Florida Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

The holidays should be a joyful time, but on this particular Christmas Eve, the victim in this Florida auto accident case had been to a Christmas party with friends. On the way home, he was one of three passengers riding with his friend in the front of his friend’s pick-up truck. Unfortunately, since there were only three seat belts and four people in the front seat, no one had their seat belts on.

It was a dark night, and the winding road was wet with poor lighting. The driver of the truck lost control, the truck began spinning and flipped. The driver and our victim were ejected from the truck. Our victim was in tremendous pain and had serious trouble breathing and was taken to a trauma center in West Palm Beach, Florida by helicopter. The EMS crew reported that there was extensive damage to the front passenger compartment of the pick-up truck.

Upon physical exam by the trauma surgeon, the victim had a tender, very rigged abdomen. Based on that fact, it was felt that he had life-threatening injuries, and he was taken urgently to the operating room for an exploratory laparotomy so the surgeon could look into the abdomen to identify his injuries.

The victim received an incision from the bottom of his chest bone to just above his pubic bone. During the operation, it was noted that he had blood free in the abdomen, which meant that some organ was bleeding. The surgeon found that his spleen was seriously damaged and bleeding profusely and had to be removed. There was also a laceration to his liver, which was actively bleeding, and the bleeding had to be stopped by electrocautery. Since the spleen had to be removed, the patient now has an increased chance of infection. Post-op, he was on a ventilator, pain management and wound care and remained in a coma for 12 days.

A few days after being released from the hospital, he returned complaining of nausea, vomiting and the inability to eat. He was found to have an infection and had to have a second operation to disinfect the wound.

Continue reading " 21 Year Old Suffers Severe Injuries in Martin County, Florida " »

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Posted In: Automobile Accidents

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According to the Florida Department of Highway and Motor Vehicle Safety, in the year 2007, there were approximately 256,206 traffic crashes on Florida’s roadways. Resulting from these crashes were approximately 212,149 injuries and a reported 3,221 traffic fatalities.

These statistics don’t really mean much until you consider the personal stories contained in each of these accidents.

Our clients in this Florida automobile accident case were a 52 year old mother and her 17 year old son. In this instance, the son was driving and the mother was the front seat passenger. Our clients were traveling eastbound on Northlake Boulevard when another driver in a pick-up truck failed to stop and yield the right of way while traveling northbound on an intersecting roadway. The other vehicle entered the intersection and plowed into the passenger side of our clients’ vehicle. The impact was so severe it pushed the victims’ vehicle across the westbound lanes of traffic and onto the shoulder of Northlake Boulevard approximately 100 feet northeast of the initial impact. The resulting damage to the victims’ vehicle was so great that it was ultimately deemed a total loss.

The young son who was the driver was transported via ambulance to the emergency room at St. Mary’s Hospital with an open laceration to his scalp. This wound required several metallic staples to close and has left a permanent and unsightly scar on his head. His mother unfortunately sustained a horrific open compound fracture to her right arm that her son was forced to witness. As to be expected, this has left a negative and lasting impression on the young man.

The mother was transported to the emergency room at St. Mary’s Hospital via Trauma Hawk. She sustained severe injuries to her right arm which included a combined Montegia fracture, a dislocation of the elbow, and a mid-shaft radius and ulna fracture. Upon her arrival at the emergency room she was evaluated and immediately transferred to the operating room where she underwent extensive surgical procedures.

This family sought the assistance of Attorney Richard D. Schuler, who did an in depth investigation into the cause of this accident and filed suit against the driver of the pick-up truck and, since he was working at the time of this accident, he also sued his employer, one of the sugar corporations in Palm Beach County, Florida.

Unfortunately, the mother in this case sustained a permanent injury and permanent dysfunction as a result of this accident. Her treating orthopedic surgeon assigned a 33% permanent impairment to the body as a whole. According to her physician, she continues to suffer from “severe loss of rotation at the elbow and wrist with almost no functional supination and significant loss of extension at the elbow.” Further, her physician stated that she has suffered one of the most severe fracture dislocations and combined forearm
fractures that one can have. In addition to the aforementioned problems, she is left with severe permanent scaring to her right forearm due to the open fractures and invasive surgical procedures.

Mr. Schuler was successful in settling this case without the necessity of a trial for several hundred thousand dollars for this mother and son.

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Posted In: Automobile Accidents

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A toxic tort is a special type of personal injury lawsuit in which the plaintiff claims that exposure to a chemical caused the plaintiff's injury or disease.

Our victim in this toxic tort case is a devoted husband and loving father who really enjoyed working in his garden. He never imagined that spraying his canal bank, hibiscus hedges and other areas of trees, plants, shrubs and foliage would ultimately cause his death. Unfortunately, he was spraying chemical products containing the phenoxy herbicides 2,4-D, Silvex and 2,4,5-T for approximately 15 continuous years. Even though he was using these chemicals for their intended purpose and followed the directions for distribution, and even though he wore protective clothing while distributing these chemicals, he was consistently exposed to these chemicals and this exposure precipitated the condition of lymphoma, a form of cancer, and related blood disorders. His physician has indicated that the mortality rate for someone with this diagnosis is between five (5) to seven (7) years.

This victim contacted Attorney Richard D. Schuler to represent him in this case because he knew that Mr. Schuler had extensive experience in handling these toxic tort cases. Mr. Schuler sued the manufacturers and distributors of these chemicals on behalf of the victim for, among other things, the failure to properly inspect, market and distribute these chemicals and failing to warn of the toxic nature of these chemicals and the fact that exposure to them can and will cause cancer or terminal disease.

After being diagnosed with lymphoma, this victim’s life changed in almost every aspect. His condition has impacted his emotional life most severely. There is no cure for his condition, there is no guarantee that any attempt he makes to affect his condition will work, and the circumstances can change at any time. The future appears as a big question mark.

A vital factor in all this is that this victim is now faced with the possibility of not being able to provide for his family’s future. The thought that upon his death his loved ones will lose what he has worked so hard to provide them has been very debilitating for him.

Mr. Schuler was successful in settling this case without the necessity of a trial for hundreds of thousands of dollars. This victim will now be able to obtain the treatment he so vitally needs and no longer will have to worry about the future well-being of his family.

Posted by Schuler, Halvorson & Weisser | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Toxic Torts

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