Florida leads the nation both in terms of bicycles and fatal accidents involving bicyclists. It is only second after California in terms of people who commute using bikes. But, if we look at the number of bicycle crashes and deaths caused in these accidents, then a completely different picture emerges.
Reckless driving is a crime under Florida law which carries severe punishment in case of bodily injuries or property damage and is estimated to be the leading cause behind road accidents in Florida.
In this article, we will discuss the laws concerning reckless driving in Florida and will explain why you should hire a personal injury lawyer if you are a victim of reckless driving.
Section 316.192 of Florida Statutes defines reckless driving as driving with a willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property. It must be noted that negligence is not sufficient to prove a case of reckless driving against the defendant. The law clearly states that there has to be an element of willfulness which can also be considered as a conscious decision to drive without any regard for other people on the road.
Penalties for reckless driving in Florida are dependent on prior history of reckless driving, and any bodily or property damage which may result from such driving.
First offense without any bodily injury or property damage: First-time offenders who engage in reckless driving causing any bodily injury or property damage are charged for a 2nd-degree misdemeanor. This may lead up to 90 days in jail or 6 months of probation with a fine of $500.
Second offense: This is also considered a 2nd-degree misdemeanor if there is no damage to anyone. There is a penalty of up to 6 months in jail along with a maximum fine of $1,000 for 2nd-time offenders.
Property damage or bodily injury: If reckless driving leads to any property damage or bodily injury, then the driver is charged for a 1st-degree misdemeanor which may result up to 1 year in jail or 12 months in probation along with a $1,000 fine.
Serious bodily injury: In cases of serious bodily injuries, the driver engaging in reckless driving is charged for a 3rd-degree felony which may lead up to 5 years in prison or 5 years’ probation and $5,000 fine.
The penalties and fines associated with this crime are paid by the guilty party above and beyond any insurance pay out to injured parties or property owners.
If you are a victim of reckless driving in Florida, then you may need professional help from an experienced reckless driving lawyer who is aware of Florida laws concerning reckless driving and has a proven track record of winning reckless driving cases.
You can contact us using the contact form on our site or call (727) 498-8771 for a free consultation to discuss your case.
Ridesharing services such as Uber and Lyft are becoming increasingly popular in the US and across the world. These services have indeed revolutionized how we travel and have disrupted the cab/taxi industry. The number of accidents involving Lyft drivers has also increased dramatically.
In this article, we will share some tips and will guide you about some best-practices for what you need to do after getting injured in a Lyft accident in Florida.
More and more people are using ridesharing services such as Uber and Lyft in the US and across the world. Thus, it’s quite natural that the number of accidents involving vehicles from these companies is also on the rise. A normal car accident is by itself quite complex because you may not get awarded all the damages, involving a paid third party driver increases the complexity of the situation. The St. Petersburg Lyft Accident Attorneys at Shocklee Paolino are well versed in handling the intricacies of a Lyft accident.
Medical malpractice refers to the harm caused to a patient when a doctor or any other medical practitioner fails to fulfill his duties competently. Research suggests that medical malpractice cases are the third leading cause of death in the US.
Traumatic brain injury can lead to life-altering changes in a person and can also severely affect the life of those around him. By their very nature, traumatic brain injuries are serious, and a person may need weeks, months, or even years to fully recover.
Slip and fall accidents are among the most common causes of personal injuries due to negligence, and according to The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, are responsible for almost 15% of all accidental deaths in the United States.
Unlike other accidents, slip and fall accidents can occur at any place such as at work, at the shopping mall, at a friend’s house, at home, or at any other place.
Slip and fall accidents often lead to severe and sometimes permanent injuries which can often prove fatal and this is especially true for small children and the elderly.
Surface conditions are a prime culprit in slip and fall accidents. Surface conditions may include the following:
Environmental conditions come next. They are also a leading cause of slip and fall accidents. Environmental conditions include the following:
Ladders and stairs come next because several slip and fall accidents take place on ladders while climbing up or down. Ladders and stairs conditions include the following:
Some industries and occupations are more prone to slip and fall accidents due to the nature of work. These include factory workers, manual laborers, and workers in the construction industry, as well as chefs and other kitchen workers.
It’s a good idea to be careful of any uneven surface, obstacle, and danger-prone environmental condition. Being careful can help you avoid a painful slip and fall accident.
If you are a business owner, you need to be even more careful because a slip and fall injury that happens on your premise can lead to a lawsuit in which you can be held liable and may have to pay a hefty compensation to the injured or affected persons.
If you or your loved one got seriously injured because of a slip and fall accident, call our legal gurus and speak with an experienced, leading Florida slip and fall attorney immediately. Don’t hesitate. Learn about our no win, no fee promise by contacting us at (727) 498-8771.
Slip and fall is one of the most common and often unnoticed types of accident which can happen to anyone. In some slip and fall cases, you can sustain serious injuries which can alter your life. This article explains the legal recourse options after a slip and fall injury and would dwell on the hot topic of Liability which plays a central role in any slip and fall case.
Liability in the simplest terms mean whether the owner of a premises or his representatives/employees can be held accountable for the injury caused to you in a slip and fall accident. You need to prove that the owner of the property is liable for your injuries in order to win an insurance settlement or a personal injury lawsuit.
In slip and fall injury cases a person is usually required to prove either of the following:
You must pay close attention to the word “reasonable” here as it often comes up in slip and fall injury lawsuits. The legal theory suggests that a person can be held negligent if he failed to act as a reasonably prudent person would have acted to avoid injury to any visitor.
You also need to prove that you, yourself, are not responsible for the injury because if you are, the jury will hold you liable for 25% of the injury, and your compensation will be reduced by 25%.
Different states have separate laws and legal doctrines which dictate how much compensation you can get. Proving liability in a slip and fall case is essential for getting any compensation for the damages and injuries you sustained.
Florida, for example, follows the pure comparative negligence doctrine which stipulates that each person can be held liable only for their share in an injury, and if you are suing for compensation in Florida, you can get compensation from the property owner only for his share of liability.
If you, someone you know, or a loved one has been injured in a slip and fall accident, St. Petersburg accident attorneys Shocklee & Paolino are on hand to help. If you don’t understand your rights and the complexities of a slip and fall accident case, you may lose the opportunity to receive the compensation you are entitled to. Contact us today at (727) 498-8771 for a free, no-obligation consultation.
According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, 4.5 million people in the U.S suffer dog bite injuries every year. Other statistics suggest that 1 out of 775 people seek emergency care for dog bites. A large number of victims are boys between the ages of 5 and 9 because they are a soft target for stray dogs.
Jaws of large dogs can exert more than 450 pounds of pressure per square inch which leads to a crush injury that may include lacerations, avulsion, and puncture wounds.
Dog bites may initially seem to be minor, but in many cases, these small bites are proven fatal, and even in cases of nonfatal dog bites, there is a high risk of infections and diseases because several animal diseases can be transmitted to humans.
Healthcare providers including nurses and doctors must thoroughly assess dog bites and they must closely examine the wound for lacerations, punctures, avulsions, and crush injuries. It’s always a good practice to take notice of any damage to tendons, nerves, vasculature, ligaments, and bones.
A large number of victims approach court for compensation, so it’s a good idea to keep all the injuries documented. You must keep a record of all your physical examination findings, including measurements of the wound.
A victim must also keep a record of drug allergies along with past medical conditions such as diabetes, liver disease, and immunosuppression. You will also need to note previous tetanus and rabies vaccinations too.
Before medical intervention and treatment, the wound should be thoroughly washed with water and soap. The soap has antiviral properties that can help prevent a rabies infection if the wound is cleaned fast enough and thoroughly enough. In case of infection, the first signs will be available within 24 hours after the bite.
Different antibiotics can be prescribed by a medical professional for varying durations based on the type of wound. If the wound is superficial or there is a low risk of infection, then antibiotics are prescribed for 3 to 7 days, but in cases of a serious wound accompanied by inflammation, antibiotics are prescribed for 10 to more.
Dog bites can prove to be fatal in many cases and a victim must almost always immediately seek medical treatment because even superficial wounds can lead to serious health issues and infections if left untreated.
It’s possible to get compensation for the damage caused by dog bites because a victim can normally claim compensation for the following damages:
If your child was attacked by an animal, as parents, you are also considered indirect victims. Call our legal gurus and speak with an experienced, leading Florida dog bite attorney immediately. Don’t hesitate. Learn about our no win no fee promise, at (727) 498-8771.
Most accidents in the history of aviation have been caused by pilot error which may be surprising to many of our readers because we commonly assume that air crashes are the result of a fault in an aircraft.
In this article, we’re going to discuss 6 aviation accidents caused by pilot error and find out the exact detail why an error was committed.
Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crash landed at San Francisco Air Port on 6th July 2013 after its tail section hit a seawall and detached from the rest of the fuselage.
Investigation revealed that the pilot has chosen the wrong autopilot mode which decreased the plane’s speed and caused it to crash land.
Helios Airways Flight 522 from Larnaca, Cyprus to Athens, Greece crashed on 14th August 2005 killing all 121 passengers and crew on board.
This crash was a result of a minor mistake of the pilot as the crew didn’t switch the cabin pressurization to auto and became unconscious due to a lack of oxygen to breath. The plane continued to fly on auto pilot until it ran out of fuel and crashed near a mountainside in Greece.
Polish Air Force TU154 is perhaps one of the most prominent air crashes in the history of aviation because it was carrying Polish president Lech Kaczynski along with several other top military officials. It’s one of the few crashes where a serving head of state along with his top officials was killed due to pilot error.
Pilot of Polish Air Force TU154 tried to land in heavy fog, despite several automated warnings and crashed the plane into a forest killing everyone onboard.
KLM Flight 4805 and Pan Am Flight 1736 collided on a runway in the Canary Islands in 1977 killing 583 people in total. Investigators concluded that the main reason of this disaster was the mistaken belief that he has got a clearance from air traffic control to takeoff. Due to heavy fog that no one was able to see that KLM Flight and Pan Am were on the same runway.
United Airlines Flight 173 crashed short of the runway due to fuel exhaustion in a suburban Portland neighborhood in 1978. Only 10 out of 189 people on board were killed in what is described as a miracle.
Air France flight AF447 crashed into Atlantic Ocean on 1st June 2009 due to a combination of human and machine error. AF447’s autopilot disengaged suddenly while the pilot was asleep. Copilot assumed that there is some issue with the plane’s speed sensors which were blocked by ice and tilted the plane upwards after waking up the pilot.
Investigation later on proved that the plane’s fatal crash was due to the upward tilt initiated by the copilot.
If you, someone you know, or a loved has been injured in an aviation accident, Tampa Bay accident attorneys Shocklee & Paolino are on hand to help. If you don’t understand your rights and the complexities of an aviation accident case, you may lose the opportunity to receive the compensation you are entitled to.
Contact us today at (727) 498-8771 for a free, no-obligation consultation.