Florida Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

In this Florida premises liability case, a married couple from Las Vegas, Nevada had planned a long awaited vacation in sunny South Florida. They were to stay in one of Miami’s most prestigious hotels – the Fountainbleu.

After checking in, the husband had some phone calls to make and some work to catch up on so he stayed in the room while the wife went downstairs to the pool. The wife stayed by the pool for several hours relaxing and enjoying the sun. When she returned to the room, she noticed that her husband was not there but was not worried, since she assumed he had gone down to the hotel bar or was touring the hotel. She went ahead and showered and ordered some food from room service, as she was sure that he would return shortly for dinner.

After several hours went by, she became increasingly concerned that he had not returned and she began making some phone calls. However, no one had heard from him and the hotel desk clerks stated they had not seen her husband.

Later that evening, as one of the hotel employees was making rounds to ascertain that everything was as it should be in the hotel, he came upon the body of the husband in the stairwell near the couple’s room. He had been killed with a garotte, which is a wire with a handle at each end used for strangling. Because this apparatus was used, the police stated that it very possibly could have been a contract killing. The police surmised that he had been surprised in his room and then pulled into the stairwell, even though there were no signs of struggle in the motel room.

Of course, the wife was questioned at length concerning her husband’s death but was not charged. The husband was a wealthy businessman so the police were looking at all of his personal and business connections. Unfortunately, this murder was never solved.

This couple had been married a relatively short period of time and had no children together, but he had five children from his previous marriage. The widow in this case contacted Attorney Richard D. Schuler to assist her in suing the hotel for negligent security on behalf of herself and her five step-children. Mr. Schuler retained a security expert in this case and together they were able to show that the hotel had inadequate security at the time of this incident, and that there had been criminal activity in this area in the past.

Statistics show that burns rank second as the leading cause of death in children, age 0 to 5. Children are the major concerns for scald or hot water burns due to the fact that children have not fully developed the thickness of their skin. Therefore, they burn faster than adults. According to these same statistics, an average of 300 burn cases per year is reported for children due to high temperature water. Half of the incidents reported of scald burns are due to the unattended hot water used on children.

The victim in this Florida premises liability case was only two years old at the time of this incident. Her mother was working and she was being cared for by her father. At her age, she was still undergoing toilet training, so when she told her father she needed to go to the bathroom, she was unable to wait and made a mess. In order to clean the child and the bathroom, her father removed her clothes and placed her in the shower, after adjusting the temperature to lukewarm. The father reported that the child was gently crying in the shower as he cleaned the bathroom and went out back to throw away the remains of the mess. While he was out back, he heard the little girl make a loud scream. He ran into the bathroom where he found her in a steamy bathroom running in place under the water. He immediately called 911, and rescue personnel airlifted the child first to Delray Community Hospital and later to Jackson Memorial Hospital Burn Unit.

The child remained at the Burn Unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital for several months. She had severe burns over 1/3 of her body surface and needed numerous procedures for the debridement of her burns. Eventually she underwent surgery at the Shriners Burn Center in Ohio. After surgery and weeks of healing, she was fitted with a special mask and suit to wear to hopefully prevent the development of keloid scars from the burns.

The parents of this child contacted Attorney Richard D. Schuler for assistance in this matter. Mr. Schuler conducted an extensive investigation into the cause of this horrific incident and brought suit against not only the owner of the apartment complex, but also the manufacturer of the water heater and the contractor who performed the renovations to the apartment complex and installed the water heater. Several experts were retained regarding the code violations on the property, the inherently dangerous propensities and inadequate size of the particular water heater, and inadequate safety measures taken by the landlord to prevent any tampering with the water heater, among others.

Mr. Schuler was successful in settling with all defendants, without the necessity of a trial, for more than $2 million dollars, which will go a long way toward helping this child on her road to recovery from these devastating injuries.

Slip and fall cases are based on a claim that the property owner was negligent in allowing some dangerous condition to exist that caused the victim to slip or trip and can result in serious debilitating injuries for the victims.

Such was the case for the 38 year old victim in this Florida premises liability case as she was shopping at her local Walmart. When she was walking out of the ice cream aisle she encountered a large amount of water on the floor, which caused her to slip and fall extremely hard to the floor. She landed on her tailbone and her head whipped backwards. In fact, the fall happened so quickly that she also knocked her cart down on top of her. After she was on the floor, the victim noticed for the first time that there was water on the floor which appeared to have been leaking from a nearby freezer. The victim testified that there were no warning/wet floor signs or cones anywhere in the area.

Immediately after her fall, a manager came upon the scene and was extremely upset with an employee who was nearby and was overhead to say “I told you to clean that up”. So, apparently, Walmart knew there was water on the floor and failed to act responsibly for the safety of their customers. Customers in stores should not have to watch the floor for the possibility of water or any other substance that might cause them to slip and fall.

The victim in this case sustained a severely bruised tailbone, injuries to her neck and back and was suffering from head/concussion type injuries, which produced severe migraine headaches. She initially treated with a chiropractor who sent her for MRIs of both the cervical and lumbar spine. Unfortunately, these MRIs revealed substantial damage to both the cervical and lumbar spine and the chiropractor referred this victim to a local neurosurgeon for a complete neurosurgical evaluation. The neurosurgeon noted that the victim had radiating pain from her lower back into her left leg and had significant painful low back symptomatology. He diagnosed possible left lumbar radiculopathy, disc displacement at L4-5 and lumbago. He further recommended nerve conduction studies of the lumbar spine and referred her to a physiatrist for further testing. Unfortunately, the EMG/NCS studies revealed a paravertebral spasm which the physiatrist opined was suggestive of nerve root irritation.

Due to persistent low back symptoms and positive findings on the extensive tests, this victim underwent a surgical procedure which included a posterolateral extrapedicular intradisc decompression. After undergoing post-surgical therapy, the neurosurgeon confirmed a 12% total whole body permanent impairment rating based upon the American Medical Association Guidelines, and confirmed that her future medical bills would include a lifetime conservative cost of $25,000.00 for diagnostic testing, medications, physical therapy and doctor visits. Furthermore, he confirmed that she may require further surgical intervention of her lumbar spine should her condition worsen.

Continue reading "Slip and Fall at Walmart in West Palm Beach, Florida Results in Permanent Damage" »

Business owners have a legal duty to provide safe premises for their patrons and guests. This includes a duty to protect them against any harm caused by the criminal acts of third parties when those criminal acts are foreseeable. Such criminal acts are foreseeable when their occurrence can reasonably be expected under the circumstances. Such was the case in the following Florida premises liability case.

One evening in December at about 9:00 p.m., a young paralegal and two of the partners at the law firm where she was employed had worked late at the office and were concluding a late meal at a restaurant in Riviera Beach, Florida, prior to departing for home. They had all come in separate cars. While the two attorneys had parked toward the front of the restaurant, the victim in this case had parked on the east side of the restaurant as there were no other spaces left. The restaurant faces south and is near I-95.

After consuming their meal, one of the attorneys and the paralegal walked out of the front of the restaurant and went to their cars while the other attorney was paying the bill.

As the paralegal pulled out and swung around the back of the restaurant to go toward the only available exit way, two young black males walked up to her vehicle. One stood in front of her vehicle to prevent her from pulling forward and the other walked up to her window. At that point, the individual that walked up to her window shot through her drive side window, striking her in the neck area as the bullet entered the left portion of her neck and lodged in her right shoulder area. The victim was able to crawl out of her car and get back to the front door of the restaurant as the suspects fled. At the front door of the restaurant, she collapsed into the arms of the second attorney with blood spurting out of her neck and onto the floor. The attorney provided a tourniquet pressure on her neck but the victim thought she was going to die as an artery had been hit and she was suffering substantial loss of blood. Fortunately, paramedics arrived in time and took her to St. Mary’s Hospital and she survived this horrible ordeal.

After recuperating, the victim in this Florida premises liability case contacted Attorney Richard D. Schuler who realized that the restaurant was responsible for this injury as a result of their failure to provide adequate security in the restaurant parking lot premises. The restaurant was aware, prior to the date of this incident, that there already had been three armed robberies over a three year period prior to this incident, along with other
multiple assorted crimes including purse snatching, car thefts, tearing up the inside of the restaurant, and other crimes too numerous to mention. In spite of this notice proving foreseeability of this crime, the restaurant failed to take any security measures whatsoever.

Continue reading "Young Paralegal Shot in Restaurant Parking Lot in Riviera Beach, Florida" »

Thankfully, most of us will never be victims of assault, but it does happen all too frequently, and many times it is due to inadequate security at the facility where the crime occurs.

One such event took place in Boca Raton, Florida one August evening after the victim of this Florida premises liability case returned home from a dinner party at a friend’s home at approximately 1:30 a.m. The victim in this case was a 44 year old married woman who was at the time separated from her husband and living alone in an apartment complex.

This particular evening, after having only one drink at the dinner party, the victim accepted the offer of a friend to drive her home. The friend dropped her off at the entrance to her apartment complex, and she remembers walking into the complex by the guard gatehouse and waving at the guard. However, she does not recall whether he saw her and she definitely does not know whether he acknowledged her wave.

On her way to her apartment, she was accosted and brutally beaten by assailants and left for dead. The victim, thankfully, has no recall of the incident. According to the police, she was apparently beaten near the dumpster in the complex, as there was a lot of blood in that area and on the wall next to the dumpster. At this time, it is unclear whether the victim was struck by someone’s hands or a blunt object. The police believe she was either dragged from the dumpster toward her door or she crawled on her own because there was evidence on both of her elbows and knees of being dragged. The only thing taken from this victim was her purse, but no jewelry and unbelievably she had a $2,000.00 bracelet on her arm that was not taken.

She was eventually found by a neighbor who lives on the third floor of the complex (our victim lives on the first floor) at approximately 4:00 a.m. on the ground near her apartment door unconscious. The beating was so severe and disfiguring that the neighbors were unable to identify her but told the responding officers that they thought she was the female that resided in Apartment 14.

The victim was taken to Delray Medical Center as a trauma patient. She was admitted and treated for multiple facial lacerations, facial trauma, subcranial hemorrhage, abrasions to her feet, legs, back, arms, buttocks and obvious emotional injuries. Radiology reports revealed a fractured nasal bone, a potential fracture to her mandible and the previously mentioned subarachnoid brain hemorrhage. She was discharged after several days to be followed up by her physicians which included a neurologist, psychiatrist, maxillofacial surgeon, and dentist.

Continue reading "Woman Brutally Beaten on Premises of Her Apartment Complex" »

According to statistics, falling is the leading cause of worldwide injuries. Approximately 60% of all falls are initiated by slipping.

The victim in this Florida premises liability case was staying in a hotel in Orlando, Florida for a short time. As she was walking from the elevator to the lobby on the first floor of the building, she slipped and fell on the floor after taking a step out of the elevator, causing severe and debilitating injuries to her body.

Evidently, the floor of the lobby was wet and there were no signs warning the guests of the hotel of this fact. Additionally, the tile floor from the egress of the elevator exit to the lobby was sloped in violation of Florida's Building Code. As a result of this negligence on the part of the hotel’s employees, the victim was permanently and totally disabled and unable to return to work. She had to undergo numerous surgeries and significant therapy. In fact, this victim was confirmed to be suffering from C.R.P.S. (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome), which is a chronic progressive disease characterized by severe pain, swelling and sensitivity to touch. Because of this, she incurred substantial medical bills and is faced with a lifetime of pain and suffering that is immeasurable.

Unfortunately, there is no cure for this condition. Her physician believes that she may need a spinal cord stimulator in the future, which would require surgery.

The victim in this case sought the assistance of Attorney Jason D. Weisser. Mr. Weisser sued the hotel in this matter and stated that they breached their duty to the victim as follows:

• By failing to maintain the lobby area in a safe condition;
• By failing to provide warning signage that the floor outside the elevator was wet;
• By failing to provide an employee to greet customers as they exited the elevator on the first floor to warn them of the dangerous condition;
• By failing to provide an accessible route from the elevator to exit the building;
• Negligent mode of operation by forcing patrons to walk across a wet floor to exit the building;
• By creating the dangerous condition of having a wet soapy floor in the main lobby directly outside the elevator entrance or elevator exit; and
• By having a dangerous slope/grade leading from the elevator to the lobby floor.

Mr. Weisser successfully settled this case without the necessity of a trial and obtained a verdict in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for this client. She now will be assured of getting the medical treatment she will need in the future.

While attending an alternative music concert at a local entertainment complex, the victim in this Florida premises liability case suffered serious and permanent injuries as he was watching one of the bands playing on the stage. All of a sudden, a crowd surfer literally fell out of the sky on top of the victim collapsing his knee and causing him to fall to the ground.

At the time of the incident, this young man heard and felt his knee pop out of place. Fortunately, he was able to pop it back into place on his own and was treated initially in the medics tent at the concert. Subsequently, due to excruciating pain, weakness, swelling and stiffness, he was seen by an orthopedic surgeon who performed arthroscopic surgery for derangement of the right knee. Regrettably, even though he tolerated the procedure fairly well, his post-op recovery was hindered with continued swelling in his knee, and stabbing sensations along the side of his knee and sinovitis.

Unfortunately, despite aggressive physical therapy and rehabilitation on the knee post-surgery, the victim remained extremely symptomatic and a second arthroscopic surgery had to be performed. Even after his second arthroscopic knee surgery, he continues to have significant ongoing pain and symptomology. During one of his later visits to his orthopedic surgeon, he was prescribed a hinged knee brace and his physician advised him that he should not work for the following month. More recently, this same physician also advised him that he will undoubtedly require a total knee replacement of his right knee at some point in the future.

The total value of his past, present and future medical expenses claim, broken down to present day value, would be between $100,000.00 to $200,000.00. He also sustained a substantial loss of income and loss of future earning capacity.

Understandably, this young victim and his family have been devastated by his serious injuries and a young man’s life has been forever changed as a result of this senseless injury.

This young man and his family sought the assistance of Attorney Richard D. Schuler in this matter. Mr. Schuler’s investigation indicated that there was inadequate security at this entertainment complex, and that the security provided was not properly trained in crowd control and the prevention of body surfing or other irresponsible behavior on the part of its patrons.

Mr. Schuler was successful in obtaining a very substantial settlement for this young man who will now be able to obtain the medical help he needs presently and in the future. He will also be able to continue to pursue his career as a chef after having received his certificate of completion for culinary arts.

You would never expect to go to an amusement center with your friends to have some fun one evening and end up with excruciating neck, back and abdominal pain after riding a virtual reality roller coaster. But that’s exactly what happened to this 27 year old single mom.

This victim and her girlfriend decided to try the virtual reality roller coaster and asked the attendant if it would be a problem for the friend to ride, as she was pregnant. The attendant said it would not be a problem, so the two climbed in to the virtual reality roller coaster and the attendant strapped them in for the ride.

Shortly after the ride started, the victim in this Florida premises liability/product liability case noticed that something was wrong and started screaming for the attendant to stop the ride. Unfortunately, the attendant did not hear her and the ride continued until its conclusion. During the ride, as the machine was turning upside down and twisting in all different directions, her shoulder harness malfunctioned and came loose, she was thrown about the ride and suffered severe injuries.

Immediately after getting off the ride, the victim made a complaint to the attendant and then to the management because she was in a lot of pain. However, she was not even taken seriously enough for the management to write a report regarding the incident.

The first thing the following morning, this victim went to the emergency room because she was in a tremendous amount of pain and the pain was not subsiding. She was treated and released from the hospital, still in a lot of pain. But, since she had no insurance, she was unable to treat with a physician as needed at that time.

Continue reading "An Evening at an Amusement Center in Lake Worth, Florida Results in Tragic Consequences" »

Slip and fall accidents can leave elderly victims with a debilitating injury, or even cause their death. There are estimated to be 9 million slip-fall accidents per year in North America.

The elderly victim in this case was a 79 year old married woman who, prior to this horrific accident, was an active adult who enjoyed golfing, swimming and leisurely walks.

One April morning, this lady was walking to the parking lot of the condominium building where she resides. She was proceeding down a freshly painted ramp, leaving from the elevator landing to the parking lot when she slipped on the slick surface ultimately shattering her left leg. It had rained earlier that morning and the ramp had been painted two days prior to the incident. It had been determined that the maintenance individuals who painted the ramp failed to use the needed abrasive additive to prevent the slick surface and this surface was not up to code. Additionally, there were no handrails on either side of the ramp.

As a result of this Florida premises liability accident, this victim was rushed to the emergency room of a nearby hospital where a physician performed an open reduction and fixation of the left femur to include supracondylar hardware and screws with substantial bone graphing. She remained in the hospital under observation for approximately 10 days and was discharged with instructions to undergo physical therapy and to be non-weight bearing during her period of rehabilitation. During the physical therapy and rehabilitation, she required the use of a wheel chair or crutches at all times.

In addition to the fracture to her left femur, this victim also received an injury to her left knee, and due to this knee injury, she was required to undergo a total knee arthroplasty, femoral osteotomy and removal of previous supracondylar hardware. Needless to say, after the most recent procedure she was required to continue her physical therapy and rehabilitation.

Very shortly after this Florida premises liability accident, apparently aware of the negligent error that had been made, the maintenance workers promptly cordoned off the ramp and repainted the surface to include the code compliant abrasive additive and paint texture. Had the ramp surface been painted to code to begin with and handrails provided, this terrible accident would not have occurred and this lady would have continued to be able to enjoy her routine activities, but now may never be able to participate in these activities again.

This injured victim contacted Attorney Richard D. Schuler and requested his assistance in representing her against this condominium and the management company for this facility. Shortly before the trial of this matter was to begin, Mr. Schuler was successful in reaching a settlement in this case with the defendants for $235,000.00.

After reviewing many brochures and much planning, this resort and spa in the Turks and Caicos seemed like the perfect spot to spend a much anticipated vacation with friends. They seemed like the perfect couple, vibrant and active, involved in many activities and having a wide circle of friends with whom they socialized. She was an avid, competitive runner and a beautiful woman.

During the week that they vacationed at the resort, they took full advantage of the all-inclusiveness of the resort, including eating all of their meals at the resort’s various establishments.

Late one evening several days into their vacation, after having eaten with their friends on the resort property, the wife began to feel ill and began to experience severe nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, dizziness and abdominal cramps. She had contracted food poisoning.

Early the next morning, the wife rose from bed and attempted to walk to the bathroom within her room at the resort. When she stepped up onto the bathroom level, she fainted as a result of the food poisoning. She fell backward, striking her head on the tile floor. The blow to her head was so severe, the sound woke her husband. He ran to her side, to find her lying in a pool of blood, unresponsive to him. He called for help, and shortly after the doctor arrived, she lapsed into unconsciousness.

She was taken to a local clinic where she began vomiting blood. After clearing her airway, she was intubated and I.V.’s begun. She was subsequently airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida, where she had five craniectomies performed. Blood tests were positive for Shigella Flexneri, a bacteria spread by the transmission of fecal material.

She was in a coma for the several months she was at Jackson Memorial Hospital before her transfer to a hospital in Maryland to be near her family. She remained in a coma for approximately seven months. After awakening from the coma, she had suffered massive brain damage and left side paralysis. She has been transferred to several different hospitals for aggressive rehabilitation and continued stimulation. Her brain injury often caused her to be somewhat combative, making her resistant to therapy and even her personal care.

Continue reading "Vacation at Turks and Caicos Resort Ends in Airlift to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, FL" »

During a quick stop at the grocery store for a couple of items, our 62 year old divorced client in this case was proceeding toward the express lane with groceries in hand, when she slipped on an unknown wet substance, causing her to fall onto her left knee. This unknown liquid was located near the express checkout lane of the store. Although unable to identify the wet substance on the floor, the client stated that it was a clear liquid and was unnoticeable.

Grocery store employees, including the manager, came to this lady’s assistance immediately after her fall and provided the victim with paper towels to clean the liquid from her body and from the floor. It seems the manager of this grocery store completed an incident report, but no copy was given to our client.

No one seemed to know where the liquid could have come from. However, after some investigation into this matter, it was established that buckets filled with water and flowers had been placed at the end of several of the checkout aisles, in the hopes that customers would notice the flowers and purchase them on their way to the cash register. Of course, in the process of choosing the flowers and taking them to the cash register, the flowers would drip water all over the floor, thereby causing a hazardous environment for the customers.

All businesses that anticipate customers moving about their establishment have a duty to maintain a safe and hazard-free environment for their invited guests. This grocery store breached this duty and additionally failed to warn its guests of an existing hazard. As a result of this store’s failure to maintain a safe, clean and hazard-free environment, or warn it’s guests of an existing hazard, this client sustained a permanent injury in this serious slip and fall accident.

After slipping on this liquid and falling onto her left knee, the victim was transported to Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, where x-rays revealed a displaced fracture of the left patella. The hospital referred this lady to a specialist for a surgical consultation, and less than two weeks after her fall, she underwent an open reduction and internal fixation of the displaced fracture to her left patella.

For the next eight weeks following her surgery, this client was required to wear a knee immobilizer and remain on protected weight bearing restrictions. She was able to walk without external support after this time, but she continued to have limited range of motion and was required to complete necessary physical therapy for an additional eight weeks.

The surgeon indicated that the internal hardware in this victim’s left knee would need to be removed within the next six months, obviously involving additional surgery and expense.

As you can see,slip and fall accidents, sometimes also referred to as premises liability accidents, can be life altering events. This client missed several weeks of work, has been unable to play with her grandchildren, was forced to rely on others to assist her in required daily activities, and has been forced to make unwanted life changes overall. However, after a three day jury trial, Richard D. Schuler was awarded a jury verdict of $250,000.00 in favor of this seriously injured client and she will now be able to obtain the future surgery she will need.