Orlando Car Accident Lawyer Blog

A jury has ordered the Ford Motor Company to pay $6 million to a South Florida man who was paralyzed in an accident in a Ford Aerostar van. In 2002, the teenager was traveling on a family vacation. His mother was driving the 1993 van when a tire blew out, the van rolled over and the roof caved in. The teenage passenger suffered a broken neck which left him paralyzed.

The claims against Ford involved familiar issues in these product liability actions. According to the lawsuit, Ford knew there was a propensity for vans and trucks to roll over, especially after a tire blew out, and the company failed to provide adequate engineering and safety measures to protect consumers. Again, we see profits taking priority over people. At least until the matter comes before a citizen jury.

In this case, after a six-week trial, the six-person jury found that Ford failed to use reasonable care by placing the Aerostar Van on the market with a defect. The substantial verdict reflects the lifetime of economic and non-economic damages this young man will suffer.

To no one’s surprise Ford Motor has vowed to appeal. Indeed, most significant verdicts find their way into our appellate courts. In this case, Ford denies that the jury was presented with any evidence of a vehicle defect. Fortunately, the public is becoming more and more aware of a car maker’s duty to consider safe designs and to eliminate unnecessary, foreseeable hazards.

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As a car accident lawyer, I have seen too many accidents involving the failure to simply follow traffic signals-especially running red lights. So, I agree with a recent editorial, that “it is disappointing that a majority of Orange County commissioners voted for a hand-slap instead of a paddle Tuesday by not approving using cameras to fine red-light runners.”

Commissioners feared a legal challenge because the state has failed to pass a law specifically allowing cameras to be used for such citations. But three commissioners, Linda Stewart, Teresa Jacobs and Bill Segal courageously voted for the fines.
Indeed, Apopka, Orlando, Pembroke Pines and Gulf Breeze all have recognized that this can deter car accidents. All have approved using the cameras to issue citations to vehicles running red lights.

At least, Mayor Rich Crotty and the commission moved forward to install cameras at two intersections, with red-light runners getting warning letters. They also vowed that a top priority for next year's legislative session is a law allowing the cameras to be used for citations, rather than simply issuing useless and ineffective warnings.

Again, I agree that warnings are better than nothing. The mere presence of such cameras may have a deterring effect. At one Orlando intersection where cameras were installed to count red-light running, crashes went from 39 to 20. But without a doubt that pales in comparison to locations that issue citations from the cameras. For example, the editorial also notes that in Ventura, Calif., crashes were reduced by 80 percent at 17 intersections after cameras were used to assess fines.

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While driving to tour colleges with our children, my wife picked up a dvd to entertain the backseat travelers. It was the Best of Candid Camera. Hopefully, many of you will remember that classic show that set spoofs of all kind. One of the funniest may have been the drive-through banking episode. A celebrity would drive their car through the bank wall into the main lobby, claiming to have followed the signs for “drive through service.”

Recently, a Wrecker service made a large withdrawal from the Lafayette Bank & Trust, after two residents took the advertised "24-hour ATM" a bit too literally when they drove up to the machine late Sunday night. The ATM, however, was a walk-up kiosk, and drive-thru service to the bank was most definitely closed - that is until the duo's car crashed through a window and into the bank at 11:14 p.m. According to the Sheriff's Office, a 19 driver was attempting to take a corner when he accelerated - over accelerated. The teenager then lost control of his Pontiac Firebird after it fishtailed, jumping the curb and entering the bank through a large front window.

Of course, law enforcement found this car accident caused by an intoxicated driver. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Excessive speed and driving under the influence is no laughing matter.

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Every injury lawyer should keep an eye on whether Governor Charlie Christ calls a special session this Fall or sooner to consider extending Florida's No-Fault Law. Personal Injury Protection is set to sunset on October 1, 2007.

For 36 years, Florida drivers have been legally required to carry at least $10,000 in insurance to cover their medical bills in the event of a crash, no matter who was to blame. While Big Insurance succeeded to kill attempts to continue the law in the regular session, Gov. Crist has made it clear he wants the PIP extended. Last week, Gov. Crist said he may call a special session no later than September.

What happens to no-fault will not only affect every driver in Florida and the price of insurance, but also hospitals, chiropractors, specialist medical clinics and lawyers who specialize in auto crash cases. Powerful economic interests on both sides of the issue have put tens of thousands of dollars into advertising campaigns to sway politicians and public opinion.

Arrayed against Crist, auto insurers say the demise of Florida's no fault law will reduce what they claim to be fraudulent claims that have lead to increased car insurance rates. State Farm, the state's largest insurer, already has filed for new rates that, on average, are 16 percent lower than under no fault.

Hospitals and trauma centers fear that switching from a no-fault system to what's known as a tort system, which happens if PIP goes away, will delay reimbursements for care provided to accident victims. To collect those costs, hospitals may have to sue, boosting their legal costs.

The Florida Hospital Association, which wants to preserve the no-fault system, predicts that eliminating PIP will cost the state's hospitals and trauma centers at least $350 million a year as they foot the bill for drivers who have no health insurance, according to Richard Rassmussen, a spokesman for the association. They say health insurers that provide group health insurance plans also will likely face higher costs that they would pass on to their customers.

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Car accidents are too often caused by drunk drivers. In many states, if the driver consumed alcohol at a bar when the establishment should have known that its patron was becoming intoxicated or was habitually intoxicated, the bar may be held liable for the car accident. These cases, often referred to as Dram Shop Act claims, can result in large awards due to the public’s awareness of the dangers of allowing drunk drivers on our roadways.

A recent case involved the payment of $20 million to settle a claim brought on behalf of a bar that was hit with a $75 million verdict in a Dram Shop Act suit after the insurer refused to settle the case for the bar’s policy limit of $1 million. The insurer’s failure to do the right thing and settle the case provides yet another example of insurance companies efforts to increase profit at the expense of both the injured car accident victim and their own insured.

According to court papers, the driver had pleaded guilty to a drunken driving charge in connection with the accident, but testified in the civil trial that his guilty plea was motivated by a desire to avoid jail time, and that he was not drunk at the time of the accident. Although his blood-alcohol level was high at the time of his arrest, the driver testified that before the accident he had consumed just one-and-a-half bottles of beer at a local bar and that he had several drinks after the accident before police tracked him down.

Of course, the jurors had no difficulty disbelieving the testimony of the drunk driver and assessed a significant award to the seriously injured victim. Indeed, the evidence revealed that the plaintiff was working as a flagman on a road-paving project. The driver was so impaired that he failed to see the stopped traffic, struck the plaintiff at high speed and then fled the scene. Certainly, this case demonstrates both horrible conduct on the part of the driver and the insurance company for gambling with the interests of its insured.

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As Orlando car accident lawyers we are troubled by an alarming number of children injured in car accidents who were seatbelts. The trouble, it seems, is that these children were not large enough to be properly protected by adult seatbelts and shoulder harnesses. Unfortunately, parents may be abandoning child safety seats or boosters prematurely.

A recent study I came across from Australia supports our experience. The Medical Journal of Australia reports that children in adult seatbelts are on average about 2.7 times more likely to suffer an injury in a car accident than adults wearing the same type of seatbelt.

Sadly, many children are too young when they begin to use adult seatbelts and they do not use them correctly. Children are shorter than adults, have relatively larger heads, and smaller hip bones. So the harness of an adult seatbelt tends to lie across a child’s face or neck and the lap portion rides up across the abdomen rather than the waist as in an adult. In an accident, the belt causes head, neck and abdominal injuries.

To make matters worse, they tend to slouch and slump in their seats. This means the harness tends to get in the way, so they put it under their arms or behind their backs. Then all that is restraining them is the lap belt. In an accident, the child moves forward against the belt, causing internal abdominal injuries like bruising, tears, and perforations of their intestines. And the head, now free to move forward, can hit the knees or seat in front, causing head and neck injuries.

Until children are tall enough to remain properly positioned, child safety restraints or seats should be used. Reaching a certain age does not guarantee the safe use of automobile seatbelts and shoulder harnesses. It is important for parents to ensure their child “measures up.”

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