will have no significant effect on health care costs, it is very unlikely that you or anyone who files a slip and fall claim would see any benefit from these caps.On the contrary, damage caps would only work against you.

The Victims’ Perspective

First, caps could discourage slip and fall victims from filing lawsuits. Lawsuits can be exhausting and expensive, so if the possible award amount is not substantial enough, individuals with legitimate cases may choose not to go all the way.This is unfair, as all injury victims should be entitled to plead their case.

Furthermore, if an injured individual decides not to file a suit, the responsible parties will be let off the hook.Not be held accountable for their actions means they may continue to endanger others’ lives through their recklessness or negligence.

Lastly and most importantly, if you’re the party injured in a slip and fall accident, you might not get what is due to you.Every slip and fall case is different, and the legitimacy of your claim should not depend on a cap that was set in place by people who have no knowledge of you or your claim. Caps like these would essentially concede that your injuries and your accompanying emotional and physical suffering are worth no more than whatever pre-determined amount has been settled on as a cap.

You deserve more.

Victims of slip and fall cases are entitled to financial reparations for their pain and suffering . Calls for caps are essentially calls to sweep these claims under the rug, claiming that victims’ injuries are invalid or not worth adequate compensation. But you deserve to be treated with fairness and respect. If your injuries exceed the cap’s value, you should receive the total payment that you are justly entitled to.

Video Surveilance - Personal Injury Claims

Technology That Can Help—or Harm—Your Personal Injury Case

May 12, 2014

by South Florida Injury Law Firm Technology

We’ve come a long way in how we handle personal injury cases, with developments such as cloud software making it easier than ever to transfer important documents, and video surveillance streamlining the collection of physical evidence in certain accident cases.

Of course, just as technology can be a boon to claimants and personal injury lawyers, it also has its downsides. In this post, I’m going to look at two ways technology can actually damage a personal injury case and end on a more optimistic note by listing three ways technology can help.

Technology That Can Harm Your Case

1. Social media. There are a staggering 1.3 billion monthly active users on Facebook, and there’s a good chance you’re one of them. Unfortunately, your Facebook account may be a liability in your personal injury case. Even if you know you have a legitimate personal injury case, you can’t be sure that the defense attorney won’t search your Facebook account for evidence they can twist.

For example, if you injured your back, but post a picture of yourself dancing in your living room, the DA could point to that as evidence that you’re faking your injury, even if in reality you only briefly posed for a “dancing” picture to show you were keeping your spirits up. The best thing you can do in your personal injury case is disable your Facebook account and personal blog, if you have one. You should also be very careful not to post any information about your accident on any social media outlets.

2. Surveillance technology. Although it might sound extreme, some defendants who risk losing a lot of money to your lawsuit might hire a private investigator to search for evidence to use against you. In addition to trawling your social media pages, the investigator might use videos or photos in an attempt to show that your injury is not as serious as you claim.

This is important to keep in mind, because many accident victims have times when their pain is not as severe as others, and might take advantage of these “good” times to do things outside or in public that they might not be able to do on days with worse pain. While your case is ongoing, keep in mind that you may be under surveillance in public areas, so you need to think about the message your behavior will send.

Technology That Can Help Your Personal Injury Case

1. iPads. It’s becoming fairly common practice for many accident victims to use iPads or other tablets as they recover from serious injuries. These tablets not only help them perform day-to-day activities that they might not be able to otherwise, it also allows them to stay in touch with their attorney using video chat apps such as Skype and FaceTime. It can even be used to help stroke victims or other people who have lost the ability to speak to better communicate with their family, friends, and legal counselor.

2. Google Glass. A law firm in Arizona has just launched a new program aimed at equipping personal injury clients with Google Glass. The program, called Glass Action, lets clients send emails and other important documents to their attorneys with only a voice command or the blink of an eye, which is especially beneficial for amputees or other injury victims who can no longer use their hands. It also allows clients to record their day-to-day activities, which can be valuable in proving that their injury has had a serious impact on the way they lead their lives.

3. Black boxes in cars and trucks. I handle a lot of auto accident cases, and I know that one of the biggest struggles for clients can be producing concrete evidence that the other driver was at fault. This could change if black boxes become mandatory in all new cars and trucks, something that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is currently pushing for.

Black boxes, which are already being added to some cars and trucks in the US, record important crash data such as speed, acceleration, braking, and even whether or not the driver was wearing a seatbelt. This is huge for the field of personal injury law. Imagine, for example, that a commercial truck crashed into a van and injured the driver, but there were no witnesses other than the two people in the crash. Black box data from the truck could be used to prove that the truck driver lost control and accelerated into the van, or didn’t start braking until moments before the impact.

The takeaway is that the face of personal injury law is changing, largely for the better. It’s becoming easier for attorneys and clients to communicate, and it’s also becoming simpler to produce concrete evidence (since the plaintiff always has the burden of proof). It’s important for both attorneys and victims to think about how modern technology can work in their favor, rather than against them.

About the Author:

Jeffrey Braxton is a trial lawyer in Fort Lauderdale who has devoted his 22-year career to the practice of personal injury law. As lead trial attorney for The South Florida Injury Law Firm, Jeff has litigated thousands of cases and is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, an exclusive group of attorneys who have resolved cases in excess of one million dollars.

Helmets a Must, but Motorcycle Culture Still Discourages Them

May 7, 2014

by South Florida Injury Law Firm Motorcycle Accidents

It’s pretty hard to ignore the statistics surrounding helmet use and motorcycle accidents.

Head injuries are the most common cause of motorcycle fatalities, and even when motorcyclists survive a crash, injuries are generally more serious and long-lasting for riders and passengers who weren’t wearing helmets. According to estimates from the US Department of Transportation, wearing a helmet reduces a rider’s chance of dying in a crash by about 37%. A study by the Governor’s Highway Safety Administration also found that 44% of all people fatally injured in a motorcycle accident were not wearing helmets. Additionally, the GHSA found that wearing a helmet saved the lives of 1,829 riders in the course of a year.

With everything we know about helmet safety, it seems like a no-brainer that bikers should be using them. Unfortunately, many bikers are still unwilling to give up the feel of the wind in their hair when they ride. Riders who go helmetless argue that they’re exercising their freedom to choose, and that if they want to increase their odds of being in a fatal accident, it’s their right.

But it’s not just the individual rider who is being affected. If a motorcycle rider offers a ride to a friendand doesn’t have a helmet to offer him or her, then he or she is also at a greater risk for suffering a fatal head injury. Refusing to wear a helmet also sends a message to other riders that helmets are not a part of “true” motorcycle culture,perpetuating the idea that protective equipmentis ultimately optional.

The True Cost of Not Wearing a Helmet

It’s not just motorcycle riders and passengers who are affected by a rider’s failure to wear a helmet. Dr. Lori Terryberry-Spohr, a physician at the Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Nebraska, told The Economist that she can always tell which motorcycle accident victims weren’t wearing a helmet because they suffer internal bleeding and cell death across large areas of their bodies. Those helmetless riders who actually survive typically rack up about $1.3 million in direct medical expenses. As you might imagine, this far exceeds the insurance coverage that most motorcyclists have. Because of this, taxpayers end up footing about 63% of the bill.

If the loss of human life is not enough of an incentive, more states should be motivated to enact universal helmet laws based on the cost to their taxpayers. However, surprisingly few states have laws that require all motorcycle riders to wear a helmet.

States Shun Universal Helmet Laws

Currently, only 19 states and the District of Columbia have universal helmet laws. Three states – Illinois, Iowa, and New Hampshire – have no helmet laws whatsoever, meaning that even child passengers can ride along without a helmet. Every other state only requires helmets for riders under a certain age, usually 17 or 18. In Florida, riders can shun helmets as long as they’re 21 or older and carry at least $10,000 in insurance.

Some opponents of helmet laws say that they support the idea of wearing helmets, but that riders should come to the decision to wear a helmet on their own, without being forced into it by the government. They say that wearing a helmet is the smart thing to do, and responsible riders will realize that.

Unfortunately, not nearly enough riders are willing to wear helmets if they’re not legally required to. This week’s Daytona Beach Bike Week, one of the largest motorcycle rallies in the country, emphasized that fact. If you look through images of the gathering, it appears that the overwhelming majority of riders in attendance chose not to wear helmets. The event saw a total of four motorcycle accident fatalities, at least two of which involved head injuries to riders who were not wearing helmets.

States Need to Reassess Helmet Laws

The 33 states that do not currently have universal helmet laws should look to the 19 states that do andacknowledge the positive benefits this type of enforcement can have. The CDC has found that states with universal helmet laws have four times the cost savings of states that don’t. While a whopping 64% of riders in states without universal helmet laws choose to ride without helmets, only 12% of riders in states with universal laws go helmetless. As a result, the states with universal laws see fewer serious and fatal motorcycle injuries, which results in lower medical costs and loss of productivity costs.

It’s time that Florida, and all the other states with partial or no helmet laws, push to adopt universal laws. Of course, this change won’t happen overnight, and in the meantime it’s important that riders choose to wear helmets regardless of what state they live in. There may still be situations where riders get into accidents through no fault of their own, but by wearing a helmet, they can give themselves the best possible chance of surviving and recovering.

6 Reasons Why Construction Accidents Will Continue to Claim Innocent Lives

May 5, 2014

by South Florida Injury Law Firm Construction Accidents Work Related Injuries

Some jobs certainly don’t attract as much attention as others. For instance, telling someone you work as a plumber or on a construction site may not impress them as much as telling them you are an architect, photojournalist, or an astronaut. But construction jobs are some of the most underrated, if not for the growth and rewarding opportunities, then at least for the many dangers and risks workers are constantly exposed to. It may not be included in the job description, but working on construction sites often leads to injury, long-term disability, and death.

According to numbers published by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration, 3,945 workers died in private industries in 2012, of which nearly 20 percent were from the construction industry. The “Fatal Four” reasons of accidents of the industry include:

Falls – the number one reason for worker injuries and fatalities, accounting for 36 percent of all deaths in the construction industry.
Electrocutions – More than 60 people have been electrocuted, accounting for 9 percent of all deaths in the construction industry.
Hit by object – considering the size and weight of materials and equipment used on construction sites, any contact between them and workers is likely to result in injury and even death. 78 workers were struck by objects in 2012, making up 10 percent of all fatalities in the construction industry.
Caught in/between – 2 percent of workers who are caught in/between equipment on construction sites lose their lives (13 people died this way in 2012).

Despite the numerous efforts of OHSA to increase workers’ safety and bring forth effective ways to prevent injury and fatality in the workplace, the rate of injury and death has not decreased proportionally to their efforts. Workers may be much safer now than ten years ago (6,217 deaths in 1992 compared to 4,383 in 2012), but numbers provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show no significant difference between the rate of fatality reported between 2009 and 2012. For instance, the number of fatalities in 2009 was 879, only slightly higher than that recorded in 2012, of 849; the rate of injury and illness cases per 100 workers has dropped only by a few percentages from 2009 to 2012. Whether due to faulty equipment, poor communication between team members, or improper risk management training, workers continue to lose their lives in the workplace. Here are six reasons why:

1. Attitude of Workers towards Safety

Basically, all workers are informed and well aware of the safety precautions and dangers they’re exposed to. However, their attitude towards safety depends largely on age and experience, according to the results of the Safety Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ). For instance, the older workers with more experience may be less careful around equipment, thinking that accidents will not happen to them or, in any way, confident they can handle unforeseen situations with success. On the other hand, younger employees pay more attention to work safety and usually take more precaution measures at work.

2. Erring on the Human Side

No matter what safety precautions are implemented in the workplace, scientists believe there are certain permanent characteristics in a worker that make him/her more likely to cause or be involved in an accident. The Behavior Models, the Human Factors Models, and the Ferrel Theory are some of the theories pointing to human error as the root cause of workplace accidents, while also describing different corrective actions to eliminate it.

3. Poor Communication and Dissension between Team Members

An older report from Stanford University titled “Safety Problems in On-site Construction Work Processes” revealed that the lack of collaboration, poor communication between members of different departments, and dissension can lead to injuries in the workplace:

“In construction sites of this general constructor, verbal or written instructions of safety work procedures are offered by on-the -spot decision making at crew safety meetings or in planning and allocation daily meetings. One of those instructions is that every worker regardless of their position has to participate to keep the workplace in good housekeeping order. Nonetheless, because insufficient instruction, inadequate plans and workers’ negative attitude towards the supervisor, present construction sites are often cluttered with tools, packaging materials and waste materials such as, wood shaving, defective nails and boards. The conditions frequently result in human error occurrence associated with stumbling or slipping and stepping on sharp objects.”

4. Workplace factors

Aside from human error, many construction workplace accidents are attributed to faulty equipment and tools, as well as unsafe work areas. Uncovered holes, trenches, exposed stakes, and rebars may pose hazards to those coming across them, usually leading to injuries due to slips and falls.

Workers who go near an open-sided floor without paying attention to his steps may fall and get injured; the same may happen with workers who use staircases that have no handrails, offering no support during the climbing and causing workers to land on their sides or injure their heads. Stepladders are also a very important component among workplace factors likely to cause injury and long-term disability. Accidents occur when workers either fall from a tipped-over stepladder, leave tools on the top platform and then these fall on someone else’s head, or the ladder may simply break under the weight of a worker equipped with heavy tools.

Falling roofs are one of the leading causes of workplace accidents where no fall protection is ensured. Scaffolding problems that occur when someone unauthorized to erect scaffolds may overlook potential dangers, leading to materials falling off scaffolds and workers working on inferior levels getting hurt. When working in construction and using power tools, it seems like a no brainer to use protective equipment such as appropriate ear and eye protection, considering that a nail is shot from a gun with the same force as a .22 caliber bullet. Also, not wearing protective gloves and helmets may result in cuts and amputations.

5. Improper Risk Management Training

In a construction project, risk management’s goal is to identify the factors that might negatively influence or impact the cost schedule or quality objectives of the project and proceed to implement corrective measures to mitigate these risks. The riskier an activity is, the more dramatic will be the consequences of errors, thus risk management works by implementing measures to reduce the level of risk to a minimum.

According to a paper by researchers at the Engineering Management Department Center for Advanced Studies in Engineering, risks associated with the construction industry may be:

Technical: inadequate site investigation, improper design, low-quality materials
Logistical: proper transportation facilities and sufficient resources for construction equipment such as spare parts, fuel, and operators
Management related risks: industrial relation problems, uncertain productivity of resources
Environmental risks: natural disasters, weather implications
Financial risks: inflation, delay in payment

Some of the benefits of effective risk management training implementation include minimizing uncertainty on projects, better decision-making processes, providing focus on essential problems, better work planning, easier to identify accountability, etc.

Risk management training is probably the most challenging – and less emphasized – part of a construction project. Project managers should be able to recognize and identify the causes of risk and trace them to their consequence. The use of risk management training from the early stages of a construction project, where essential aspects regarding quality of materials and labor are still not decided, is crucial for the outcome of the entire project and for making use effectively of the available resources.

6. Superficial accident investigation and under-reporting

Because construction accidents can rarely be attributed to a single cause, one of the most effective prevention methods includes accident investigation. Identifying the causes of an accident enables managers and owners to take proactive steps into controlling or eliminating so that the chance of similar future accidents is slim.

To be able to explain how an accident has happened – and how it can be prevented in the future – investigators must gather information and analyze the events surrounding the incident. Having this data, they should be able to identify the workplace conditions by looking at physical evidence and also eyewitness testimony. All these steps must be done immediately following the accident to ensure the best outcome, but most often, things are quite the opposite. Little attention is paid to workers injured on the job, if their injuries aren’t severe, and when they do have a case and are ready to file a claim, companies force them to accept unjust payouts.

Not to mention that only an insignificant percent of all construction injuries are actually reported, for various reasons: employers may not consider the injury work-related, they may not be clear about injury reporting regulations, or fail to report the injury at a later time in case it was initially deemed non reportable.

About the Author

Jeffrey Braxton is a trial lawyer in Fort Lauderdale who has devoted his 22-year career to the practice of personal injury law. As lead trial attorney for The South Florida Injury Law Firm, Jeff has litigated thousands of cases encompassing personal injury, civil, and business matters, his expertise and skillfulness ensuring his admission into the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, an exclusive group of attorneys who have resolved cases in excess of one million dollars.

“Help! I’ve Fallen and It’s All Your Fault!”

April 12, 2014

by South Florida Injury Law Firm Slip and Fall

We’ve all heard a story like this one before: a man walks into a department store with a banana peel, surreptitiously tosses it on the floor, then gets down on the ground and pretends to have seriously injured himself by slipping on it.

Of course, slipping on banana peels is mostly just a myth, but that’s beside the point. When most people think of injury lawsuits where someone hurts themselves at a business and tries to sue them for it, a version of this is what they imagine – scam artists out to earn a big payday by faking a problem and blaming someone else.

Why is this the image that we picture? Two reasons:

1) Because the media loves stories that catch people in the act of doing something wrong. It’s a lot more entertaining watching a security video of someone pretending to slip and fall than it is learning that the teenager cleaning up at the local Walmart forgot to put up a wet floor sign.

2) Because faking falls in order to get money from a lawsuit is a real problem that costs our country a lot of money.

How Big of a Problem Is Insurance Fraud for Falls?

By some estimates, fraudulent slip and fall claims cost around $2 billion each year in our country when litigation costs are factored in. But that’s just the beginning. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, slip and fall claims that they deemed “questionable” increased by 12% from 2010 to 2011. This news report from KXJB in North Dakota makes the problem sound even worse, saying that “suspicious” claims have gone up an astounding 57% since 2008!

The worst part, though, might be the belief that many faked incidents never even turn into claims since the scam artist in question goes directly to the business owner and cuts a deal for cash. Why would businesses agree to such an arrangement? Because they are afraid of the costs and bad publicity involved if the situation ends up going to court. And even if it is simply handled through their insurance, they believe it may end up costing them more by raising their premiums.

The Case of Florida and Slip and Fall Reform

About a decade ago, the Florida Supreme Court presented a ruling on a personal injury liability case that essentially said businesses were responsible for hazards on their property even if they weren’t aware that those hazards existed. This led to a sharp increase in claims, as well as giving the state a reputation as an easy place to win money for slip and falls.

Naturally, businesses weren’t happy because this put the entire burden on them, and in 2010, the legislature created a new law. It required claimants to show that businesses either knew about the specific problem that caused their accident or that it was a hazard that occurred frequently enough that the company should have known and done something about it.

This was deemed a good compromise because it lessened the chance that a scammer could just come into a business and create the circumstances of their own accident, but it also left protections in for those who truly had suffered an injury that could have been prevented by the property owner. All they needed to do was provide evidence that the hazard that caused their injury was something that should have been dealt with.

Did it work? Well, that depends on who you talk to. Again looking at numbers from the NICB, Florida was second only to California from 2010 to 2011 in what they determined were “questionable” claims, beating out more populous states like Texas and New York. Even after reform, a lot of people were apparently still trying to scam their way to a big payout – at least according to statistics from the NICB. But statistics are a funny thing, and often there are two ways to look at them.

Are Slip and Fall Fakers Really That Big of a Problem?

The answer is an unfortunately complicated yes and no.

Yes, because it’s impossible to deny that something costing $2 billion each year is minor. Moreover, the bad publicity generated from these kinds of cases makes it that much tougher for people who legitimately suffer falls and deserve to be compensated for their pain and suffering.

Case-in-point: recently, a woman was awarded $10,000 after her apartment failed to clean away ice and snow, and she fell and seriously injured herself. Now that kind of money is nothing to sneeze at, but there’s a problem: the judge assessed the case before the trial and estimated that she should receive $65,000 to cover the cost of medical bills, litigation, and so on. The $10,000 she won doesn’t even cover the cost of going to trial!

But fakers are also, arguably, not that big of a problem when you look at the big picture from another angle. How so? According to the National Floor Safety Institute, only 3% of slip and fall claims are fraudulent. Some basic math tells us that means 97% of claims are real and valid and deserve compensation.

You’d never imagine that from all of the negative publicity, though. And you would also probably think that $2 billion dollars represents a huge portion of overall insurance fraud, when in fact it’s only about 5% of the $40 billion lost each year. The problem seems bigger than it is because we’re constantly being bombarded with stories about it.

What Needs to Be Done for Future Fall Cases

The trick in engaging in this type of reform is that you need to be careful to strike a balance. The Florida legislature was on the right track, but more probably need to be done. Businesses can’t be afraid that they’re going to be sued from the second they open their doors, but people who suffer from real injuries also can’t be so afraid to seek compensation that they simply back down. Depending on the severity of a fall, you can sustain damage that can haunt you for your entire life.

For those who are truly suffering, filing an injury lawsuit isn’t about getting some kind of windfall or even punishing the person or company that caused them harm. All they want is to get the money they need to help themselves to heal and make sure this kind of incident doesn’t happen to someone else.

If we really want to limit fraud, perhaps more of the burden should be placed on lawyers to thoroughly examine the stories of their potential clients and look hard at the evidence before taking on these kinds of cases. Most well-respected litigators already do this, because they don’t want to gain a bad reputation. However, more can be done to standardize the process and hold people accountable. This will cut down on lost revenue for businesses, increase the likelihood that personal injury lawyers will win the cases they take, and free up valuable time in our court system.

Transportation Workers: Most Exposed to Injury and Death

April 1, 2014

by South Florida Injury Law Firm Auto Accidents Personal Injury Lawyer

A report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reveals that auto accidents kill more than 40,000 people every year in the United States. Among them, people who drive for a living – truckers, school bus drivers, and cab drivers – are the most exposed to injury and death. Here we take a look at some alarming statistics regarding fatal work injuries caused by transportation incidents.

New Technology Promises to Prevent Texting and Driving

March 27, 2014

by South Florida Injury Law Firm Auto Accidents Texting & Driving

Because cell phones and other mobile devices have become so well-integrated into our daily routines, we’ve grown accustomed to using them every chance we get—even behind the wheel. Whether out of reflex or a feeling of need to continue a conversation occurring via text, we do it all too often.

But the risk of texting or checking a phone while driving is too high. In fact, the time it takes for someone to glance down at their phone or text a reply is approximately 4.6 seconds, which is commonly compared to driving the length of a football field. That’s like putting a blindfold on when you’re behind the wheel for almost five seconds. Most people wouldn’t dream of doing that, but for some reason using a phone while driving is seen as perfectly okay by many.

According to studies conducted by experts, you are 23 times more likely to be in an accident if you are texting while driving compared to driving while not distracted. Today, 39 states in the U.S. have banned sending texts while driving. According to the National Safety Council, approximately 1,600,000 accidents per year are caused by texting while driving, in addition to 330,000 injuries per year and about 11 teen deaths every day. In fact, 25% of all car accidents that occur are texting-while-driving related.

Technology Companies Step In… To Block Technology

That is why big cellphone companies such as Verizon and AT&T have created numerous awareness campaigns and educational programs in order to get people, especially teens, to pledge never to text while driving. Some companies have also invented apps that claim to prevent distracted driving accidents from occurring.

Verizon’s new app, for example, called Safely Go, automatically receives and responds to calls and texts so that the driver can remain focused and responsible while on the road. AT&T’s Drive Mode limits the extra features on your phone and automatically sends pre-set replies to incoming texts,letting people know that you are driving. Additionally, the app blocks you from reading or typing anything and further silences all calls, texts, and emails. But these innovations go beyond cellphone companies trying to fix a problem they had a hand in creating – lots of other companies are getting involved as well:

DriveSafe.ly actually reads your texts, calls, or emails aloud and responds to them either by voice or with pre-set responses.

Textecution uses a GPS to determine speed and will automatically disable texting if you are traveling more than 10 mph.

Text-STARalso senses motion and disables texting when going above 10 mph, but goes above and beyond this by allowing you to schedule auto-reply texts in advance if you plan to be driving at a later time.

tXtBlocker allows users to go a different route by customizing the locations and times of day (such as typical commuting or driving times) when they don’t want texts and phone calls to be accepted.

Technology Can Help, but People Are Still Responsible

The Verizon website states, “Experience teaches us that technology innovation will provide more opportunities to address public safety issues like texting and driving.” However, it’s important to remember that the effectiveness of these apps rely mostly on the drivers’ willing and effective use of them as tools to keep themselves focused on the road. Nevertheless, there will always be distracted people on the road, and if one of them hits you, it’s vital that you get the expert legal help you need as soon as possible to ensure you receive the compensation you deserve.

About the Author:
Jeffrey Braxton is a trial lawyer in Fort Lauderdale who has devoted his 22-year career to the practice of personal injury law. As lead trial attorney for The South Florida Injury Law Firm, Jeff has litigated thousands of cases and is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, an exclusive group of attorneys who have resolved cases in excess of one million dollars.

Horrible Truck Accident Leaves Woman Trapped in Cement

March 21, 2014

by South Florida Injury Law Firm Truck Accidents

If you’ve ever known someone––a friend, relative, or acquaintance––who’s been involved in a serious truck accident, you know how traumatic the experience and its aftermath can be. The sheer weight and size of the truck compared to smaller vehicles means that any high-impact accident will usually result in much more serious consequences for the passenger vehicle, as well as the people inside it.

In some situations, the nature of the truck’s cargo may present even more of a hazard. Such was the case when Yin Min Tai and her boyfriend,Lok Wan, were involved in an accident with a large cement truck in China’s Fuzhou, Fujian Province,in February, 2014 – a crash that left her trapped and fearing for her life.

Yin Min Tai’s Close Call

As detailed in a report on the Daily Mail‘s website, after an open-top cement truck crashed into the rear of the passenger vehicle Yin Min Tai was riding in, she became trapped inside the car under tons of wet cement. Lok Wan, who was also in the car with her, was able to get out safely, but she was stuck in the crushed automobile for over 40 minutes.

The accident took place when Yin Min Tai and Lok Wan attempted a U-turn on a busy street, and a cement-laden truck traveling behind them collided with their vehicle, dumping much of its load of wet cement onto the car. Miraculously, despite being inches from thousands of pounds of wet cement, Yin Min Tai only sustained a few scratches and some bruises.

Even if you already know how dangerous truck accidents can be, getting buried in cement probably isn’t a consequence you’ve ever imagined resulting from such a crash. Given the number of truck accidents that occur in our country every year, though, what’s truly surprising is that we don’t hear about similar issues more often.

According to a report by the U.S. Department of Transportation, 3,921 people were killed in auto accidents involving large trucks in 2012, while 104,000 people were injured in the same type of accident. Of those 104,000 injured in wrecks involving large vehicles during 2012, 73% were occupants of other vehicles, while only 24% were occupants of large trucks.

How many of the trucks involved in those accidents do you think were carrying loads that could be considered dangerous, especially for the people in the other vehicle? While no statistics seem to be available, you can bet that a good number of those trucks were carrying things such as chemicals, fuel, construction materials, or other heavy objects. The point is, when a big truck crashes into you, there’s a lot more to worry about than the actual impact.

Post-Accident Issues and the Value of Good Representation

Should you find yourself in a situation similar to Yin Min Tai’s, a Legalinfo.com post titled “Accidents Involving Hazardous Materials” might prove helpful, but ultimately your best bet is to seek out experienced legal help. Medical expenses, insurance fees, and legal costs can all pile up, and attempting to represent yourself in a suit against a trucking company or city government can be a very tall order, considering the sort of legal counsel these organizations can afford. Additionally, insurance adjusters on the side of the truck’s owners or operators will look for any possible course of action to limit the liability of their clients, so you should find an attorney specializing in these cases who can effectively represent you and negotiate in your name.

At The South Florida Injury Law Firm, we’ve successfully handled many cases like this before and would do anything we can to help you get the compensation that you deserve, but you need to contact us as soon as possible. When you’re battling big organizations, time is of the essence, so pick up the phone or fill out our contact form now.

Campaigns against Distracted Driving: What’s Working?

March 6, 2014

by South Florida Injury Law Firm Auto Accidents

Anything that takes a driver’s attention off the road is dangerous, but with more and more Americans owning and relying on cell phones, texting while driving has become a particularly pervasive problem. And with an estimated 350,000 distracted driving-related deaths per year, it’s a problem that our country has finally started noticing and trying to prevent.

41 states now ban texting while driving, with the Florida ban finally going into effect in October 2013. While making it against the law to text and drive is a good starting point, that act alone isn’t enough. In Florida, for example, texting while driving is only a secondary offense, which means that a police officer has to pull you over for something else—like speeding or driving erratically—rather than just asking you to stop because they’ve spotted you using your phone. And those people who do get cited for texting while driving only face a $30 fine—hardly a significant incentive for someone who’s determined to multitask behind the wheel.

So if distracted driving laws aren’t enough, what’s really going to stop people from texting while driving? The only truly effective way to stop this behavior is if we have a nationwide shift in the way we think about this dangerous activity.

Failing to See Danger in Texting While Driving

Most drivers probably recognize on some level that they can’t fully concentrate on their surroundings while texting, and that sending a message while driving puts them at a greater risk for being in an accident. However, far too many people weigh the costs and benefits of texting while driving and decide that the risk is worth the immediate satisfaction of sending and receiving messages. They think that accidents only happen to other people, and that they’re more capable of safely multitasking than the general population. Teen drivers, who have not yet fully developed the part of their brain involved in problem-solving, are at a particularly high risk for this kind of flawed thinking.

To address the logical fallacy that “texting while driving isn’t that dangerous for me,” many government organizations and private companies have launched campaigns aimed at emphasizing the risks of distracted driving. Notable recent campaigns include:

End Distracted Driving (EndDD) uses their website to encourage people to host presentations or become speakers to educate their communities about the dangers of distracted driving.
Verizon notes that mobile phones are a part of everyday life, but wants to encourage people to put them away while driving. They recently launched a video PSA showing text messages popping up and blocking a driver’s view, and they’re encouraging viewers to pledge to drive responsibly.
Toyota, recognizing the problem of drivers taking “selfies” on their phones, created an ad showing a totaled car through different Instagram filters with the tagline, “Don’t Shoot and Drive.”

These types of campaigns are beginning to raise awareness about the distracted driving issue, but in order for the idea to really take hold, we need to make texting while driving culturally unacceptable in our society.

Designated Driver Campaign Serves as Good Example

Image Source- http://1.usa.gov/1da7164

If we’re looking for ways to change the way our society views texting while driving, the designated driver campaign launched in 1988 provides some good examples. Before the campaign was launched, the idea of having someone stay sober to drive their friends home wasn’t something that had ever really caught on in the US. However, the campaign, which kicked off with the slogan “The Designated Driver is the Life of the Party!” made the designated driver a new social norm. The campaign made further inroads when many popular TV shows, such as The Cosby Show and Cheers, added scenes with designated drivers. Thanks to the pervasiveness of the campaign, by 1998 a majority of adults who drink had either been a designated driver or had a sober friend drive them home at some point.

If distracted driving campaigns are going to cause the same kind of cultural shift, they need to be integrated into mainstream culture. As with the designated driver campaign, maybe we could see more TV and movie scenes where characters choose not to text and drive—or do but suffer negative consequences, as a result. Once putting your phone away while driving becomes a culturally accepted norm, it will become much easier to curb distracted driving.