GOLDLAW – West Palm Beach Personal Injury Lawyers, Car Accident, Slip & Fall – Law Offices of Craig Goldenfarb

Author: Ryan O’Connor

  • Urban Youth Impact Receives Donation from Craig Goldenfarb

    At Urban Youth Impact in West Palm Beach, the 33,000 square foot campus hums with activity all summer long. Craig Goldenfarb took a visit of the building in July, accompanied by founder Bill Hobbs, to meet some of the children who benefit from the programs and learn about the non-profit organization’s mission. Craig was also there to make a $500 donation to the organization.

    Craig’s donation will be matched by the Board of Directors for their summer fundraising drive, turning it into $1,000 – money that will go a long way in funding Urban Youth Impact’s programs while kids are out of school.

    Urban Youth Impact is a Christian-based non-profit that seeks to empower and equip inner-city youth with life skills through programs that provide education, job training, and mentorships. Thousands of children from all around Palm Beach County each year participate in Urban Youth Impact’s main program, an after-school reading tutorship.

    During the summer, when these children are out of school, the facility turns into one big exciting summer camp, keeping these children entertained, engaged in positive activities, and off the streets. “We focus on this community because these children and young adults need to know that they are important, and their lives matter” said Hobbs of the young boys and girls he is surrounded by every day. Hobbs has but one goal: to make these kids understand that they are loved, and that they have a purpose in life.

    In addition to the $500 donation, Craig will also be providing equipment and goods, including a large flat-screen television to use on campus.

    To learn more about Urban Youth Impact, and find out how you can donate to the organization’s summer fundraising drive or volunteer your time, please visit www.urbanyouthimpact.com. Remember that 94% of all donations go directly to programming that will impact the lives of the children UYI serves.

    UYI and Craig Goldenfarb

  • ARC of Martin County KDW Fishing Tournament 2015

    The Law Offices of Craig Goldenfarb, P.A. was a proud sponsor of this year’s KDW Fishing Tournament benefiting the ARC of Martin County. ARCMC, for short, is a non-profit organization in Martin County dedicated to creating a better quality of life and richer opportunities for the disabled and mentally-challenged.

    Attorney Jeff Kirby is a South Florida native and lifelong fisherman, so naturally, he took to the tournament sponsorship as soon as he heard about it. Jeff recently joined our firm, and this was one of the first events that he was able to participate in.

    The Captain’s Meeting was held at Twisted Tuna in Stuart, Florida, and so too were the weigh-ins and the dinner that followed the tournament. Many awards and raffles were given out, and the ARCMC even provided us with a wonderful plaque to hang up in our office.

    “ARC” stands for Advancing the Rights of the Challenged. The mission of the organization is to empower those in the community who have disabilities. ARCMC accomplishes this goal with local community programs and services that include residential care, supported living, job training, behavior healthcare, and children’s services. The programs serve both adults and children of all ages and backgrounds.

    In 2014, our firm was a main sponsor of the ARC of Martin County’s Bike Fest. We have been a committed partner to this wonderful Treasure Coast organization ever since.

    Visit ARC of Martin County online to learn more about the organization.

  • How New Quality Scoring Model Affects Palm Beach County Nursing Homes

    Last month, the official U.S. website for Medicare (Medicare.gov) significantly altered the scoring method used for measuring ratings of the nation’s nursing homes in its vast online database and comparison tool, Nursing Home Compare.

    Following the changes of the scoring model rolled out in February of 2015, more than 60% of nursing homes saw their overall quality score decrease, though in most instances, not dramatically. However, a full 28% of those facilities who were adversely affected by the scoring changes saw their overall quality score lowered by a one full star.

    Nursing Home Compare is website run by Medicare.gov that keeps up-to-date quality of care information on every single Medicare and Medicaid-certified nursing home in the nation. If you’re concerned about avoiding the risk of nursing home abuse or neglect occuring, it’s a great asset to use. The website calculates quality of care scores for more than 15,000 facilities in all 50 states, and is accessed by 1.5 million visitors a year.

    How Nursing Home Compare scores are calculated

    The website employs a 5-star scaled scoring system to calculate an overall quality score for every nursing home in the county that participates in Medicare or Medicaid. Each nursing home is scored based on three different areas that affect the level of care the facility provides: health inspections, quality measures, and staffing.

    According to Federal officials, the changes incorporated are:

    • Introduced a quality measure tied to the rate of newly-prescribed anti-psychotic drugs and treatments to short-stay patients
    • Increased the number of points required to get an overall quality score higher than 2 stars
    • Increased the requirements to achieve a higher score in the level of care category for staffing, a critical component of the overall quality score

    The worst nursing homes in Palm Beach County, according to Nursing Home Compare scores

    There are 55 nursing home facilities in Palm Beach County that are ranked in Nursing Home Compare. Last year, we wrote an article on Avante at Boca Raton being the worst nursing home in Palm Beach County. Avante is a skilled nursing facility which received the lowest score in the county by the Nursing Home Inspections Ranker, a similar tool used to compare nursing homes run by the Agency for Health Care Administration, or AHCA.

    According to Nursing Home Compare, Avante does not boast the lowest quality scores – but they are far from the top. With an overall quality score of 2 stars, Avante scores in the bottom 30% of the score range for all Palm Beach County facilities. Nearly 45% of all Palm Beach County nursing homes achieved an overall rating of 4 stars or more, following last month’s scoring system updates.

    To Avante of Boca Raton’s credit, the facility achieved a 4-star rating in the care category of staffing, and a 5-star rating in the category of quality control, which are two very important categories, according to the page on the website that explains how the scoring system works. Remember, one of the changes the website rolled out to its scoring system was giving more leverage to the care category of staffing to influence overall quality score.

    Digging deeper into the database, two facilities stand-out as having the worst scores in both overall quality and each category. They are Glades Health Care Center in Pahokee, and Heartland Health Care and Rehabilitation Center in Boca Raton (see screenshot below).

    Palm Beach County Nursing Home Compare

    In the care categories of health inspections, both facilities received only one star. For the category of staffing, Glades has not been scored – the algorithm hasn’t gleaned enough data from the facility to process a score. Heartland received two stars.

    Both facilities received only two stars for quality measures, and both facilities represent two of only three facilities in Palm Beach County to receive one-star ratings for their overall quality score.

    Glades and Heartland are strikingly similar – both have 120 beds, both participated in Medicare and Medicaid, and they are both independent care facilities. According to Medicare data, Glades Health Care Center is non-profit; Heartland Health Care is for-profit. Heartland was fined by Federal authorities only once in the last three years, in the amount of $10,000.

    In the area of health and safety inspections, in the last year, the total number of deficiencies discovered by officials at Heartland was 11, compared with 7 at Glades, and 5.7 as the average number of deficiencies for all facilities in the state of Florida.

    Heartland also received more than four times the number of complaints to Medicare that were filed against Glades. When it comes to fire deficiencies, Glades was cited with three times as many deficiencies than Heartland.

    The best nursing homes in Palm Beach County, according to Nursing Home Compare scores

    Of the 55 nursing homes in Palm Beach County that are ranked on Nursing Home Compare, 27% carry an overall quality score of 5 stars. Of those 15 facilities, only two facilities carry 5-stars on every scoring level – overall quality score, health inspections, staffing, and quality measures.

    Those facilities are Harbours Edge in Delray Beach, and Joseph L Morse Geriatric Center in West Palm Beach. Both facilities are non-profit, and both received a total number of health deficiencies that were well below the average for Florida in the last year. Harbours Edge did receive a fire safety inspection report in 2013 that cited the facility for seven deficiencies, more than those reported in the same year at Glades and Heartland.

    Interestingly, Harbours Edge and Joseph Morse are credited with a smaller percentage of short-stay patients who were newly prescribed with antipsychotic medications by the facility. In fact, both facilities prescribed antipsychotic medications to only .5% and 1.4% of their short-term newly-admitted patients, respectively, compared with 3% for the average of all Florida facilities and 2.4% nationally.

    The greater weight placed on the measure of how many newly-admitted short-term patients receive antipsychotic medication was one of the recent key changes to the scoring system, according to a release by Medicare.

    The takeaway from this article is that the newly incorporated changes to how Medicare and Nursing Home Compare scores the nation’s facilities has, on average, lowered the overall quality score for many facilities. In Palm Beach County, many overall scores were lowered among facilities that already suffered from a low overall score, as expected. But some facilities were rewarded with a higher overall score, and in the three quality of care categories.

    If you or someone you know has been a patient or resident of Glades Health Care Center or Heartland Health Care and Rehab Center, and you they have been subjected to nursing home abuse or neglect. You or your loved one or friend, or their family, may be entitled to compensation related to damages suffered. We may be able to help.

  • Fatal Holiday Auto Accidents in Florida Are Devastating Families

    It’s the middle of January and most of us are preoccupied with taking down holiday decorations, putting away presents and implementing New Year’s resolutions. Other families in our area, however, have been left reeling from the devastation of holiday auto accidents, tragic victims of recklessness, negligence, and the failure to follow simple traffic rules and laws.

    20-year-old Paige Altman of Titusville, her 2-year-old daughter, Kyleigh Altman, and Cameron Greene, were all killed in an auto accident on State Road 50 in Orange County, when their vehicle was struck head-on by 32-year old William Ogletree, who was driving the wrong way and in the wrong lane. The family was on a December 15 Christmas shopping trip according to her father and were returning home around 9pm after stopping for dinner when the accident occurred. Ogletree, who was driving a GMC, was also killed.

    12-year old Natalie New was killed when the vehicle she was traveling in attempted to change lanes on I95, struck an adjacent car, caromed into and over the medium and flipped several times. The Florida Highway Patrol reported that Natalie, one of several family members in the SUV, was not wearing a seatbelt. The fatal accident occurred around midnight on Christmas Eve. The vehicle was being driven by her father, Dr Kenneth New, a well-known local neurosurgeon.

    In a third fatal auto accident this holiday season, three sisters, 64-year-old Kay Bertha Ferril, Willie Bell Moragne, 66, and Rose Neal, 56 were crushed to death by the impact of a head on collision, followed by being hit from behind by a trailing car. The sisters were less than a mile from home and returning from a holiday gambling trip to Miami, according to Neal’s husband. Authorities said the crash happened Sunday around 1:30 a.m. in the northbound lanes of I-95 in Rockledge.

    The holidays are an especially vulnerable time to be a driver on Florida roadways. Wet and cold road conditions, inadequate highway lighting, and the influence of drugs and alcohol during the month of December and early January are all contributors to the higher-than-average Florida highway death-toll. If you plan to drive, do not drink or take drugs, wear your seat belt, avoid changing lanes unless absolutely necessary. Above all else, obey the posted speed limits.

    The fact is that if these simple rules had been followed by any of the drivers above who were perpetrators of the accident, it’s very possible these seven lives could have been saved. Their families could have been spared the sorrowful memory that future Christmas holidays are sure to bring.

    If you or someone you know has been injured or killed in a holiday-time roadway auto accident, please call our firm to speak with someone for free. We can tell you if you have a valid personal injury claim, and we may be able to secure compensation for your loss or injury.

  • Hit-And-Run Drivers An Out-Of-Control Problem for South Florida

    It never ceases to amaze that someone would even consider leaving the scene of an automobile accident given the harsh penalties for doing so under Florida law. Leaving the scene of an auto accident where only property damage occurred carries the most lenient penalties of up to 60 days in jail, a $500 fine, and up to six months of probation. Leaving the scene involving the death of another person is a third degree felony. A person can receive 5 to 15 years in prison, 5 to 15 years of probation, and a $5,000-$10,000 fine.

    That doesn’t seem to stop people from committing hit-and-runs. Several accident have occurred recently in Florida involving a person directly involved in an auto accident leaving the scene.

    Katherine Godwin, 37, of Bradenton, was riding her bicycle on the sidewalk of U.S. Highway 41 at 53rd Avenue East when she was struck by vehicle that failed to stop for a red light. One witness described the suspect vehicle as a blue Dodge Charger. Godwin was taken to a local hospital where she was treated for minor injuries and released.

    Police in Manatee Florida are looking for the driver of a 2006 Chrysler 300 that was last seen traveling north on 20th Street West. According to police, witnesses said the driver was approaching the intersection and was out of control, hitting a stop sign before striking two parked vehicles. The driver then fled on foot. A witness stated that the driver is a white male about 20 years old with dark hair. He was last seen wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt.

    The issue of hit-and-runs in South Florida have become so out of control that Huffington Post even published several articles dedicated to the subject. Miami-Dade County, Huffpost says, ranking highest in the state with 12,813 hit-and-run accidents in 2012.

    The Sun Sentinel reported in December that between November 22nd and the end of the year, at least six women and children were killed from hit-and-run drivers in South Florida. Only two of the cases have seen arrests made for the drivers.

    On December 22nd, 2014, 15 year-old Khiar Raymond of Boynton Beach was struck and killed by a female driver who is seen on security tape outside the fire station in front of which the accident occurred stepping out of her car, looking over the boy’s body, and then getting back in her car and fleeing.

    In Jupiter, 20 year-old Ashley Southard was struck by a driver on Indiantown Road on Christmas Eve, who left her for dead. Thankfully, she survived, but is in reportedly in serious condition, still recovering at St. Mary’s Medical Center. Police are looking for the unknown driver, whom together along with possible accomplices abandoned the black Toyota Tundra that was used in the crime.

    In both of these instances, the families of these victims should consider hiring a wrongful death personal injury lawyer and an auto accident lawyer.

    Leaving the scene of a Florida accident laws have been put in place for a reason. Most importantly, auto accidents often involve serious injuries and you could provide critical first aid and save the injured person’s life. At the very least, you could use your cell phone to call 911, rushing emergency personnel to the scene. If you leave the scene of an accident, you could be leaving someone who is seriously injured alone to die.

    If you or someone you know has lost a loved one as the result of an auto accident with a hit-and-run or unknown driver, you should consider hiring a personal injury lawyer immediately. We may be able to recover compensation from an insurance company to pay for the injuries and treatment sustained, even if the driver remains unknown. Hire a law firm with experience in the area of law that governs unknown and hit-and-run drivers.

  • Lakeland Hills Nursing Home Neglect Wrongful Death Lawsuit

    Changes in a nursing home’s financial status can sometimes lead the executives of the company to do terrible things to hide their problems. Things like fraud, understaffing and wrongful death can occur as a result, and that’s what appears might have happened in a Florida nursing home last year. Wrongful death damages due to claims of “lethal negligence” and “civil conspiracy” have been filed against Lakeland Hills Rehabilitation Center, two of it’s past administrators, Ellis J. Williams and Ruth J. Bentley, and it’s management company Senior Health Management.

    The suit claims Barbara J. Seabron died last year due to a host of untreated severe infections including MRSA and sepsis. The claim states that there was a “failure to monitor significant signs and symptoms” of these infections and that the nursing home staff and administration should be held responsible.

    The suit contends that in order to increase revenues, of which Williams and Bentley were paid a percentage as a management fee, Lakeland Hills management increased the severity level of health conditions of people that would be admitted there as residents. There was no commensurate increase of staff or the hiring of more qualified personnel that the more ill residents required. Money paid by residents was transferred to a non-profit corporation the suit claims didn’t exist. In addition, assets were transferred to a third company, Airamed, “to avoid creditors,” which included nursing home residents and past owners of Senior Health, leaving less to be spent on the more critical patients’ care.

    Nursing home litigation takes a very long time, and these lawsuits are extremely complicated. These kinds of claims are almost always fiercely defended by the nursing home’s counsel. If you’re the victim of nursing home abuse, you need an experienced, dedicated lawyer like Craig Goldenfarb.

  • Pedestrian Fatalities in Florida on the Decline, but Still Common

    A pedestrian accident is different from an auto accident in many ways. For one, when you get into your automobile to drive, the first thing you do (hopefully!) is buckle your seatbelt. But when you go outside to walk home from school, dinner or an event, no one thinks “I better watch out that I don’t get hit by a car.” It’s a given, sort of, that you will make it to your destination safely, but being hit by a car can be a life altering experience, and tragedies such as fatalities or permanent injury can happen as a result of an accident.

    According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Pedestrian fatalities have declined by 1.7 percent to 4,735, but that number is still 15 percent higher than the low in 2009 of 4,109 pedestrian fatalities. From 2011 to 2013 there were 25,900 pedestrian accidents in Florida, 75 percent of them resulting in injury or death. According to Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, “Florida has become one of the most dangerous states in the United States for pedestrians.”

    A 19-year-old University of South Florida student is in critical condition after being struck by a car. While in the crosswalk attempting to cross 50th Street at Sun Ridge Palm Drive, Elizabeth Courtney was crossing was struck by a Nissan Altima driven by Ernest Washington, 30, of Tampa Fl. Washington was cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian in a marked crosswalk.

    An elderly couple, Francine Freedman, 80, and Philip Kendall, 85, were killed recently after being struck by a car on State Road A1A in Deerfield Beach. The couple was crossing at a point where a streetlight was not working but it is unclear according to investigators if that contributed to the accident. A neighbor who came out of his house when he heard the accident stated that the crossing was noted to be dangerous at night because of the lack of lighting due the the streetlight being out of order.

    The family of the Freedman’s or the Kendalls may have a wrongful death claim against the city of Deerfield Beach, or FPL (the operator and owner of the streetlamp) for their negligence in not addressing a deficient street lamp that may not have had the area lit well, contributing to the fatal pedestrian accident.

    In Largo, Florida, Sarah Arlia, a 32-year old mother, was crossing the street “outside of the crosswalk” with her 5-year-old son and 6-week-old daughter when the family was struck by a car causing the death of the infant girl. The driver stated that he saw the family but not soon enough to stop. The three were directly struck at the car’s full speed as there was no time at all to break. The car was driven by 65-year old Sandra Neki.

    One can never assume that just because lines are painted on a highway, a driver will necessarily obey them and stop or slow down. It’s always better to err on the side of patience and caution. It’s it up to us all when we are pedestrians to exercise the same level of caution and awareness while walking that we would exercise when we are driving.

  • Hoops4Heroes Basketball Tournament Raises Thousands for Wounded Warrior Project

    We’ve reached the conclusion of the first annual Hoops4Heroes 3ON3 Basketball tournament, which saw a total of $4,341 raised for wounded veterans who are in need of housing, education, meals, medical treatment, and much more. Hoops4Heroes accepted donations from players, teams, and the friends and family of the event’s organizers and participants, and 100% of the proceeds went to the Wounded Warrior Project.

    Here at the Law Offices of Craig Goldenfarb, P.A., we are tremendously proud to have made this event possible. As the sole corporate sponsor and underwriter of the event, our firm covered all costs to allow the full proceeds to benefit combat veterans. Attorney Goldenfarb said, “We [the organizers] have been kicking around the idea of doing something for veterans for a long time. This year was finally the year we did it.”

    The tourney took place on Sunday, November 9th at the Palm Beach Atlantic University, falling just two days shy of Veteran’s Day, and was the brainchild of our very own Tom Copeland, Marketing Director at our firm. Copeland said he had the idea for the tournament while playing basketball with Goldenfarb and his adult men’s league. After researching local basketball tournaments, he found that there wasn’t currently one held in West Palm Beach.

    “The ‘Proud Supporter’ platform that Wounded Warriors has created allows anyone who is passionate and committed enough to organize their own sports-related fundraiser, and just go do it. A basketball tournament is unique because it hasn’t been done here before, and I knew it would raise a lot of attention”, says Copeland.

    With the help of a few key volunteers, Copeland organized and promoted the event. He partnered with the men’s basketball team and athletic staff at Palm Beach Atlantic University, as well as the staff of ESPN West Palm. ESPN West Palm was generous enough to donate advertising space and promotion of the event, in addition to their time.

    Twelve teams registered for the tournament, which added up to a total of 48 players. The teams each donated a minimum of $60 in the form of a registration fee, and then played in front of more than 200 spectators. The winning team was “Battiers Not Included,” and they took home individual medals along with a beautiful engraved trophy.

    The Law Offices of Craig Goldenfarb, P.A. would like to especially thank Thomas Roush of Roush Spine in Lantana and Backsaver LLC’s Dr. Christopher White for their particularly generous donations in the name of Hoops4Heroes.

  • LOCG Moves to New Office Space: 1800 S Australian Ave #400

    After over ten long and wonderful years at the Legacy Bank Building, our firm is excited to announce that we will be moving our offices to the Gold Commerce Building.

    Our new office address will be 1800 South Australian Ave #400, West Palm Beach, FL 33409, located just south of the Australian Ave overpass crossing Okeechobee Blvd. The building is adjacent to the Hilton, and is accessible from Old Okeechobee Road.

    The new building offers charming character more closely matches our firm’s distinct personality and culture. We are known as the “gold” firm to many of our clients and partners, a moniker we’ve adopted and used as Gold Law in various ways throughout our branding over the years. So finding office space that can accommodate our growing and unique firm in a building called the Commerce Gold Building is an incredibly lucky coincidence.

    The Commerce Gold Building is identifiable by its alluring gold-tinted floor-to-ceiling windows, which cover all sides of the building. Inside, the beautiful granite flooring leads you to the elevators. Go to the fourth floor, and you will enter our bright, comfortable reception area, where you’ll be greeted, as always, by Jessica, and now by a new face – our second receptionist – Debbie!

    Make sure you mark in your address book the new address. We will be moving in on Friday, August 1 st, 2014, and will be full moved in and operational come Monday morning, August 4 th, 2014.

  • Whose Fault Is It When You Slip and Fall?

    A slip and fall is not entirely your fault

    Businesses have a responsibility to keep their floors safe, clean, and free of hazards for their customers and anyone else who is on their property. This is Florida law. While some people might think of a slip and fall case as a frivolous or silly lawsuit, these cases are very serious.

    One of the ways a Jury determines how much of a slip and fall is the fault of the business, and how much is the fault of the person who fell, is a legal doctrine called “Comparative Negligence”. A Jury in a trial is asked to split up the fault by percentages. For example, a Jury could find that the business is 50% responsible, and the person who fell is 50% responsible.

    Comparative negligence is applied in cases that go to trial (which includes general negligence, auto accidents, and slip and fall injuries). Good lawyers will rarely accept a case where it’s not apparent that the accident was substantially the fault of the Defendant.

    How comparative negligence works

    Comparative negligence is determined by the Jury during deliberations at the end of the trial. The Jury uses a standard Florida verdict form to render their decision. The Jury’s job while in deliberation is to determine which of the parties in a lawsuit is at fault, and to what degree. They also determine the monetary award to the Plaintiff.

    There is no “most of the time, this happens” or rule-of-thumb when it comes to how a Jury decides the allocation of fault. Every single case is different. Over the 20 years we’ve been representing many thousands of clients, some Juries in our trials have determined our client to be 0% at fault, while other Juries have determined them to be more than 50% at fault. The bottom line is that there is simply no way to predict how a Jury will interpret the facts.

    How comparative negligence reduces monetary rewards

    After the Jury determines the percentages of fault, they then determine the monetary compensation for the Plaintiff. Then the Judge (not the Jury) reduces the monetary award by the percentage of fault allocated to the Plaintiff.

    Here’s an example of how this actually plays out:

    Jane suffered injuries at a big-box grocery store after a jar of pickles fell off the shelf, smashing on the floor. Before a store clerk could clean it up, she slipped and fell on the mess. At trial, she sought recovery for economic and non-economic damages of $500. After deliberations, the Jury returned a verdict: they awarded her $500, but determined that she was at fault for 20% of the accident. The Judge applies the calculations to the award, and awards the $500, less the 20% comparative fault (which is $100), for a total net recovery of $400.

    Analyzing comparative negligence is an important part of slip-and-fall cases. It is a consideration our lawyers must keep in mind while preparing for trial. If you are a client of our firm currently in litigation, our lawyers are here to explain in much greater detail how comparative negligence works at trial. If yours is one of the cases that we have set for trial, you will learn more about comparative negligence from your lawyer as the trial draws closer.

    If you are not a client, but have a question about comparative negligence, or you have a potential slip and fall accident case, call our office. You can speak to one of the personal injury lawyers in our firm.