Florida Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

When you plan a fun-filled day of boating, you would never expect to end up losing a portion of your fingers on such an excursion, but that’s exactly what happened to the victim in this case.

The victim in this Florida boating accident was a 28 year old married man who was a karate instructor and owned his own karate studio. He and his wife had very active lives and enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle. They were members of an exclusive boating club located in North Palm Beach, Florida where by paying a membership fee, they were allowed the use of a boat whenever they wished.

On this particular fall day, they had secured the use of a 24 foot power boat for the afternoon with a friend of theirs and anchored just off the beach on the north end of Palm Beach Island. The trio had gone ashore to have lunch just before this incident occurred. When the victim was attempting to climb up the dive ladder to get back onto the boat, his fingers got caught at the hinge of the ladder, partially amputating the third and fourth digit of his right hand.

As they were heading back to the marina, luckily the Marine Patrol was nearby and rushed him to Blue Heron Park where he was picked up by Fire Rescue and taken to the emergency room at St. Mary’s Medical Center. Once there, he was taken into surgery immediately. Unfortunately, this victim would require two more surgeries to his fingers and possibly will require more in the future.

Of course, this victim incurred thousands of dollars in medical expenses and worst of all, he lost a large amount of income from his karate studio since he is no longer able to act as an instructor and, in fact, was unable to work at all for quite some time due to the pain he had to contend with on a daily basis.

This victim contacted Attorney Richard D. Schuler for assistance in obtaining some compensation for the expenses and pain and suffering he endured due to the negligence of the marina and the fact that the ladder on this boat was faultily constructed. This fact was confirmed by a safety expert retained by Mr. Schuler in this case. After extensive investigation Mr. Schuler was successful in settling this case without the necessity of a trial for several hundred thousand dollars

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

Posted In: Admiralty Litigation

Bookmark:

This resident from Stamford, CT never expected that her life would be changed so drastically on that summer day in 2006. At 65 years old, she had retired from the restaurant business, was living with her fiancé, and spent her days caring for her 87 year old mother. She and her fiance’ loved to spend their free time together dancing.

Our client, the victim in this Florida boat accident case, had just arrived in Florida to visit her children and their families. After being picked up at the airport by her daughter and granddaughter, they went to her son’s home for a brief visit. During this visit, her son wanted to show them the boat he had recently purchased. Unfortunately, what occurred next would alter all of their lives forever.

The victim, her daughter and son boarded the boat, and as her son tried to start the engines, there was a loud “pop” and then a blast which threw the daughter and son off the boat and into the water. Unfortunately for our client, she had gone below to view the galley and was trapped.

Luckily, the daughter was able to climb back on the boat and pull her mother to safety, but not before her mother had been burned over 52% of her body, including severe burns on her face, neck, head, chest, the fronts and backs of both arms, including both hands, and the palms of both hands, both thighs, both lower legs, and at locations on both of her legs and right hand, the skin was literally falling off due to the severe burns received. Both the son and daughter also received burns, but they were nowhere near the extent of the burns their mother endured.

After being rushed to the hospital and then flown by helicopter to the burn unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital, the victim spent almost eight agonizing months in excruciating pain, enduring numerous surgeries, skin grafts and infections, with extensive periods on a ventilator.

The victim in this case will never fully recover from her serious burn injuries and since her return to Connecticut, she has faced many, many hours of rehabilitation and several lengthy hospital stays with additional surgeries.

Continue reading "Boat Explosion in Pompano Beach, FL Changes Lives Forever" »

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

Posted In: Admiralty Litigation

Bookmark: