Florida Injury Lawyer Blog

Sitting in a French bakery before it opens is one of life's great pleasures. I arrived late last night to Santa Fe, New Mexico to attend the American Association for Justice's Leaders Forum. The dry chill of an early morning in New Mexico is quite a different experience than I typically find waking in the humid dankness of Miami's early hours.

With the our Blog's addition of its first official Managing Editor, Bruce Musgrave, I made a promise to myself, and I guess a bit of a challenge to Bruce that I would try to write a post every day for our first month of collaboration. Together I hope we can provide a slightly different perspective than a typical lawyer's blog.

Like most everything I have ever done in life, I know no balance or moderation. In fact, my slogan, unlike Nike's "Just Do It" or Coke's "Have a Coke and a Smile" would be "Know no Balance." My slogan has been many times in my life both a blessing a curse.

Many lawyers have blogs now; in fact, most people I know have blogs, including my 14-year-old daughter, on subjects ranging from fashion to frogs. Lawyers tend to blog as a marketing tool, with strategically designed posts stuffed with keywords implanted to trigger search engines in the hopes of finding clients. I know this because many of my blog posts including this one have certain phrases that I know people looking for personal injury lawyers in Florida might plug into a Google search.

Back to the bakery for just a moment, when I was in college at the University of Miami in the mid-eighties, I was uncertain what I would do for a living. My father was eager for me to be a lawyer or at least go to law school; my mother urged me to be a journalist. And of course I had no idea, so I took one of those aptitude tests offered at most University career planning offices. The answer came back that I should be either a baker or a florist. Ironically I cannot bake or even select flowers correctly from the street-side vendors in Miami. But I do like to write, and I love being a lawyer, so perhaps like most things in life a parent does know best?

So why Santa Fe in May? The American Association for Justice is an organization based in Washington, DC that provides educational, political, and networking support for personal injury lawyers across the country. AAJ's current president, the brilliant Texas lawyer, Mary Alice McLarty, is hosting this year's Annual Leaders Forum Retreat. It is an important opportunity for lawyers from around the country to get away from our busy law firms and lives and collaborate about our practices in an informal setting and strategically plan for the future. This retreat is different from the typical convention because of its intimate setting, and most attendees bring their "significant" or "more than significant" others. Rather than being one of a thousand attendees crammed into a giant overwhelming hotel conference center, just a few dozen lawyers confer in a relaxed and beautiful venue.

For example, I am a Miami car accident attorney, but I also sue stores and hotels for slips and falls, hospitals and doctors for medical malpractice, cruise lines for accidents, and companies that make artificial hip implants and defective surgical mesh. Rarely, will I get a chance to sit and chat with lawyers from around the country to exchange ideas and perspectives.

Yesterday I met a fascinating lawyer from South Carolina who specializes in trucking accidents. Until we met, I did not know any lawyers in South Carolina who specialize in truck cases, and now I do. He did not know any Miami PI lawyers either. Coincidentally, one of his daughters is about to go on the Semester at Sea, something I also did while in college, about the same time I was advised that my life's calling would be as a baker. And that's how this works--business cards and handshakes exchanged and ideally one day an opportunity to work together.

Now back to the bakery. It's called Chez Mamou, and Chef Paul Perrier is what one would expect to see at a Hollywood casting call for a French pastry chef. His cheeks are the color of a perfectly baked apple torte, and his eyes sparkle like his namesake's water.

I found this place simply walking by last night on my way to and from the La Posada Hotel, where we are staying. The waiter, whose name I have since learned is Carlos Real, invited us in for desert. Still aching from the red and green chile sauce of The Shed, we passed on his offer but vowed to return for what Carlos promised would be the best breakfast in Santa Fe. He delivered a perfectly cooked spinach omelet with goat cheese that can only be described as spectacularly delicious. The journey continues.

Lazaro Fernandez was crushed to death at South Beach's Gansevoort South Hotel while helping a fellow employee replace the wheels on a large metal gate. His family filed a wrongful death case in Miami-Dade County against the Hotel and its owners, Sandy Lane Residential and Sandy Lane Master Association, as well as the manufacturer, installer, and subcontractor of the gate. Lea el blog en español.

The Gansevoort is luxury South Beach hotel and condominium located at 2377 Collins Avenue. It has 334 hotel rooms and 355 condo units. At the time of the accident, the hotel was owned by Sandy Lane and managed by the New York-based Gansevoort Hotel Group. Both Gansevoort and Sandy Lane moved to dismiss the case, claiming that as the employers of Mr. Fernandez, they are immune from liability under "Florida's Workers' Compensation Law."

Florida law makes it almost impossible for employees to sue a boss if and when they are accidentally hurt at work. Statute §440.11 merely allows injured or killed workers to receive limited "compensation." There are some exceptions to this rule, but they are virtually impossible to prove--such as . . .

• when the evidence suggests that the employer intentionally caused the accident to injure or kill his or her employee,

• engaged in conduct that the employer knew--based upon prior similar accidents or on explicit warnings specifically identifying a known danger--was virtually certain to result in the employee's injury or death and

• the employee did not know of the danger because the employer hid or lied to the employee about the danger so as to prevent the employee from using his own judgment on whether to perform the work.

The need for the injured Florida worker to be unaware of the danger is critical to these cases. According to Salvatore J. Sicuso, Esquire, a Florida Board Certified Workers' Compensation attorney and member of the Attorney Breakfast Club in Miami, such a standard is criminal. "Requiring an employee to be unaware of the danger to sue their employer for all of his or her pain and suffering is a terrible change in the Workers' Compensation law. Many employees are aware of broken or defective equipment they are forced to use in the workplace. The employee is left with a Hobson 's choice; perform the work knowing they are practically sure to get injured or killed or refuse and get fired for not performing the work."

For an employer to take advantage of the nearly bullet-proof protection that Florida law affords from being sued by an injured employee, the person actually has to be the employer. In the Fernandez case, the trial court dismissed the employee's claim against all three defendants without properly determining if Mr. Fernandez was actually employed by the hotel or the property owners at the time of his death.

The injured employee's estate appealed the trial court's dismissal to Florida's Third District Court of Appeal. On May 3, 2013, more than four years after the fatal accident, the case was reversed back to the trial court to obtain evidence as to the identity of the actual employer. Read the Court's opinion here.

LATEST CHANGE IN FLORIDA'S WORKER'S COMPENSATION LAW

Florida's employers enjoy enormous legal power over the rights of those injured while on the clock. Moreover, thanks to Florida's Legislature and Governor Rick Scott's hard work this session in passing SB 662, an addition to the law will change the current regulations governing the reimbursement of the cost of prescription drugs for hurt employees.

The new provision applies a cap on what doctors can charge for relabeled and repackaged drugs prescribed to workers' compensation patients. The proclaimed intent of the law is to make workers' compensation coverage more affordable for Florida's employers who were purported to have blamed the rising cost of coverage on the escalating pharmaceutical bills of injured employees. In reality the law serves to protect Florida's doctors and drug companies but still allows them to charge patients far higher prices than traditional retail pharmacy can.

It has been over two decades since I took Florida's Oath of Attorney, the mandatory rite of passage that every lawyer in Florida is required to undertake in order to go from private citizen to lawyer and Officer of the Court. The words are sacred and rather than spoken just once, should be read and reread frequently by every Florida lawyer.

Last week, I was given the gift of administering the Oath to Domenick Lazzara, my former law clerk and now associate. The ceremony was performed at Miami's Camillus House - a homeless shelter. The Oath was given to Domenick in front of an audience consisting of members of Miami's indigent community. Domenick is a towering young man resembling Michelangelo's David. His marble exterior encases the warmest and kindest heart of any man that I have ever known.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a very emotional person. I have written many times about how my heart has guided me in the practice of law; often being both a blessing and curse for my clients, staff and family.

Domenick asking me to give him the Oath felt like a combination of a father being asked to walk his daughter down the aisle, a teacher handing a diploma to his favorite student at graduation, or reading the name of an Academy Award winner who happens to be your brother.

I knew it would be tough to get through this because I remember choking down the words when Judge Phillip HUbbart read them to me on a hot October morning at Florida's Third District Court of Appeal, 22 years ago. I had clerked for Judge Hubbart and his law clerk Trudy Lumpkin Mench during the summer after my first year in law school. He was also the only judge I knew.

The day was a special day for me.

At that time, my grandmother Rose, near the end of her life, living in a nursing home, wanted to attend my swearing in. But I did not have the time to drive to North Miami and load her wheelchair in my car and drive her back and get to work on time. I was clerking for a lawyer who gave me just one hour to get it done and demanded that I be back at his office by noon.

When I arrived at the Courthouse with my parents and the parking lot was empty as it was often on days when there were no scheduled oral arguments. There was one car there. An old and unrecognizable sedan. As we walked passed, I saw a wheel chair sticking out of the backseat. I commented to my father that I felt guilty that my grandmother was not there and that perhaps I made a mistake not picking her up. As we climbed the steps, I heard what I imagined was her voice. It was not then and is still not uncommon now years after she has passed--for me to hear my Grandmother's voice. I did not turn around, probably because I was too excited by the prospect of finally being a lawyer.

Another deeper voice called my name out. It was a man's voice who used my name in a way that only my Grandmother would know: "Spenny!" I stopped in my tracks. My father did too. And in utter disbelief, I saw my grandmother emerge from that old sedan with the assistance of, what I later learned, was the husband of one of her nurses at the home. He assisted her up the stairs and rolled her into the Third District Court. It meant that much to my grandmother to see her grandson, me, be sworn in that she would not have missed it for anything.

My grandfather Samuel Aronfeld was a lawyer and his portrait hangs in my law firm's lobby. Both of my grandmother's sons, my father and uncle, attended law school. Neither were ever lawyers. "It skipped a generation," my grandmother said just before Judge Hubbard began and I began reciting the Oath.

I thought these memories were long forgotten. But on a beautiful April evening last week, they returned in high-definition. I looked into the warm eyes of Domenick, his right hand raised, towering above me, we began the sing song of reading the Oath. The room was full of those that we proudly serve at Lawyers to the Rescue, I stumbled though the words. I don't fight my tears anymore, mostly because the tears always win. At the end, Domenick is now a lawyer who I trust will inspire many, just like he has me.

It is easy enough for a seasoned lawyer to encourage and motivate young lawyers to be successful. When I was a young lawyer, I was galvanized with admiration and vigor by my mentor Gerry Spence. Gerry taught me to feel and dream differently as both a person and attorney. It is however a considerably rarer phenomenon when the elder lawyer is inspired by a young lawyer. For the last three years I have been fortunate to watch Domenick's slow metamorphosis from law student to lawyer. I am grateful to him for giving me a front row seat to his journey to attempt to affect an actual positive change in our world and in the lives of our clients.

Continue reading "The Oath of Admission to the Florida Bar" »

Take a stroll through any South Florida residential neighborhood, and it won't be long before you come across a "BAD DOG" sign posted in a homeowner's front yard. As a South Florida personal injury attorney representing the victims of dog bites for over twenty-two years, I know the importance of posting such signs.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Humane Society, there are 4.7 million dog bites every year in the United States, resulting in approximately 16 fatalities. Worse, between 1993 and 2008, the number of victims admitted to the hospital because of dog bites increased by 86%. On average, 866 dog bite victims were forced to take a trip to the emergency room daily.

Common injuries resulting from dog bites include laceration of the legs or arms, head, neck, torso, bone fractures and even blood poisoning. More than half of all victims admitted to emergency rooms for dog bites required procedures ranging from wound debridement and sutures to skin grafts. Dog bites are not only expensive for the victims emotionally, but financially cost hospital an average of $18,200 per patent and $54 million overall.

As a Florida dog owner, you are at risk of being sued should your dog bite somebody else. Florida Statute § 767 outlines a dog owner' liability for damages to dog bite victims. In Florida, "[o]wners of dogs shall be liable for any damage done by their dogs to a person..." (Fla Stat. § 767.01). To victims of dog bites, the owner of ANY dog that bites ANY person, on public or private property, will be found liable for the damages suffered by the victim. This is regardless of the viciousness or known viciousness of the dog. (Fla Stat. § 767.01).

However, an owner can escape liability if their dog bites a victim in one clear circumstance - when the dog owner had "displayed in a prominent place on his or her premises a sign easily readable including the words 'Bad Dog.'" (Fla. Stat. §767.04). Thus, if you are the owner of a dog in South Florida, displaying a "Bad Dog" sign could save you a lawsuit. Given the verdict in Philbin, Pro Ami v. Curtis, you may want to consider displaying the Bad Dog sign sooner rather than later.

In Philbin, a fourteen-year old male suffered paralysis of the left side of his face as well as the loss of hearing in his left ear as a result of a dog bite. The plaintiff argued that he tried to run to escape the owner defendant's dog, albeit unsuccessfully. Subsequently, he was awarded a $2.3 million dollar verdict, $1.5 in punitive damages alone.

If you are the victim of a dog bite, it is important you know your rights. After immediately seeking medical attention, contact an experienced Miami dog bite attorney. Our Miami and Ft. Lauderdale personal injury attorneys have been representing victims of "Bad Dogs," for over 22 years.

These days finding the right lawyer is becoming increasingly difficult. For instance hip implant lawyers in Miami are all over the place, with nonstop adverting on billboards, bus benches and television stations. The advertisements are easy to ignore until the time comes when you need help and have to hire the right lawyer.

We often receive calls from clients who have hired some Florida law firm that handles accidents but are now unhappy with the representation. Many simply want to know if and how to change attorneys in the middle of a case. Just like doctors who have poor "bedside manner"--there are lawyers who simply do not know how to meet their client's expectations. In these situations, changing lawyers is quite common.

From the very beginning of the relationship, we work hard to communicate how the claims process works, the amount of time a typical case will take and when we could expect the case to resolve. It is important to establish the expectations and then manage them throughout the litigation. Occasionally when we are unable to meet our client's expectations for whatever reason, we urge them to seek the opinion of another lawyer. We believe that no matter what, the client must feel as though they are in the hands of a lawyer they can trust and who believes in their case.

In Florida, virtually every personal injury lawyer works on what is called a contingency basis. In other words, they get paid if and only if a case concludes. There are some very specific guidelines mandated by the Florida Bar governing how a Florida personal injury lawyer works on a contingency. The most important factor is to understand the difference between a contingency fee (work done by the lawyer) and the case costs (filing fees, depositions, experts and exhibits).

In a Florida medical malpractice case, lawyers who represent the injured patient and their family are limited by Article 1, Section 26 of the Florida Constitution in the amount of their contingency fee. The Amendment was designed to discourage many of Florida's best medical malpractice lawyers from suing doctors and hospitals. In fact, Florida's Constitution mandates that the patient's lawyer cannot charge more than 30% of the first $250,000 and 90% of all damages over $250,000 excluding costs.

Many malpractice lawyers in Florida cannot afford to take complex medical malpractice cases against hospitals and doctors based on the Constitutional limitation. Interestingly, there is no limit on the amount that a defendant doctor, hospital or urgent care center can pay their lawyers to defend them.

To get around this unfair attempt to prevent injured patients from getting the best representation, many medical malpractice law firms in Florida advise their clients of their right to waive the fee limit. Clients have the right to discuss the waiver with another lawyer or even ask a Judge to explain it. Waivers must contain the following information:

• You understand that signing the waiver releases an important constitutional right.
• You were advised that you could speak to a separate and independent attorney before you signed.
• You may ask to have a hearing before a judge to explain the waiver.
• You have selected the lawyer.
• You would not be able to hire the attorney unless you waived your constitutional right.

Two of the other more common types of legal fees permitted in Florida are fixed fees and hourly fees. Fixed fees are usually done in situations where the legal work required is not very complicated - such as drafting a will, setting up an Estate or in a typical real estate transaction. For example, my office commonly works with outside law firms on a fixed fee basis when we have to create an Estate for a wrongful death case or a Guardianship for the settlement of a child's injury case.

An hourly charge is where a lawyer or law firm bills a client for the amount of time spent handling a particular matter. These lawyers sometimes will bill down to the minute for any work, including literally thinking about the client's case. Most of the doctors, hospitals and insurance company's we sue are represented by lawyers who charge an hourly rate.

I often believe there is an inherent conflict of interest when, for example, we have sued an uninsured plastic surgeon who is represented by a lawyer charging by the hour. The doctor may want to resolve the claim, but the lawyer wants the case to continue. It is often a cruel irony for many surgeons who only get paid by the patients they cut, rather than the ones they refuse to operate on.

In conclusion, the single most important recommendation in hiring a lawyer is to find one that authentically and passionately represents your best interest.

By: Brandon Stein, Esquire

As a Miami construction site injury lawyer who sues employers, I was saddened by the news that another construction worker was killed in the line of duty by a vehicle traveling on the highway.

News broke early Wednesday morning that the 63-year old man was killed while working at a construction site near Interstate 90 in Ohio. Authorities say that the worker was putting up tarps in the work zone just before the car accident occurred. Apparently two separate cars were involved in the crash that led to the construction worker's death. The man had to be taken to a local Ohio urgent care center - where he ultimately was pronounced dead. It certainly is too early in the process to speculate whether any future lawsuit will be filed against the drivers of the cars or the construction worker's employer. However, given the fact that this car accident involved the death of a construction worker, I am certain that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ("OSHA") will be investigating the incident.

For those of you that frequent my blog, Construction Site Injury News, you probably notice that many of the topics I address are often intertwined with OSHA regulations. OSHA is a government-based organization aimed to protect and ensure the safety and welfare of employees all around the country. When it comes down to it, all employees have the right to a safe workplace. Section 5 of the OSH Act of 1970 specifies that each employer must furnish a work environment that is free from hazards that cause or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees. Additionally, the OSHA Act mandates that each and every employer must comply with OSHA's safety and health standards.

You, the employee, also have a right to ask OSHA to inspect your workplace, receive information and training about hazards and OSHA standards that apply to your particular job, and may receive copies of test results to determine whether hazards exist at your place of employment. For those of you that have never heard of OSHA, you are probably wondering whether or not your employer falls within OSHA's jurisdiction. Well, if you are an employee in the private sector, state or local government, or federal government, then your employer most likely has an obligation to abide by OSHA safety regulations.

Many OSHA safety violations occur on construction sites. Naturally, the dangerous equipment and tasks that construction workers are required to perform on a daily basis certainly place them in harms way. It is vital that an employee of a construction company be knowledgeable of OSHA's numerous rules and regulations. Perhaps, the most dangerous type of work a construction employee performs is roadway or highway construction work. No matter the task, a car accident involving a construction worker can happen in an instant - as was noted in the deadly highway construction accident that occurred Wednesday morning. As I have continuously seen in my practice, more times than not the employee is placed in a dangerous situation by his or her employer.

By no means am I asserting that the car accident involving the 63-year old construction worker was a result of improper conduct by his employer. As a Florida lawyer who sues employers, however, improper conduct must always be considered. It is very important for an injured worker's lawyer to weigh every possibility and consider that a violation of OSHA regulations by the employer led to the accident.

The OSHA website has a plethora of information pertaining to workers' safety, employer regulations, enforcement tactics utilized by OSHA inspectors, and much more. While an injured employee may be able to peruse through the site to try to pinpoint where his or her employer wronged them, this indeed would be a daunting task. So, if you are injured on the job in Florida, whether it is a construction site injury or something else, hiring a personal injury lawyer to guide you through the process of determining fault is a must.

Our country has over 200 accredited law schools. The record number of graduates are faced with an unprecedented and frightening prospective job market.

As a South Florida personal injury lawyer, I believe the problem is the sheer number of students graduating and being admitted to practice. Traditionally, law school class size fluctuates depending on the number and quality of applicants. Many who are considering applying to law school in this economy are doing so because of the lack of employment opportunities in other fields. I fear some law schools desperate for their own survival, may be discounting the quality of the applicant and their potential to be an effective lawyer, in favor of their ability to pay for tuition.

According to the Law School Admission Council Inc., a nonprofit corporation that administers the Law School Admission Test, the number of law school applicants is down nearly 14% from a year ago. Yet the number of graduates has increased.

According the to the ABA, the number of law graduates per year spiked to 44,495 this year from 42,673 in 2006. In addition, the ABA recently accredited ten more law schools.

Increasingly, law school graduates are simply not finding employment. According to NALP, the graduating class of 2011 employment rates are at an 18-year low. Some law school graduates that are not finding work are angry. And, some have even started fighting back. More than a dozen lawsuits have been filed around the country alleging that law schools lied to prospective students about inflated graduate employment and placement numbers.

The only real immediate solution is for the roughly 200 accredited law schools in our country to immediately lower the number of admitted students per class. I hope some law schools will consider this.

As a car accident injury lawyer in Miami for over 20 years, I think the far better solution for this problem lies in the admissions process. The formula that is used by many law schools needs to be revamped as to who they should admit and how to educate prospective students as to whether or not they should even apply to law school.

In my book, Make It Your Own Law Firm, the Ultimate Law Student's Guide to Owning, Managing and Marketing Your Own Successful Law Firm, I suggest a different approach in evaluating whether or not one should apply to law school. As well as how to cultivate prosperous relationships that will help you transition into owning your own firm upon graduation.

I do not believe that there should be any unemployed lawyers when there is such a high demand by many in our community for legal representation. The problem is not in the quantity of lawyers but in the quality.

Florida has executed 72 human beings since it reinstated the death penalty in 1979. According to the Florida Department of Corrections the average inmate is on Death Row for 13.2 years before they are executed. The average age at the time of execution is 44 making most Death Row Inmates just 30 years of age at the time of the offense that led to their conviction.

Florida has no problem executing women either. The first, Judy Bunoano was sent to the electric chair in 1998. Shortly after her execution, Florida changed the means of execution to include the option of lethal injection. To conduct its executions Florida hires and pays a private citizen $150.00 per execution.

Tragically, not everyone who has been sent to Florida's Death Row was actually guilty. In fact, according to the Death Penalty Information Center an independent not-for-profit organization, Florida has reversed more death sentences than any other state. Since 1973, Florida has released 23 people from death row based upon post-conviction evidence of their innocence. Nationally, there have been an average of 5 exonerations from Death Row a year.

Part of the problem is that Florida does not require its juries to unanimously recommend a death sentence. Of the 34 states currently allowing death sentences; Florida is the only state that permits juries to recommend it by a simple majority.

Now is the time that Florida must reform its criminal justice system by taking a closer look at what Florida's death penalty says about us as a civilization, as well as the 401 people who are currently on Florida's Death Row. Some argue and believe that having Florida's Death Penalty somehow discourages murder. Yet, the statistics tell another story. For instance, in 2010 the average murder rate in states with death penalties was 4.6 per 100,000 while the average murder rate for states without the death penalty was only 2.9 per 100,000.

My experience and training as a Miami injury lawyer has been to hold those accountable for the harm they cause people by their carelessness and greed. I find it hard to reconcile that our State can take it upon itself to intentionally end the life of another in the name of justice. I believe that capital punishment is a barbaric and outdated form of brutality that must cease to exist. It does not serve as a deterrent to crime. Rather, it teaches us that murder is justifiable under certain circumstances, when condoned by the State.

Instead, we must teach our children that life is precious and that no man should be permitted to take the life of another under any circumstances. This includes state paid executioners. Criminals belong in jails run by states not in graves killed by those purportedly acting on our behalf.

Our law firm is currently representing a former inmate of the Florida Department of Corrections for the alleged mismanagement of a medical condition. Our Florida personal injury law firm is dedicated to protecting the rights of all people.

I started what we anticipated to be a three-week jury trial in Miami on behalf of a Peruvian man who developed a gangrenous infection of his penis after an elective penile implant surgery. Ultimately the man's penis had to be amputated. The defendant was a local anesthesiologist who participated in the surgery. The surgeon and hospital resolved the claim before trial. Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, our clients were deported back to Peru and testified via SKYPE.

It was a hard fought court battle, and Miami Circuit Court Judge Beatrice Butchko gave both sides a fair trial. In the end, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendant doctor. The case garnered international media attention because of the severity of the injury and the novelty of deported plaintiffs testifying via SKYPE.

The result was very disappointing for my clients, and for me as well. Nevertheless, I see this trial as a victory for the rights of the injured. It has given the injured the opportunity for justice, and the opportunity to have a jury listen to the evidence to decide what is the appropriate standard of care.

In this particular case, the jury did not agree with our theory and sided with the defendant doctor.

I sincerely wish I could report that we were able to provide our clients with a better result. But, in this trial, it was not meant to be. I am grateful for the help of a team of talented and hard working lawyers who labored hard by my side: Branden Strickland, Dan Bushell and Pelayo Duran.

We respect the system but we're disappointed in the verdict. We intend to appeal. Stay tuned.

Why is doing pro bono legal work important for both attorneys and law students? Most lawyers feel that practicing law is their job, a means to support themselves and their families. They believe that by providing a service to clients in exchange for a fee, discharges them from any obligation of doing additional legal work for free. I have often heard lawyers comment to me, "if I want to do charity, I will, but I do not want to feel obligated to do it." Or, "if a baker bakes cookies all day, the last thing she wants to do is go bake cookies for free." Of course, I understand, but I do not agree.

As a Florida injury attorney the practice of law and the privilege of being a member of the Florida Bar carries with it an additional obligation to be of service. The legal needs of many Americans are simply not being met. At a time when there are record numbers of unemployed lawyers, and especially recent law school graduates, I find it absolutely astonishing that such a tremendous demand cannot be satisfied with the overwhelming supply of talent.

Lawyers to the Rescue was created in 2010 by lawyers, in part, to help bridge that gap between need and help. Lawyers from various backgrounds, experience and specialties join together to create a team of passionate lawyers advocating for those in need.

Scott Kotler, a Miami criminal defense attorney is an excellent example. During the week, one can find Scott in court defending those accused in cases ranging from domestic abuse to murder. Yet, one weekend a month, he spends his Saturday morning at Miami's Camillus House providing legal services to Miami's homeless. I asked him why, when many lawyers head to play golf or tennis, he decides to spend it working for free. Mr. Kotler said that the time he spends working with Lawyers to the Rescue is often the most spiritually rewarding time of his week. He often brings his son to the homeless shelter who, with Scott and other lawyers and law students, prepares and serves meals to the homeless. Recently, for no fee at all, Scott was instrumental in helping a homeless woman obtain compensation that she was owed, which provided her the financial means to get off the streets and obtain housing.

Scott Kotler, serves as both a role model and a reminder to me and many lawyers as to why we went to law school in the first place. It is very easy to get caught up in the minutiae of law. When our Miami law firm helps somebody injured at a Publix we do not typically bill our clients by the hour for our work; but lawyers who operate hourly billing practices are often subject to enormous pressure to meet billing requirements. This often leaves them exhausted and depleted. Lawyers to the Rescue is, in essence, like Chicken Soup for the Soul of the depleted lawyer. I urge anyone who feels that they have lost their sense of purpose as an attorney to join Lawyers to the Rescue at one of their upcoming legal clinics or events.

On February 28, 2012, Lawyers to the Rescue and the University of Miami are hosting The Public Service Awards, a special event to honor members of South Florida's legal community who serve as role models to lawyers for their devotion and passion for public service. Bennett Brumer, who served for decades as Miami-Dade's Public Defender, will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award to celebrate over 40 years of providing legal service to the poor. He stands along with State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, Judge Scott Bernstein, Attorney John Kozyak, Attorney Jessica Laleh and law student Dominick Lazerra as shining examples of how lawyers can be of service.

This Miami auto accident injury law firm believes it is more important than ever for the public to be reminded that lawyers can be the good guys and not just the punch line of jokes.

The Martin Luther King Holiday should mean more to us than a three-day weekend. It should be an opportunity for reflection on the life of an American who was dedicated to the non-violent resolution of conflict. As a Florida civil trial lawyer, I spend my days mired in disputes among my clients and the hospitals, doctors and corporations that have harmed them. Dr. King's message, as I understand it, was based upon a foundation of love. I wonder if Dr. King were alive today and able to counsel lawyers what advice he would have for us?

I suspect Dr. King would urge us to have a grassroots organization to protest laws that protect the wealthy and powerful. I imagine he would oppose Florida's complex medical malpractice statutes that serve doctors and hospitals at an injured patient's expense and insist that doctors practice with medical malpractice insurance. I doubt he would be pleased about Florida's caps on damages and the shortened statute of limitations.

I imagine he would insist that before any civil law suit could be filed that the parties be forced to sit down and try to resolve their claims. He would object to lawyers and law firms campaigning and donating money to the very same judges running for office that hear cases before them. Dr. King also fought hard against poverty and would inspire lawyers to do pro bono work as a mandatory obligation for the privilege of practicing plaintiff's personal injury law in Florida. He would inspire lawyers to use their knowledge of the law and political influence to prod local, state and federal governments to strengthen anti-poverty efforts. I am sure Dr. King would be dismayed to see the number of Americans living in the streets or children without adequate food, 45 years after his death.

Dr. King would have organized marches and protest surrounding the detainment of prisoners in Guantanamo. He would be disappointed in President Obama for not closing the prison as promised and would counsel him regarding the lack of identity given to the human beings America is holding prisoner for over ten years without a trial.

Lastly, I cannot imagine that Martin Luther King would not find the illegality of gay marriage in our country to be an offensive, homophobic contempt for life. He would deem it arrogant that a single sexual orientation would have the right to dictate its absurd dogma over others. I can see Dr. King organizing protests and marches across our country in support of same sex marriage in the spirit that he fought and poverty, racism and militarism.

In his memory I proudly reprint the words Dr. Martin Luther Kin, Jr. said in his last speech on April 3, 1968, the day before he was shot and killed on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

I am a Miami lawyer who sues doctors and hospitals on behalf of injured Florida's injured patients and their families for over twenty years. I have sadly watched the legal rights of injured patients get whittled away since I started practicing law in 1991. But nothing compares to the machete that Florida's Governor Rick Scott has wielded in the short time since his election. Take his latest weapon: Florida's brand new Statute §766.1065 "Authorization for release of protected health information" in claims for personal injury or wrongful death.

Florida does not permit injured patients or their families to simply sue negligent doctors. Instead, the law requires families and their lawyers to engage in a burdensome, expensive, tricky and time consuming ordeal known as "Presuit." It forces the injured to obtain medical records, expert opinions and comply with a complex and downright tricky legal maze before a law suit can even be filed. Generally, Presuit has to start within two years of the incident, giving doctors and hospitals the advantage of having a shorter statute of limitations than every other defendant in the State of Florida simply because they are "healthcare providers." In the end, Florida's malpractice law simply eliminates all but the most catastrophic medical mistakes from even getting filed as law suits. In the end, injuries that do not cause permanent and significant changes in the quality of a patient's life nearly always go uncompensated.

Florida's Statute §766.1065 simply raises the bar by requiring that the Presuit procedure also include an authorization for the release of a patient's protected health information that is "potentially relevant" to the claim. In fact, if the authorization is not provided in the specific format required by the statute the entire Presuit will be deemed void.

Furthermore, Section 766.1065(2) states that if the patient or their family decides to revoke the authorization it will void the Presuit notice and potentially destroy a claim if the Statute of Limitations has passed.

This new "authorization" allows the defendant doctors or hospitals and their lawyers and insurance companies to obtain an injured Florida patient's medical records and verbally interact with the patient's other doctors. It requires the injured patient to provide a list of the names and addresses of all healthcare providers for two years before the incident even occurred. That means that if an anesthesiologist performs a femoral block on the wrong leg, the injured patient will have to give that anesthesiologist, his lawyers, and medical malpractice insurance company the names and addresses of the doctors she has seen two years before the malpractice even occurred. Then the defendant doctor and his team can obtain her records and even speak with her doctors regarding treatments or procedures that have absolutely nothing to do with her claim.

As a Key West PI attorney I fear this will have a chilling effect on patient care. I am concerned that if a defendant doctor and his lawyers are permitted to speak with unrelated healthcare providers and tell them that their patient is engaged in a Florida medical injury claim, some doctors will start treating their patients more defensively or discharge them completely for fear of being dragged into litigation.

Section C of the required authorization allows patients to certify doctors they believe are not relevant to the claim for the injuries but still requires the patient to list the providers' names, dates of treatment, examination and evaluation.

An other potential harm of this statute is that it will force patients who have received treatment for issues that are private and not relevant to the alleged Florida medical mistake to disclose personal medical information. The effect of this statute may coerce Florida's injured patients and or surviving family to simply abandon legitimate claims. For example, it a patient has been treated for a Sexually Transmitted Disease, Addiction or Depression, she will be forced by this statute and its required authorization to disclose this information to sue a Fort Lauderdale doctor who did a botched plastic surgery.

As a Fort Lauderdale lawyer who sues doctors and hospitals, I find Florida Governor Rick Scott's obsession and interpretation of the United States Constitution's Second Amendment frightening. Since becoming Florida's Governor, Rick Scott has done little to make Florida's patients safer.

When he signed the Firearm Owners' Privacy Act into law he sought to prohibit doctors from asking if their patients had access to guns. Governor Scott claims that the law is needed to protect patients from being "harassed" by nosy doctors wanting to know and note if there are any weapons in the house. The law goes on to provide a means to discipline doctors if they violate the law or affect the patient's insurance premiums.

Of course the National Rifle Association is fully supporting Governor Scott on this issue. The most significant critics of this law is the Florida Chapter of the American
Academy of Pediatrics. The AAP claims, when a gun is kept in a home it is 43 times more likely to kill someone known to the family than to kill someone in self-defense.
The risk of suicide is 5 times more likely when a gun is kept in the home.

It is impossible for our Florida personal injury law firm to imagine a scenario where a dispute would arise between the NRA and our governor against a group of pediatricians--but that is precisely what is happening. United States District Court Judge Marcia Cooke ruled that Governor Scott's law was invalid stating that Doctor's have a First Amendment right to inquire about fire arms. Governor Scott is appealing the ruling.

Sadly, our Miami attorneys who represent families of suicide victims have seen first hand the devastation that can happen when untreated or misdiagnosed patients have access to a gun. We agree with Judge Cooke's ruling and urge Governor Scott to reconsider his views on this issue. We believe that patients and their families should be provided with the best and safest medical care. Governor Scott has no business interfering with the doctor-patient relationship, especially when the safety of patients and their families is in question. There simply is no reasonable explanation to pass a law that prevents doctors from simply ask if a gun is in the house.

As a Florida lawyer who sues doctors I was very pleased to see a California jury return a "guilty" verdict against Dr. Conrad Murray for involuntary manslaughter. It is our hope that Dr. Murray never practices medicine again. More importantly, our Miami hospital injury law firm, hopes that this verdict sends a chilling message to doctors across the country who put their own profits ahead of the safety and well being of their patients.

Many might think that what happened on June 25, 2009, in the Holmby Hills, California mansion where Michael Jackson died was unusual. In this case, jurors heard days of testimony about Propofol, the drug that killed Jackson, and listened to the typical defense which is to blame the patient for their own harm. More specifically, Dr. Murray's lawyers argued that the singer injected the fatal dose himself.

The Judge was very clear in his view of the evidence when he issued this statement: "This is a crime where the end result (was) the death of a human being, Dr. Murray's reckless conduct in this case poses a demonstrable risk to the safety of the public. "
He then ordered Murray taken into immediate custody and held without bail.

Of course, Dr. Murray's lawyer was quick to tell the world that they intend to appeal the verdict. It is their right.

Our South Florida patient injury law office investigates cases every day that involve doctors who make mistakes but refuse to accept responsibility. This especially holds true in cases of malpractice that occur outside of hospitals. In Florida, ambulatory surgical centers are utilized with frightening frequency. Ill equipped, under staffed and lacking the supervision and regulation of hospitals, they offer patients an economic alternative to having procedures performed in a hospital.

As a Florida lawyers who sues hospitals, I strongly recommend that if you are considering undergoing an elective procedure and the physician suggests that it be done in a Florida ambulatory surgical center, request that it be done in a traditional hospital operating room instead. In the event there is a intraoperative complication you will be far safer if you are in a hospital rather than near a hospital. The time it takes to call an ambulance and transport a patient to an emergency room can mean the difference between life and death.

Continue reading "When Doctors Commit Murder " »

I am a North Miami Beach car accident lawyer and I was surprised and a little offended at a recent New York Times article that claimed that women were more likely to get injured in a car wreck than male drivers.

The immediate response to many who read this, was simply that women are worse drivers. But our Florida car accident lawyers believe that the University of Virginia study that was the basis of the research, "Vulnerability of Female Drivers Involved in Motor Vehicle Crashes: An Analysis of US Population at Risk," deserves a closer look.

The analysis consisted of a retrospective cohort with national crash data between 1998 and 2008 to determine the role of driver gender as a predictor of injury outcome when involved in a crash.

The study authored by Dr. Dipan Bose, focused on the the statistical odds, comparing the injuries that a seat-belted female driver sustained compared to a male driver in a comparable crash. The result were that women have a 47% higher likelihood of sustaining a severe injury than male drivers. We believe this is as result of multiple issues more likely attributable to vehicle regulations and safety designs rather than hormones or chromosomes.

For instance, the study found that women are on average 5 ½ inches shorter and 35 pounds lighter than males. In addition, more women drive passenger cars than men. In addition, female drivers are more prone to cervical injuries due to differences in neck strength and musculature in relationship to the positioning of head rests.

Our Coral Springs car safety accident lawyers believe that most cars have been defectively designed products if intended to be purchased and used only by men. This study clearly shows that women desperately need safety features that take their physical differences into account. We recommend that all drivers and passengers use seat belts and properly adjust head restraints for maximum safety.