Articles Posted in Miscellaneous

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…

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…

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…

We just received a telephone call from a heartbroken mother whose 47-year old daughter died a few years ago after falling into a diabetic coma. A well-being, or safety check, call was made to the local police department a day after the young woman phoned to inform her employer that she wasn’t feeling well. A…

The 7th Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1791, codifies the importance of jury trials in civil cases to the framework in the American Way. Here is the amendment’s simple language: In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be…

Think of an injury case like navigating a ship from one port to another. Signing up the case is the equivalent of throwing off the ropes and pulling safely away from the dock. Being at sea is analogous to litigation. Some days you will eat the bear and some days the bear will eat you.…

Within the past two weeks, three bills limiting the rights of everyday citizens to control how they are governed were signed into law in Florida. On May 10, 2021, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 1890. The bill places a $3,000 cap on contributions to political committees trying to put proposed constitutional amendments on…

It is not unusual for entities other than the workers’ compensation insurance carrier to pay medical expenses following a work-related accident. The most common payors are health insurance carriers, Medicare, and Medicaid. (PIP (a/k/a “No Fault”) insurance also pays if the accident involves motor vehicles, but since their rights are different than those of the…

Trump’s shifting legal defense reminds me of one of our firm’s more interesting past cases. We represented a lady who fell and suffered a badly broken bone in her leg because of a dangerous condition on her employer’s property. At the time of the accident she had multiple sclerosis, but it was in remission, helped…