Florida Injury Attorney Blawg

For those around the country who don’t know, Florida has just lost it’s 3rd or 4th commissioner of education in less than 3 years under Governor Rick Scott. The latest to resign held the same position in Indiana and was recruited by Scott for his right-wing bona fides, in particular, believing in the notion that…

Few personal injury lawyers have degrees in tax law or accounting. While having advanced knowledge of tax law is not a requisite to the proper handling of a personal injury case, having a basic understanding of potential tax consequences is. To perform up to par, the personal injury lawyer must know which elements of a…

Pre-Jeb Bush, Florida construction subcontractors were held liable in tort for damages caused by their negligence when the party harmed was an employee of a subcontractor with whom legal vertical privity was not shared. This powerful threat caused subcontractors to pay heightened attention to workplace safety. When subcontractors fell short of being reasonably safe and…

Most Florida employees injured at work will be limited to receiving compensation through the state’s workers’ compensation system as laid out in Chapter 440 of the Florida Statutes. The main reason for this limitation is that employers and fellow-employees are immune from being sued for simple negligence. See F.S. 440.11. ‘”[S]imple negligence is that course…

The FLSA, codified at 29 U.S.C. §201 et seq., was enacted in 1938 in order to help the “lowest paid … of the nation’s working population” to secure a livable wage. Brooklyn Sav. Bank v. O’Neil, 324 U.S. 697, 707 n. 18 (1945). Current FLSA law allows an employee to maintain an action against the…

On July 11, 2012, a former client walked into our office and described a February, 2008 work related accident. After being pushed to the ground while trying to break up a hallway fight in a South Florida High School, he was sent by his employer to a workers’ compensation clinic for medical care. His injuries…

Every case is different. From accident to injuries, no two cases are ever exactly alike. That said, certain common elements do run through every case. From time to time I will be posting about some of the cases our firm has resolved. The common elements should become apparent in these blogs. This first example involves…

A few months ago our law firm, working with the Domnick & Shevin, PL law firm, settled a difficult liability case against an insurance agency arising out of a catastrophic motorcycle crash. Our client had been hospitalized for two months. Medicaid paid his substantial hospital bill. After the case settled, Medicaid came to us demanding…

This past week our firm settled a workers’ compensation case for $892,000. Included in the settlement package was a Medicare Set Aside. Importantly, while the workers’ compensation carrier had not obtained CMS approval prior to the settlement, the carrier guaranteed that it would cover any CMS required payments above those proposed. (The carrier also agreed…

Experienced personal injury attorneys consider many factors in judging how to manage their cases. While common elements are present from case to case, no two cases are ever completely alike. Both subjective and objective considerations must be taken into account to reach decisions most beneficial to client and attorney alike. The decisions are always consequential.…