Injury lawyers often state that a property owner is not liable for dangerous conditions that occur in natural or artificial bodies of water, except where there is an unusual condition not typically present in a similar body of water, or the condition constitutes a trap, or the landowner performs a willful or wanton negligent act that causes the injury. Accordingly, owners of artificial lakes, fish ponds, mill ponds, gin ponds, and other pools, streams, and bodies of water are not guilty of actionable negligence on account of drowning therein unless they are constructed so as to constitute a trap or raft or unless there is some unusual element of danger lurking about them not existent in ponds generally.
Thus, a minor deviation in the depth of a lake does not constitute a dangerous condition where lakes typically change depth by reason of the amount of rainfall, nor does the presence of plant life and debris constitute an unusual condition sufficient to impose liability on the property owner. A deep-water drop-off in a lake may or may not constitute a concealed danger so as to impose liability on the property owner in a drowning case. Further, neither an allegedly steep and precipitous drop-off at the border of a canal, nor an allegation that the area is dark at night and the canal scarcely visible, transform an ordinary body of water into a trap or hidden danger.
Caution: Although the fact that water is shallow, and insufficient for diving, may not ordinarily render it a dangerous condition, it may be a dangerous condition where a person would not be aware of the shallow depth.
An owner of a body of water, natural or artificial, is not required to fence it or post guards or erect signs in areas that are not designated for swimming.
Swimming Pool Injury Lawyer Observation: A governmental entity operating a public swimming area will have the same operational-level duty to invitees as a private landowner, that is, the duty to keep the premises in a reasonably safe condition and to warn the public of any dangerous conditions of which it knows or should have known. The test for whether the governmental entity owes such an operational-level duty to safely operate the public swimming area is not whether the body of water has been formally designated as a public swimming area. Rather, the test is whether, under all the circumstances, the actions of the government entity has held the area out to the public as a swimming area or has led the public to believe the area was designated a swimming area.
The sponsor of a water skiing competition can be held liable for injuries sustained by a participating water skier, pursuant to the statute governing vessel safety during marine events, even though the competition is held in a non-navigable man-made lake.

If you have additional questions about a swimming accident resulting in injury of death, contact a negligence attorney at your convenience.

For information regarding private pool fencing criteria to prevent drowning, please review Saftey Barrier Guidelines CPSC (pdf).

For information on how to secure your swimming pool safely visit The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

If you have been involved in a swimming pool personal injury case that you would like to find out the answers to, please call and speak to swimming pool personal injury attorney Andrew S. Alitowski or William Ryan Moore at 888-ASK-ANDREW (275-2637). We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
If you are injured…Ask Andrew!!!

See Florida Attorney Regulation for more information on rules formulated by the Florida Bar.

Whether a pedestrian is negligent in crossing or attempting to cross a street at a place other than an intersection, and whether his or her failure to observe the possible dangers or risks in attempting to cross the street was the proximate cause of the injury, ordinarily present questions of fact to be settled by the jury, under appropriate instructions. Thus, Florida auto accident attorneys argue that it is improper for a court to direct a verdict in favor of jaywalking pedestrians who are alleged to be the cause of a rear-end collision where the evidence is sufficient for the jury to determine whether there were no jaywalking signs in the area, whether such signs were designed to implement traffic control, whether the pedestrians violated a statutory proscription by crossing at the point they did, and whether the jaywalking constituted the proximate cause of the collision. Where, however, the evidence does not support a particular instruction as to the duty of a pedestrian when crossing between intersections, it may constitute reversible error for the court to give such an instruction.
Notwithstanding the fact that the question of a pedestrian's negligence in crossing between intersections is usually a matter for the jury, a pedestrian is clearly negligent if he or she walks into a traffic lane between intersections without looking or into the path of an automobile that he or she could easily have seen but did not.

As a result, more and more restaurants and high end retailers are using tile & grout cleaning companies that ensure that no comprises will be made in terms of safety when restoring stone, mason or ceramic tiles. These businesses are every bit as competitive as other companies that do not account for changing tile conditions following a cleaning.

"Avoiding injury and lawsuits paramount" claims Robert at White Sands Tile Cleaning - We have seen some significant claims over the last 10 years that absolutely could have been avoided. More information may be found at Fort Lauderdale Tile Blog.

If you have questions about avoiding business injury claims call us today.

For more information on Broward County injury law, visit Broward Injury Attorneys

In July of 2009 the 3rd District Court of Appeal (DCA) ruled on a Personal Injury Protection (PIP) matter. The insured’s medical provider filed suit against the insurer seeking the PIP benefits after the insurer denied payment of the provider’s bills. The trial court granted a motion for summary judgment for the medical provider. The Circuit Court appellate division in Miami-Dade County affirmed. Thus it was finally appealed to the 3rd DCA which held that the report of the physician relied upon by the insurer to justify denial of the PIP benefits was a valid report. Thus, the lower decisions were reversed.

How did this happen? Read on… The case is United Automobile Insurance Company v. Metro Injury & Rehab Center, 16 So.3d 897 (3rd DCA 2009).
In this case, United Auto insured a Ms. Davis via the PIP automobile insurance policy. Ms. Davis was involved in a car accident on April 2, 2005. She went to Metro and as is customary, she assigned to Metro her right to benefits under the policy. On September 15, 2005, United Auto notified Metro that it was denying payment based on a report by a Dr. Goldbert who had reviewed the accident report, medical records and statement of Ms. Davis’ treating physicians and who concluded that further treatment was not reasonable, necessary or related to the accident.

United Auto cited Florida Statute 627.736(7)(a) which basically states that in order for an insurer to withdraw or stop paying medical bills it has to obtain a valid report by a Florida physician who states that the treatment is not reasonable, related, or necessary and that the valid report is one that is prepared and signed by the physician examining the insured person or reviewing the treatment records of the injured person and is factually supported.
Metro sued United Auto for breach of contract seeking PIP benefits under the policy. The trial court granted Metro’s motion for summary judgment concluding that Dr. Goldberg’s peer review report was not a “valid report” under the statute. The trial court did so because it stated that the report was not based on an independent medical examination (“IME”).

This appellate court reviewed the statute and prior case law. Specifically, it reviewed the case United Automobile Insurance Co. v. Bermudez, 980 So. 2d 1213 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008) in which the 3rd DCA decided that a valid report under the statute for the withdrawal of PIP benefits does not have to be based upon a physical examination conducted by the actual physician preparing the report. Instead, it held that it may be based on a physical examination of the insured by another physician’s examination, but that the physician preparing the report does not have to personally examine the insured. He or she may base the report on another physician’s examination and that such report can be done by reviewing the treatment records of the injured person alone. An IME is not required in order for a report to be a “valid report.”

Well, there are two more classifications that are seeking protection under a new bill filed by Representative Kelly Skidmore in the Florida House of Representative. This new bill sees to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the Florida civil rights statute.
Currently in Florida, according to Florida Discrimination Attorneys Alitowski & Moore, it is legal to discriminate against someone because they are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. Though within some cities, these categories are getting more protection at a local level, it is not in all cities and thus not uniform throughout the state.
This new House bill will assist in protecting all Floridians who want to make discrimination in Florida illegal
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/2009/11/florida-competitive-workforce-bill-filed-to-add-anti-discrimination-protections-statewide.html

As per this recent article, Florida discrimination attorneys claim that the debate and interest in civil rights is heating up all across the country. Whether the noise is coming from the right or the left, it is here and it is loud.
http://www.ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=4859&MediaType=1&Category=26
From Alaska, to Michigan, to Florida, the debate on whether to write laws that give more rights to gay, lesbian or transgender people is very contentious and very active. Both sides are heavily invested in this issue. The two sides are mainly broken down into a religious, conservative and mostly church side versus a civil rights and mostly liberal side.
It is unlikely that the Federal government will intervene into this issue anytime soon. With the health care debate, the 3 current wars that the United States is in, and the current economic and housing crisis that we are in, the Federal government does not seem to have enough room to discuss or put this into its agenda. Currently there are 38 states where it is legal to fire or not hire someone because of their gender identity or expression.

If you have been discriminated against based on your sexual orientation or gender identity, please call and speak to a Florida discrimination attorney at the Law Offices of Andrew S. Alitowski at 888-ASK-ANDREW (275-2637) or contact us online. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
If you are injured…Ask Andrew!!!

A claim of retaliation, if it is supported by sufficient evidence to be submitted to the jury, raises the value of the plaintiff's potential recovery in two ways. First, a plaintiff who has been the victim of retaliation has a greater chance of winning the sympathy of the jury on the underlying claim of discrimination. And second, proof of retaliation also goes a long way toward justifying an award of punitive damages, which are available only upon proof that the defendant acted "with malice or with reckless indifference to the federally protected rights of an aggrieved individual. As with claims of discrimination, the crucial issue in retaliation claims is whether the plaintiff has presented sufficient evidence to survive a motion for summary judgment or a motion for judgment as a matter of law, in order to have the claim submitted to the jury.

Employment Lawyers that will fight for you.

The importance of “Day in the Life” videos in personal injury cases can’t be over emphasized. The emotional impact can be multiplied many times over standard trial testimony if done correctly. Attorneys know that this type of exhibit must be produced with not only attention to the art of producing video but also to evidentiary rules that can stand in the way of admissibility. Spending a significant amount of money on evidentiary production only to have it disallowed by the court in your client’s case would certainly be a devastating experience.

Video producers are artists, lawyers are well, something far less interesting or even likeable. The legal production video is one of the few things in this world that brings professionals from opposite sides of the career universe together. The shooting and editing of legal presentation videos are, simply put, one of the specialty areas of video production. The requirement that the production team must have skilled attorneys on staff monitoring the creation process, prevents many vendors from being eligible to accept such projects and opting instead for the less liable gigs such as weddings and Bar Mitzvahs.

I recently spoke to Martin, one of the video production planners at Group Project, a South Florida video production company that produces legal presentation work.

“From the outside, making a “day in the life” video seems like the easiest thing in the world for a new Fort Lauderdale video production company. You just go where the subject of the piece is, turn on the camera, and record them. A videographer right out of film school may hope to catch something that is telling about the affliction in which the subject might be suffering, much like a wildlife photographer hopes to catch an animal doing something exciting. If that is the mindset of the team, the video shouldn’t even be shot because it’s going to get excluded.”

He is right. If you don’t understand the latest rules governing the admissibility of evidence, your videographer is going to eventually “throw a rock” at the subject to get it to do something… so to speak. The problem is that judges are not stupid. Neither is opposing counsel. Each will spot such filming practices a mile away.

“You are very limited by the court system”, claims Martin, but that is where you have to get creative… very creative. It is true that our team attorney keeps the videographer from coloring outside of the lines, but within those lines our creative team paints a picture that will knock you over with its emotional impact.”