South Florida Personal Injury Blog

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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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.

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