Florida Injury Lawyer Blawg

Published on: May 23, 2014

Florida Pedestrians in Great Danger – Cell Phone abuse ignored

Florida, the third most populated state in the nation, has tepid or no laws to prevent cell phone or texting abuse, but at the same time, complaint ranking is No. 1 in pedestrian deaths. Leesfield & Partners has been clamoring and pushing the legislature for greater public protection from distracting cell phone/texting excesses. “We are a state of millions of smart phones and stupid drivers,” according to Managing Partner, Ira Leesfield, who has written, lectured and lobbied for change:

“Driving While on the Cell Phone-Punitive Damage Awards Should Come Through Loud and Clear.” The Brief, American Bar Association, Vol. 36, No. 4, Summer 2007. “Can You Hear Me Now – An Argument for Punitive Damages in Cell Phone Driving Cases.” Section Connection, Motor Vehicle Collision, Highway & Premises Liability, American Association for Justice, Vol. 13, No. 1 Fall/Winter 2006. “Make the Right Call.” The Miami Herald, March 13, 2013. “Driving + Cell Phones = Bad Call.” Trial Magazine, American Association for Justice, August 2010.

Leesfield, through the safety efforts of the American Association for Justice (AAJ) has taken the specific platform to underscore the neuro-impairment of a cell phone user while operating a multi-ton vehicle. Motor vehicle accidents should be tracked by the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA). Cell phone abuse has now found its way to large waterways, and the number of cell phone deaths and injuries by boat and connected with water sports is dramatically increasing.
Continue reading

Published on: May 7, 2014

Tragic fatal boating incident in Key Biscayne

By Leesfield & Partners

On sunday evening, Ernesto Hernandez, 23, was pronounced dead at Ryder Trauma Center in Miami where he was airlifted following an incident off Nixon beach in Key Biscayne, Florida.

Ernesto was with his family and friends on a sunday afternoon when a nearby motorboat became stuck on a sand bar. Several people jumped out of the boat, including Ernesto, to assist the operator of the boat to free up the vessel from the sand bar. That is when one of the four propeller engines of the boat caught Ernesto and inflicted fatal injuries to his body. Jorge Pino, an investigator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission relayed to the media that the “young man who came to assist ended up in the rear of the vessel and one of the engines and the propeller actually caught his body, his torso.” Despite the rescue efforts, first of his friends and family, followed by fire rescue, Ernesto succumbed from the injuries he sustained while helping the vessel.

The boat in question is a 40-foot pleasure boat operated at the time by DJ Laz, a popular South Florida radio voice. The vessel was being used as Pitbull’s vodka brand Voli Spirits’ promotional boat.

Published on: April 18, 2014

Fatal Electrocution of 7-year-old boy in North Miami likely caused by Code Violation

By Leesfield & Partners

7-year-old Calder Sloan was in his swimming pool with Gary, the son of his nanny, who was watching Calder and his younger brother Caleb in their home in North Miami Beach when the unthinkable happened. Gary felt a shock and jumped out of the water yelling for Calder to do the same. Calder did not hear him as he was swimming under water at the time. A split second later, Calder was thrown out of the water. Neighbors rushed to the backyard, performed CPR while getting zapped themselves.

Calder was rushed to Jackson North Medical Center, but the young boy could not survive the jolt of electricity that went through his body. The Miami Herald reported power source could have been as much as 120 volts.

A photograph of the pool light showed rust and corrosion which further evidences an electrical circuit issue with the repairs. Calder’s father, Chris Sloan, told media that about nine months ago, he had an electrician fix the pool light which was not working properly.

Published on: April 16, 2014

Tivoli Park Management is to blame for drowning of twin toddlers say residents

By Leesfield & Partners

Last week, two year-old twin sisters Harmony and Harmani West tragically drowned in the swimming pool of their apartment complex, Tivoli Park, in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Since the incident, while the parents are attempted to cope with their brutal and unfair loss, residents and neighbors have clearly and unequivocally placed the blame on the management company for the family’s loss.

“The doors don’t lock.” Residents said in no uncertain terms that the door and gate to the pool is always open. Lou Pena, a fellow resident at Tivoli Park told police and news reporters that the pool door “never locks. Anyone can go in whenever they want I don’t blame a little child for wandering in it was going to happen sooner or later.”

As discussed last week in our first entry on this tragedy, Florida Law imposes that residential swimming pools be fenced in. At the time of passage of the new law, drowning was the leading cause of death of young children in the state of Florida. The Legislature received testimony of experts throughout the legislative process confirming that constant adult supervision is the key to accomplishing the objective of reducing the number of submersion incidents, and that when lapses in supervision occur a pool safety feature designed to deny, delay, or detect unsupervised entry to the swimming pool will reduce drowning incidents.

Published on: April 9, 2014

Broken lock on swimming pool fence of Deerfield Beach complex leads to the fatal drowning of two twin toddlers

By Leesfield & Partners

Harmani and Harmony West were just 2 years old, yesterday in Deerfield Beach, they drowned in the pool of the apartment complex in which they lived with their mother. The apartment complex, Tivoli Park, has 6 pools and spas according to their website, all of which are gated with a locked door to prevent these exact incidents to occur. Witnesses did tell authorities that the lock on the pool in which the two small children drowned was broken and did not prevent the toddlers to gain access to the water.

According to the responding officers, a couple visiting from North Carolina who was staying at Tivoli Park noticed a girl floating in the pool as the man made its way to the hot tub. He jumped in the pool and dragged the girl’s body out of the pool as quickly as he could. The woman then noticed a second body. The couple called 911 and efforts to resuscitate were undertaken aggressively performed by CPR. One of the girl was taken to Broward Health Medical Center by ambulance, the other by air, but later that night, both girls were pronounced dead at the hospital.

The early investigation of the officers has shown that somehow the twin girls had somehow been able to exit their apartment and walked to the pool area. The pool was gated, but the lock on the gate was broken and the girls ended up in the pool.

Published on: March 6, 2014

Lawsuit filed in case of fatal explosion against Holy Cross Hospital

By Leesfield & Partners

Last August, Adele Bearman went to Holy Cross Hospital to have routine surgery. Leesfield & Partners, Ira Leesfield, said in an interview to the Miami Herald and other news outlet: “While they were doing this rather routine surgery, there was a leak from the oxygen mask into the environment. The surgeon, anesthesiologist, and the hospital employees didn’t communicate with each other. There was an explosion. She literally caught on fire in the operating room.”

A lawsuit was filed on March 4 against Holy Cross and other multiple doctors whom the complaint alleges they were negligent in this action. The complaint reads that “during the operative procedure Mrs. Bearman was supposed to undergo, Dr. Pasternak was the anesthesiologist who was responsible for providing MAC anesthesia to this patient. Dr. Pasternak was providing oxygen, via facemask, at 8 liters per minute at the time. Dr. Bermudez was utilizing electrocautery in close proximity to the flow of oxygen. Dr. Pasternak and Dr. Bermudez failed to communicate with each other concerning the utilization of oxygen via face mask and electrocautery in the proximity with the oxygen and as such created a dangerous, negligent and unsafe condition.”

The complaint further alleges that “during the arterial biopsy performed by Dr. Bermudez, there occurred an operative fire caused by the combination of the presence of excessive oxygen and electrocautery with said fire causing burns to the face and additional burns on the chest, oral and nasal mucosal surfaces of Adele Bearman causing substantial pain, suffering, scarring, disfigurement, loss of ability to enjoy life, and serious bodily injury for which substantial care and treatment was required from her date of injury to her date of death.”

Published on: February 27, 2014

Unsafe and neglected balcony railings lead to fall and catastrophic injuries

By Leesfield & Partners

A month after falling off the balcony at a North Bay Village apartment complex, Jimmy O’Reilly is still at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Critically injured, it is still unknown whether Jimmy will be able to walk again.

In its on-camera investigation, Local 10 asked the same questions attorneys with the firm have been asking; Where were the owner and the property manager? Why were the balconies and railings never fixed despite numerous complaints by multiple tenants?

“This was a recipe for disaster. You have an absentee owner and a property manager that was indifferent to the tenant complaints. Owners and managers must be responsible for maintaining their property. When they are not, and good people are gravely injured, it is our job to hold them accountable to the fullest extent the law allows” attorneys with the firm said.

Published on: February 14, 2014

Will Florida finally pass regulations of the Parasailing Industry?

By Leesfield & Partners

Yesterday, the Senate Committee pm Regulated Industries passed Senate Bill 320 by a unanimous vote of 9 to 0. Members of the Senate Committee had just finished hearing from families who have lost loved ones in parasailing accidents in Florida.

Thumbnail image for harness_parasailing.jpg Among them, the family of Amber May White who tragically died in 2007 while parasailing with her younger sister Crystal. Leesfield & Partners represented the family and a confidential settlement was reached out of court. In 2007, as it is true today, the parasail industry is absolutely unregulated. Despite countless voices begging for this activity to be regulated, the industry has been operating completely free of any rules. Parasail operators are self-regulated, which often translates in utter lack of safety and proper training.

While yesterday was the first optimistic step in the right direction, it is 7 years removed from the fatal accident that has changed the family of Amber and Crystal forever. Click here to learn more about the events in that case and the lawsuit that ensued.

Published on: February 10, 2014

Ira Leesfield recognized amidst the release of George Clooney’s The Monuments Men

By Leesfield & Partners

Appointed by President Clinton to investigate and track down looted Holocaust art and cultural treasures stolen during World War II across Europe, Ira Leesfield was recently recognized by the Miami Herald for the role he played in the U.S. Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets from 1998 to 2000.

The release of George Clooney’s latest movie, The Monuments Men, has led many men and women to being honored at various Washington institutions that played major roles in the protection, investigation, and in several cases, rescue of European treasures during and after World War Two.

The Commission made several significant findings, some of which are below:

Published on: November 15, 2013

Ventilator-dependent twin brothers die during power outage

By Leesfield & Partners

In Northern California’s Calaveras County last night, twin brothers Ryan Hall and Joshua Hall died during a local power outage. The two 22-year-old brothers were ventilator dependents and the early investigation revealed that their respective ventilators’ back-up system systems failed when the house lost power.

Ryan and Joshua Hall suffered from muscular dystrophy and relied on their ventilator to breathe for them. Sheriff Gary Kuntz told reporters that the investigation is focused on the reasons why the backup systems failed.

This tragic incident is eerily similar to a case Leesfield & Partners recently handled and successfully resolved after almost three years of litigation, and a $2.5 million wrongful death settlement was reached for the parents and sole caretakers of the 31 year-old man who died.