Florida Injury Attorney Blawg

The wheels of justice grind exceedingly slowly. It can take years for personal injury and workers’ compensation cases to reach final resolution. In the interim, accident victims often experience extreme financial pressure. The pressure can force victims to compromise their case. An industry has developed to address the problem. Lawsuit funding companies loan money to…

My first workers’ compensation trial involved having to prove that a herniated cervical spine intervertebral disc was work related. Our elderly female client had assembled mattresses in a warehouse for fifteen years. Once the assembly was complete, she was responsible for stacking them one on top of the other until she could reach no higher.…

The day after Jeb Bush suspended his run for the Republican presidential nomination, I read a quote in the Miami Herald from a South Carolina voter expressing dismay because she believed Bush was a good man who cared about disabled people. My immediate thought was, this woman does not know Jeb Bush … or at…

Price gouging for medical services is the scourge of personal injury cases. Hospitals are the worst offenders. By ambulance from the accident scene to admissions for surgery, accident victims wind up in hospitals. The hospital charges are always staggering. The charges are phony, having no relationship to either costs or value. Average pricing at Florida…

The defense of Florida workers’ compensation claims under Martin v. Carpenter, 132 So.2d 400 (Fla. 1961) and Florida Statute 440.15(5)(a) are employer/carrier favorites. While similar, the defenses are not entirely alike. The case and statute deal with misrepresentations made by job seekers concerning medical history. Under Martin, applicants who lie about their medical history can…

Can a worker injured outside the state of Florida be eligible for Florida workers’ compensation benefits? The answer lies in § 440.09(1)(d), Fla. Stat.: If an accident happens while the employee is employed elsewhere than in this state, which would entitle the employee or his or her dependents to compensation if it had happened in…

An employee injured or killed in the course of his or her employment by the negligence or wrongful act of a third-party tortfeasor may receive workers’ compensation benefits and pursue a remedy by action at law against such third-party tortfeasor. (Where the employee has been killed, the third-party action will be handled through the decedent’s…

The main object of a vehicle (e.g., car, truck, motorcycle, van) crash claim or lawsuit is to obtain full compensation for the person harmed by the negligence of another. The standard damage elements are pain & suffering, loss of income (past and future), past and future medical expenses, and vehicle damage repair or replacement. A…

The life of a personal injury lawyer is precarious. Serious pitfalls lurk around every corner. One of the scariest dangers is the unknown medical lien. Of this breed, the Medicare lien can have the biggest bite. In 1965, Congress enacted the Medicare Act by adding Title XVIII to the Social Security Act, with the purpose…

Florida’s workers’ compensation system is stacked against injured workers in every way imaginable. It more closely resembles what would be expected in Vladamir Putin’s Russia. An especially egregious arrangement is the one which allows employers and their workers’ compensation insurance carriers to hand-select the injured worker’s treating doctors. See Section 440.13(2) Florida Statutes. Not surprisingly,…