West Palm Beach Injury Lawyer Blog

A day of fun with her grandparents could have ended in tragedy for a 7-year-old girl in Sarasota County. According to an article in The Herald Tribune, Paul J. Berloni and Belinda Jean Berloni, grandparents of the young girl, towed the girl in a plastic car behind their SUV. Reports indicate that Paul, the driver of the SUV, was drunk while the girl was being towed. Our Palm Beach County personal injury lawyer appreciates that serious accidents can even happen in situations like this one where malicious intent is not present.

Like many loving grandparents, Paul and Jean were babysitting their granddaughter on a Sunday afternoon. As a way to entertain the child, Paul and Jean decided to tie a plastic Hot Wheels car to their SUV and pull the toy car while the child was sitting in it. The toy car was tied to a trailer hitch with two dog leashes. A deputy who had saw the SUV pulling the toy car estimated that the SUV was travelling at a speed of 5 to 10 mph.

What appears to be an innocent afternoon of fun is in actuality a dangerous situation when other factors are considered. Both Paul and Jean were intoxicated while the child was being towed by the SUV. Furthermore, an arrest report states that Paul admitted that his driver's license had been revoked. As a result of the circumstances, Paul is being charged with driving under the influence, child endangerment and driving with a suspended license. The arrest report also states that Belinda admitted "that she understood that it was dangerous to drag a child behind the vehicle but stated they were just having fun and had been doing this all day."

Although it appears that the grandparents in this particular case simply had the intent to have fun with their granddaughter, our Palm Beach person injury lawyer knows that accidents can occur in seemingly harmless situations where the wrongdoers do not have malicious intent to cause harm to others.

It is clear that Paul and Jean did not think that anything bad would happen to their granddaughter, and fortunately, no one was hurt in this particular case. However, the situation could have easily turned awry, causing serious harm to the child. As the arrest report states, the defendants "failed to provide adequate supervision for the child and put the child in a situation that could have easily resulted in great bodily harm, permanent disfigurement or even death." Therefore, the fact that Paul and Jean did not intend for the child to be injured is irrelevant.

This seemingly unique situation is a good reminder of the fact that civil lawsuits based on negligence apply in all situations where people act unreasonably--even if they don't necessarily understand the risks they are taking. Even if the wrongdoer who caused injury to an individual does not have malicious intent to cause such harm, the injured individual still has the right to receive compensation for his/her suffering. Our experienced Boynton Beach injury lawyer has helped individuals who have suffered injuries in all types of accidents. The Law Office of Eric H. Luckman offers free consultation for injured individuals in any kind of accident.

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Continue reading "Grandparents Put Child in Danger by Towing Her in Toy Car" »

A condominium complex in suburban West Palm Beach was struck by fire for the second consecutive night. The building, a two-story four-unit condominium, is located south of Gun Club Road and west of Haverhill Road. According to an article in the Palm Beach Post, fire-rescue crews were called to the first fire around 11:58 p.m. on Monday night. The cause of the fire is still reported to be unknown. Firefighters were called to a second fire at the same location at approximately 1:52 a.m. in the early hours of Wednesday. Again, investigations have yet to reveal the cause of the second fire. Our Palm Beach County personal injury lawyer understands that regardless of whether the cause of an accident is known, people will be injured in unfortunate situations like this, and they often have certain legal rights which allow them to be compensated for their suffering.

The building suffered serious damages from the first fire. Several bedrooms on the first floor of the building were completely destroyed. The only remains from a bedroom that appeared to be a young girl's room were dresses hanging from a closet and teddy bears sitting on a dresser. From the observations of Scott Spudeck, who lives in the same neighborhood but in a different building, it can be surmised that the fire was more than just a minor blaze. Spudeck stated that on the night of the first fire, he heard an explosion and saw a "raging fire." The presence of the fire was so forceful that Spudeck's daughter suffered an asthma attack because she was so frightened.

From recent events in connection with the building, investigators suspect that the timing of the second fire was more than just a mere coincidence. Authorities from the Sheriff's Office and the president of The Forest Condominium Association believe that the fire may be a result of someone targeting one of the building's tenants. Just this past weekend, neighbors reported that a car burst into flames. Furthermore, deputies from the Sheriff's Office have been called to the building twice in the past few months - once for a fire and the other for vandalism. Although it has not been concluded whether these incidents are related to the recent fires, suspicions are high.

Remarkably, no one was injured from either of the fires. Even so, the local chapter of The American Red Cross took the necessary precautions and came to the building equipped with emergency aid. Reports indicate that an unnamed adult was given lodging, food, clothing and recovery supplies by The American Red Cross. As an advocate of injured individuals in unexpected accidents, our Palm Beach injury lawyer shares The Red Cross's immediate call to action to those who may have been injured in the fire.

Our experienced Boynton Beach injury lawyer has helped injured individuals in all types of accidents and recognizes that it is rare for all those caught in dangerous situations, such as the fires in this particular case, to come out unscathed. In less favorable situations where individuals suffer injuries from any type of accident, our Palm Beach County injury attorney can advise injured parties of their legal rights so as to help them in their recovery. Please contact The Law Office of Eric H. Luckman for a free consultation if you have suffered injuries in any kind of accident.

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Our Palm Beach County injury attorney was saddened to hear about an elderly couple from Boca Raton who passed away in their home this week as the apparent result of carbon monoxide poisoning. The couple, whose names have not yet been released to the media, were in their 70s. Some friends of the couple came to their home to pick them up and drive them to the airport. Because the couple had a plane to catch and should have been ready to go, the friends quickly became alarmed when no one answered the door. Fearing that something was terribly wrong, they first attempted to trip the alarm in the home and then called police. According to the Palm Beach post, when police and fire rescue crews arrived on the scene and entered the home, they discovered the bodies of the two residents. They had apparently been dead for several days, and the carbon monoxide levels in the house were very high.

Stories like this one are always particularly difficult to accept because carbon monoxide poisoning can so easily be prevented. Carbon monoxide is a gas that cannot be seen or smelled. Therefore, a room could be filling up with carbon monoxide without anyone realizing it until it is too late. If the leak is slow enough, there may be some warning ahead of time in the form of headache, dizziness, nausea, and even disorientation or confusion. Having a carbon monoxide detector in your home is the ideal way to prevent poisoning. Carbon monoxide detectors are commercially available and relatively inexpensive, and they can be used to warn residents if carbon monoxide reaches an unsafe level in the home. It is, of course, important to test these detectors regularly and remember to replace the batteries.

Our Palm Beach carbon monoxide poisoning lawyer knows that in Florida, not all buildings are required by law to have carbon monoxide detectors. As with most safety regulations and precautions, homeowners are free to decide whether or not to install detectors in their own houses, and there is no law that specifically states that landlords must place one in every apartment. There is, however, a Florida carbon monoxide law that requires buildings that have carbon monoxide poisoning risks and that undertake any new construction after July 1, 2008 to have a detector within 10 feet of any room used for sleeping purposes. In hotels, this means that the detectors can be placed in the hallways, rather than having one in every room. In apartment buildings, however, there should probably be one in each apartment.

Florida residents should speak to their landlords about whether they have detectors and how best to maintain them in proper working order. Even if a building has not had any new construction since 2008, residents can still speak to their landlords or property managers about whether the building's fuel system puts it at risk for carbon monoxide leaks and ask them to install detectors to ensure resident safety. Of course, even if the landlord or manager refuses to install detectors, residents are still free to purchase and install their own. Considering the risk, it is often a sensible decision.

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A very scary situation developed at a waste treatment plant operated by New England Fertilizer Company ("NEFCO") last week when a large explosion sent shrapnel and debris flying through the air. According to the Palm Beach Post, at the time of the explosion there were a total of three employees working on the site. One worker, a man named Matt Eggley who has been employed by NEFCO as a chief operator for about a year and a half, was injured in the blast. He was taken to a local hospital where he is being treated for his injuries; fortunately, doctors expect him to make a full recovery.

In the aftermath of the blast, police and other investigators are trying to determine what caused the plant explosion. The waste treatment plant where the incident occurred is a plant that takes byproducts from waste water treatment plants and processes it into a form that can be used in the manufacture of plant fertilizer. Eggley and the other two employees who were on-site were performing a routine maintenance and cleaning procedure, but authorities have yet to determine whether that procedure was a contributing factor in the explosion.

As our Boynton Beach personal injury attorney has learned from years of experience with many different accident cases, injuries caused by situations like this one can be some of the most difficult to deal with because it is so difficult to understand why they happened. When someone is injured, he or she often feels a sense of unfairness and questions why it had to be him or her. This can happen even with common situations, such as car accident injuries. in cases like Matt Eggley's, where a workplace injury occurs unexpectedly and without an apparent cause, it can be even more difficult to understand. Victims often suffer from emotional distress after accidents like this one because they have to learn to cope with senseless injuries that they, naturally, feel should not have happened.

Our Palm Beach injury attorney understands that it will take some time for the authorities to complete their investigation and figure out what caused the explosion. Hopefully, the source can be determined and precautions can be taken to ensure that this does not occur in the future. However, in cases like this one, even if the cause cannot be precisely defined, plaintiffs like Matt Eggley do still have options.

Under Florida negligence law, courts will allow what's called a presumption of negligence in a case using the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. Res ipsa loquitur is a Latin phrase that means "the thing speaks for itself." The idea behind it is that certain things simply do not happen without negligence, so even if the exact nature of the negligence cannot be identified, the very fact that the incident occurred shows that there was negligence. Defendants still have an opportunity to refute the claim of negligence, but the presumption makes it easier for a plaintiff to get compensation for his or her injuries and also makes it more difficult for businesses to avoid liability on a technicality.

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As a resident of Florida, our Boynton Beach injury lawyer knows that people often come to the beaches of this state for vacations and to have a good time. Often, this includes trips to one of the many night clubs that our cities have to offer. Most of the time, the night club experience is a good one, and patrons leave after a fun night filled with music and dancing. However, there have been a growing number of troubling night club incidents such as fist fights, stabbings, and even shootings. These incidents have brought night club security measures into the legal spotlight and forced club owners to take a more exacting look at what they are doing to keep their patrons safe.

In November of last year, a jury awarded over $1 million to a night club patron after one of these serious altercations. The man was attacked while at a popular club that frequently hosts celebrities and VIPs. The attack took place near the restrooms in the front of the club, and the man was severely beaten, with another patron at one point hitting him in the face with a glass. He suffered deep cuts to his face, which doctors were only partially able to repair with reconstructive surgery.

In his lawsuit, the man argued that the night club had provided inadequate security for its patrons and that the club's failure to meet its responsibilities were a cause of the assault and battery that led to his injuries. Florida inadequate security law does not require that the owner of a night club protect its patrons against any conceivable harm from third parties. The law recognizes that it would be unfair to hold business owners liable for all criminal acts committed on their property. However, our Palm Beach inadequate security lawyer knows there are certain legal requirements which mandate that these facilities take measures to protect patrons from reasonably foreseeable harm.

What is reasonably foreseeable depends on a lot of different factors, including the nature of the business, the location of the business, and whether there have been similar incidents in the past. For example, a shopping mall located in a safe neighborhood where there have been few or no incidents of car theft would probably not be found liable for injuries sustained by a patron during a car theft in its parking lot. However, if the shopping mall was located in a dangerous area and several cars had been stolen from it in the recent past, o if the facility knew that there was inadequate lighting in the parking lot then the mall would be much more likely to be held liable for a patron's injuries. In the case of a night club, even one as elite as the one involved with this case, there is alcohol flowing all evening. Night club owners - and indeed, most people - know that the more alcohol that patrons consume, the more likely the chance of violence becomes. Therefore, night club owners should be on constant alert for any signs of impending violence and have enough guards and other security measures in place to ensure that fights are stopped before they get started or at least before someone gets injured.

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Six employees of the juvenile detention facility where an 18-year-old boy named Eric Perez mysteriously died last July were fired this week. The firings occurred in spite of an ongoing investigation into Perez's death where officials have yet to release a cause. Our Palm Beach injury lawyer was saddened to learn that, according to an article published by the Palm Beach Post, Perez died on July 10, 2011 at the Palm Beach Regional Juvenile Center at approximately 8 o'clock in the morning.

Although the exact details have not all been determined at this time, a time line of the events leading up to Perez's passing has emerged. July 9 was Perez's 18th birthday, and some of the guards apparently "horsed around" with him that night before performing his nightly search and returning him to his room. Around 1:30 in the morning on July 10, Perez was observed by guards in his room, and he appeared to be suffering from some kind of hallucination. Not long after, Perez vomited, but he was given a soda and returned to his room for the night. The following morning, he was discovered unconscious in his room. Paramedics were summoned, but by that time, it was too late for them to help him. Eric Perez was pronounced dead at 8:10 on the morning of July 10.

An already-devastating situation for Perez's family has become even more difficult because of the lack of answers. However, the firing of these guards does indicate a general feeling that whatever the conclusions of the final report, they did not act with the required standard of care. As with virtually all state employees, the guards will have the right to appeal the decision and to be heard in their own defense. Each guard's likelihood of success depends upon his personal level of involvement and what he did - or failed to do - on the night that Eric Perez died.

Under Florida negligence law, people are generally not required to assist others who are in need of medical attention. However, when the person in need is in the care of the state, like Eric Perez was, a duty arises and guards are required to assist prisoners. The main reason for this rule is that prisoners are totally reliant on guards to do everything from calling an ambulance to allowing a doctor access to a patient. The nearly absolute power and control that guards exercise over prisoners therefore carries with it an enormous responsibly.

Our Palm Beach wrongful death attorney knows how important it is for families of people who are subject to the care of the state to feel that their loved ones are safe, whether they be inmates at a Florida detention center, residents of a Florida assisted living facility, or a ward of the state. No matter the situation, the state has a moral and a legal obligation to provide proper care to those who must rely on it. If your loved one has suffered an injury at a state facility due to neglect or abuse or passed away while in the care of state employees, he or she may have a right to receive compensation from the state. Additionally, if there is ongoing abuse or neglect, our Palm Beach personal injury lawyer may be able to help stop your loved one and others from continuing to be victimized. Too often, violence and neglect continue because victims are too afraid to speak out against their abusers. Our Palm Beach injury attorney will keep your case confidential and explain your options fully so you can make an informed decision about whether or not to proceed. Give our office a call today to schedule your confidential consultation today.

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