Orlando Car Accident Lawyer Blog

We feel blessed that many Floridians have been helped by the Florida car accident book, Seeking Justice: An Insider's Guide for the Injured. When I wrote this book, I hoped it would help people involved in a car accident protect themselves from insurance company adjusters. I also wanted to provide a solid method for injured people to find the right lawyer. From the reviews we have received, it has done just that. For anyone injured in a Florida car accident, a Free copy of this book can be a great place to start.

After reading my book, people have shared that they had no idea that out of the 80,000 Florida lawyers- only 2 percent are certified as specialists in civil trial law, which includes car and truck accidents. Everyone should understand that car and truck accident cases have many complex issues that lawyers who do not specialize may not be aware of. Unfortunately, if a lawyer does not know the important issues involved in car and truck accident cases, it is the client who will suffer.

Many people have asked why we are giving away such a valuable book. Well, we believe that people deserve to be treated fairly. Over the past 20 years, we have seen too many decent, honest people taken advantage of after a car accident. This book gives injured people a fighting chance right from the start-Before it is too late.

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Volvo is leading the way to eliminate injury from car accidents by the year 2020. If all goes according to plan, its driver and passengers will escape even the most serious car crash without injury. And Volvo is far from the only player in what experts call the biggest revolution in the auto industry since the seatbelt.

With 1.2 million deaths and 50 million injuries caused by motor vehicle crashes each year, car makers, safety experts and designers want to make injury-proof cars. The Swedish carmaker, now owned by Ford, is the first to set a target date to eliminate car accident death and injury in its cars.

As recently as January, some 77 percent of U.S. consumers polled by Consumer Reports ranked Volvo as the safest car brand. According to Consumer Reports no other brand dominates a category the way safety is owned by Volvo. But other carmakers have learned safety sells and are putting out their own safe credentials. As Orlando car accident lawyers we think this can only improve car safety more quickly. That is a very good thing.

Prevention of needless injury and death from car accidents is an issue that deserves everyone’s attention. Taking the injury out of car accidents is one solid method to address occupant safety. The other is building car crash avoidance into new vehicles. We applaud these approaches by auto makers.

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A parent’s nightmare- you allow your children to go to a school party thinking there will be proper adult supervision. Instead, alcohol was served and two teenagers are permitted to leave the party impaired. On their way home, the teen driver loses control and strikes a tree, splitting the car in two. The car accident kills one teen and leaves the other brain-damaged.

This tragedy led to both a civil trial and criminal charges against some of the participants. At the civil trial, which resulted in a verdict against the school and affiliated church, there were allegations that the school principal knew about the party beforehand and visited the home while it was going on. The evidence also included a party flier depicting a whiskey bottle which was distributed at school.

As Orlando car accident lawyers, it was even more disturbing that school provided all of its families with a written statement that it would notify police if it became aware of illegal activities by students. Certainly, parents had an expectation that this school would not knowingly allow alcohol to be served to minors at a school function. Yet investigators of this needless alcohol-related car accident found the remains of a car driven at perhaps 100 mph- with halves of the car coming to rest on opposite sides of the median. Indeed, the car accident was so bad that the medical examiner never determined who was driving.

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Driver Fatigue is a major cause of car accidents. As Orlando car accident lawyers, we find that people fail to appreciate the very real danger of driving when exhausted. While everyone knows the dangers of drinking and driving, few individuals question the wisdom of driving when tired. Yet, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates up to 100,000 car accidents each year from driver fatigue, with an estimated 1,550 deaths and 71,000 people injured. Certainly, the difficulty in identifying fatigue as the source of car accidents, as opposed to alcohol-related car accidents, means these figures are underestimated.

According to researchers, any individual who has experienced certain types of sleep disorders or previously experience erratic driving due to fatigue should take special precautions. A west coast sleep research center, reported on surveys of more than 10,000 drivers and found that individuals who had visited with a physician because of sleepiness or fatigue were at an increased risk for being involved in a car accident. Also, individuals who were once stopped by police for erratic driving while sleepy were also more likely to have a car accident.

Of course, most people will not have any additional risk factors. For most drivers, there must simply be a better overall awareness that driving tired may impair your faculties in ways that are similar to alcohol usage. We have seen too many car accidents that could have been prevented, if the drivers had not been on the road so late at night or for so many hours.

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Another alcohol related death in Orlando emphasizes the need to drive defensively. According to Orlando police department officials, in the early morning hours this week, a BMW was racing another vehicle on I-4 when the BMW tried to avoid hitting a motorcyclist, lost control, and rolled over several times. The driver not only hit the motorcycle, but also caused 2 passengers to be ejected from the car-killing one of them.

As Orlando car accident lawyers, we have written before, that these tragedies will continue as long as motorists continue to drink and drive. In addition, the reports of car accidents caused by racing and other reckless driving appear to be on the increase. This points out the need to expect reckless behavior on the part of other drivers and to protect yourself and your family. This is especially true, as in this car accident, when you are driving late at night or in the early morning hours.

Finally, this tragedy also involved the failure to wear seat belts. Had the passengers simply taken a moment to buckle up, they may not have been ejected. Sadly, once a driver or passenger is thrown from a vehicle the risks of serious or fatal injury increase. With all the new and improved safety features we see on vehicles, it is so sad to read another report of passengers failing to buckle up.

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As Orlando car accident lawyers, we continue to speak with people who tell us that they were injured in a car accident, but they were wrongfully given the ticket. They want to know if the fact that they were erroneously ticketed prevents them from trying to hold the other driver responsible for their injury. As we explain to these injury victims, in cases involving injury or death from a car accident Florida law does not permit evidence of the traffic ticket.

Why is that? There a number of reasons. Injury victims may be taken from the scene for medical treatment and do not have an opportunity to speak with the officer to explain how the car accident actually happened. There are times when the police officer preparing the report or deciding whether to issue the ticket is not the officer with all of the facts and relevant information. While law enforcement officers do their best, they are human and they can make mistakes. For these and other reasons, who received the traffic ticket is never presented at the trial of a car accident lawsuit.

In a recent Orlando car accident case, we again investigated the facts in an accident report and determined that our client never should have been ticketed. We proved that our client did not violate the other driver’s right of way. From our pre-trial work it became apparent that the other driver was in a turn lane when he, without warning, decided to continue through the intersection. However, our client, who had been taken to the hospital for his serious injury, never had an opportunity to speak with the officer before he was sent the ticket in the mail. Fortunately, our client received the justice he deserved. Indeed, once we demonstrated the true facts, the insurance company changed their evaluation, accepted responsibility for the other driver and resolved the case months before the scheduled trial date.

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A frequent cause of pedestrian accidents on the highway is after a car breaks down or a car accident causes accident victims to leave their vehicles. During such times, most people forgot about their own safety since they are preoccupied. According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration more than 4,900 pedestrians are killed on our Highways each year.

Pedestrians alongside highways are usually invisible at night unless they are wearing something reflective. Getting out of a car, changing a tire, or even just standing on the shoulder beside a highway is extremely hazardous at night time. Oncoming autos and trucks can see the reflective lights on the parked vehicle, but cannot see the people standing or working beside the autos.

In response to this hazard companies have created safety apparel to keep in one’s car that can be used in these circumstances. One such item is called the VizVest to protect drivers and passengers when out on the highway. The benefit of such apparel is that when walking along the flow of traffic it allows people to be detected from much farther distances, especially at night, dawn or dusk. The increased distances translate to increased time for drivers to recognize a person, decide to respond and then make appropriate maneuvers to avoid collisions.

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People with sleep apnea, an often undiagnosed breathing disorder, are three to five times more likely to be in a severe car crash involving injury, according to researchers in British Columbia. As Orlando car accident lawyers, we must always determine if another driver’s medical condition may have contributed to a car accident. This interesting study found that sufferers of sleep apnea, a condition where the airway collapses during sleep, were at double the risk of being in a car accident.

Importantly, the study also found that a lot of sleepiness-related crashes tend to be more severe. Typically, these car accidents involve a driver asleep at the wheel who hits a tree or crosses the median and hits another car head-on. Such car accidents often prove deadly.

Even if a driver does not fall asleep at the wheel, it has been shown that patients with sleep apnea or sleep deprivation have reduced motor function. It affects coordination, dis-tractability or vigilance. While car accidents will occur, they are more likely when a driver is operating his car at less than full capacity. In addition to alcohol, drugs or prescription medications, sleep apnea is a serious contributing factor in a number of car accidents. Sadly, it is believed that sleep apnea is a condition that is often undiagnosed or ignored.

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Traveling on I-4 between Orlando and Tampa weather conditions sometimes permit dense fog to roll in so quickly that drivers can be at great risk for car accidents. Tragically, this became all too evident this past week when fog contributed to a series of crashes that killed four people and injured 38 others in central Florida. According to investigators trying to unravel what happened, extreme fog contributed to a 70-car pileup.

While highway patrol and state transportation officials blamed motorists for not slowing down as they entered the thick veil of fog and smoke from a nearby brush fire that got out of control, this condition developed very quickly. In fact, it would appear that the road should have been closed due to such conditions. Troopers have the authority to close a road when they think public safety is in jeopardy. They can set up flares and block the road with their cars if they think the roadway is too treacherous for travel. The highway patrol then calls the Transportation Department to erect signs.

While procedurally, nothing may have been done wrong, these hazardous conditions appear to have completely overwhelmed and surprised the drivers. The series of crashes halted traffic in both directions for a 14-mile stretch of interstate for nearly 36 hours as workers removed the wreckage and then repaved a 650-foot portion of the roadway ruined by the fires that burned after the crashes.

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The Ford Motor Co. has recalled almost 11 million cars and trucks since 2005 because of a clear danger that the vehicles could erupt in flames without warning. Unfortunately, these recalls have not stopped Fords from bursting into flames according to continuing complaints from Ford owners. There are detailed stories of consumers watching in horror fires start under the hood of their Ford and spreading throughout the rest of their vehicle. Some have reported the Ford fires spreading to nearby car ports and other vehicles. Others have shared the shock of looking out of their homes to see their Ford with clouds of thick smoke billowing out from their vehicles.

What is so disturbing about all this is that the federal agency charged with the responsibility of protecting consumers from faulty automotive products, appears to be failing Ford owners. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration in the massive recall of August 2006, stated that with the three recalls Ford announced, all of the models that Ford built ... that exhibit the factors that can cause the switch to fail resulting in a fire while the ignition is in the off position will be candidates for a free remedy. Yet these Ford fires continue.

As Orlando car accident lawyers we see too many faulty products contribute to serious injury and death. These Ford fires must be prevented. No one really knows how much property damage; catastrophic financial loss; and personal deaths and injuries have been caused by these fires. Consumers should remain vigilant.

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Orlando car accident victims have contacted us over the years concerned that their car air bags failed to deploy. As we have shared, car air bag failures do occur. Recent studies have tragically found that injury and death from car accidents continue to result from air bag failures.

One recent study examined consumer complaints where those involved in car accidents said airbags failed to deploy and protect them. Sadly, most of the accidents were the type that drivers expect will cause their airbags to deploy: head-on collisions, rollovers, and broadside crashes. Few were minor fender-benders.

Many consumers suffered serious injury when their airbags failed to deploy. Others lost loved ones. Reportedly, these accidents and injury occurred in cars, trucks, minivans, and SUV's made by Ford, General Motors, DaimlerChrysler, Mitsubishi, Kia, Volkswagen, Nissan, and Honda. While car makers would like consumers to believe that it can not happen, some of thes reported air bag failures occurred in new vehicles.

Although it is true that air bags should not deploy for every type of accident, these kind of consumer complaints remind all of us that we must not take our families' safety for granted. Always wear your seat belt and shoulder harness and make sure all little ones are properly restrained in appropriate car seats as well.

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Car Accidents occur most often due to a distracted driver. As Orlando car accident lawyers we find that one common distraction is cell phone use. In the past , efforts to prohibit cell phone use for drivers has gone nowhere in the legislature. However, a state lawmaker thinks a narrower restriction makes sense.

Representative John Legg wants to ban drivers under the age of 18 from using cell phones. He has filed a bill that would prohibit minors from talking on a cell phone when they are driving. He thinks this tailored legislation makes more sense because minors are the drivers who need to be completely focused on the road. He is not alone.

Seventeen states currently have laws restricting cell phone use for teenage drivers, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Six states and the District of Columbia have banned all drivers from using handheld cell phones. Six more states allow local governments to ban drivers from using cell phones. Florida is one of eight states that prohibit local governments from issuing such a ban.

Whether our legislature moves forward with this bill to reduce car accidents is yet to be seen. Many will think this gives up to much freedom-and perhaps it does. Others may think it will not do much to reduce car accidents. However, no one can really dispute that most accidents occur when drivers are not focused on driving.

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Ford Explorers involved in rollover car accidents have generated a number of product liability lawsuits against Ford Motor Company. In Florida, a significant verdict against Ford was recently reversed as a result of improper evidence at trial.

According to the 3rd District Court of Appeal a trial judge committed error by allowing testimony alluding to hundreds of Ford Explorer accidents without requiring the plaintiffs to establish similarities between those accidents and the fatal one that caused the death of the teenage driver. During the trial, witnesses reportedly testified that rollover accidents involving Ford Explorers caused hundreds of injuries and deaths, and that Ford could have prevented this young man’s death by quickening design changes it made to the Explorer after the accident. The appellate court obviously found the admission of such evidence harmful and determined that it denied the giant car manufacturer a fair trial.

It is unfortunate for the family of the deceased driver that no effort was made to qualify any of the other Ford Explorer car accidents as being similar and therefore relevant to the jury’s consideration of the issues before it. We should all remember that in the late 1990’s, hundreds of deaths involving rolling Ford Explorers and failing Bridgestone tires made national headlines and led to a $19 million recall campaign by both companies in 2000 and 2001. In this case the Explorer in which the teenager was riding flipped four times. The accident ejected him from the sports utility vehicle even though he was wearing his seatbelt.

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Another central Florida family has been devastated by a car accident caused by a drunk driver. In a huge award, a jury awarded millions of dollars to a young boy who suffered severe brain injury and must live in an institution to obtain the needed level of care.

The 4 years old was innocently riding in his family's car when it hit by a pickup truck driven by a drunk driver. The car accident and impact caused pieces of the little boy’s skull to be pushed into his brain, damaging his frontal lobes according to treating doctors. As a result, the child requires round-the-clock care for the rest of his life as a result of this needless car accident.

Before trial the drunk driver had pleaded guilty to DUI involving serious bodily injury and was sentenced to five years in state prison to be followed by 10 years probation. Of course, when the drunk driver who caused this car accident completes his punishment, this child will still be suffering and unable to lead a normal life. His mother described the emotional outbursts and violent behavior that plagues her son. There will never be an end to this victim’s life sentence.

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The credibility of the car accident lawyer and the car accident victim may be the most important aspect of any car accident trial. This appears to be the case in the recent trial against Allstate Insurance Company.

Under siege by trial lawyers who say it drags out insurance claims, Allstate won a major legal victory after a Kentucky jury unanimously found it was not responsible for a two-year delay in settling a woman's car accident claim.

A Kentucky woman and her lawyer claimed she was the victim of a systematic scheme by Allstate to bully car accident victims into accepting lowball offers for their pain and suffering. They demanded $1.425 BILLION from the jury because, they claimed it was the only way of ending a corporate culture of greed.

But confronted with such an approach, the jury thought it was Allstate that was the victim. According to juror comments, they thought the figure was outrageous. That alone seemed to leave little hope for the plaintiff’s claims. But evidence that the plaintiff was trying to hide injuries and medical problems that pre-dated the car accident also contributed to the outcome.

In closing argument, Allstate’s attorney was able to accuse the plaintiff’s case as being built upon lies, distortion and greed. Allstate argued that the plaintiff and her previous attorney, tried to conceal a previous injury and two pre-existing conditions: a form of arthritis and an abnormal curve in her spine. Allstate blamed the plaintiff for any delay by being untruthful with the company.

This case illustrates the importance of truthfully and fully dealing with the facts. Many clients have had prior injuries or medical conditions that healed well before an accident. Those unfortunate folks must again deal with injury and rehabilitation-oftentimes, the new injury has so aggravated a pre-existing condition that the result may be prolonged difficulties or worse. The point to remember is to simply be honest and never overreach.

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Orlando car accidents are often caused by drunk drivers. At times, we find that younger drivers were unlawfully served alcohol at local bars and clubs due to a failure to properly check identification. When that negligence causes an underage drinker to become a danger on our roadways, the bar or club can be liable for harm that results.

Recently, a strip club was been ordered by a jury to pay more than $3 million in damages to the family of a 20-year-old man who died in a vehicle crash after being served alcohol at the club. The jury found that the strip club bore responsibility for the car accident that lead to the young man’s death because it had served him alcohol even though he was underage.

The plaintiffs in the case brought the lawsuit in part to prevent something similar from happening to others. The family of the young man believed it was time to make a stand and make a difference. Certainly, as Orlando car accident lawyers we echo that sentiment. Bars, clubs and lounges should accept their responsibility to check the ages of those they intend to serve alcohol.

In this case the young man was allegedly served alcohol even though he was visibly intoxicated and under 21, with no one trying to determine his age. Such conduct should be deterred. Whenever anyone drinks and drives it presents a danger to all those innocently traveling on our roadways. We do not need bars, lounges and clubs unlawfully serving underage and visibly intoxicated persons.

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Orlando car accident lawyers will be busy counseling clients about the effects of the new bill reinstating Florida's no-fault auto insurance system. In essence, the new law will not take full effect until January 1, 2008. That means that there will be a three-month lapse in requiring motorists to carry personal injury protection coverage. During this period, lawmakers have shared their view that Florida’s no-fault law will continue to apply only when all drivers in an accident have PIP coverage. Of course, this will likely be subject of court interpretation.

For now, several in Tallahassee are urging people to contact their insurance companies or agents to make sure they have enough coverage. Obviously, every one should carry adequate insurance to protect themselves and their families. At the very least, for those without health insurance, it is worthwhile to carry or keep PIP coverage, even if it is not required until Jan. 1. Motorists would be wise to also carry "bodily injury" coverage, which protects them if they get sued for causing an accident; as well as, "uninsured motorist" coverage that helps pay their bills and damages if another driver causes an accident and doesn't have insurance.

Certainly, the legislature should have acted timely if it was to continue Florida’s no fault laws. Due to their delay, consumers involved in car accidents will face a changing legal landscape.

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In a victory for car accident victims, a Florida federal judge as held that the "Graves Amendment" is unconstitutional. The 2005 federal law abolished vicarious liability of long-term automobile lessors based solely on ownership. Thus, states such as Florida that hold the owners of cars vicariously liable for the negligence of people they permit to drive their cars, saw their state statutes or common law superseded by federal legislation. Sadly, this significant measure which deprives car accident victims of recourse was slipped into a 900 page bill during a House-Senate conference, and had never been the subject of floor discussion or debate.

But U.S. District Court Judge Michael Moore, from the Southern District of Florida, ruled that the federal government had no authority to get involved in the states right to regulate tort liability of rental car companies. In Vanguard vs. Huchon, Judge Moore found that the law violates the Commerce Clause. The court accepted the view of lawyers for the Center for Constitutional Litigation who represented the car accident victim. In a statement the CCL explained that “Congress did not even try to regulate commerce. It told the states what their tort law had to be, whether it affected interstate commerce or not. The Constitution does not give Congress that power."

The legislation has been a source of concern for all car accident lawyers and car accident victims that they represent. Not only does it eliminate valid state law in Florida and elsewhere, but it protects those companies profiting from rental car business from liability caused by its renters. Certainly, Florida like a number of other states has the right to determine that owners of cars who loan them to others should be financially responsible for harm that is needlessly inflicted on innocent people. Certainly, when this decision and others are appealed we hope that state rights and the rights of car accident victims continue to prevail.

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Alcohol is a major factor in traffic accidents. As Orlando car accident lawyers we see too many needless tragedies. According to the NHTSA, there is an alcohol-related traffic fatality every 29 minutes. More than half of the 414 passengers ages 14 and younger who died in alcohol-related crashes during 2006 were riding with a drinking driver, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).Each year, alcohol-related crashes in the United States cost about $51 billion, the organization said.

In 2006, 17,941 people died in alcohol-related accidents, the highest level since 1992. More than 41 percent of all crash fatalities in 2006 were because of drunk drivers, according to NHTSA. The FBI estimates that more than 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics (DUI) in 2004, the most recent year for which data is available.

The definition of a drunk driver is consistent throughout the United States. Every state (including the District of Columbia) defines impairment as driving with a blood alcohol content at or above 0.08 percent. All states have zero tolerance laws prohibiting drivers under the age of 21 from drinking and driving. Drinking drivers age 21 to 34 are responsible for more alcohol-related fatal crashes than any other age group, NHTSA said. They also are more likely to become repeat offender, and less likely to change their drinking and driving behavior.

Obviously much more needs to be done to make our roadways safe from those who drink and drive. Whether it is tougher laws or better enforcement too many innocent victims and their families suffer each year.