South Florida Personal Injury Blog

Palm Beach injury attorney Andrew Alitowski believes that nursing home abuse runs rampant in Florida, especially in light of the large population of elderly individuals who retire in the state. South Florida newspapers regularly run stories detailing horrifying cases of nursing home neglect, such as inadequate feeding. Families trust nursing homes to provide comprehensive care for their aging relatives, especially nursing care that would be difficult to provide in the family home. The elderly are extremely fragile, particularly when they are ill enough to require round-the-clock care from a nursing facility. West Palm Beach nursing home neglect lawyer Andrew Alitowski represents families when nursing homes fail to provide for the basic needs of their elderly relatives.

In some cases, visiting family members stumble upon evidence of nursing home abuse or neglect, such as unexplained bruising, rapid weigh loss, dehydration, bedsores, and other physical injuries. Family members may initially chalk up symptoms to advanced age or illness, but should always be vigilant to ensure that their loved ones are receiving the top notch care they deserve. The fragility of the elderly can lead to rapid deterioration if they do not receive proper treatment.

The family of a man who resided in a Minnesota nursing facility filed a civil suit against the nursing home earlier this month. Dean Cole was 72. His family placed him in the nursing home due to his ongoing problems with dementia, which had advanced to the point that he could not properly care for himself and required supervision. Although Cole resided in the facility for only 21 days, he died as a result of damage to his brain and kidneys, which his family alleges was as a result of dehydration. Cole lost a large amount of fluid during his brief stay at the nursing home. The family has sued the nursing home for his wrongful death.

A recent study of elder abuse resulted in astounding figures. Over a million older Americans are abused by a caretaker annually. Since a nursing home is legally required to fulfill its duty to care for residents, but all too often do not, families should contact an experienced nursing home abuse lawyer immediately if they believe that their loved one is not receiving acceptable care.

Unfortunately, horrendous nursing abuse and neglect cases do not often receive media attention. However, a particularly heinous case in Volusia County received attention following the death of a neglected man earlier this week:

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West Palm Beach accident attorney Andrew Alitowski has learned of a problematic situation affecting the Palm Beach County Courthouse in downtown West Palm Beach this morning. At about 10:00 this morning, the courthouse completely lost power, leaving a lot of people in the dark. The regular courthouse functions ceased completely due to the lack of light. The Palm Beach County Courthouse is home to several different types of activities, including civil and criminal hearings and trials, as well as county responsibilities such as the issuance of marriage licenses.

Additionally, the West Palm Beach City Commissioners were meeting when they lost power. Although they typically record their meetings, they elected to continue rather than disband, relying on notes of the meeting. The Commissioners meet on the twelfth floor of the city hall building.

The Palm Beach County Courthouse can be seen in this local police civil disobedience training video:

Other government buildings were affected, including the West Palm Beach City Hall. Likewise, the Palm Beach County Office of the Public Defender, as well as the State Attorney’s Office in the same building, lost power at their location across the street from the courthouse.

Lawyers, judges, plaintiffs, and defendants of every kind poured out of the courthouse. Non-essential employees were advised to depart using the staircases, as elevators are out of service during a power outage. People could not leave the area because the electronic arms, which raise or lower to allow entry and exit into the parking garages, were stuck in the down position. As a result, many people headed to Clematis Street for coffee and to find something to do in until power was restored.

The courthouse administrator, Rick Hussey, said that many people evacuating the courthouse lit the way with light from their cell phones. The courthouse’s 22 courtrooms with electronic equipment to record hearings and trials will have to be rebooted upon the restoration of power. Florida Power and Light reported that they experienced equipment failure that led to the loss of power for about 3,000 customers, including the government buildings and area businesses. The primary area affected in West Palm Beach was north of Okeechobee Boulevard and east of Australian Avenue. A spokesperson for Florida Power and Light indicated that the company is still investigating what led to the equipment failure, but that they were able to restore electric service about 45 minutes following the outage. The offices of Palm Beach personal injury attorney Andrew Alitowski was not affected.

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In a recent case, the appellate court overturned the lower court’s order and ordered that photographs that were taken in 1998 depicting the accident site and slippery floor were subject to discovery and not work product and that the Plaintiff had to turn this evidence over to the defense. K-Mart has demonstrated exceptional circumstances and its inability to obtain the materials by other means. K-Mart has shown the photographs are relevant and material, there is no other means of obtaining them, and the photographs are the best evidence depicting the accident site. And since K-Mart cannot recreate the accident site 10 years later, and the Plaintiff could not show how giving this information to K-Mart would adversely affect his case, the appellate court granted K-Mart’s petition to quash the lower court’s order.

Broward personal injury attorney Andrew Alitowski represents clients in modern day civil suits for their injuries, like swimming pool accidents, nursing home abuse, and slip and fall cases. These civil causes of action, common throughout the south Florida Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach area, provide relief to people who have been injured due to someone else’s (usually negligent) behavior. However, Florida law used to recognize some causes of action that now seem antiquated. They are still interesting to discuss. Palm Beach accident lawyer Andrew Alitowski believes they are an interesting study in the evolution of tort law during the twentieth century.

The first cause of action is alienation of affections. It has long been abolished in Florida, although it is still recognized in nine minority-view states. In most cases, a husband or wife sued his or her spouse’s paramour, although other possible defendants included family members or others who encouraged the spouse to divorce, like parents or siblings.

The next outdated cause of action criminal conversation, which is generally synonymous with adultery: a married person has sexual relations outside of the marriage. In some cases, the offense only applied to married women. The husband would have a civil cause of action against the man who had a relationship with his wife.

Seduction has also been formally abolished in the state of Florida. Seduction is enticing a person – usually a woman – to engage in sexual relations. The idea was that the person who was seduced would not have made such a decision on her own, without the seducer’s actions. Often, a woman engaged in sex because she was led to believe the man would marry her. Seduction is largely an outdated criminal charge, but the Florida Statutes also list it as a tort that has been abolished.

Finally, a Floridian may no longer sue for breach of contract to marry. When a man promised a woman that he would marry her, courts until the twentieth century treated the agreement as a binding contract. A man who got cold feet and later refused to marry his fiancée might find himself subject to civil damages – she could sue him.

As ideas of marriage and sexuality have changed, these torts have fallen out of fashion. The changing notions of gender roles and the rise of women’s rights – as well as careers and roles outside the home – also influenced the decline of these torts. Broward personal injury attorney Andrew Alitowski expects the few states that retain some of these causes of action to eventually take them off the books, especially in the wake of constitutional privacy case law.

Continue reading " Fort Lauderdale Personal Injury Lawyer – A Look at Torts in History " »

Broward/Palm Beach personal injury attorney Andrew Alitowski would like to dispel myths and rumors about the right to defend oneself in the state of Florida. Florida adheres to the Castle Doctrine, in addition to having a strong Stand-Your-Ground law. The Florida legislation has served as a model for other states moving in the same direction, protecting the right of self-defense of its citizens – a right many believe goes hand-in-hand with the concept of individual gun ownership rights from the Second Amendment. Palm Beach County residents may believe they need a weapon for self-defense. But when can you be sued for defending yourself, your loved ones, and your home?

The Castle Doctrine is a concept from English law that has made its way to the United States, as well. According to the doctrine as applied in Florida, if you are legally in your home or vehicle and another person enters illegally, the courts will presume that you feared for your life (or the infliction of serious bodily harm) based on the circumstances. The presumed fear is important: because of it, you can use lethal force to protect yourself and others in your home. For example, if an intruder breaks through a window in your Fort Lauderdale home with a baseball bat in the middle of the night and charges at you when you run to the room, you can shoot him in order to protect yourself and your family. If the intruder survives his wounds, he cannot sue you for damages. Also, you cannot be convicted for any crime relating to his injuries or subsequent death. The Florida Castle Doctrine does not apply to people who enter your home or car legally, like police officers, and anyone prepared to defend himself should exercise as much caution as is possible with regard to the situation. It also does not apply if you are using your home or vehicle for an illegal purpose.

The Florida Stand-Your-Ground provisions provide even more self-defense protections. The law removes any duty to retreat, even outside your home. If you are lawfully in a place – for example, a restaurant on Clematis in West Palm Beach – and another patron attacks you, you can “meet force with force,” according to the law. You do not have to retreat to a safe location, even if you could do so. You can even use deadly force if you reasonably believe that such force is necessary to prevent your own or another person’s death or serious injury. You can also use lethal force to prevent the person from completing a forcible felony, like rape, aggravated battery, robbery, burglary and other felonies involving “the use or threat of physical force or violence against any individual.” As with cases falling under the Castle Doctrine, a person upon whom you inflicted injury while standing your ground cannot recover civil damages from you.

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In 1998 a young 15 year old girl with her family spent a wonderful day in Disneyworld. At some point she and some friends went to dinner at Downtown Disney. While crossing the street she stepped off the curb into a storm drain and broke her ankle requiring four surgeries. Disney said it was her own fault and should not be held liable. The young girl said yes, she could have seen the drain if she was looking, but it was because the parking area was set up in such a way that it funneled people to step off at that curb area and in that there was a Disney employee directing people to that curb area that she felt that Disney should be responsible for her injuries. The trial court granted Disney’s motion to Dismiss. But, the appellate court reversed, saying that these types of motions should be treated with special caution because it is the function of the jury to weigh and evaluate the evidence. It was clear that Disney owed a duty of care and breached that duty. That Disney knew or should have known that its mode of operation in directing invitees to step off a curb over a storm drain could cause danger is a question for the jury the court held.

Recently in Broward County, during a trial, the mother of a child that was injured as a result of an automobile accident, screamed during her testimony. The mother was in her late eighties and deaf. There was an interpreter being used. But, the mother, while describing the auto accident and thinking her daughter was dead, let out a loud scream (emotional outburst). The court immediately had the jury taken out of the courtroom and order was restored. The defense asked for a mistrial. The judge denied it and said that with an instruction, the jury could proceed. The defense argued that the verdict would be based solely on emotion and not on the evidence. The jury came back for the Plaintiff but for a much smaller award. The appellate court held that no error was done. The trial court did the right thing by removing the jury and then giving them instructions on how to proceed.

West Palm Beach personal injury attorneys Andrew Alitowski and William Moore advise all pool operators – even homeowners with small backyard swimming pools – to heed new federal swimming pool safety guidelines. Swimming pool drain cover advocates say that old-fashioned pool drains are faulty. The suction can trap children, who cannot escape and often drown in those circumstances. Swimming pool injuries caused by the lack of drain covers can cause horrifying and often fatal injuries to children, including disembowelment. When that occurs, the strong suction from the drain literally pulls out part of the child’s intestines. In other cases, children who are rescued from the swimming pool will have permanent scarring, paralysis, and other injuries.

Palm Beach accident attorney Andrew Alitowski advises parents that supervising their children playing at a pool – while important -- is not sufficient to prevent the devastating injuries caused by pool drains. Instead, parents should verify with the operators of the pool, perhaps the condominium association or park authorities, that the drains are properly covered and in compliance with the new federal law. If the pool drains are not in compliance, it is not safe for your children to swim. Have your home swimming pools fitted with the new drain covers before allowing your children in the pool to cool off when the weather heats up in the coming months.

Florida already has more small children drown each year than any other state, as well as a very high number of swimming pools due to the warm winters and hot summers. Parents in the West Palm Beach area should take care to protect their children from this particular harm.

See the new drain covers in a CNN report here:

The federal drain legislation went into effect on December 19, but some states are not adequately enforcing the law yet. The law was enacted in response to the deaths of a number of children, notably 7-year-old Virginia Graeme Baker, who was killed when she was trapped on the drain of a hot tub at a graduation party in 2002. Baker’s twin sister rushed to get their mother, who was only able to pull Baker out with the assistance of two other adults. The girls’ mother describes her deceased daughter as having been “essentially cemented” to the bottom of the hot tub. Baker was the granddaughter of former Secretary of State James Baker. Her mother began a crusade to prevent other needless deaths, which has culminated in the new federal swimming pool drain legislation.

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Miami-Dade personal injury lawyer Andrew Alitowski believes that injuries to children are among the most tragic. Summertime swimming pool injuries, injuries involving dog bites, and injuries stemming from poorly supervised construction equipment are some that commonly affect children. In South Florida, businesses and property owners must guard against injuries to small children. Sadly, many children in the Miami-Dade/Broward/Palm Beach area suffer highly preventable injuries. Miami accident attorney Andrew Alitowski encourages all property owners to take precautions to protect children.

In Florida, an attractive nuisance is a hazardous or dangerous condition that is likely to attract small children who cannot appreciate the risk posed by it. For instance, a swimming pool without a fence to keep children out could look very interesting to a five-year-old playing next door, but it is also extremely dangerous for a child so young to go swimming by herself. Likewise, construction equipment left outside of a residential building site could easily attract neighborhood children after the construction workers have gone home. Although abandoned tractors and mud might be something most adults would avoid, the scene could appear much more fun to kids.

Under Florida law, children under the age of six are never partially liable for their own actions. A child so young cannot be negligent because she cannot appreciate the seriousness of jumping into a swimming pool or investigating a construction site. Therefore, when a homeowner, landowner, or business creates an attractive nuisance, they will be liable for the child’s injuries arising out of it. This is true even when the accident is foreseeable but the extent of the injury is not.

Children at least six years of age can be contribute to their own injuries because they are old enough to appreciate some risks. How much a judgment is likely to be reduced depends on a number of factors, including the child’s age and maturity, as well as the egregiousness of the defendant’s actions. Those factors are evaluated by a judge or jury to make a determination of the percentage the child and the property owner are each at fault.

Sadly, Florida has more small children drown in swimming pools each year than any other state. Although the balmy climate probably means that there are substantially more swimming pools in Florida than in most other states, the statistic is still startling. Homeowners should erect fencing and follow all recommended safety precautions. Property owners must take steps to reduce the risk of harm to young children when there are dangerous conditions on their property that they know or should know would attract children.

Generally, when a child receives a settlement from an attractive nuisance claim, the funds will stay in trust for the child. If the settlement is in excess of $5,000, a circuit judge must personally approve it; for smaller amounts, the parents or guardians of the child may approve it. The funds to be used for the benefit of the child.

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Slip and fall cases, sometimes known as trip and fall depending on the circumstances, are some of the most common personal injury lawsuits, according to Broward injury attorney Andrew Alitowski. Slip and fall cases are some of the most unfortunate because they not only cause severe and often lasting injuries, but they are frequently highly preventable. When businesses and other locations negligently fail to properly maintain their premises, customers can fall. Because Florida is home to large numbers of retirees, Broward businesses should be careful: if a business’s maintenance was insufficient such that it caused a person to slip and fall, it will be liable to that person for her injuries. This is usually true even if the plaintiff suffered more extensive injuries due to special problems with their own bodies, a rule that legal scholars call the Eggshell Skull Doctrine. If a Fort Lauderdale resident Fanny slips and falls on an unmarked wet floor in a local grocery store, causing her to crack her skull open, the store would still be liable to her for the damages – even if the owners and employees had no way of knowing about the delicate nature of Fanny’s skull or the degree of harm she would suffer from a fall.

Fort Lauderdale accident lawyers Alitowski & Moore believe that people who have been injured from falling due to unsafe circumstances should be compensated. If a wet floor is unmarked or there are dangerous obstacles, compensation for damages such medical expenses and time off of work is reasonable and fair.

The Eggshell Skull Doctrine developed in the courts over many years. In 1961, a factory worker was slashed with a heated substance that burned pre-cancerous tissue on his face. The worker developed cancer, apparently as a result of the burn, and died. The court concluded that the company was liable for all of the man’s damages – even though only the burn itself could have been foreseen.

In an even more famous case, which most lawyers studied in law school, came out of Wisconsin in 1891. A fourteen-year-old boy was recovering from serious leg problems when he was kicked in the shin by an eleven-year-old at their school. The younger child was unaware of the problem at the time he kicked the older boy. The fourteen-year-old’s leg was rendered permanently unusable after the kick. The Wisconsin Supreme Court determined that the younger boy was responsible for the entirety of the injuries.

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Fort Lauderdale personal injury attorneys Andrew Alitowski and William Moore have been following the Caylee Anthony case since the toddler’s disappearance last summer. In addition to the criminal aspects of case, there are interesting civil implications. A few weeks ago, Caylee’s remains were discovered in a plastic bag in a swampy area near her grandparents’ home, where Caylee and her mother 22-year-old Casey Anthony had lived. Casey Anthony has been charged with the first degree murder of Caylee, as well as giving false statements to police investigating the case, manslaughter, and aggravated child abuse. Casey Anthony did not report her young daughter’s disappearance to local Florida authorities; in fact, police only became aware of the disappearance after the child’s grandmother called law enforcement because her daughter would not tell her the whereabouts of Caylee.

Florida investigators determined that Casey Anthony’s story did not add up. Initially, she explained to investigators that she left the girl with a babysitter by the name of Zenaida Gonzalez. When local law enforcement officials tried to locate Gonzalez at the address Anthony provided, they found a long-vacant apartment. Prosecutors and police believe the tale of Zenaida Gonzalez was entirely a hoax perpetrated by Casey Anthony.

Meanwhile, Zenaida Gonzalez – the real one – has filed a personal injury lawsuit in a Florida court. Gonzalez alleges that she has been defamed by Anthony, which has had a substantial, negative effect on her life, including her ability to find employment. Anthony and Gonzalez were apparently unacquainted when Anthony gave Gonzalez’s name to law enforcement investigators as a lead in Caylee’s disappearance. Gonzalez alleges that her reputation has been tainted by the widely publicized allegation that Caylee was in her care at the time of the child’s death or disappearance.

Anthony’s injury lawyers have indicated that the Zenaida Gonzalez was a different one. The personal injury attorneys representing Gonzalez wanted to take Anthony’s deposition immediately, although she is currently behind bars and awaiting a criminal trial in March. Anthony’s Florida lawyers contended that information from civil defamation proceedings could hurt Anthony’s criminal case and that the civil case should be postponed.

Either way, Judge Jose Rodriguez was not sympathetic to either side during Tuesday’s hearing. Judge Rodriguez admonished both parties, advising them that he would not stand for personal attacks in written motions submitted to the court, telling the personal injury attorneys to "[f]ocus on the law . . . not on personal factors.” At this point in time, a new hearing has not been rescheduled. Anthony has filed a counterclaim against Gonzalez in the same civil case.

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