South Florida Personal Injury Blog

Fraud is a term that people use to describe deception, but what does it mean when a Fort Lauderdale personal injury attorney uses the term? The issue is at the forefront of a Palm Beach County pyramid scheme that collapsed in August. From his office in Lake Worth, George Theodule allegedly defrauded thousands of local Haitian-Americans. The Miami office of the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the situation, but no criminal charges have been filed by the U.S. Attorney at this time.

According to the lawsuit filed in federal court by the plaintiffs and their injury attorneys, Theodule took money from investors, promising that he would double it in a short period of time. The SEC has said that Theodule lost $18 million just in 2007 and that he merely repaid earlier investors with the new money coming from more current investors in the scheme – none of the money was actually ever traded or otherwise generating profits. Initially, he did repay the investors. One Haitian-American man apparently invested $25,000 initially and was so delighted with the $50,000 check he received three months later that he sent Theodule another $100,000. The man has never been repaid.

A class action suit is pending against Theodule, who has relocated to Georgia. The complaint paints a dark picture of the man who seems to have run a fraudulent pyramid scheme based on false trust, saying, “Theodule used his Haitian background, his self-proclaimed status as a 'man of God,' and his purported interest in helping to build wealth for his fellow Haitians to solicit funds from members of the Haitian community.” Theodule appears to have used the millions generated to indulge in extravagant personal expenditures, such as expensive cars, cash, and to misappropriate nearly $4 million into his own bank accounts. Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawyers Alitowski and Moore condemn preying upon local citizens in order to defraud them.

Fraud is considered an economic tort, meaning that the recovery is due for the financial loss. Specifically, fraud is defined as deception intended to achieve a personal gain or to hurt another person. Most commonly, fraud takes its form similar to the Theodule case: Person A is tricked into giving her money to Person B because A is told it is being used differently than it actually is. For instance, if B pocketed the money but had told A it was to invest for A’s benefit or to give to charity, B would have engaged in a fraudulent transaction. A would be able to file a civil suit to recover the money she lost to B.

Similarly, if the allegations contained in the lawsuit against Theodule are accurate, he will be liable to his investors. If there is sufficient evidence, the court will find him liable for the losses of his “investors” because he engaged in fraud, deceiving his Haitian-American backers into believing that the was investing their funds in a project with a return. The transaction would not have been fraudulent (although it would have been misrepresentation) if he had just lied, but the fact that he apparently pocketed substantial sums of money for his personal use makes his actions more serious.

Continue reading " Broward Plaintiff’s Lawyer: What is Fraud? " »

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Posted In: Economic Torts

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A Boca Raton management consulting company and its personal injury lawyer on the West Coast is filing suit against Intuit, a California-based software company. PN, the local company, alleges that it received thousands of spam emails to one particular address after purchasing faulty software from Intuit. Unsubscribe attempts did nothing to stem the flow of the emails, many of which contained extremely misleading subject lines, according to the complaint filed in a California court. The complaint alleges that Intuit committed fraud, breach of contract, and violations of California statutes concerning unsolicited commercial email.

PN’s injury attorney in California has said that the Intuit case is among the worst spamming he has seen. In addition to the misleading subject lines, sheer massive quantity, and failure of Intuit to unsubscribe the company from the unsolicited emails, the emails interfered with daily business functioning. PN says that the spam emails were sent in quantities as large as thousands in a single day. The high volume prevented correct functioning of their computer equipment. Computers would crash during bouts of intense spamming, causing loss of employees’ time, delays in conducting business, and the loss of unsaved work.

This will not be Intuit’s first appearance in a courtroom. Previously, Intuit settled a class action suit related to its distribution of faulty software. One business owner described the horrifying experience as “every computer user's worst nightmare. My company lost its invoicing, sales reports, inventories, day to day working files, pictures, and other files containing financial information. The files lost represent hundreds of hours of work." The users affected received compensation for their losses related to the installation of a $99 software created by Intuit.

The Boca Raton management company suing Intuit for spamming claims it never requested any emails; they were completely unsolicited. Intuit allegedly told the company that it would not receive further emails, but did not follow up.

California law allows statutory damages in the case of unsolicited email of the type that PN says Intuit sent. In accordance with California law, PN has requested damages of $1,000 per email. PN has currently documented nearly 13,000 email received at a single email address during a period of about six weeks in October and November 2008.

Continue reading " Boca Raton Company Sues Spammer for Thousands of Emails, Computer Crashing " »

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According to the South Florida Business Journal, a new study concludes that Miami-Dade/Broward/Palm Beach personal injury attorneys have been complicit in creating a “Judicial Hellhole.” The organization behind the study is the American Tort Reform Foundation, a Washington, D.C. based nonprofit advocacy group known for its annual Judicial Hellhole list. Not surprisingly, the organization is generously funded by far-right groups with a pro-business bias. The American Center for Justice responded to the list by noting that the ATRF receives its funding from "negligent corporations and industries to undermine the civil justice system." Fort Lauderdale injury lawyers Andrew Alitowski and William Moore continue to fight for the rights of the injured to achieve true fairness.

The ATRF has called the south Florida metropolitan area “a proverbial launching pad for class actions, dubious claims and novel legal theories.” The lawyer-operated American Center for Justice dismissed the Judicial Hellhole designation, saying that the list has been "widely debunked."

The ATRF and similar tort reform entities operate on the premise that the Americans litigate excessively and that jury awards are too large when compensating people who have been hurt. Unfortunately, these views fail to adequately address the problem that injured individuals deserve full and fair compensation for their injuries. Broward injury attorneys want their clients to be able to pay their medical bills, for instance.

Compensatory damages are specifically calculable figures designed to make the plaintiff as whole as possible after his injury. For example, after determining that the defendant was responsible for the injury, it will calculate damages such as medical expenses, lost wages, and disfigurement. Fort Lauderdale injury lawyers and the local judges evaluate many factors to reach an exact number. Compensatory damages allow an injured person to pay his bills and recover the basic losses he sustained from the defendant’s actions.

Punitive damages cannot be specifically calculated in the same way that lost wages are. Instead, juries and judges award them based on the gravity of the particular situation, although Florida caps the amount of punitive damages available. Nevertheless, they can serve two important purposes. First, they provide additional compensation to the plaintiff when the defendant’s behavior was so egregious that the compensatory damages are insufficient. Secondly, and very importantly, they serve a social purpose: punitive damages can seriously discourage intentionally damaging behavior. For instance, a large punitive damages award against a company that knowingly lied about putting lead in its paint will strongly discourage other paint companies from engaging in the same behavior.

Continue reading " South Florida Personal Injury Lawyer: Tort Reform “Hellhole” Designation Unfair " »

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Unfortunately, Broward County residents are becoming all too familiar with allegations of abuse in nursing homes in south Florida and elsewhere. Although Florida has taken special precautions to protect the elderly, such as heightened sentencing for certain crimes against people over age 65, the problem persists. In fact, Florida has some of the most protective laws in the country regarding the elderly. A Fort Lauderdale personal injury attorney can advise you believe your loved one has been abused or provided with inadequate or improper care in a nursing home.

Recently, the case of a 77-year-old woman who lived in a Florida nursing home was raped by another resident, 83-year-old Ivey Edwards. Although the stereotypical image of nursing home residents may be feeble, Edwards was a known sex offender. Fort Lauderdale families looking for care for their loved ones may inquire about the quality of the medical care and the attentiveness of the staff, but should they also be worried that a nursing home will not adequately screen other residents?

In another newsworthy case, the Florida Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that nursing homes – unlike other health care facilities – do not have to provide patients’ records. The Court determined that the nursing homes were not health care facilities in the sense of doctor’s offices or hospitals. Since the Florida Constitution requires that patients have a “right to know,” or to check their medical records for medical malpractice.

The Florida Supreme Court decision arose out of the death of Marlene Gagnon, whose five children sued a nursing home after her death. The nursing home maintains that Gagnon died of a heart attack, but her children believe that she actually died from choking on coleslaw. Her doctors forbade her from eating that food due to the risk. The nursing home has refused to release their internal incident report on the matter. With the new interpretation of the Florida Constitution, the nursing home does not have to divulge the records. Their Florida personal injury lawyer was critical of the decision, saying, "This strips constitutional rights from the elderly. . .This is just an invitation to more elder abuse." Nonetheless, the Gagnon family’s Florida injury attorney believes that they have obtained enough other relevant documents to prove that Gagnon died from choking rather than a heart attack.

If you or a loved one has suffered in a nursing home or due to a physician’s medical malpractice, contact Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawyers Andrew Alitowski and William Moore to learn about your options. Although monetary damages cannot erase your experiences, they can defray other expenses and provide a strong disincentive for nursing homes to allow future abuse.

Continue reading " Broward Injury Attorney: Protecting the South Florida Elderly from the Horror of Nursing Home Abuse " »

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South Florida personal injury lawyer Andrew Alitowski has encountered a wide variety of intentionally inflicted injuries during his career in the Palm Beach/Broward/Miami-Dade metropolitan area. Often, people may think of these injuries as crimes, rather than as civil actions, but the two frequently overlap. An example that may clarify this concept is the O.J. Simpson murder case. Simpson was acquitted of criminal charges because the jury did not believe that the prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed murder. Nonetheless, when the family of Ronald Goldman filed a civil suit against him for wrongful death, they won damages because they were able to show that it was more likely than not that Simpson was responsible for Goldman’s death.

Perhaps the intentional tort the Fort Lauderdale public is most familiar with is battery. Battery is defined as intentionally causing harmful or offensive contact to a person. Occasionally, it can also be harmful or offensive contact to something on the person, such as a woman’s purse. The person who caused the contact – the defendant, if he is being sued – need not have hit the plaintiff with his bare hands to recover for battery. Although that is one possibility, the defendant could also have made the contact with an instrument. For instance, if Danny purposely shoved Wanda into Peggy, Danny would be liable to Peggy for her injuries. Wanda would not be responsible to Peggy, but Danny would also probably be liable to her for any injuries she suffered, as well. Similarly, if Danny intentionally hit Peggy with his car, he could be held civilly liable for her damages in that scenario, too. If you have suffered a battery, contact south Florida personal injury lawyer Andrew Alitowski.

Assault is likely the next best known intentional tort in Broward County. To show assault, the plaintiff must demonstrate that the defendant intentionally caused the plaintiff apprehension of offensive or harmful contact. Another way of saying this is that the plaintiff was reasonably afraid that she was going to suffer a battery. For instance, if Denise approached Pamela waving a realistic toy gun and threatening to shoot her, Pamela has a cause of action against Denise. Despite the impossibility of a real shooting, Denise intentionally made Pamela fear just that.

Intentional inflection of emotional distress is another tort worth discussion. Although it is usually part of a bigger lawsuit – rather than a stand alone issue – the residents of south Florida have almost certainly heard of it. In most cases, the defendant’s conduct must be outrageously outside of the standards of decency and calculated to cause the plaintiff extreme distress. The plaintiff will often demonstrate physical symptoms of her distress, such as the inability to sleep or stress-related headaches, although such symptoms are not necessary. For instance, telling the plaintiff that her father was murdered in an extremely horrific way, such that plaintiff suffered blood pressure-related complications, could set the stage for a successful intentional infliction of emotional distress lawsuit.

Continue reading " South Florida Personal Injury Lawyer on Intentional Injuries " »

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Most Broward County residents think of personal injury in terms of injury to the person, such as a slip and fall accident at a Fort Lauderdale grocery store. Maybe they think of an improperly designed toy that hurts a child or a doctor’s medical malpractice that results in grievous injury to a patient. Injury to the body, however, is not the only kind of case Florida injury lawyers take on.

Dignitary torts are those injuries which harm a person in different way – it is injury to one’s dignity. Most famously, defamation is a dignitary tort. To prove defamation, a person must communicate a false statement about someone that is harmful to that person’s reputation. Generally, it is at least implied to be factual; an obvious joke, for instance, is not considered defamatory. Defamation can be in the form of slander, which is spoken, or libel, which is written defamatory language. For instance, Alice, a nurse, attends the Broward County Nurses Association dinner, where she imparts gossip about Betty (also a nurse). Betty, Alice says authoritatively, neglects her elderly patients because “they’re going to die soon enough, anyway.” A statement like that could have a significant impact on Betty’s reputation, her career, and her earning potential. Betty could likely win a defamation lawsuit against Alice on the basis of Alice’s slander. Of course, if Alice’s statement was accurate, Betty will not be able to recover monetary damages from Alice. Likewise, if Alice had made that statement to Betty alone – not in front of any other person – Betty would be unable to recover, even if the statement were inaccurate. The information must be passed along to other people.

Invasion of privacy is another dignitary tort worth mentioning. Generally, the plaintiff was intruded upon in some area in which a reasonable person would have expected privacy. For instance, if a private citizen bugged a hotel room with listening devices to detect personal conversations, it would likely be an invasion of privacy. Also, appropriating the plaintiff’s image for commercial benefit falls within invasion of privacy. If the manufacturer of Wheaties put Michael Jordan’s picture on the box without his permission, with the goal of increasing sales, Michael Jordan would have a cause of action against the company.

Alienation of affections is an old-fashioned dignitary tort, little used and no longer even a cause of action. Florida and 41 other states removed it as a cause of action prior to 1935; it remains valid in Hawaii and seven others. Alienation of affections refers to suing the person believed responsible for causing a marriage to fail, typically the other spouse’s paramour. Extramarital sexual relations need not be proven and, occasionally, former spouses have sued family members or others who counseled in favor of divorce, rather than an illicit adulterous lover.

These are just a few examples of dignitary torts. Contact a Florida injury lawyer if you have been injured.

Continue reading " Florida Injury Lawyer on Dignitary Torts: A Different Kind of Injury " »

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Fort Lauderdale personal injury attorneys Andrew Alitowski and William Moore have seen numerous cases in which a plaintiff contributed to her own injuries at least marginally. Most south Florida personal injury lawsuits involve the negligence of one or more people (see the Dog Bites discussion for an example of a strict liability situation). Negligence occurs when someone has a duty of care to a particular person, but does not fulfill that duty. The failure to fulfill the duty must cause an injury in order to recover. For instance, if a woman in a Broward County grocery store slips on the unmarked wet floor in the freezer aisle and fractures her tailbone, she will very likely be able to recover. Shopkeepers owe a high duty of care to their customers, which is why you frequently see yellow signs marking wet floors. If someone trespasses on your tract of land in Palm Beach County and you were unaware of his presence, you may not be liable for his injuries if he falls into a ditch, depending on the specific circumstances of your case. A shopkeeper has a much higher duty to a patron than a landowner has to a trespasser. This is due in part to the fact that a shopkeeper invites customers into her store, whereas trespassers are often unknown and unwanted. Contact Broward injury lawyer Andrew Alitowski to discuss recovering monetary damages in your Fort Lauderdale area injury case.

What happens when the plaintiff was at fault, too? The person she sues, the defendant, will not want to pay for the entirety of her injuries if he only caused part of them. Florida law recognizes that it would be unfair for him to do so. The state uses pure comparative negligence, a system which apportions fault between the plaintiff and defendant(s). The defendant must pay only the damages for which he is at fault.

For instance, assume that Bertha was riding her bicycle in the bike lane on a crowded Hollywood street. She was riding in the bike lane, wearing her helmet. She stopped at a red light, but not wanting to be late to class, she went on through. Bertha had a red light and the crosswalk signal indicated that pedestrians should not walk. Nonetheless, she continued through, not realizing that oncoming traffic had a left turn signal. Cara, who was driving her car to play in her afternoon bowling league, was turning left. Although Cara was able to brake, the car still hit Bertha. Since Bertha had worn her helmet, her injuries were painful but not life-threatening. Bertha sued Cara to recover for her injuries, alleging that Cara was negligent in the operation of her vehicle. The jury determined that Bertha’s injuries amounted to $10,000. Additionally, the jury found that Bertha was 65 percent at fault and Cara was 35 percent at fault. Under Florida law, Cara owes Bertha $3,500.

In most states, that degree of fault on the part of the plaintiff would bar her recovery from a defendant. Florida and 12 other states use a pure comparative negligence system in which any plaintiff who is less than 100 percent at fault can recover for the percentage of her injuries caused by the defendant(s).

Continue reading " Fort Lauderdale Personal Injury Attorney: Pure Comparative Negligence is a Good Policy for Florida Plaintiffs " »

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When an injured Floridian employs a personal injury lawyer, one of the most important tasks of his attorney is to argue to the jury that the defendant – the person who is being sued – caused the his client's injuries. While that sounds like a simple enough task, real life can get complicated. Imagine, for instance, that Car A ran a red light late one night, hitting Truck X. The light turned green and a moment later, Car B barreled through the intersection, also colliding with Truck X. If Car B had turned on his headlights in the dark as required by Florida traffic laws, he would have seen the accident in plenty of time to stop safely. The Jaws of Life extracted Driver X from the mangled mess and in the aftermath, it was difficult to determine which of his many painful injuries were caused by which collision. After six agonizing months in the hospital, Driver X was released and promptly drove to the nearest Broward personal injury attorney. Having had so much time to stew and engage in morphine-induced fantasies about his revenge, Driver X was anxious to sue both drivers for his medical bills and pain and suffering.

It’s entirely possible that Drivers A and B caused equal damage to Driver X’s health. But what if Car A hit Truck X so hard that the truck flipped over, whereas Car B was driven by a 105-year-old great-grandmother at the rate of 17 miles per hour? For these complicated scenarios, Florida completely abolished joint and several liability in 2006. When there are multiple defendants who are actually or potentially at fault for a person’s injuries, the plaintiff may sue both and recover the appropriate share from each.

In these types of cases, the jury or the judge will determine the percentage of the judgment award that each defendant owes. That determination is made exclusively by an examination of the facts surrounding the incident that injured the plaintiff and does not concern a defendant’s ability or inability to pay. In this case, the jury could award the plaintiff $2 million, while apportioning 85 percent of the fault to Driver A and 15 percent to driver B. Therefore, Driver A would be responsible for paying $1.7 million and Driver be would be liable for $300,000.

Prior to the abolition of joint and several liability in Florida, which took place over a period of two decades, the judgment could have been enforced in full against either party. Even if Driver B had only been responsible for one percent, Driver X would have been able to recover 100 percent of the verdict. If Driver B was a wealthy heiress and paid the $2 million, her only recourse for the $1.7 million that she paid for Driver A would be to seek contribution from him. Of course, it is highly likely that Driver A would never be able or willing to contribute the $1.7 million.

While that concept seems fair – that each defendant should only be responsible for the percentage he is at fault – a number of states retain joint and several liability. Why? The reasoning is that the person who should not be left in the cold is the plaintiff. Instead of only recovering a small percentage of what he is due, another defendant who is at fault is better off paying off the judgment for all of the defendants.

Continue reading " Fort Lauderdale Injury Attorneys: Joint and Several Liability " »

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The first of the individual Broward personal injury tobacco lawsuits discussed last week has sustained a setback. The trial, which began with opening statements on Monday, was initially postponed due to a flood at the Broward courthouse in Fort Lauderdale. The trial resumed and witness testimony began, only to come to an abrupt halt yesterday when an expert witness for the plaintiff used an offensive racist term while discussing his research on race.

Elaine Hess is the widow of Stuart Hess, who was 55 at the time of his death from lung cancer. With her Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawyer, she is suing tobacco company Philip Morris for the wrongful death of her husband. Hess asserts that her husband was so addicted to cigarettes that he could not quit smoking, despite his best efforts when confronted with a life-threatening smoking-related illness.

Robert Procter, an expert witness for the plaintiff, inadvertently caused a mistrial yesterday, the second day of the trial, by using an inflammatory racist word. The expert witness was explaining his scholarly research into racism and the tobacco industry when he used the term. The plaintiff’s personal injury lawyer indicated that the research cannot be properly explained to the jury without employing that specific term because it is highly relevant to the issue of racism. Procter teaches the history of science at Stanford University.

The plaintiff’s attorney said, “[Procter] mentioned it within context of his research project, but the judge felt that the context the jury heard it within was prejudicial . . . that the jury was hearing about racism by the tobacco industry." He also indicated that the jury was racially diverse. Officials for Philip Morris, the tobacco company, believed that the mistrial was the correct action for the judge to take. They believed that the use of the racial slur was so inflammatory, regardless of the context, that the jury would be unable to remain impartial when evaluating the facts. The tobacco company conceded in its opening statement that cigarettes can be addictive, but it was up to the jury in this case to determine whether or not Mr. Hess was addicted to cigarettes.

Since the Florida Supreme Court ruled last year that the tobacco personal injury lawsuits in the state should be heard individually, rather than as a class action suit, thousands of plaintiffs across the state have filed their case against Big Tobacco. Of those, 122 have been filed in the circuit court in Broward County. To date, 165 personal injury tobacco cases have been filed in Palm Beach County.

The original tobacco personal injury lawsuit was filed in Miami-Dade County and resulted in an award of $150 billion, the largest verdict in U.S. history. The plaintiffs were approximately 700,000 Floridians who alleged injuries caused by the tobacco companies and their products.

Continue reading " Broward Personal Injury Lawyer Follow Up: First Fort Lauderdale Tobacco Case Ends in Mistrial " »

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Most health care providers make every effort to care for their patients. Unfortunately, when they do not use accepted principles and techniques which are appropriate for the situation, a Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawyer can help you determine if medical malpractice has occurred. If a doctor, nurse, or other health care provider has injured you, contact our Broward injury attorney.

Medical malpractice occurs when a health care provider injures a patient by providing inadequate or inappropriate care under the circumstances. Our Broward personal injury lawyer can explain the possible injuries for which you could recover. Medical malpractice injuries could be death, worsening of your condition, increased pain, complications, or other problems associated with the negligent care. In an emergency room situation, medical malpractice may be more difficult to prove: you may have to show that the doctor or nurse acted with “reckless disregard” when rendering care for you. A Fort Lauderdale injury attorney can advise you on the standard of care the providers should have adhered to in your case.

Generally, doctors carry malpractice insurance. In Florida, doctors must usually either carry a minimum amount of insurance or maintain a certain amount of assets for use the in the event that they commit medical malpractice. Unfortunately, any Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawyer knows that the malpractice insurance may be insufficient. In the event that the doctor injures you beyond what his insurance can pay for, he will be personally responsible to you for the difference.

A Broward injury lawyer will typically represent the patient herself or certain family members in a Florida medical malpractice suit. Family members can usually only recover if the patient died or the injuries are permanent. Children who are under the age of 25 whose parent suffered an injury, parents of children under the age of 25 who were injured, and spouses can sue. If the patient died from her injuries, her estate may sue to recover damages which will be distributed to the heirs in accordance with the intestacy statute or the will of the deceased patient.

Our Fort Lauderdale personal injury attorney is accustomed to working with the Florida medical malpractice statute of limitations. When you are injured by a health care provider’s negligence, you have only two years to sue after you find out or should have found out about the injury. A patient is required to reasonable investigate the symptoms of the injury in order to uncover the medical malpractice. Unless the medical professional has actually taken steps to misrepresent your care or to hide the injury inflicted, you cannot sue more than four years after the injury occurred. Even if you had no way of knowing about your injury until more than four years after it was incurred, you cannot sue if your doctor did not try to deceive you.

Continue reading " Broward Accident Attorneys: Medical Malpractice in Broward County " »

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Any Broward personal injury lawyer knows that vicious dog bites are not only common, but a source of intense stress. Some victims were chased by inadequately supervised dogs. Others were assured that they were harmless – “all bark and no bite” – by the owners. When bitten by an unfamiliar dog, the situation is even more dire. In addition to the fear at the time of the attack, and the ongoing pain, the victim of a dog bite will also have health concerns and medical bills. For instance, has the dog been recently vaccinated? Do we know who the owner is? Is the owner cooperative? Do I need painful, pricy rabies vaccinations to protect myself? These are just some of the questions clients of our Fort Lauderdale personal injury attorney ask themselves.

First of all, seek medical attention and follow the advice of your doctor. When possible, you will want to find out the history of the dog, including the owner and all veterinarian records. Any Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawyer will tell you that safeguarding your health is the most important aspect of any animal bite ordeal.

A Broward personal injury attorney can help you enforce your rights. Under Florida law, the owner of a dog is liable for the injuries inflicted if you are bitten. This is true so long as you were either in a public place or you were lawfully on private premises. For instance, if you were visiting your friend for dinner when her German shepherd bit you in the kitchen, your friend is liable for the injuries. Likewise, if you were bitten on a public street, sidewalk, park, or other public property, the owner is liable.

If the owner had a “Bad Dog” sign, indicating a dangerous animal’s presence, the owner may only be liable if she was negligent in her supervision or containment of the animal. A Broward personal injury attorney knows that the sign serves as a warning to outsiders who may be unfamiliar with the dog’s dangerous tendencies. The exception to this is children under six years of age: those very young children are always protected by the law. The owner will be liable regardless of whether she was negligent in containing or supervising the dog, if the dog caused injury to the child under the age of six.

Similarly, the owner is liable for damages the dog causes to your pets or your livestock. If your neighbor’s dog comes onto your property and attacks your cat, your toy poodle, or your cattle, for instance, the owner will be liable to you for your damages. Our Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawyer is familiar with the complexities of dog bite cases and the amount of damage just one dog can cause to your person, your animals, and your property.

The owner’s liability for his dog’s behavior does not depend on whether or not he had prior knowledge of the dog’s dangerous tendencies. In some states, the owner must know of the dog’s danger; in Florida, such knowledge is irrelevant. Our Broward personal injury lawyer knows the ins and outs of dog bite liability in Florida.

Continue reading " Fort Lauderdale Personal Injury Attorney: Dog Bites & Florida Law " »

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