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

Category: Personal Injury Blog

  • Injury Suit Filed Against Man Who Attacked Uber Driver

    If you’re an avid user of social media, chances are good that you’ve seen the video of a man violently attacking an Uber driver last Friday. In the video, which quickly went viral, you can clearly see a man named Benjamin G. attack the driver, hitting him multiple times before grabbing his hair and attempting to slam his head into the dash and steering wheel. He did not stop until the driver was able to pepper spray him, at which point the assailant fled. The attack was shocking, violent, and seemingly unprovoked.

    The Uber driver has since filed a civil suit against Benjamin, seeking unspecified compensation for the emotional distress and injuries the attack caused. In this blog, we’ll explore whether or not the driver has a legitimate case against the passenger.

    Are the Driver’s Damages Recoverable?

    Although the driver did not suffer any serious or long-term phsyical injuries, the incident took place in California, which is one of just a few states that does not require physical symptoms to prove that emotional harm was inflicted. When combined with the video of the incident, this fact alone definitely gives some validity to the driver’s claim.

    However, physical symptoms don’t always need to be serious injuries when the claim is filed for emotional distress. Symptoms such as loss of appetite, insomnia, and anxiety could all potential be considered physical symptoms of the attack. It seems that his personal injury lawyer is well aware of this fact, as he has stated publicly that “This is basically a nightmare for him. He’s having a very, very tough time sleeping…”

    A Case Still in Progress

    Although this civil suit is the latest development in this rather odd case, the assailant also faces substantial misdemeanor charges of assault, battery, and several other related charges. In the wake of the video going viral, he has been fired from his position as a Taco Bell marketing executive.

    Whether your injuries were the result of a physical attack, car accident, or slip and fall injury, you may face substantial emotional trauma for months or years after the incident. When you choose our West Palm Beach personal injury lawyers to represent you in your claim, we can help you seek compensation for not only your physical injuries, but for the emotional distress you’ve suffered as well.

    Our firm can help you pursue compensation to cover medical expenses, loss of income, and more.

  • Understanding Insurance Requirements in Florida

    If you’ve registered a vehicle in Florida, you’re required to obtain insurance coverage. Florida, like most other states, has set a minimum amount of insurance which all drivers are required to carry. This minimum coverage is at least $10,000 worth of property damage liability insurance, and another $10,000 in personal injury protection.

    Minimum Coverage

    Personal Injury Protection (PIP) Insurance

    Florida is a “no-fault” auto insurance state, meaning your insurance company will be responsible for compensating you in the event of a crash no matter who was at fault. Personal injury protection insurance covers you in your own vehicle, as well as other vehicles you may be a passenger in. This insurance will also cover you if you are involved in a pedestrian accident or bicycle accident. Additionally, PIP insurance will cover your children, other members of your household, and any passengers who do not have PIP insurance, provided they also do not own a car. The amount you can recover in an insurance claim is capped by the limits of your policy.

    Minimum: $10,000 PIP coverage in the state of Florida
    Property Damage Liability (PDL) Insurance

    While personal injury protection covers bodily harm and injuries, PDL coverage covers damages to other people’s property. The most common example of this is damage to the vehicle, but can also include things like walls, fences, or even valuable stored inside the car at the time of the crash.

    Minimum: $10,000 PDL coverage in Florida
    Optional Coverage: Bodily Injury Liability (BIL) Insurance

    In addition to PIP insurance, which covers injuries to you and specific passengers, and PDL, which covers damage to other peoples’ property, there is also BIL coverage. This bodily injury liability insurance can pay for serious injury or death to other parties when you are at fault for the crash. Essentially, this coverage gives you financial defense in case you are sued by an injured person, but many insurers also provide legal representation if this happens.

    What if I Don’t Have Insurance?

    If you’re driving without insurance, the best case scenario is a license suspension of up to 3 years and fees which can total $500. If you injure someone while driving without insurance, you can potentially be sued and must pay the damages out of pocket. Driving without insurance is illegal, and highly irresponsible.

    For more about Florida car insurance requirements, download Palm Beach County car crash attorney Craig Goldenfarb’s guide: “What Car Insurance Do I Need? “ The West Palm Beach Law Offices of Craig Goldenfarb, P.A. offer a free insurance-registration holder to all West Palm Beach drivers. Request yours by clicking here.

    Injured in a car crash? Call Law Offices of Craig Goldenfarb, P.A. to pursue fair compensation for your injuries.

  • Preventing Winter Accidents in West Palm Beach – Get Ready for Rain

    Although residents of West Palm Beach enjoy a much milder winter than in most other states, drivers in Florida should still be prepared for the winter rainy season. Properly preparing your car for rain will help you prevent accidents and injuries, and it can even save your life.

    Tips for Maintaining Your Car for the Rain

    • Before the rainy season even begins, swap out your old wiper blades with fresh new ones. They are inexpensive, and can be changed in just a few minutes.
    • Make sure your tires have proper tread. The classic penny trick works well – put a penny into a few tread grooves across the tire, and check to see if Lincoln’s head is partially covered. If so, you have suitable tread remaining
    • Check your tire pressure. Underinflated tires can make you lose traction when the streets are wet.
    • Always carry an emergency kit in your car, and keep your cell phone on you whenever you’re driving.

    If you’ve been injured in a Florida car accident, call the Law Offices of Craig Goldenfarb, P.A. to pursue fair compensation for your injuries.

  • New Florida Law Extends Reporting Time for Sexual Battery Victims

    Rape victim Danielle Sullivan’s efforts have come to fruition with the passing of Florida’s new “43 Days Initiative Act.” This new bill, signed into law by Governor Scott and in effect as of July 1st, 2015, doubles the statute of limitations allowed for filing charges of sexual battery, commonly known as “rape”.
    Sullivan was the victim of rape, but because Florida’s previous law required the victim to report the incident to authorities within four years of the crime, her attacker walked away free from prosecution. That’s because Sullivan was a mere 43 days late in reporting this horrific crime committed against her.

    This new law extends the statute of limitations for rape from four to eight years. It also takes away any statute of limitations for victims younger than 16 years old. Prior to this extension, Florida was one of only three other states that had three or four year limitations on reporting rape and other sexual crimes to the property authorities for prosecution.

    According to a 2000 National Crime Victimization Survey, youths aged 12-17 are two to three times more likely to be sexually assaulted than adults. In fact, rape, according to the National Victim Center, is “the most underreported violent crime in America.” In a large national survey of American women, only 16% of the rapes (approximately one out of every six) had ever been reported to the police.
    Many issues can make it difficult for victims of sexual assault to report these types of crimes, even after many years have passed since the attack. Some of the issues that can effect a victim’s timely reporting include embarrassment, self-blaming and self-shaming, fear of reciprocity from an attacker, or worry that the victim will not be believed. In totality, these effects are called Rape Trauma Syndrome, an established and medically accepted mental health condition.

    I’ve personally prosecuted many of these types of crimes in civil court during my career as a personal injury lawyer. Specifically, I have represented victims of sexual battery against a number of powerful and famous men. My experience has taught me that attackers will commonly use their power and influence to scare their victims into silence, especially the younger female victims. Frequently it is only after the victim grows up and realizes how this tragedy has truly scarred her life, that she summons the courage to come forward and seek justice.
    By amending this law to extend the criminal statute of limitations, the legislature has provided the flexibility in reporting that victims of sexual battery obviously need to do their part in helping to put sexual predators behind bars, where they belong.

    The new law also amends the statute of limitations for a civil lawsuit against a sexual abuser. If the victim is over the age of 18, she has seven years to file a lawsuit. However, if the victim is a dependent of the abuser (an underage daughter, for example), she has an additional four years from the time she severs that dependent relationship, as well as four years from the discovery of injury.

    At our law firm, we continue to work on behalf of victims of sexual assault and sexual battery as a legal advocate for their rights in the criminal and civil justice systems. We guide our clients through every step of this difficult, often emotional process. Our goal is to obtain a financial recovery against the Defendant which, hopefully, helps to validate the emotional trauma a victim has endured, as well as pay for future medical and psychological treatment.
    If you or someone you know or love has been the victim of sexual assault, contact our office today to find out if we may be able to help you recover. The call is free and confidential.

  • Understanding Florida’s Hit & Run Laws

    Understanding Florida’s Hit & Run Laws

    What a Driver Is Required To Do After an Accident

    When a person is involved in a car accident, they are required to give certain information to any other party whose property was damaged, or who was injured. If they cannot give the information directly to the property owner (they hit a parked car, for example) then they must report the crash to the police.

    The information they must provide includes:

    • Name
    • Address
    • Vehicle Registration Number
    • Driver’s license/permit

    They must also provide reasonable assistance to anyone who was injured in the crash, including making arrangements to have them transported to a hospital, if necessary. Last, a driver must always wait for police to arrive to the scene when significant damage has occurred. Even if they disagree, if the police have been called, they must wait. Leaving before they arrive could result in hit and run charges.

    What Is Considered Hit & Run Under Florida Law?

    When Only Property Is Damaged

    This part of the statute requires any driver involved in a crash—whether it occurs on public or private property—to stop and complete the requirements listed above. A willful failure to follow these steps can result in a third degree felony charge. This could land an offender in prison for up to five years, and result in $5000 in fines, to say nothing of the potential legal fees. The person’s driver’s license will be revoked for at least three years. The driver can also be held responsible for financial costs related to the property damage.

    When Another Party Is Seriously Injured

    If a driver is involved in a crash that causes serious bodily injury to another person, they must stay at the scene of the crash until they have fulfilled the above requirements. If they willfully fail to comply with these requirements, they may be convicted of a second degree felony. The penalties for a second degree felony hit and run charge include a maximum prison sentence of 15 years, a $10,000 fine, and a minimum driver’s license suspension of 3 years.

    When Another Party Dies

    If a person flees the scene of a fatal accident, the consequences are extremely severe. They can be charged with a first degree felony, one of the most serious crimes under Florida state law. In addition to a three year (or more) suspension of their driver’s license, this charge carries a prison sentence of up to 30 years and a fine of as much as $10,000. If a person has prior convictions for certain traffic-related crimes, including hit and run or DUI, they will be immediately arrested and held in custody until they stand before the court for admittance to bail.

  • “The Trucks are Killing Us” Op-Ed Sheds New Light on Dangers of Trucking

    An opinion piece in The New York Times this past weekend is shedding some light on the commercial trucking industry and its dangerous tactics and business practices, and how Congress is enabling the industry to continue with business as usual.

    Written by Howard Abramson, 16-year former veteran of the country’s most influential commercial trucking lobby, the piece digs deep into why trucking in America is so hazardous to passenger vehicles and drivers on our highways. He also set out to expose a cushy relationship between Congress and his former employer, American Trucking Associates.

    Abramson writes that more people will be killed by commercial trucking accidents during this year alone than the total number of people who died from domestic commercial aviation accidents in the past 45 years combined. Despite this, he writes, Congress is doing nothing to strengthen regulations on the trucking industry.

    To the contrary: a number of amendments to a highway funding bill currently making its way through Congress seeks to accomplish the exact opposite. These bills suspend or weaken federal regulator’s attempts to implement various safety standards over the last few years. These standards include limiting how many consecutive hours a truck driver may be behind the wheel and limiting how many hours a driver can work per week.

    Despite public opposition, Congress is moving forward with the bill, which if passed, may allow for bigger and longer trucks to be on the road, and may suspend the age restrictions for interstate truck drivers from 21 years old to just 18 years old. Also, the requirements that a driver take a certain number of hours off before starting their work week again could be suspended.

    These rules seem on the surface to be no-brainers. Crash statistics show over and over again that the number one cause of commercial trucking accidents is fatigued or impaired truck drivers. Yet the trucking lobby is still able to get Congress to pass measures tucked inside spending bills that limit regulations. How, and maybe more importantly, why?

    Safety is not good business

    Why wouldn’t a commercial transport company be interested in implementing simple safety standards that can save the lives of so many Americans? The industry, Abramson says, claims it will be “burdened” with extras costs if Federal safety standards are strengthened. The business is a low-margin business, operators claim. Any raise in costs will be passed to consumers, and Congress shouldn’t allow that. But at $700 billion a year in economic output, just how much would the industry as a whole be losing? Perhaps a couple hundred million, the equivalent of a slight summertime fuel price spike?

    Think of the gains, Abramson says. Requiring drivers to stick to standard safety measures like maximum hours on the road in a given range, and the implementation of safety technology that includes collision detection systems and data recorders, wouldn’t cost them too much to implement. And the return is potentially hundreds of lives saved. Over time, the cost to insure the trucks, drivers, and cargo would steadily deflate, saving the industry hundreds of millions of dollars each and every consecutive year. And the roadways would be safer for all of us.

    Fatalities by trucking accidents are on the rise. No one disputes that. From 2009 to 2013, the latest year of available data, has risen by 17%. Each year in the last four has seen more deaths than the previous one. Deaths are disproportionately levied on passenger vehicle drivers and passengers, not the truck driver. So the commercial trucking industry is operating at the public’s expense.

    The current operations of the commercial trucking industry should be a public health concern.

    The biggest and heaviest long-haul trucks on the road, Class 8 trucks, account for only about 10% of all miles traveled in the U.S., but caused one in eight traffic fatalities in 2013. These trucks are also responsible for nearly a quarter of all traffic fatalities that occur in a work or construction zone.

    These crashes indicate driver fatigue, as the driver likely doesn’t notice the roadway obstruction, and continues through it at normal speed and operation. When all the other passenger vehicle drivers slow down, that creates an extremely dangerous scenario. These trucks are not equipped with accident avoidance technology, so a large number of these fatal accidents in work zones occur when a truck slams into the back of a passenger vehicle, often killing the driver and passengers immediately.

    What will it take to put (and keep) stronger commercial trucking safety standards in place?

    In short, it’s going to take the courage of Congress. Lawmakers must refute the trucking industry’s powerful lobby, and instead put the safety of our nation’s driver first, even if they don’t realize just how much danger they are in. Sharing the road with a massive commercial fright truck is a dangerous proposition, yet, the shipping industry is an important one to ensure the movement of goods around the country to help make modern live easier and more convenient.

    But there is no convenience or good whose delivery is more important than the life of a driver on the roadway. Therefore, Congress should strike these amendments to the highway safety bill currently moving through both houses to ensure safety standards not only stay in place, but are strengthened instead of weakened.

  • 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.