Miami Personal Injury Lawyer

Agri-Farm Settles Pesticide Case; Limbless Boy Taken Care Of For Life

Seth Miles — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:30:50 GMT

Circuit Judge Charlene Honeywell approved a settlement between Ag-Mart and the parent of Carlitos Herrera. Carlitos was born with tetra-amelia, a rare condition that left him without arms or legs. He will have a lifetime of needs. The attorneys for the Herrera family sued Ag-Mart under a novel premises liability theory. This allowed them to allege that Carlitos's condition was caused by his mother's exposure to pesticides in the Ag-Mart fields, without requiring them to pinpoint exactly which chemical or pesticide caused Carlitos's condition. Carlitos's faces a lifetime of need, but thanks to a precedent-setting settlement money will not be an issue.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Seth Miles

Construction Crane Kills Workers

Seth Miles — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:35:20 GMT

A 14,000 pound steel crane fell thirty-seven stories at a condominium construction site. Two workers, Terrance Hennessy, 59, and Jeremy Thornsbury, 21, were killed. Mark Simone; Emanoel Souza, 31; Theron Cook, 57, and Russell Dyer, 48 were injured. I have handled similar construction accidents in the past.

Sadly, despite a host of rules and regulations, these types of accidents are becoming more and more common, particularly in condo-crazy South Florida. Why? In no small part, because many of these contracts have liquidated damage provisions that costs contractors and subcontractors lots of money if there are any delays. This leads to rushed work and that leads to mistakes, accidents, and tragedies.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Seth Miles

Miami Crane Collpase Kills Two and Injures Five

Jenny Albano — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:55:17 GMT

A section of a crane fell at a downtown high-rise condominium construction site in Miami and killed two of the workers and injured another five. The crane fell onto a home that the contractor used for storage. At first another worker was thought to be missing, but was later identified as one of the inured workers.

Canine's surveyed the site and did not find any other trapped people. But rescue workers still worked on securing a severely damaged wall before checking the are again. One of the survivors was in critical condition, while the other four did not have life-threatening injuries. One of the workers that did not make it died on scene while the other died at the hospital.

The crane's main vertical section was intact, but the part that fell was a 20-foot section that workers were raising to extend the equipment's reach, Carroll said. It plummeted 30 floors and smashed through the home's Spanish-tiled roof.

Florida does not regulate or license tower cranes and crane operators, but bills moving through the Legislature would change that. The ordinance will increase inspections and safety measures for lifting cranes and goes into effect Friday.

The accident occurred when a subcontractor was attempting to raise the crane section and it accidentally came loose. The U.S. Office of Safety and Health Administration had two investigators at the site.

The accident came 10 days after a 20-story crane collapsed at a New York construction site, killing seven people. Since then, New York City officials have told contractors that they can't raise or lower large cranes at construction sites unless a buildings inspector is there.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jenny Albano

Credit Card Numbers Stolen From Sweetbay

Shannon Weidemann — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 21:40:22 GMT

The Sweetbay Supermarket, a Florida chain of grocery stores, and Hannaford Bros. announced last week that 4.2 Million credit card and debit card numbers were obtained during store transactions. Over 1800 cases of credit card fraud have been reported. The credit & debit card numbers were illegally obtained during the card authorization process.

Hannaford was notified of unusual credit card activity by its data processing company on Feb. 27 and immediately began working with law enforcement on an investigation, said Michael Norton, a company spokesman.
Since the investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made, Norton was reluctant to explain how the numbers had been obtained.
But he was confident that a similar breach would not happen again.

It is unknown how the security breach occured. The fraud is being investigated by the U.S. Secret Service. Two class action lawsuits have been filed on behalf of the customers involved. Shoppers are urged to check with their credit card companies and banks to see if their numbers were taken. No personal information was obtained during the security breach.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Shannon Weidemann

Chief Justice Calls Potential Budget Cuts "Murder"

Seth Miles — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:31:31 GMT

Due to fiscal shortfalls, caused in large part by a sinking economy, Florida officials proposed a 10% cut to the Court's budget. Chief Justice Fred Lewis warned Florida's legislators that the cuts would lead to the firing of 900 court employees and be nothing less than a "spear to the heart."

The sad reality? The budget cuts are necessitated by a bad short-term federal fiscal policy more interested in tax cuts for the wealthy, outrageous expenditures on an unnecessary war, and sweetheart deals for political cronies, than the fiscal future of this country. And those hurt, once again, will be the poor, the young, and the disenfranchised. Overburdened courts will be further overburdened and delays will result. And, as we all know, particularly for the injured, justice delayed is justice denied.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Seth Miles

$37 Million Awarded In Alien Tort Statute Case

Seth Miles — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:50:50 GMT

United States District Judge awarded $37,000,000 to two survivors of a massacre in a Peruvian village. Both survivors were children and witnessed the slaughter that left 69 dead. The defendant, Telmo Hurtado, was a Second Lieutenant in Peru's army looking for members of the Shining Path rebel group.

The suit was brought inder the Alien Tort Statute that permits victims to sue for acts that violate the laws of nations. Recovery is unlikely in this case, particularly against an individual like Hurtado. However, it does set an important precedent in South Florida which is a haven for those fleeing similar abuses and helps open the door for similar actions in the future.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Seth Miles

Comair Co-Pilot Wants to Fly Again

Seth Miles — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:06:31 GMT

The co-pilot and lone survivor of the Comair jet crash in Lexington, Kentucky wants to fly again. Apparently, he is using the potential return to the cockpit as motivation in his rehabilitation.

All other 49 people onboard the flight were killed. The cause? As in most aviation disasters, a series of avoidable errors, leading to an attempted takeoff from the wrong runway.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Seth Miles

Psychiatrist Charged in Woman's Overdose Death

Jenny Albano — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:25:56 GMT

Last week Miami-Dade prosecutors charged psychologist Adam Feder with manslaughter in connection with a the death of a woman who overdosed on painkillers. Feder was also charged with one count of trafficking illegal drugs and seven counts of obtaining a controlled substance.

Rachel Finzi began seeing Feder after she became depressed over the health of her boyfriend who had been severley injured in a car accident. Two years after Finzi started attending sessions with Feder, she overdosed from painkillers that were given to her by psychologist. The two had also begun dating; Feder was almost 40 and Finzi was 20.

On Monday, Finzi's family announced they were filing a lawsuit against Feder and the clinic he worked at, Compass Health Systems, with negligence. The lawsuit alleges that Feder used his sexual relationship with Finzi "to exert dominion and control over her." The suit also claims that the clinic was negligent because they failed to supervise Feder and let him have access to other doctor's prescription pads that he used to write Finzi prescriptions.

According to the State Attorney's Office, Feder was illegally writing prescriptions to supply Finzi with oxycodone. She died May 24, 2006, at his Miami apartment after swallowing several pills "at the conclusion of a heated argument" over a breakup. Feder told Miami-Dade police that Finzi vomited, complained of hearing problems and slept for much of the next 24 hours, but that he did not call for medical help because "she asked me not to," according to the arrest warrant affidavit.

When police asked Feder why he was illegally writing prescriptions, he claimed to not have a good answer to that. Police also recovered 27 grams of oxycodone and prescriptions in other names in his apartment.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jenny Albano

Two F-15 Fighter Jets Collide Over Gulf of Mexico

Jenny Albano — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 23:32:27 GMT

A F-15C Fighter Pilot has died after a mid-air collision on Wednesday, February 20. The other pilot is in good condition at Eglin Air Force Base Hospital in Florida. The pilots ejected over the Gulf of Mexico and were later rescued.

The planes crashed off the coast of the Florida Panhandle, just south of Tyndall Air Force Base and the planes were F-15C Eagles single-seaters so the two pilots were the only people involved. The planes were doing a training exercise teaching them maneuvers and tactics.

The cause of the collision was not immediately determined, but the Air Force will be investigating. Coast Guard Petty Officer James Harless said a Coast Guard rescue jet located one pilot and radioed the location to a fishing vessel, which picked him up. A Coast Guard helicopter then hoisted the pilot off the vessel.

The rescued pilot told rescuers that he saw the other pilot eject, but lost sight of him in the clouds. The pilot told officials the approximate location for the second pilot, who was eventually found by a Coast Guard helicopter. Debris from the planes have not been found.

The Air Force grounded all of its F-15s -- nearly 700 -- after the catastrophic failure of an F-15C during a routine training flight in Missouri in November. The pilot safely ejected. Most were back in service by January, but others were grounded indefinitely after defects were found.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jenny Albano

$156,000,000 Verdict Against Terrorists Thrown Out

Seth Miles — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 12:43:50 GMT

The United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit overturned a $156,000,000 verdict against the terrorist organization, Hamas. The case stemmed from David Boim, a 17-year-old student, being gunned down in 1996 while waiting with other students at a bus stop in Beit El, on the West Bank. The Court said that the judge in the case had failed to require the parents to properly show a link between the boy's death and the fundraising activities of the charities. The case will be returned for a new trial. Unfortunately, the Court really missed the boat on this case. I have handled several similar cases.

It is very difficult to acquire hard evidence. Defendants, who are often state-sponsored, are intransigent; the United States government is often hostile to the case, citing diplomacy concerns; and Courts are loathe to try and hold Defendants responsible. Meanwhile, these most culpable of Defendants, escape laws Congress enacted that were specifically intended to hold them responsible. All in all, a very disappointing ruling.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Seth Miles