Articles Posted in Truck Accident

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Since 1976, victims of negligent truck drivers have placed their trust in Leesfield Scolaro’s trucking attorneys to fight for them. In 2020, Attorneys Thomas Scolaro, Adam Rose and Thomas Graham have recovered a combined $5million for two clients whose lives were impacted by reckless truck drivers. The experience and determination displayed in these two cases is what separates Leesfield Scolaro, the longest-established personal injury firm in South Florida, from other firms with fewer trials under their belt.

leesfield-trucking-practice-1024x646Our history with trucking cases dates back to five decades ago when Ira H. Leesfield, founding partner, settled a $5.3 million case on behalf of a young woman who was catastrophically injured by a distracted Winn-Dixie truck driver. At the time, this was the largest settlement ever obtained in South Florida and the creative lawyering was the central feature in the Miami News. That settlement today (with inflation) would equate to around $13,000,000. Our past trucking cases include a $8,650,000 settlement on behalf of teenagers, $3,000,000 settlement in Orange County, $1,000,000 above the policy limits on behalf of an injured truck driver, $7,995,467 arbitration award, $5,350,000 settlement obtained on behalf of a bicyclist in Key West.

Since the 1980s, our trucking accident practice has grown exponentially. In 1983, Ira H. Leesfield, in coordination with the Association of Trial Lawyers of America National College of Advocacy, started a workshop for fellow attorneys on the topic of “Motor Vehicle Litigation” which included in large part how to litigate trucking cases in the face of life-altering damages. Over the years, with an immaculate track record, out-of-state attorneys referred their Florida-based trucking cases to our firm. Today, with well-over $300 million recovered on behalf of clients injured on the road – not just trucking accident victims – our clients know that our vigorous our aggressive representation will produce the best results, leaving zero dollar on the table.

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According to Broward Sheriff’s Office, a bicyclist was killed today after he was hit by a cement truck near Davie Boulevard. The authorities have not revealed the circumstances of this latest fatal bicyclist accident, but one can reasonably suspect that the truck driver did not see the bicyclist, or did not see the bicyclist with enough time to avoid fatally striking the victim.

Last year, Leesfield Scolaro began its “Share the Road” campaign, by promoting the same message on its U.S.1 signage as illustrated below. This campaign was born out of the necessary collective realization that Florida is the most lethal state in the nation for bicyclists. South Florida alone has reported over 2500 bicyclist accidents in 2014. A trend that is continually increasing by all measures. Florida leads the nation in fatalities with 119 in 2014, which rounds up the number of bicyclists killed on the road to over 550 between 2010 and 2014.

SHARE THE ROAD.jpgSHARE THE ROAD 04.jpgThis epidemic has not been curbed by community leaders, politics, policies, or fines and criminal penalties. If a change does come in the future, it will have to be triggered by a collective behavior modification of drivers throughout the entire state of Florida. The tragedy that occurred today is even more personal to Leesfield Scolaro because it is eerily similar to a recent case where friends of members of our lawfirm were involved in a bicycle accident with a truck. In that case, the incident was caused by a distracted truck driver who decided to take his eyes off the road to adjust his GPS and failed to avoid two bicyclists whom he struck with incredible force and violence that it permanently changed two innocent lives.

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The State of Florida has the highest number of traffic fatalities in the United States, behind California and Texas. Of those three states however, Florida has the highest ratio of fatal accidents per citizen, according to the United States Census Bureau, 2012 Statistical Abstract.

On average, there are over 2,800 fatal accidents occurring on the roads of Florida, and by the numbers, the most dangerous roads are in South Florida, specifically in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, and Monroe County. Between these four counties, the number of fatalities caused by traffic accidents represents 25% of all fatalities in the entire State of Florida. Statistics are available here.

Thankfully, the latest horrific accident that occurred on June 7, 2012, at approximately 4 a.m., in Broward County, did not contribute to those statistics. Mike Jachles, Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue Spokesman, said that the two men involved in the terrible crash on U.S. 27 were “very lucky to be alive.”

Rafael Ferrer Rodriguez was traveling southbound on U.S, 27, just north of Griffin Road, when he began to worry that his truck may have a flat tire. Rodriguez slowed down, moved his truck off the shoulder of the road, and stopped the large vehicle short of the grassy slope, with about half of the truck still on the paved roadway. He got out of the truck’s cabin and walked to the back of his truck to put a warning triangle on the road in order to alert the oncoming traffic of his presence.

truckcrash_resize.jpgAll of a sudden, before Rodriguez could place the emergency signal, Jose Soto Perez, who was also driving a large truck and traveling southbound at the time, struck the left side of Rodriguez’s parked trailer, causing both trucks to erupt in flames on impact.

Rodriguez was hit by his own trailer but only sustained minor injuries, while Perez was able to escape from his truck’s destroyed cab before the flames could reach him. Perez’s dog, who was in the driver’s cab when the accident took place, was also able to escape with his owner, but, disoriented, the dog was struck and killed by another vehicle who was traveling on U.S. 27.

While the Broward Sheriff’s Office has yet to issue a citation for this incident, most of the responsibility for causing this accident rests on Rodriguez’s actions when he failed to park his truck completely off the roadway, especially in the middle of the night. it is unclear whether Rodriguez turned on his flashing lights before he stepped out of the truck’s cab.
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A life-altering collision for at least 2 young women occurred this morning at approximately 2:30 a.m. on Coral Way and SW 84th Avenue in Westchester, Florida, when their vehicle collided an 18-wheeler tractor trailer, driven by Larry Donell Robinson.

sClip.jpgLarry Robinson was lucky to walk away from this accident without a scratch, but sadly for the occupants of the white Honda Accord, they all were rushed to Kendall Regional Medical Center.

We have since learned that the driver of the Honda, Alexandria Estrella, 23, and Ana Posada, 18, are in critical conditions and still fighting for their lives. The other three passengers identified by police as Jovanni Oliva, Anthony Emmanuel Del Rio, and Moises Arnold Alvarez were also injured, but not critically.

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On Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at the intersection of Northwest 17th Street and 7th Avenue in Miami, Florida, a FedEx truck collided with Miami-Dade Metrobus Route M.

At the time of the collision, 30 passengers were on the bus. Among them, a 16-year-old girl who was riding the bus in a wheelchair. Lt. Ignatius Carroll of the City of Miami Fire Rescue told reporters that first responders were very concerned about the teenage girl, not knowing what condition she was in before the collision and obviously bracing themselves for the worst outcome. But thankfully, “as we started assessing patients inside the bus, we found that more people were complaining about injuries and that turned into a Level 2” added Carroll.

Injured Passengers were transported to Doctor’s Hospital, Jackson Memorial Hospital, South Miami Hospital and Mount Sinai Medical Center.

Florida Law is very clear.
Statute §316.075 Traffic control signal devices
Vehicular traffic facing a steady red signal shall stop before entering the crosswalk on the near side of the intersection or, if none, then before entering the intersection and shall remain standing until a green indication is shown;

After the injured were cared for, the police assessed the cause of the collision and determined that the driver of the FedEx truck failed to stop at the red light of the intersection. Unable to stop his truck, the driver could not avoid slamming into the passenger-loaded bus resulting in several people being injured.
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