Injury Law Blog : Florida Injury Lawyer & Attorney : LaBovick Law Group : Serving West Palm, Boynton, North Palm, West Palm Beach, Jupiter

Injuries resulting from dangerous conditions on commercial or personal property amount to a significant number of cases in the personal injury arena. Often times, these injuries are a result of a defective condition on the property that was either known by the owner or should have been noticed by the person in control of the real estate. It is when these conditions go unnoticed over a period of time that injuries can result.

Unnoticed property safety hazards give personal injury attorneys difficulty in prosecuting claims for their clients. More often than not, the person in charge of the property will correct the dangerous condition thereby making the area safe. Many clients question why that repair does not come into court for the jury's consideration. To the layman, it would seem that a subsequent repair of the dangerous condition would go to proving negligence. In many instances, it would.

However, Florida has adopted portions of the Federal Evidence Code that exclude this type of evidence for public policy reasons. If the subsequent repair becomes admissible evidence, landowners would be less likely to repair a dangerous condition for fear that it would be used against them in any subsequent litigation. It is thought that repairing the dangerous condition outweighs the evidentiary implication that the owner knew the condition was dangerous prior to the repair. Therefore, in the state of Florida and in most instances, a subsequent remedial repair is inadmissible to show fault on the part of the landowner.

There are exceptions to this rule:

1. The more routine exception is when the landowner disavows ownership of the property that caused injury and then fixes it.
2. Feasibility is another exception. If the landowner claims it is infeasible to fix the dangerous condition and subsequently does so, the fact that it was fixed by the landowner may become evidence in trial. However, as a general rule, subsequent remedial repairs are inadmissible in court to show negligence.

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The current national outbreak of fungal meningitis linked to a spinal injection with a contaminated steroid produced by the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Massachusetts has recently been commented on by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP).  The CDCP is suggesting that those that may be infected by the injection within the past six weeks but have no symptoms follow two options:

1.    The first option is to keep watch for symptoms (e.g., headaches, stiff neck, dizziness, fever and sensitivity to light) and to perform a spinal tap if they occur.
2.    The second option is to perform the spinal tap even if there are no symptoms present.
The CDCP went on to further note that spinal taps are NOT RISK-FREE.  There is a remote chance that someone who was injected with the contaminated drug may transfer the infection to the spine via the spinal needle.  In other words, directly infecting the patient with meningitis by way of a test meant to detect a meningitis infection.  Another side effect of spinal taps is headaches, which is one of the symptoms of meningitis.  

As of the writing of this blog, Florida has seen its twenty-third case of meningitis allegedly brought on by an infected injection.  Of those 23 people infected in Florida, three have died as a result.  There have been a reported 340 reported cases nationwide in 18 states.    

If you have any questions or concerns about this outbreak, legal or otherwise, give us a call, and we will lead you in the right direction. www.labovick.com

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Effective December 1,2011, the United States Coast Guard increased the average weight per person that commercial boat operators must assume when calculating the number of passengers they can carry. At 185 lbs., the new assumed average weight per person updates the old average of 160lbs, which was established in 1960. The Coast Guard is following the trend that Americans, as a society, are becoming heavier. This is confirmed by the current administrations’ increased concern with our society’s overall obesity.

Not withstanding the subtle comment on the fitness on Americans today, the Coast Guard’s new regulations will clearly affect all commercial boat operators. For instance, dive boats are restricted by weight and can only carry a certain amount of passengers by virtue of the size of the boat. The increased weight limit will mean that the dive company will be able to carry less passengers per trip. The only conclusion that can be drawn from this is that the dive company will either make less money or charge more per passenger for the pleasure of diving aboard their vessels. In other words, our fatness as society is going to translate into higher fares paid by passengers boarding commercial vessels. The long reaching effects may carry into ferries, small cruise ships, and other forms of sea going transportation governed by the United States Coast Guard weight limits.

If we enjoy diving, traveling by commercial vessel or other sea-going activities, the fatter we get, the thinner our wallets get.

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Florida law makes it a crime to engage in sexual intercourse if you know you have a sexually transmitted disease.  According to Florida Statute § 384.24, “it is unlawful for any person who has chancroid, gonorrhea, granuloma inguinale, lymphogranuloma venereum, genital herpes simplex, chlamydia, nongonococcal urethritis (NGU), pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)/acute salpingitis, or syphilis, when such person knows he or she is infected” to have sexual intercourse with any other person.  However, if you tell your partner of the STD and they still consent to sexual intercourse, you have not violated the above statute.  This has to be one of the most awkward conversations someone will ever have with his/her partner. 

According to Florida Statute § 384.34, if you engage in sexual intercourse knowing you have an STD, you have committed a misdemeanor of the first degree punishable by a term of imprisonment not exceeding 1 year.  In addition, you may also find yourself civilly liable.  In fact, several years ago former basketball starMagic Johnson found himself defending a lawsuit for allegedly spreading HIV during sexual intercourse.  In sum, spreading a known STD can land you in jail and broke.

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Recently, a friend came to me as a friend and a lawyer, and told me about her Jeep Grand Cherokee truck that she had been having some trouble with. It seems that on her 2005 model, the plastic door handles and panels began to crack and break off. I looked at the doors, and they were falling apart. The door handles were inoperable; she had to open the car by reaching out the window and using the outdoor handles. This was true for all the doors. An obvious safety issue came right to mind. I asked what she had done up to this point, and she gave me a stack of documents about 2-inches thick of unanswered correspondence to Chrysler and pages and pages of online complaints from hundreds of other Jeep owners experiencing that same problem.

I thought I could help, so I called the customer service number and left several messages without a returned call. Eventually, I was able to track down the customer care supervisor’s name and address. I drafted a letter to the gentleman and enclosed all of my friend’s documentation. I received a letter back in a timely fashion, but they said there was nothing they could do and said they were sorry. In response to that, I called a local Jeep/Chrysler dealership and spoke to a service manager who said they would be happy to fix the door panels, and they would accept a voucher from Chrysler. Armed with this information, I reached out to Jeep and explained that this could be an easy fix, all they had to do was send a voucher to the dealer (I even gave Jeep the dealer’s information.). Several days later, I received a letter back saying they were unwilling to do so. Who knows how many others will think twice about buying a Jeep after reading this blog. The cost of the fix? $1,500. The cost of future customers? Priceless.

Photo: http://sadooc.com/2005-jeep-grand-cherokee/

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Just a few days ago in Marathon, Florida tragedy occurred during a boating expedition. Eight people from Royal Palm Beach, including a four-year-old child, left Marathon in a 22-foot boat facing 38-mile-an-hour winds and 7-foot seas to go snorkeling.

Due to the foul weather and rough sea conditions, there was a boating accident, and their 22-foot vessel capsized, and the occupants were left to drift. Of the eight occupants, four became separated from the vessel and one of them, an elderly lady, drowned. It is presumed by authorities that the vessel was underequipped by not having enough life preservers for all passengers. Further, there were too many occupants for the vessel given its size and power. Finally, the weather was simply too adverse to go out under the circumstances. Sadly, this personal injury tragedy could have been avoided with the use of common sense and experience.

First, any boating expedition must be planned in accordance with the weather and sea conditions. The Coast Guard in this case felt that the size of the vessel was inappropriate given the weather conditions. Secondly, the vessel was over-occupied leaving it tough to navigate and control. Finally, it was not supplied with enough with life-saving gear.

The circumstances in this sad instance were a recipe for disaster. The captain of the boat is responsible for the safety of his passengers. Further, the captain has the last call as to whether or not the voyage will take place. In this instance, the captain should have stayed on shore, a decision he now sadly regrets.

For more information about the laws of boating or to find out what to do if you've been in a boating accident, contact Mark R. Hanson, Esq., or set up a free initial consultation with the LaBovick Law Group.

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Homeowners are increasingly qualifying for mortgage modifications so that they can stay in their homes.  The expense is a protracted mortgage with no principal balance reduction to accurately reflect the bursted bubble of housing prices.  Once again a band aid was handed out with only short term assistance and in some instances a balloon payment at the end of the term. 

According to a New York Times article millions of homeowners are underwater because the value of their homes are so much less than their outstanding mortgages. Many people are living off of their credit cards digging their debt hole faster and farther.  Might it be that the banks don’t want to take the losses on defaulted loans so they let the default and foreclosure process continue on the slow path.  As suggested in the New York Times article does principal reduction reward bad behavior?  Allowing refinancing of mortgages underwater without requiring a default for modification might free up money so that mortgagors don’t have to live off their credit cards. 

The solution to our housing crisis has not been found.  In many ways it is exacerbated by the Home Owners Association jumping into the game and forcing a quick foreclosure and sale and further driving down the prices of homes.  Also, without proper planning, defaults from foreclosures will further follow homeless mortgagors for years to come as debt collectors continue to sell these debts for collection.  What system will track these debts as they are paid off. 

For more information regarding mortgage modification, please contact Audra Simovitch, Esq., the Director of Consumer Financial Services for the LaBovick Law Group. 

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