I Am Not Legally Allowed To Say I Am the Best Florida Lawyer

I’ve blogged about highway deaths before and I’ll surely blog about them again after this. They almost all remind me about the importance of under/uninsured motorist coverage. Most of the car accidents I read about are caused by someone driving very recklessly and those people don’t strike me as the kind who are likely to buy adequate insurance to protect you.

This most recent Daytona interstate accident occurred yesterday on I-95. Pamela Reid of Palm Coast actually caused two separate accidents. The first occurred on U.S. 1 and no one was hurt. That was just shortly before she caused the fatal I-95 crash.

Reid crossed the median on I-95 and crashed head-on into a 2003 Chevy. The wreck spun the car and caused it to roll, ejecting both occupants. Bruce Castle, 42, of Port Orange was killed and Trevor Luce, 34, of Palm Coast was critically injured. Reid was seriously injured.

An investigation is ongoing and charges are pending. Troopers believe Reid was under the influence of alcohol when the crashes occurred.

If Reid does not have insurance or does not have adequate insurance, I pray that Luce has under/uninsured motorist coverage or he will be looking at a hefty bill once he recovers. More people are forced into bankruptcy from medical bills than any other reason. The right insurance coverage can save you from the same fate.

I wish Luce a speedy recovery, and hope he has adequate insurance. If not, there may be one way he can recover from Reid. See my previous blog  Tragic Highway Death Sober Reminder of Importance of Underinsured Motorist Coverage to learn more.

Our legal system is designed to serve justice. That term can be nebulous and differs according to age, race and other demographics. But suffice it to say, our legal system is not perfect and does not administer justice in every case.

Decide for yourself if that is the situation in the following instance. Some will surely say yes, some will surely say no.  Let’s start with the simple rule. In civil proceedings, plaintiffs may not be compensated more than once for the same injury. This is regardless of whether multiple perpetrators caused the damage.

For example, one person is killed by two people. The death would not have occured but for the actions of BOTH people. That is, one perpetrator’s actions alone would not have been enough to cause death. The actions of both perpetrators were necessary to cause death. Therefore, both perpetratrors are culpable for the death.

Now what happens if the victim’s wife sues both perpetrators in civil court and receives $100,000 from Perp 1 to compensate them for the loss of her husband?  Well, depending on the facts of the case, the wife may not be able to find a lawyer willing to represent her in her case against Perp 2.

It all depends on the lawyer’s opinion of what kind of monetary value a jury will place on the husband’s life. If the lawyer thinks a jury will say the husband’s life was worth $1 million, then the lawyer will take the case. However, depending on the lawyer, the lower the value the jury will give to the husband’s life, the less likely any lawyer will agree to represent the wife.

This is because of the one compensation rule. The wife cannot be compensated more than once for the loss of her husband. This means that if the wife sued Perp 2, the case went to trial and a jury said that Perp 2 was liable for the husband’s death and that the husband’s life was worth $100,000, then the wife would not receive any money from Perp 2 and Perp 2 would go unpunished.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports that a 20-year-old man from Oviedo who was in Daytona for spring break was shot three times early Saturday morning and “will die from these injuries shortly.”

Gerold Lee Drosky was shot in the head, hand and groin around 4 a.m. at the Ocean Sands Hotel at 1024 N. Atlantic Ave. and remained on life support as late as Monday.

Police arrested James “Jimmy” Nicolas Costa, 27, of Orlando about an hour afterward. Costa attempted to evaid liability by removing some of his clothes, abandoning a .380 semiautomatic pistol outside the hotel by the beach approach, and hiding in the beach dunes about a block away.

Costa has a lengthy criminal record and the News-Journal reports that he came to Daytona to sell drugs to spring breakers.

One witness, Steve McKinnon, 22, of Ocala, said that Costa and Drosky were arguing when Costa pulled a gun on Drosky and shot him in the face. When Drosky fell to the floor, Costa shot him twice more.

My firm handled a case similar to this several years ago where a young man was shot and killed during spring break in a Burger King parking lot.

Florida law requires businesses to maintian reasonably safe premises. That includes providing adequate security and safety when unsafe conditions are foreseeable.

In our past case, violence had erupted at the Burger King previously on several occasions and management expected an increase in violence because of spring break. In that case, we were able to acheive a successful outcome for the family of the deceased man.

Depending on the specific events, the hotel may be liable in this case. This is certainly not to say that every business owner should be liable for the death of a customer. Businesses and landowners are only liable for such occurrences if the business is at fault.

For example, since businesses are required by law to maintain safe premises, if the hotel in this case knew that an armed drug dealer was one of their guests, then most reasonable people would agree that the hotel should have provided more security.

In cases where businesses have repeated rapes or violent attacks occurring on their property, then they have a duty to the public to provide security to protect their customers. Not only is it required by law, it’s just good business practices and plain common decency.

For those who follow the news, you’ve probably heard about the rash of professional baseball players who have either confessed, been caught or are under investigation for abusing steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. This sport-wide scandal has tarnished the reputation of the nation’s past-time and ruined the reputations of players.

For those caught up in the scandal, two approaches to dealing with it have emerged. Many players such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens have chosen to outright, adamantly, and repeatedly deny the allegations. Others, exemplified by Alex Rodriguez, have chosen to come clean so to speak and openly discuss their guilt.

I can only speak for myself, but Alex Rodriguez has saved his reputation in my mind by being a man about it, owning up to it and openly discussing his transgressions. I wish him nothing but the best and continued success in the future and I hope he can lead the way to a clean Major League Baseball.

On the other hand, I am completely offended by the likes of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens who have not chosen the higher road and have attempted at every turn to use lame and unconvincing excuses for why they aren’t guilty. This tactic has turned the tide of public opinion against them. I for one do not wish to see them in the Hall of Fame.

This tactic of owning up to your transgressions and admitting your faults is a powerful influencer of opinion. Confession is one of the foundations of Catholicism for reason and lawyers have begun to catch on.

I participated in a mediation yesterday in a medical malpractice case where the hospital was quite clearly negligent. However, the Florida Legislature passed a law saying that if a medical malpractice victim is not married and does not have children under 25, then no one can bring a wrongful death claim on their behalf. The only legal claim available in that case is for the pain and suffering of the victim, not her relatives.

In our case, the victim only lived for about 20 days past the time she began suffering from the injury the hospital inflicted so the damages that her estate could collect would be limited to the dollar amount that a jury believed would properly represent her pain and suffering for that short period.

The hospital’s defense counsel shrewdly used this to their advantage and indicated that at trial, the hospital would admit negligence. The hospital would “pull an A-Rod.” Not only would this admission soften the jury’s opinion of the hospital, but it would have important legal ramifications as well.

By admitting fault, the hospital would avoid the ill will that Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens have incurred. Perhaps more importantly, that move also would mean that I could not present evidence at trial to prove that the hospital was negligent because that evidence would be rendered unnecessary by their admission.

If a jury could not hear all the horrible things that this hospital did to my client, the jury would be less likely to award a high amount of damages. All the jury would hear about would be the pain and suffering my client endured in those short 20 days that remained in her life.

It was a shrewd move and also one defense lawyers urge doctors to adopt. Studies show that if a doctor simply apologizes for injuries he inflicts on patients, then that doctor is significantly less likely to be sued by that patient.

Two 16-year-old women sunbathing on the soft sand near Sunglow Pier were run over by a man in a pickup truck Sunday morning. One woman sustained injuries to her legs and the other to her torso.

Neither of the injuries were life-threatening, and charges are still pending against the truck driver. This guy is very lucky that the women were lying in soft sand. On other stretches of the beach, the sand is very hard-packed. If the accident had taken place there, we would likely be hearing a much different story.

While I’m not commenting either way, this incident brings to mind something we discussed in law school. Sometimes, the law can be quite arbitrary. The same action by a person can result in very different legal outcomes.

The truck driver in this case backed out of his parking spot without looking. That’s of course clearly negligent, but the legal outcome would have been very different had he been on hard sand and the girls had suffered critical or lethal injuries.

The quality of the sand was just blind luck. For the same action, this truck driver could be facing life in jail. Be careful out there.

This tragic accident on I-95 in Daytona Beach on Wednesday night was caused by a suspected drunk driver and resulted in the death of a young woman and seriously injured a family of three.

The guy who caused the accident was arrested for drunk driving and is uninjured. Hopefully justice will be served in the future for this driver because nothing about the accident was just in my eyes. Why is it that the drunk driver is completely unhurt while one innocent woman died and a family of three was seriously injured?

Mark Lester Wolf, 39, of Palm Coast was speeding southbound in his Mercedes and did not even hit the brakes before rear-ending a ‘06 Nissan Frontier driven by Christopher T. Reaney, of Port Orange. The Frontier spun clockwise, overturned with its roof hitting a metal sign pole. Everyone inside was wearing their seatbelts but Kelly L. Frates, 35, of Port Orange died from her injuries.

Chris Reaney, Catherine Reaney, 66, and William Reaney, 68, also of Port Orange were taken to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach with serious injuries.

I pray the Reaney family members recover fully from their injuries, but they likely face a long road back. While my heart goes out to them and to the family of Kelly Frates, as a lawyer, my thoughts are also drawn to the legal implications.

For everyone reading this blog, this is a stark reminder why you need underinsured motorist coverage. I haven’t seen Wolf’s insurance policy but I wouldn’t be surprised if he does not carry enough bodily injury insurance to cover the damages he caused. Someone who is reckless enough to drink and drive so irresponsibly does not strike me as the kind of person who will carry lots of insurance to protect others.

That is why it’s so important for us, the responsible drivers to protect ourselves. Insurance companies do not explain the importance of underinsured coverage because it is not in their best interest to do so. The Reaneys may not have even heard their agent mention those words. If Wolf’s insurance won’t cover the damages and the Reaneys don’t have adequate underinsured coverage, they might be looking at out-of-pocket payment for their medical bills. The majority of US bankruptcies are due to medical expenses. I hope it doesn’t come to that.

It may not if the Reaneys can avail themselves of a recent court case that could allow them to collect punitive damages from Wolf’s insurance company. Normally, auto insurance companies do not have to pay for the punitive damages caused by a drunk driver. However, a wrinkle in insurance law says that if certain conditions exist, then the insurance company can be on the hook for punitive damages.

If Wolf is underinsured or uninsured and the Reaneys do not carry underinsured coverage, this punitive damages strategy is likely the only avenue for the Reaneys to cover their medical expenses.

For more information about auto insurance, how to protect yourself and pay for your injuries, visit this car accident lawyer site.

A study of horse track betting found that just after placing a bet, bettors are much more confident of their horse’s chances of winning than they are immediately before putting their money on the line. In reality, nothing about the horse’s chances change; it’s the same horse, same track, same competition.

So what is it that causes the bettors to think the horse’s odd have increased? It is our almost irresistible desire to be and to appear consistent with what we have already done. Once we have made a choice or taken a stand, we will encounter personal and interpersonal pressures to behave consistently with that commitment. Those pressures will cause us to respond to future events in ways that justify our earlier decision.

In fact, our need to be (and appear to others as) consistent is a central motivator of our behavior. This theory is propounded by such prominent thinkers as Leon Festinger, Fritz Heider and Theodore Newcomb, and numerous studies bear out their predictions.

Obviously, we can’t be consistent with absolutely everything we say and do. It’s impossible and, in fact, inadvisable because things change and we receive new information. So if we deeply desire and need to be consistent, then where do we draw the line? What statements or actions do we choose to be consistent with and which do we let slide? Researchers have found that the key factor is whether or not we make a commitment to that statement or action. It is the commitment that determines our future behavior. If we make a strong commitment, our future behavior is virtually guaranteed to be consistent with that commitment.

However, researchers have found that even small commitments can lead to extraordinary future behavior. For example, during the Korean War, American intelligence learned that the Chinese treated captive soldiers very differently than any other country. While the North Koreans favored savage punishment to gain compliance, the Red Chinese specifically avoided even the appearance of violence or brutality. The Chinese approach was devastatingly effective.

The Chinese were very effective in getting Americans to inform on one another in contrast to the American solidarity in WWII. Escape attempts were usually uncovered in advance and on the off chance an escape succeeded, the Chinese usually recovered the man very quickly by merely offering a bag of rice to any prisoner who would turn his fellow soldier in. In fact, nearly all American prisoners in Chinese camps collaborated with the enemy in one form or another.

The Chinese approach exploited our need to be consistent to our commitments. The Chinese started by asking the POWs to write small, incredibly mild anti-American and pro-Communist statements. If the soldiers refused, the Chinese would ask them to copy others’ written statements. The Chinese knew that the pen is mightier than the sword. The North Koreans did not understand this.

A written statement is a deeper commitment than a simple oral statement. A writing provides physical proof that the act occurred. Once a POW wrote something, it was very difficult to believe he had not. The opportunities to forget the act or deny it were not available as they are with the spoken word. And now, I’ve come around the very long way to the purpose of this blog.

Shortly before I read about the Chinese tactics, I wrote my blog about text messaging. Separately, I also wrote down my personal goals for different time frames: 1 year goals, 3 year goals and lifetime goals. I’ve never written my goals down before, but I am now a firm believer in the power of the written word. I experienced a change in my behavior brought about solely because I wrote a blog.

If you haven’t read my text messaging blog, it chastises those who text message while driving cars. Now I have to admit that when I wrote that, I was being a complete hypocrite. I always complained about people texting and driving, but I still did it myself. I would often tell the story of a person I saw driving in Miami who was texting as she was entering I-95 from an on-ramp. This is an example of me acting inconsistently with my statements because I had not made a commitment to not texting while driving.

That all changed when I blogged about the dangers of texting while driving. It’s funny, as I was writing it, I laughed out lout because I felt like a complete hypocrite. However, the very next day as I was leaving the office I reached for my phone to write a text but stopped myself. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t bring myself to act inconsistently with what I had written. I had no problem doing it when I only spoke out against it, but the minute I put that statement to paper I made commitment to the idea.

More importantly, I had made a public commitment by publishing that blog. A published written commitment is a powerful one and one that I found it impossible to act inconsistently with even though no one was in the car with me to see me. I had policed myself. Then when I read about the Chinese POW tactics, I recognized what had happened to me and my jaw dropped.

I immediately recognized the power of the written word and thought of how, at the urging of my dad, I had written down my goals. Now that I know how powerful a simple blog was in affecting change in a simple behavior, I want to harness that power to impact my goals. So with this blog, I will publish my goals. Therefore, it will be even more difficult for me to act inconsistently with them.

Here goes: I’ve broken my goals up into categories like business, health, fun, etc. My goals I want to accomplish before Jan. 1, 2010 are: double my business’s revenue, hire a superstar employee, run a 10k averaging 7.5 minute miles, complete a half-Ironman, and surf either in San Diego or Hawaii.

My goals I want to realize before Jan. 1, 2012 are: spend one month per year away from Daytona Beach on a work vacation, quadruple my business’s revenue, complete the Florida Ironman, run a 10k averaging 7 minute miles, participate in Chris Carmichael’s bicycle camp in Asheville, NC with my dad, and surf in Indonesia.

My lifetime goals are to make my business work for me, not me for my business, to spend months per year away from Daytona Beach, establish and grow a non-law related business, climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, ride a mountain stage of the Tour de France the day before the Tour riders do and then watch them do it the next day, surf Teahupoo in Tahiti, and run a 10k averaging better than 6.5 minute miles.

Trust me, this goal writing stuff is powerful. Give it a try. Make your commitments public, make them strong and you’ll likely be shocked at how powerful that simple act will be

You’ve seen the over-wrought legal dramas on television and on the big screen. The truth about those dramatic courtroom depictions is they rarely have much resemblance to the real thing. Hollywood plays fast and loose with the rules of evidence and legal procedure. Real lawyers can’t ask half the questions or behave nearly as dramatically as Hollywood would lead you to believe. If Hollywood is an unreliable source for accurate portrayals of our legal system, how is one to know what a car accident trial is really like?

Fortunately, most people have never experienced a car accident and have never had the need to hire a Central Florida injury lawyer or attorney to represent them for injuries sustained in a wreck. However, if you’d like to know what a car accident trial is like, my friend, San Diego attorney Ross Jurewitz found that the Maryland law firm of Miller and Zois has posted this trial transcript. While the transcript involves a car accident trial in Maryland, the trial is similar to what happens in a Florida car wreck trial.

Research has shown that your reaction time while driving is slower when you’re talking on your cell phone than when you’re drunk. What’s worse it that I’ve seen people text messaging while driving – incredible. People who drive while using cell phones usually exhibit one of two behaviors. They either slow down to below the speed limit or they drift. This disrupts the flow of traffic which makes the roads more dangerous for us all. What’s worse, texting while driving means you’re not paying attention to the road. Not paying attention to the road while you’re driving is negligent and can subject you to legal liability for any injuries that your negligence causes.

Saturday night Feb. 7th, Cameron James, a 27-year-old South Carolina woman lost her life in a car accident on I-95 as she traveled northbound in an SUV driven by Dyquan Dukes. The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports that the vehicle swerved “sharply to the left to avoid slower traffic but then went over a guardrail on the northwest side.” Cameron James was not wearing her seatbelt and was ejected from the vehicle as it rolled. Nothing in the story indicates that Dyquan Dukes was text messaging while driving, but what is most likely is that the driver was not paying sufficient attention to the road for whatever reason. Whether or not a jury would consider the driver negligent would certainly depend on the precise reason for the accident.

This tragedy is an unfortunate example of the all too common occurrence of drivers not paying sufficient attention to the road while driving. Please think about it before you make a phone call or a text message while driving. To learn more about negligence and the law, visit our website and browse our informative video library.

This news story not only shocks the conscious, but also hammers home the absolute importance of investigating doctors before choosing one.

Fortunately, this type of depraved conduct is rare among health care professionals. However, plenty of warning signs existed that should have directed patients away from this doctor. The doctor in this story made at least five medical malpractice payments in the past decade. One such payment is not necessarily a deal breaker, but when a doctor has made five malpractice payments in the last decade, to me that exhibits a pattern. I would avoid that doctor at all costs. Fortunately, such information is easy to access.

The Florida Department of Health maintains a website that provides important information on all licensed health care professionals, not only doctors. When you arrive at the webpage, click on the “Profile Search System” link and enter the name of the person you are investigating. Then click on the license number to access information describing the person’s credentials as a health care professional. You can check such things as board certification, license validity, criminal offenses and malpractice payments.

For more information on medical malpractice, visit my website.