Miami Accident Lawyer Blog

February 26, 2016

Sexual Assault, Battery, and Molestation in Florida

Today, the subject of childhood sexual abuse and molestation is of much attention. As a matter of fact, 28 to 33 percent of women and 12 to 18% of men were once victims of childhood or adolescent sexual abuse. Recently, a 32 year-old man, Jack Kelly, was arrested and charged with sexual battery and lewd and lascivious molestation. He allegedly sexually abused his 7-year-old daughter and admitted to inappropriately touching her more than 100 times. Officers discovered that he also sexually battered the girl at least twice.

If you or a loved one is a victim of such a horrendous crime, it is imperative that you hire an experienced attorney. Doing so will better your chances of adequate compensation. Such attorneys can be found at Gerson & Schwartz PA. We truly understand that being a victim of sexual assault, battery, and molestation is a traumatic and life changing event. We will fight effortlessly to get you or your loved one the compensation deserved.

Effects of this Crime

February 19, 2016

Medical Malpractice in Florida

by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

When you seek medical attention, you are under control of a particular medical staff. These individuals are, in the ideal world, trustworthy and truthful. Yet sometimes medical errors and even intentional misconduct occurs. Recently, two Florida surgeons have been found guilty of committing medical malpractice. In this particular case, a patient by the name of Maria Espinosa underwent surgery to remove a two-inch skull tumor. Yet, the two surgeons failed to properly evaluate Espinosa. This ultimately led to the patient’s bleeding to death. The surgeons did not notice the mass amount of blood until it was too late. It was later found that the patient should not even have undergone surgery. Other treatment would have been sufficient. The jury involved awarded Espinosa’s family $7.5 million after finding the surgeons negligent.

If you or a loved one is a victim of medical malpractice, it is important to hire an experienced medical malpractice attorney to ensure that you are adequately compensated for your loss. The medical malpractice attorneys at Gerson & Schwartz PA care about victims of medical malpractice. We have brought cases in nearly every medical specialty for failure to correctly diagnose, failure to provide appropriate treatment, and surgical errors. Cases that involve medical malpractice tend to be complex. We know the law involved and we know how to boost your chances of winning adequate compensation.

Florida’s Medical Malpractice Law

February 12, 2016

Airbags and Catastrophic Injuries

by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

Today’s vehicles are built in a way to ensure the safety of each and every individual riding within them. Yet, manufacturing defects do occur. Some defects can lead to catastrophic injuries or even death. Defective airbags can lead to such injuries. Recently, six fatalities were traced to the Takata airbag defect. For drivers involved in airbag-deployment accidents, instead of their airbag saving them, it shoots out shards of metal right through the airbag. This led to millions of recalls. In March of 2015, a 2003 Honda Civic crashed in Florida, and its driver did not survive. Police reports later linked the driver’s fatality to a faulty airbag inflator that basically ruptured in the crash.

If you or a loved one is injured in a similar fashion or incurred other catastrophic injury, it is critical that you retain an experienced catastrophic injury attorney. The Miami, Florida catastrophic injury attorneys at Gerson & Schwartz PA are here to help. We have helped catastrophically injured people for more than 40 years. We are well versed in the law and know how to get you adequate compensation for your loss.

The Basics of Florida’s Products Liability Law

February 5, 2016

Personal Injuries and Hoverboards

by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

Hover boards were a highly popular gift, if not the most popular gift, during the holiday season of 2015. Yet, beyond their popularity lurks countless cases of personal injuries relating to the hover boards. Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital has seen over 10 hoverboard-related patients with injuries involving broken bones, concussions, and contusions. In one Miami, Florida case, a child was riding on a hoverboard when its batteries died and “locked up.” The child “snapped his arm in half and broke his wrist.” This injured child’s parents say the manufacturer should be held liable as they had knowledge that their hover boards were dangerous; “[t]hey know that there are issues of safety and they’re selling them anyway.”

Product liability cases, or defective product cases, run rampant here in Florida. If you or a loved one are injured at the hands of a defective product, you should hire an experienced products liability attorney. The products liability attorneys at Gerson & Schwartz P.A. are well versed in the complex law of products liability and are here to help ensure that you are adequately compensated for you injuries or loss.

Florida’s Product Liability Law

January 29, 2016

The Dangers of Trampoline Use

by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

Who does not like to jump around on trampolines? It is fun, right? Albeit entertaining to most, trampolines can cause significant bodily injury and even death. For example, recently, in Oviedo, Florida, a 19-year-old boy died inside a trampoline park called Boing! Jump Center. Seminole County Sheriff’s deputies said that the teenager was performing flips when he landed on his head. The doctor in this particular case, Dr. Elizabeth Davis of Arnold Palmer Hospital, stated that trampolines can be very dangerous and can easily cause catastrophic injuries, such as the one in this case.

The dangers of trampolines are obvious. Are there ways to make trampolines safer? Consumers of all products, not only trampolines, expect the products they use to be safe. The product’s manufacturers are required to design the products to meet strict government and industry safety standards. When the product is not designed in compliance with such standards and someone is injured or killed, the injured victim or the victim’s family may sue for compensation. Due to the multiple complexities of Florida’s products liability law, you should hire an experienced products liability attorney of Gerson & Schwartz PA for your case.

Defective Products in Florida and the Relevant Law

January 22, 2016

Florida Automobile Accidents

by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

Taken at Fairfield Waters Townsville Qld.© I retain Copyright.

Last December in Florida, a woman was traveling in the wrong direction and I-95 and hit a Chevrolet Cobalt head-on, killing herself and the four passengers in the Cobalt. Car accidents can happen to anyone, anywhere; even to the most reasonable drivers. As in this example, car accidents can be tragic and often fatal. If you are in an accident at the fault of another person, it is important that you know and understand your legal rights as you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries.

The Miami, Florida personal injury attorneys of Gerson & Schwartz PA have over 43 years of experience handling automobile accident claims. Our attorneys have successfully represented injured drivers and passengers in various automobile accident scenarios ranging from head-on collisions, rear-end collisions, motorcycle crashes, drunk driving accidents, hit and runs, pedestrian accidents, bicycle accidents, even uninsured and under-insured motor vehicle accident claims. Additionally, our law firm handles complex car accident cases that involve insurance coverage disputes and product liability claims such as defective design and automobile manufacturing defects.

January 15, 2016

The Basics of Florida’s Complex Slip, Trip, and Fall Law

by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

The winter months are upon us. The winter months bring with them several holidays, including Christmas, that bring about millions of shoppers. People all across the state of Florida flock to stores. With the massive amounts of people out there shopping, personal injury rates significantly increase. This post will focus on one type of personal injury in particular: slip/trip and fall. At Gerson & Schwartz, PA our Miami slip and fall lawyers have more than 44 years of successful experience representing clients who are seriously injured from a slip, trip, and fall and other premises liability accident cases. The attorneys at Gerson & Schwartz, PA obtain the advice from experts who use instruments to test floor slip resistance characteristics and provide further evidence of a property owner’s negligence. Our law firm thoroughly investigates each client’s case and will efficiently prepare a sound legal argument.

Florida Negligence and Premises Liability Laws

Slip and fall claims a form of premises liability laws developed from negligence theories. Under Florida, law negligence is the failure to use reasonable care under like circumstances. Florida’s jury pattern instructions state that negligence is doing what a reasonably prudent person woudl do under like circumstances, or doing something or failing to do something that a very careful person would do under like circumstances.

January 7, 2016

Negligent Security Measures

by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

Imagine this horrible scenario: you drive your car up a parking garage in search of a parking spot. The only available spots are on a dark, non-lit, level of the parking garage. You park there. On the way to the exit, you are assaulted and now fighting for your life! Situations such as this can happen to anyone. It is critical that you know and understand your legal rights if you or a loved one experiences similar horrific situations. You may be able to sue the property owner under theories of negligent security. The Miami, Florida negligent security lawyers at Gerson & Schwartz, PA have the knowledge, experience and ability to make property owners pay for the harm done to individuals at the hands of criminals.

The Basics of Negligent Security Measures

In essence, whether it is at a shopping mall, parking lot, parking garage, apartment, etc., people have the right to be reasonably safe from foreseeable harm and criminal victimization. A case founded on negligent security principles relies on the failure to provide reasonable security measures for protecting individuals from preventable harms that a third party owes a legal duty to provide reasonably safe premises. This legal concept touches on premises liability grounds. Per Florida’s premises liability law, landowners, possessors, landlords, business operators, and property managers have a duty to people lawfully on their premises to make the environment reasonably safe and to warn of latent danger.

January 1, 2016

Five Killed in 1-95 Crash in Miami Gardens

by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

In late December five people were killed in a car accident on 1-95 in northern Miami-Dade County when a woman traveled the wrong way down the opposite lane and crashed into a sedan carrying four people. The woman was driving southbound in the northbound lane when she struck the sedan, killing all four people in the car. Two of the passengers were not wearing seatbelts and were ejected from the vehicle. Both vehicles were moving at a high rate of speed and collided head on. Two more people were sent to the hospital in critical condition.

The four people inside the sedan were family members getting together for the holidays. Jose Martin Labrador, 52, and Gisela Gil-Egui, 48, were husband and wife and both worked at local colleges. Labrador was the director of education technology at Housatonic Community College and Gil-Egui was a professor of communications at Fairfield University.

If you were injured or lost a loved one in a car accident, contact an experienced Miami Car Accident Attorney.

December 25, 2015

Two People Dead in Florida Plane Crash

by Gerson & Schwartz, P.A.

Two people died in Madison County, Florida from a plane crash. WCTV reported that 32-year-old James Swiggart and 18-year-old Maitland Harvey, who were cousins, both died in the crash. They were flying from Ocala to Tallahassee in an experimental RV-4 plane and lost contact with air traffic controllers before the crash. If you lost a loved one in a plane accident, contact a Miami Wrongful Death Attorney.

The crash occurred in a heavily wooded area and it took authorities a long time to both locate and reach the crash site. There were no witnesses of the crash, although some area residents reported hearing a noise.

Swiggart was a navy pilot although the plane he was operating was a personal aircraft. The National Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation into the crash.