Florida Injury Attorney Blawg

In our practice—focused on personal injury, medical negligence, workers’ compensation, and wrongful death—we routinely handle Medicare and health insurance liens. These entities often have statutory or contractual rights to be reimbursed from any settlement or judgment recovered from third parties, meaning those legally responsible for causing the harm. This article addresses a separate legal issue…

A similar principle applies to written instruments: ignorance of a document’s contents does not absolve a signatory of the responsibilities it imposes. We pursued a personal injury action in Broward County against a homeowner after our client sustained serious injuries on the homeowner’s property during a construction project. One of our central theories of liability…

We’ve all done it—cut across a landscaped area to save a few steps on the way from one public area to another. Most of the time, it’s harmless. But when someone trips and falls, the question arises: Who is responsible? Can the landowner be held liable? Or does the law essentially say, “cross at your…

Sovereign immunity stems from the medieval doctrine that “The King can do no wrong.” In Florida, this principle historically meant that government entities could not be held financially responsible for harm caused by their negligence. That changed in 1975, when the Florida Legislature enacted Section 768.28, Florida Statutes, which partially waived sovereign immunity. For the…

In Florida, owners and occupiers of property owe a duty to invitees—such as shoppers at a mall or residents of a condominium—to warn of latent or concealed dangers that they knew about or should have known about. Krol v. City of Orlando, 778 So. 2d 492 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001). However, not all hazardous conditions…

Most people are surprised to learn that the physicians treating them in a hospital emergency room are often not hospital employees. Instead, they are typically independent contractors. An independent contractor is a person or entity that provides services under the terms of a contract rather than as a regular employee. These individuals work on an as-needed basis, often through their…

Florida’s liability and workers’ compensation systems take a cautious approach when it comes to awarding benefits for mental and emotional injuries. This caution stems from a fundamental public policy concern: without clear limits, allowing recovery for purely emotional harm could lead to a flood of speculative or fabricated claims. As the Florida Supreme Court explained…

In 1958, Florida joined a small number of states in adopting a legal presumption of negligence against trailing drivers involved in rear-end motor vehicle collisions. This shift was established in McNulty v. Cusack, 104 So.2d 785 (Fla. 2d DCA 1958), and later endorsed by the Florida Supreme Court in Bellere v. Madsen, 114 So.2d 619…

One of the central purposes of a strong civil justice system is to promote public safety by holding wrongdoers financially accountable. When negligent individuals or corporations know they may face significant financial liability, they are far more likely to act responsibly. Short of criminal prosecution, few things are more effective at incentivizing safe conduct than…

Since 1990, Florida has enforced a statute commonly referred to as the “Free Kill” law. Codified at Section 768.21(8) of the Florida Wrongful Death Act, this provision creates a glaring exception in an otherwise remedial framework intended to support grieving families. The legislative intent behind the Wrongful Death Act, as stated in Section 768.17, is…