Florida Injury Lawyer Blawg

Published on: July 23, 2012

Latest fatality in boating accident amidst new report Florida leads nation in boating accident-related deaths

A week ago, 15-year-old Deviny Boese, was killed in a boating accident off Redington beach in the Tampa area. She had joined a few friends on a 23-foot twin engine fishing boat. Another 15-year-old, Brandon Noah, was operating the boat when tragedy occurred.

Deviny Boese.gif Deviny and her friend Sarah Dobbs were sitting and holding on to a tube, when all of a sudden the boat came much too close to a dock. Noah attempted to maneuver away, but the tube was going too fast and the dock was too close. The tube flipped over, catapulting the two female teenagers into the bank. Sarah only sustained an ankle injury, but Deviny’s body slammed into a dock piling. According to the initial statements and an early investigation, Noah jumped off the boat and attempted to revive Deviny. Paramedics rushed to the scene, but the young girl died minutes later.

This tragedy is the latest fatal boating accident. These events come on the heel of a new report published this week by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. In its 2011 Boating Accident Statistical Report, the FWC found that Florida leads the nation with 742 boating accidents. The number of reportable accidents (accidents resulting in death, significant injury, or disappearance) have increased by 11% since last year, and by 20% since 2009.

In the State of Florida, the top 10 counties with the most reportable boating accidents are:

The primary caused for Florida’s nation-leading 742 boating accidents in 2011 was careless behavior by the boat operator. in all, almost 70% of all boating accidents were caused by an operator or a passenger behaving in an illegal, careless, reckless manner.
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Published on: July 13, 2012

Wrongful death lawsuit filed in accidental electrocution case

By Leesfield & Partners

This week, Leesfield & Partners filed two electrocution lawsuits in Palm Beach and Monroe County. These filings follow a long list of resort tort cases handled by Leesfield & Partners, where over the past three decades, Ira Leesfield has represented countless victims and their families who were fatally injured caused by conditions or acts of negligence by property owners.

In Florida, a property owner has a non-delegable duty to maintain its premises in a reasonably safe condition so as to prevent injuries to business invitees and members of the public.

In the first electrocution filed this week, Alan Bazinet was shocked to death while working on electrical components of an apartment. Unbeknownst to him, the general contractor of Castilla & Godoy turned on the main breaker of the apartment in question without checking to see if anyone was in the apartment. As a result of turning the breaker on, Bazinet sustained a 110 volt electrical shock that caused injury and burnt his fingers.

Later that day, while the 52-year-old was still working on electrical outlets in the apartment, the main breaker were once again turned on. This time, the severe electrical shock caused Alan Bazinet to fall over the top of the cabinet where he was working. He was later found unresponsive by a handyman working on the job site. Alan was rushed to the local hospital where he was pronounced dead. Read the complaint here.
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Published on: July 2, 2012

Medical condition to blame in fatal accident by new Marlins’ Stadium

By Leesfield & Partners

On Saturday June 30, 2012, a family visiting Miami from Lawrenceville, Georgia, spent the afternoon at the new Marlins stadium. They watched Miami beat Philadelphia in what would be their last moment as a family.

Minutes later, as they were walking back to their car, on the sidewalk, a minivan driven by Raul Ortega Arias came hurling down at them. The vehicle was going too fast, none of the family members had time to escape. In the end, 13-year-old Adriana Diaz, 14-year-old Franklin Diaz, and 53-year-old Esther Terrero de Diaz, were killed in this unbelievable tragedy. 10-year-old Magdeline Diaz was also critically injured in the crash and she is still listed in critical condition.

While police officers who responded to the scene initially told media that the cause of the accident was unknown, several news outlet have reported that Arias lost control of his vehicle after suffering some sort of medical condition. The 67-year-old driver was also killed in the accident.

Published on: June 29, 2012

Code violation responsible for the fatal electrocution of 11-year-old guest at Central Florida Resort

By Leesfield & Partners

The incredibly tragic event that occurred at the Orange Lake Resort on Wednesday could and should have been avoided. That is essentially what Orange County code enforcement officers confirmed after their on-site investigation of the miniature golf pond that took the life of Ashton Jojo.

Ashton was playing miniature golf when her golf ball ended in one of the courses’ pond. She reached in to retrieve her ball that was submerged under a foot of water, and was electrically shocked as soon as she touched the water. A guest attempted to pull her out, but injured himself in the process. One of the witnesses began to perform CPR on the child. Ashton still had a pulse at that time, but once the EMS arrived and rushed her to Celebration Hospital, she stopped breathing and ultimately died.

The investigation quickly revealed that the pond’s electrical breakers were improperly installed or replaced. Allen Morton with the Orange County’s Division of Building Safety told media that for a water feature such as the pond in question, ground fault interrupter (GFI) breakers are required by code, but upon inspecting the wiring and the electrical pump, non-GFI breakers were used.
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Published on: June 28, 2012

Autopsy confirms electrocution caused the death of 11-year-old Orlando Resort guest

By Leesfield & Partners

An autopsy performed on the young Ashton Jojo, who died yesterday at a Central Florida resort, confirmed that the 11-year-old was fatally electrocuted.

As we reported earlier today, Ashton and her family were staying at a Kissimmee resort. Ashton was playing miniature gold, located on the premises of the resort, when she reached into a pond to retrieve her golf ball. As soon as she came in contact with the water, the young girl began to scream. Despite the aid of another guest, and a resort employee, Ashton could not be saved and she became unresponsive before EMS arrived on the scene.

Today, Orange County code enforcement officers inspected the site where the incident occurred and found numerous violations which would explain what happened. Among these violations, inspectors found that electrical breakers had been improperly replaced. According to Allen Morton of the Orange County Division of Building Safety. GFI breakers are also required for hot tubs and swimming pools.

Published on: June 28, 2012

Electrocution suspected in death of 11-year-old – Latest Resort Tort Incident in Florida

By Leesfield & Partners

Ashton Jojo, an 11-year-old guest at an Orlando / Kissimmee Resort with her parents and young brother, died on Wednesday after she attempted to retrieve her golf ball from a pond while playing miniature golf.

As soon as the young Ashton reached inside the pond to get her golf ball, “she screamed as if she was in distress” said the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in a released statement. Christopher Burges, also a guest at the same resort, rushed to the rescue of the little girl when he heard the screaming, but as he grabbed the girl’s arm, he too became injured, and was unable to save her. Ashton was rushed to Celebration Hospital in Kissimmee where she later died.

Ashton’s family, from New York, was in Central Florida on vacation, where they celebrated Ashton’s eleventh’s birthday last Friday. Another witness to this tragic event told reporters that one of the Resort’s employees mentioned that the electricity to the pond may have had a “short”. By the time EMS arrived on the scene, the 11-year-old was not responding. The grandmother of one of Ashton’s friends spoke to reporters and said the girls asked her to go golfing with them, and she regrets saying no. “I wish to God that I would of gone because I might of made a difference and I’m going to have to live with that.”

The investigation is still ongoing and Deputies of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office have not confirmed the cause of death. If electrocution turns out to be what caused young Ashton’s death, this incident will be yet another resort tragedy that could have been avoided.

Resort tort incidents occur every year in Florida, whether in Orlando / Central Florida, or in Miami or the Florida Keys, in South Florida. Throughout the state of Florida, Leesfield & Partners have represented countless victims of acts of negligence attributed to resort employees. Recently, Thomas Scolaro settled a claim against a Time-Share / Central Florida Resort for injuries one of its guests sustained while she was using a jacuzzi. Due to some electrical malfunction, the suctioning system of the tub began to pump unexpectedly and caused catastrophic spinal damage to a healthy young woman.
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Published on: June 19, 2012

ATV Accident causes death of 11-year-old in Naples, Florida

By Leesfield & Partners

Last month, Karla Marie Ortiz was riding an All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) on an unpaved dirt roadway. According to FHP’s report, the 11-year-old attempted to cross lanes when the vehicle traveled over a severely uneven area of the roadway. The child lost control of the 500-pound four-wheel vehicle, which caused the ATV to buckle and overturn. Karla Ortiz was ejected. She was rushed to North Collier Hospital, but was pronounced dead later that day. The 11-year-old was not wearing a helmet at the time of the incident.

This new tragedy is sadly all too common. Every year, hundreds of children die in ATV accidents and the legislators have done nothing but stand by the ATV manufacturers’ lobby. In the span of 10 years (2000-2010), there have been 1,394,000 trips to Emergency Rooms to treat for injuries sustained in ATV accidents. There have been 404,800 visits to the ER for injuries sustained by children aged 16 or younger. Of all injuries stemming from an ATV accident, 30% concern children that are 16 or younger. More troubling, 1 out of 5 deaths caused by an ATV accident is of a child aged 16 or younger.

In the large majority of children’s death resulting from the use of an ATV, the child was not wearing a helmet. This latest disaster is no different.

Litigation surrounding the use of ATV’s has been ongoing ever since the manufacturing of these vehicles started. In the 1990s, Ira Leesfield engaged in all-terrain vehicle litigation throughout the United States resulting in over $10 million of verdicts and settlements on behalf of seriously injured youngsters, many of whom received ATV’s and other recreational vehicles as holiday gifts. At the time, the main issue was not just the inherent danger of these vehicles, but the fact that parents gave ATV’s to children who were too young, too light, and too inexperienced to handle the power of these vehicles. Early on, ATV’s were marketed by major manufacturers as “toys” with deceptive information in the promotional literature.

ATV Ad.jpg In the 2000s, while ATV’s are not longer marketed as toys per se, they are still marketed towards parents and children, as depicted on the right. This has resulted in a spike in ATV-related accidents and deaths in the last decade, a large portion of which were of children 16 and younger.

Stricter Regulations?

Nothing can be done uniformly because ATV’s fall outside of Federal Highway Safety regulations. Each state is in charge of regulating the use of ATV’s on their respective roads. As such, states have set different standards such as the required safety equipment, whether an operator must have a specific license, the number of allowed passengers, and the minimum age of the driver.
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Published on: June 18, 2012

Teenager killed in hit-and-run is latest tragedy on dangerous Florida roads

By Leesfield & Partners

The legal responsibility of a Florida driver involved in an accident causing injuries or death is extremely straightforward as provided by Florida Statute 316.027 – Crash involving death or personal injuries:

(1)(a) The driver of any vehicle involved in a crash resulting in injury of any person must immediately stop the vehicle at the scene of the crash, or as close thereto as possible, and must remain at the scene of the crash . . . . Any person who willfully violates this paragraph is guilty of a felony of the third degree. . . .

(b) The driver of any vehicle involved in a crash resulting in the death of any person must immediately stop the vehicle at the scene of the crash, or as close thereto as possible, and must remain at the scene of the crash . . . . Any person who willfully violates this paragraph is guilty of a felony of the second degree . . . .

In Florida, a hit-and-run causing injury is a felony of the third degree which is punishable by a term of imprisonment not exceeding 5 years, and a hit-and-run resulting in the death of the victim is a felony of the second degree punishable by a term of imprisonment not exceeding 15 years (Florida Statute 775.082).

Gabriel Amaya, a 17-year-old boy, who was riding his bicycle at the crosswalk of Powerline Road and Prospect Road in Oakland Park, was killed last week by a car that slammed into the teenager’s front tire. Gabriel was thrown off his bike and laid motionless on the asphalt. The driver of the car sped off, then stopped and exited his car, before walking right back into his vehicle and fled the scene for good.

Despite the best efforts of the medical team at Broward Health Medical Center, the young boy was pronounced dead later that day.

Broward Sherrif’s Office, investigating the crime, has limited information about the driver or vehicle involved in this incident. They are currently looking for a vehicle with damage to the left, front headlight, grill and side mirror. BSO is encouraging witnesses to come forward and contact the detectives with any information at 954-321-4845.
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Published on: June 13, 2012

Part One – “411 Pain” & Lawyer Referral Services – Florida Landscape of PIP Benefits & PIP Fraud Claims

By Leesfield & Partners

Florida law provides that every car insurance company must provide $10,000 in PIP benefits to its insured – Florida Statute 627.736(1). For the past few years, the Florida legislator has made multiple attempts to reform the use of Personal Injury Protection benefits, and prevent further abuse, n order to continue the crackdown on PIP claims fraud which are at an all-time high.

How do PIP benefits work?

When a person is involved in a car accident, and sustains an injury that requires any kind of medical treatment, that person’s car insurance will reimburse (at an established rate) the medical bills incurred to treat them. Through PIP, car insurance companies are required to pay for medical treatment (as well as lost wages if applicable), up to $10,000. Once the PIP benefits are exhausted, the insured becomes responsible to pay for their own medical bills, either through their own private health insurance or out of pocket if they are uninsured.

PIP Fraud claims skyrocketing in Florida

Division of Insurance Fraud.jpg Last April, the Office of Florida’s Chief Financial Officer released staggering numbers indicative of a systemic-induced fraud. In the fiscal year 2010/2011, the Division of Insurance Fraud investigated 13,452 cases of insurance fraud, which ultimately resulted in 997 arrests and 804 convictions. In only one year, Florida Courts have ordered restitution amounting to more than $156 million to defrauded insurance companies.

The Florida Division of Insurance Fraud regularly issues a newsletter “The PIP Source” which summarizes the latest scams and arrests in PIP fraud cases. The latest edition can be downloaded here.
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Published on: June 12, 2012

Food poisoning resulting in the death of healthy 32-year-old mother

By Leesfield & Partners

It seems like every single year, a food borne outbreak occurs in multiple states around the country that leaves avid restaurant-goers and supermarket chains scrambling to find out what caused the latest epidemic. Again this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced last week that a new E. Coli outbreak is currently underway and related cases have been identified in six States so far: Alabama (2), California (1), Florida (1), Georgia (5), Louisiana (4) and Tennessee (1).

Thus far, officials have yet to identify the product responsible for this latest round of food poisoning. The level of emergency was raised to an all-time high when Maelan Elizabeth Graffagnini, a 21-months-old infant died in New Orleans. Officials announced that the young child died from complications of E. Coli O145. (one of six types of shiga toxin-producing E. coli).

Florida residents have not been spared by these latest headlines and while the risk of contracting the latest food born bacteria is relatively low, Floridians should constantly remain careful about what and where they eat, in particular, South Floridians.

According to the Florida Division of Hotels and Restaurants, South Florida has received more restaurant violations than anywhere else in the State. The cities of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Boca Raton, rank in the Top 10 violating cities in the last 12 months. Miami leads the way with 37,048 violations alone this past year. Put all three cities together, and South Florida restaurants are responsible for more than 54,000 violations in one year, which represents more than a third of all violations among the top 10 violating cities.

As mentioned above, the city of Miami is the worst violator of all, with over 100 new violations each day on average. The consequences for consumers is usually mild symptoms of food poisoning, a long night of indigestion and a groggy feeling the next 48 hours. Unfortunately, in some instances, the result can be a lot more tragic, as we recently found out.

Leesfield & Partners has represented several victims of food poisoning and settled multiple claims, but none of them were more tragic than the most recent incident. A young woman of 32, a mother of 2 young children aged 2 and 14, picked up a beef chimichanga with salsa, guacamole, lettuce, cheese and chips one evening at a popular Mexican restaurant in Miami.

She ate her dinner and went to bed that night feeling fine, but she woke up violently ill sometime between 2 and 2:30AM. For the rest of the night and through the entire next day, she experienced symptoms of food poisoning, including vomiting, sweating, nausea, cramps, chills, and diarrhea. She was so sick that she could hardly get herself out of bed. Early that morning, a family member saw her go to the bathroom to throw up yet again. They spoke and they both agreed at that she ate something bad from the Mexican restaurant. A few hours later, she decided to report the restaurant to the Health Department, and filled out an online complaint form.
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