Miami Injury Lawyer Blawg

A Florida Personal Injury Lawyer has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Kitzie Nicanor, the pedestrian that was critically injured when officer Derick Kuilan struck her and a friend with his city-issued ATV.

The Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office charged Kuilan Tuesday with two felony counts of drunk driving with serious bodily injuries and two counts of reckless driving. He has since been released on bond.

According to the arrest warrant, Kuilan was assigned to the midnight ATV patrol shift when he and officer Rolando Gutierrez, assigned to the Mid-Beach district, went to the Clevelander hotel around 5 a.m. They mingled with four young women at a bachelorette party.

Kuilian then invited the bachelorette, Adalee Martin, for a ride on his ATV.
Witnesses said the two were riding the vehicle with lights off when they plowed into Nicanor -- in town from Seattle for a family reunion -- and Luis Almonte of North Miami.
Almonte suffered a leg injury that required surgery and has been released from the hospital. He is undergoing physical therapy.

The lawsuit named the Clevelander Hotel, alleging its management often encourages Miami Beach police officers to stop in and join the party - on duty or not. As reported by The Miami Herald, The lawsuit claims the hotel created a dangerous situation by promoting "an environment for on-duty, uniformed police officers, including Derick Kuilan, to drink freely."

The suit, which names the hotel and Kuilan, alleges that the hip tourist spot has a longstanding history of serving uniformed police officers alcohol in concealed containers.
The suit outlines numerous allegations against the hotel. It asserts that Kuilan was a frequent patron of the bar and that employees knew he often drank excessively.
But management at the Clevelander said Thursday they did not serve alcohol to Kuilan that morning, and that the hotel will dispute all the charges.

Five hours after the accident, which happened about 5:30 a.m. July 3 on a South Beach shoreline, Kuilian's blood alcohol level measured .088 - just above the legal limit for operating a vehicle.

Investigators are still trying to determine exactly where Kuilan consumed the alcohol; the arrest warrant did not state that he drank at the Clevelander.

Nicanor who is paralyzed on her right side and suffers from memory loss, will also file suit against the city of Miami Beach.

Continue reading " ATV Crash Victim Files Lawsuit " »

Medical Malpractice Insurance Companies make money. Despite what the Insurance Industry claims, Malpractice Insurance Companies make a lot of money. To that end, FPIC Insurance Group, one of Florida's largest providers of physicians and surgeons medical professional liability groups in Florida is seeking state approval to be sold to an out-of-state insurance group with the initial price tag expected to total $365 million. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation has scheduled a public hearing on the deal later this week.

FPIC Insurance Group has announced it will be selling to the California based-The Doctors Co. for $42.000 per share, representing an aggregate price of some $362 million.

The Doctors Co. was founded by doctors in 1976 and is the nation's largest insurer of physician and surgeon medical professional liability with nearly 55,000 member physicians, $4 billion assets, and "A" rating by Fitch Ratings and an A- rating by A.M. Best.

Continue reading "Florida Medical Malpractice Insurer Seeking State Approval For Sale" »

A group of former NFL players and their wives claim are suing the NFL and helmet manufacturer Ridell " he suit alleges that The NFL knew as early as the 1920's of the harmful effects on a player's brain of concussions; however, until June of 2010 they concealed these facts from coaches, trainers, players and the public."

Among the 75 players -- Mark Duper, a former wide receiver for the Dolphins, as well as Ottis Anderson and Rodney Hampton, both former running backs for the Giants.

The suit claims the NFL commissioned a study in 1994, titled "NFL Committee on MIld Traumatic Brain Injury" and published a report in 2004, concluding there was "no evidence of worsening injury or chronic cumulative effects" from multiple concussions.

And, the suit alleges, it was not until June, 2010, that the NFL acknowledged concussions can lead to dementia, memory loss, CTE and related symptoms. All of the players are claiming they suffered injuries as a result of multiple concussions.

The suit seeks unspecified damages.

Continue reading "NFL Sued For Concealing Brain Injury Risks" »

As a Miami Personal Injury Lawyer, I represent victims and their families who have been wrongfully injured and/or killed. Most of my posts on this blog are critical of insurance company's and medical providers that do not provide appropriate care. However, today, I am critical of a personal Injury lawsuit that was filed against Alonzo Mourning. I am not critical because the case is against Alonzo Mourning, a true pillar of our community, but because it appears as if there was no basis for the lawsuit.

The alleged facts are that Alonzo Mourning crashed his Porsche into the side of a disabled car on the Julia Tuttle Causeway at approximately 3:00 am Sunday morning. Alonzo Mourning stopped to check on an accident victim before going home, calling police and then returning to the scene.

When Mourning's car collided with William Candelario's Audi, the Audi had already collided with another vehicle. Both of them were stopped on the causeway near the intersection with Interstate 95.

The personal injury lawsuit filed Wednesday in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, alleges Mourning acted negligently by failing to assist the victim, William Candelario, 21, a Miami college student who claims he was disabled and disfigured in the accident and wants monetary damages.

Mourning has not been charged in the collision.

Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Tom Pikul acknowledged there are several unanswered questions in the investigation of the two separate crashes. Among them: were any of the three drivers given a sobriety test? Will anyone be charged with wrong-doing?

Pikul said the answers to those questions would come from FHP investigators by Friday.

Candelario's lawyer said he did not know if Candelario was in his car when Mourning's Porsche hit it.

Candelario's injuries include a concussion and memory loss, and he has twice sought treatment at the Aventura Hospital emergency room.

Also named as a defendant in the lawsuit is Eddy Desir of Miami, the driver of a Chevrolet Impala involved in the earlier crash with Candelario.

At the news conference Wednesday, Candelario said he has little memory of what happened as he was driving west early Sunday. He said he does remember being outside his car and seeing Mourning approach him.

"I remember asking him, 'You're Alonzo Mourning?' " said Candelario. He said Mourning nodded.

Continue reading "Personal Injury Lawsuit Filed Against Alonzo Mourning" »

It is far too easy to forget children in cars and vans. Accordingly, In the wake of recent deaths stemming from neglect by day care centers, Palm Beach County plans to become the first in Florida to require day care center vans to include alarms intended to prevent children being left in vehicles.

The alarms are intended to remind drivers and other employees to check the entire vehicle every time they unload children. The alarms would force drivers to go to the back of the van to shut it off and would sound inside and outside of the vehicle.

As reported by the Sun Sentinel, the Palm Beach County Commission gave initial approval to requiring all local day care centers to install the alarms. Final approval by the commission is expected Aug. 16.

"Every child care van should have some kind of safeguard," said state Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, who pushed for a state law that failed to pass the Legislature in the spring. "Today I'm proud to be from Palm Beach County."

Palm Beach County's proposed alarm requirement would be added to other child care regulations up for final approval in August. Those regulations also include requiring more than one day care center employee to ride in the vehicles that transport children.

Other proposed changes to day care regulations include: increasing the fees for operating the facilities, requiring employees to have at least a high school diploma and completing criminal background checks before employees are cleared to start work.

On Aug. 5, 2010, Haile Brockington, 2, died after being left strapped in a hot van for more than six hours outside a Delray Beach day care center.

On July 11, 2011, Dominicue Andrews, a 22 month old toddler died because he was left behind in the center's van all day where temperatures may have reached in the mid-90s.

Unfortunately, each summer, several children across Florida die after being left in vehicles, according to the Health Department.

The alarms are a way to "prompt the driver to take another look" and "assure the safety of children," Palm Beach County Health Department spokesman Tim O'Connor said.

While Florida lawmakers balked at a statewide law, Tennessee and Louisiana already require alarms for day care vans.

"When you see these terrible tragedies happen, people are not doing their jobs. These alarms are a great idea," said Janette Fennell, founder of children's safety organization, KidsandCars.org, based in Leawood, Kan.

After Haile's death at Katie's Kids Learning Center in Delray Beach, which is now closed, investigators found that day care employees did not check off the transportation log as children were unloaded from the van. They also determined that the driver, Amanda Inman, didn't check the van, that a second employee did not double check the van as required, and that supervisor Petra Rodriguez signed the log without doing a check of her own.

Inman and Rodriguez face charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child.

State politics, not day care opposition, torpedoed the proposed statewide requirement this year, said Lisa Olds, executive director for the Florida Association for Child Care Management. The group represents 1,200 day care facilities across the state, including in Palm Beach County.

"This shouldn't be a partisan issue," said County Commissioner Burt Aaronson, a Democrat. "The House of Representatives not passing this is a great injustice."

Continue reading "Day Care Center Vans to Require Alarms In Palm Beach County" »

The 1st District Court of Appeal has held that illegal immigrants are entitled to workers' compensation benefits in Florida.

The opinion said a company that "knowingly employs unlawful labor should not be able to shirk the cost of the injuries it creates -- and in turn shift the cost of the damages it has knowingly created on the taxpaying public -- ultimately placing it in an unfairly superior financial position to those employers who operate lawfully."

The Matter of Luis Aragon reached the 1st DCA, following a 2007 accident in which
Aragon who was working construction in Jacksonville, fell 30 feet off a roof at a job site. Mr. Aragon sustained a fracture in his left foot and forearm. He was diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome in his foot accompanied by constant pain, nerve injury and discoloration, and a spinal cord stimulator was implanted.

Luis Aragon was an illegal immigrant who crossed the U.S. border at age 16 in search of work. Aragon, now 27, did not have a Social Security number or a green card that denotes permanent-resident status.

That accident led to a legal fight that culminated last week with the 1st District Court of Appeal sending a clear message that illegal immigrants are entitled to workers' compensation benefits in Florida.

"Although there is no shortage of debate that can be had on the issue of illegal labor and its effect on our state, there is no dispute that the Florida Legislature has expressed an unyielding, textual intent that aliens, including those who are illegal and unlawfully employed, be covered and compensated under the Florida Workers' Compensation Law," an unsigned opinion issued by a three-judge panel said, citing a 1985 decision.

The Tallahassee judges considering an appeal from a compensation claims the decision also noted the administrative court's determination the company that employed Aragon, HDV Construction Systems, knew or should have known he was an undocumented worker.

They also said the workers' compensation system is designed to help shield taxpayers from picking up the costs of injured workers.

Continue reading "Appeals Court Rules That Illegal Aliens Are Entitled to Workers Compensation" »

Drinking and Driving while operating an ATV is bad. Drinking and driving while on duty as a Miami Beach Police Officer is very bad, and will get you fired.

The story goes something like this. Officer Derick Kuilan was assigned to robbery detail on the beach Sunday and officer Rolando Gutierrez was assigned to patrol Mid-Beach. But at some point, the two officers met up at the Clevelander where Adelee Sharie Martin, 27, was partying with a bride-to-be.

As reported by The Miami Herald, at around 5 a.m., Kuilan and Martin jumped onto a department ATV and peeled south down the beach with the headlights off. At 5:13 a.m., near Fourth Street, Kuilan lost control of the vehicle and slammed into Luis Almonte, of North Miami, and Kitzie Nicanor, from Washington state.

Martin flew from the vehicle. Almonte, 29, suffered a broken femur that required surgery. He remains at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach. And Nicanor, 28, underwent surgery at Jackson Memorial's Ryder Trauma Center, where police say she remains in stable condition.

Jonnathan Adames, a friend of Almonte's who was heading out to meet him on the beach just before the crash, said he heard the thud from the impact and ran over to see Almonte bloody and screaming, and Nicanor swollen and motionless with her eyes rolling back in the sockets. He said Kuilan asked him to help with the victim, but then quickly disappeared.

Police and investigators with the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office are looking into allegations that Kulian had been drinking. Nonetheless, Police say they are moving to fire Kuilan and Gutierrez because they engaged in "conduct unbecoming [of] a police officer" and for actions amounting to "dereliction of duties." Both officers were relieved of duty.

Sunday's crash was not the first time that Miami Beach police have injured or killed beach visitors. In 2003, a French woman was killed when a police SUV ran over her and her sister while they were sunbathing. Witnesses said that the officer was not using a siren and the two women did not see the vehicle coming.
No criminal charges were brought against the police officer, but the victims' family reached a $1.5 million settlement with the city of Miami Beach.

In April 1999, another city vehicle ran over a pregnant woman on the beach at nearly the same spot. The woman, Lupe Eyde-Tucker, and her unborn child survived, despite Eyde-Tucker's suffering a crushed pelvis, broken ribs and head injuries after being hit by a city beach patrol officer.

A Peruvian tourist was also run over in November 1993 by a beach patrol vehicle while sunbathing.

Brian Pacheco Sanchez, a 21 year old pedestrian who was watching a street race was struck and killed by Joey Busque, a Orange County Deputy.

Sanchez had been standing in the median about 3:08 a.m. when he walked into the left front side of the deputy's cruiser, and was thrown onto the windshield. The Deputy was traveling westbound in the inside lane of the 3800 block of Wetherbee Road near Sawgrass Plantation Boulevard.

The deputy in the cruiser was not using lights or sirens.

Street racing has been the cause of several deaths in Central Florida in recent years. The well-organized racing groups and events, which move from location to location in order to avoid law enforcement, can draw hundreds of spectators from throughout the state.

The races are always dangerous -- and illegal -- for both participants and spectators.

Continue reading "Pedestrian Struck and Killed By Deputy" »

Every Lawyer has won cases he/she thought they were going to lose, and conversely, lost cases he/she thought they were going to win. This applies to Automobile Accident Cases, Medical Malpractice Cases, and Criminal Cases. That being said the Casey Anthony trial was lost on the evidence or lack thereof.

Casey Anthony was not found innocent, it's just that the jury did not find her guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The one thing this case highlights is the burden of proof.

After nearly six weeks of testimony, a panel of seven women and five men decided that Ms. Anthony did not murder Caylee, her daughter. The jury did not believe beyond a reasonable doubt that Casey killed Caylee by dosing her with chloroform, suffocating her with duct tape and dumping her in a wooded area, as prosecutors claimed.

Again, the jury followed the evidence, and did not infer guilt from what can only be said to be as strange behavior from any mother following the death or disappearance of her daughter. To that end, despite her daughter's disappearance, Ms. Anthony failed to report Caylee missing for 31 days and created a tangle of lies, including that a baby sitter kidnapped Caylee, to cover up the absence. Despite a vivid portrait of Ms. Anthony's seemingly callous and deceitful behavior after Caylee's disappearance, jurors decided that leap from uncaring mother to murderess proved too much, and that was surely based on the evidence presented at trial.

The physical evidence was circumstantial. Forensic evidence was tenuous and no witnesses ever tied Ms. Anthony to Caylee's murder. Investigators found no trace of DNA or solid signs of chloroform or decomposition inside the trunk of Ms. Anthony's car, where prosecutors said Ms. Anthony stashed Caylee before disposing of her body.

The verdict vindicates the defense, which argued from the start that Caylee drowned accidentally in the family swimming pool and that the death was concealed by her panicked grandfather, George Anthony, and Ms. Anthony.

The prosecution was also hurt by the fact that nobody knows exactly how Caylee died; her body was too badly decomposed to pinpoint cause of death.

All of this allowed José Baez, Ms. Anthony's lawyer, to infuse enough reasonable doubt in jurors' minds to get Ms. Anthony acquitted of murder.

"They throw enough against the wall and see what sticks," Mr. Baez told the jury, "right down to the cause of death."

The defense conceded Ms. Anthony's lies but said they happened for one reason: she had been sexually abused by her father and had been coached to lie her whole life.

"I told you she was a liar the first day," Mr. Baez told the jury.

Continue reading "Does Casey Anthony Verdict Mean The Jury System Is Broken?" »

Twenty-five passengers were injured Tuesday when an empty fuel tanker ran into the back of Broward transit bus, in the northbound lanes of State Road 7, just north of Margate Boulevard.

As reported by the Sun Sentinel, 22 of those who were hurt were transported to area hospitals, including one person who appeared to have suffered serious injuries who was taken to North Broward Medical Center.

The three others were treated at the scene. Neither driver was injured.

Booker said it appears that the tanker rear-ended the transitbus, but what led to the crash wasn't immediately known. The video shows the damage to the vehicles.

Buses have no seatbelts and that may have contributed to the number of injuries, Booker said.

Continue reading "25 People Injured in Accident With Fuel Truck" »

Ereck Plancher collapsed and died following offseason conditioning drills at the UCF football complex on March 18, 2008. A jury ruled the UCF Athletics Association was negligent in the 2008 wrongful death of football player Ereck Plancher and awarded his parents $10 million.

Attorneys representing UCFAA and Plancher's family completed closing arguments Thursday afternoon. The six jurors began deliberation at about 5:30 p.m. Once the group determined UCFAA was negligent and failed to do everything possible to save Plancher's life, it entered the amount of damages it believed should be awarded to Enock and Gisele Plancher, Ereck Plancher's parents. The total was $5 million apiece.

Orange County medical examiner Joshua Stephany and three experts hired by the Plancher family attorneys testified Plancher died from complications of sickle cell trait.

Stephany told the jury last week extreme stress caused Plancher's red blood cells to sickle, or warp, and quickly damaged his major organs.

Ereck had sickle cell, but coach O 'Leary never warned Ereck of his condition. 

Dr. Martin H. Steinberg, a Boston University hematologist, testified the suggestion complications from sickle cell trait caused Ereck Plancher's death was "nuts." Steinberg, an expert hired by the UCF Athletics Association, told the jury Wednesday afternoon there are no rigorous medical studies proving sickle cell trait can cause sudden death in athletes.

Steinberg was one of three experts hired by UCFAA who testified Plancher died from an undiagnosed heart condition and could not have been saved regardless of when athletic trainers intervened.

Continue reading "Jury Awards $10 Million in Players Death" »