Florida Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Across the country, tractor trailer accidents are happening at an increasingly alarming rate, and the consequences can be very devastating for the unsuspecting victims.

The victim in this Jacksonville truck accident case was a husband and father of three children at the time of this accident. He was traveling southbound on U.S. 1 and slowing down as he approached a red light at the intersection of State Road 104 when he was violently rear-ended by the driver of an 18 wheeler.

According to an accident reconstructionist, the other driver was traveling 53 miles per hour and did not hit his brakes at all prior to the impact with the victim’s vehicle. At the speeds calculated, the other driver would have needed only 2.5 seconds to stop his vehicle prior to the impact with the back of the victim’s vehicle. As a result of his complete failure to activate the brakes, he struck the rear of the victim’s vehicle with such force that the Delta V was 40 miles per hour. This is the equivalent of being dropped off a six floor balcony. The impact was so great to the victim’s vehicle that it traveled 1700 feet, or 1/3 of a mile, and then struck a wall at 15 miles per hour.

Additionally, it is estimated that the line of sight for the truck driver leading up to the impact was approximately three miles of visibility. The impact and Delta V were so great, that there is little doubt that even with the utilization of a seatbelt, the victim would have suffered severe and catastrophic injuries such as he did. The victim was rendered unconscious for approximately three minutes as a result of the impact, which bent the steering wheel and broke the dashboard. He was treated on scene by EMS who observed him to be confused and responded slowly to questions. He was transported to Shands Medical Center as a result of his traumatic condition, where a head CT noted a midline shift with fluid collection, left cerebral hemisphere. The victim suffered a grand mal seizure overnight.

The head injury suffered by this victim required him to undergo a craniectomy at Shands Hospital. Subsequent to his surgery, the victim underwent intensive rehabilitation at both Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital and the Florida Institute for Neurologic Rehabilitation. Additionally, the victim suffered a torn labrum that was surgically repaired.

Continue reading "Rear-Ended by 18 Wheeler in Jacksonville, FL, Victim Suffers Profound Brain Damage" »

Sometimes you don’t even need to be driving to be involved in an accident. In fact, you can receive very serious injuries just going about your daily business, unaware that serious injury is about to occur. That is exactly what happened to the victim in this Florida truck accident case.

The victim, a single mother with an eight year old daughter was at a gas station in Stuart, Florida, standing outside her driver’s side door and leaning in over the seat vacuuming the passenger side floor when a beverage truck backed into her passenger side door. The victim stated that she never heard any back-up cautionary alert sound from the beverage truck before it struck her vehicle.

The driver of the beverage truck stated to the victim that he did not see her and he was sorry. The incident was investigated by the Martin County Sheriff’s Department and the driver was cited for improper backing.

The victim sustained severe neck and back injuries and sought treatment at Martin Memorial Hospital where x-rays were taken and she was prescribed medication. She subsequently followed up with her treating physician, who reviewed the x-rays taken at the hospital and noted the victims continued aching and burning discomfort in her lumbosacral area radiating into her buttocks and prescribed physical therapy. She returned back to Martin Memorial Hospital shortly thereafter complaining of upper back pain between her shoulder blades which increased with any movement.

Due to continued bouts of pain, the victim sought treatment with an orthopedic surgeon for complaints of pain to her neck, back and headaches. Diagnostic testing was ordered and injections to the lumbar spine were performed.

The victim also sought treatment with a chiropractor with complaints of low back pain and burning sensation. She described the pain as dull in her shoulders and neck causing headaches. She described sharp pain in her middle back and she had difficulty standing, bending and driving. During the course of his treatment, the chiropractor performed facet blocks of her lumbar spine to alleviate pain. An MRI of the lumbar spine was performed with results of mild circumferential disc bulge at level 4-5. The victim returned to her orthopedic surgeon to discuss the MRI results. He noted continued lower back pain, headaches, thoracic and cervical sprain/strain. They discussed the possibility of a discogram or facet blocks and ablations. She also underwent nerve conduction studies to focus on sciatica of lower extremity.

Continue reading "Beverage Truck Charged with Improper Backing in Accident Causing Serious Injuries in Stuart, Florida" »

According to statistics for 2004, 33 percent of passenger vehicle occupant fatalities occurred in vehicles that rolled over. A recent National Highway Safety Administration analysis found that, generally, sport utility vehicles are more likely to roll over in a crash than pickup trucks, which in turn are more likely to roll over than vans or passenger cars. And, even though pickup trucks were more likely to roll over than passenger cars, occupants of a pickup were less likely to sustain fatal injuries than occupants of a passenger car.

Maybe that is why the victim in this single vehicle roll over is lucky to be alive, although she did have serious injuries. Our victim in this Florida truck accident case is a 45 year old single woman living in West Palm Beach, Florida. She had traveled to Indiana with her boyfriend to visit her son and was enroute back to her home at the time of this Florida auto accident. They had borrowed her son’s pickup truck and the boyfriend was driving on State Road 55 in Cross City, Florida early one rainy morning. The victim was asleep when the accident occurred, but feels certain that the driver fell asleep and then over-corrected when he ran off the left shoulder of the road. He then cut across the road to the right shoulder, ran off the road and the truck flipped over one or two times before landing against a tree by the road. The driver denies falling asleep and states that he believes a tire blew and caused the accident.

Whatever happened, the victim through no fault of her own, sustained very serious injuries in this crash, including but not limited to injuries to her neck, right shoulder, head, mid and low back. In fact, her medical expenses eventually amounted to almost $200,000.00. As a result of this accident, she received a huge knot on the right side of her head and sustained severe memory loss and had constant migraines. Her neck had a ruptured disc and a bulging disc and required surgery for disc replacement. Her right shoulder was separated. Her lumbar spine had a ruptured disc and a bulging disc. She is told by her physicians that she may need future surgery.

The victim in this case requested assistance from Attorney Richard D. Schuler because she was concerned about her mounting out-of-pocket expenses, and was fearful that she might require more invasive treatment in the near future. Mr. Schuler pursued settlement with the insurance companies representing the defendants and the uninsured motorists carrier in this matter, and was successful in obtaining a total settlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars for this victim. She will now be able to obtain medical treatment and any surgery she made need in the future

Any time you get behind the wheel in Florida, you face the very real possibility of being involved in a traffic accident, even if you are a very careful and responsible driver. According to the most recent statistics, in 2008 there were approximately 665 crashes per day in the State of Florida.

The victim in this Florida truck accident case was a very intelligent, hard working 21 year old on his way to work early one morning in Royal Palm Beach. He was traveling westbound on Belvedere Road in the center lane when a truck suddenly pulled out in front of him from a side road. The victim could not swerve to the right because there was a vehicle next to him, so he tried to swerve to the left, but could not avoid rear-ending the truck.

According to the police report, the driver of the truck immediately left the scene and then he abandoned his vehicle at a gas station where several other vehicles belonging to the same company were parked. The police found his vehicle running and he was gone, but they were able to identify him from papers contained in the vehicle.

The victim’s vehicle was demolished and deemed a total loss. As a result of this accident, the victim suffered neck and low back injuries and was experiencing very severe headaches, which the physicians described as migraines. After being treated by a chiropractor, an orthopedic physician and a neurosurgeon, this victim was diagnosed with a herniated disc and all of his physicians found that this accident caused his injuries. Ultimately, surgery was performed to repair the herniated disc and the victim’s migraine headaches improved considerably also.

The past medical bills for this victim amount to more than $39,000.00 and he has more medical treatment facing him in the future. His neurosurgeon states that future surgery is a medical certainty for a fusion, probably two, given his age. The cost for a fusion is approximately $80,000.00, so if he needs two, then he is looking at a minimum of $160,000.00 for future care.

This victim contacted the offices of Schuler, Halvorson and Weisser, P.A. for assistance in this matter. Attorney William D. Zoeller was successful in the trial of this matter and received a verdict of approximately $300,000.00. Now this young victim will have peace of mind and will have some money put away for any future medical care he may need.

This Florida truck accident case took place early one morning as this young mother and her five year old son were in their Jeep heading down a street in West Palm Beach when suddenly, a delivery truck pulled out in front of her and she had no way of avoiding the collision. The front end of her Jeep impacted the driver’s side of the delivery truck and her Jeep was deemed a total loss.

This mother and son were transported via fire rescue to a local hospital. The mother was suffering from injuries to her left shoulder, neck and back as a result of this heavy impact crash. Since that time, she has had cervical and lumbar surgeries and continues to have pain and headaches on a daily basis. Sadly, at the time of the accident, she was pregnant and lost her baby shortly after this crash occurred.

The five year old son suffered a severely fractured jaw as a rear seat passenger. He was seated in the center seat with his lap belt on. His face still flew forward and hit the center console in between the two seats after this sudden stop. He was also transported to the local hospital after the crash, but had to be transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami due to the severity of his fractures. The medical records detail the hardware that had to be used to correct his mandibular fracture. One of the significant side effects of the injuries suffered by this young boy is that his smile is now crooked, and while this may not be a big deal to a five year old, it certainly will be important to him in years to come.

At the time of this accident, the mother in this case was working two jobs and lost both of them due to the amount of time she had to miss from work for her injuries and surgeries and caring for the injuries of her son.

Attorney Steven W. Halvorson and Attorney Richard D. Schuler were asked to represent this young mother and son regarding this accident and were successful in obtaining a very substantial settlement for both mother and son without the necessity of a trial.

Energetic and outgoing in high school, the victim in this truck accident case was editor-in-chief of the yearbook, and in her senior year she took approximately 30 college credits at Palm Beach Community College to complete her core classes.

At the time of this truck accident, this 19 year old was a student at a university in Florida, and had a very bright future. Her GPA after the first semester of her freshman year was an impressive 3.4. This promising future was nearly derailed as a result of the accident that happened on the U.F. campus.

Unfortunately, while she was sitting on her moped behind a beverage distributing truck, the driver of the truck placed his truck in reverse without any knowledge as to who was directly behind him, in order to allow a bus to negotiate a turn. What happened next is absolutely unfathomable.

The victim saw the beverage truck in front of her rapidly reverse and was unable to take any evasive action to avoid the accident. She was thrown backward, with her moped being thrown to the ground. The truck continued its backward movement, running over her and crushing her, literally pinning her between the moped and the massive truck. She could hear people screaming frantically and pounding on the truck in order to get the driver to stop backing over her. To make matters even worse, the truck driver attempted to move his truck forward to get off of her, but this actually caused her to be dragged underneath the bottom of the truck along the pavement. Finally the truck stopped, with our victim being crushed beneath it. Frantically and without success, numerous witnesses and students attempted to lift the heavily loaded truck off of her.

Continue reading "Student at a Florida University is Backed Over by a Beverage Distributing Truck" »

According to the National Center on Caregiving, a traumatic brain injury is an insult to the brain caused by an impact, internal damage or loss of oxygen, and although not always visible, may cause enduring physical, emotional, intellectual and social changes for the survivor.

This organization also reports that there are about two million head injuries of all types each year in the U.S., with 300,000 individuals suffering brain injuries severe enough to require hospitalization, and 99,000 resulting in a lasting disability. A total of 56,000 people die each year as a result of traumatic brain injury.

The victim in this case was an 18 year old woman who had just left her mother’s home and the police report indicates that she was making U-turn when the accident occurred. Not only was the victim injured to the point that she was unable to communicate or remember this incident from her substantial head injuries, but the passenger in her vehicle died at the scene of the accident. An eyewitness indicated that the other driver operating a truck, was in the far right lane and believed to be turning right. However, he changed lanes as she commenced her turn resulting in the collision between the two vehicles.

The defendant driver in this Florida truck accident case was in the course and scope of his employment and the permissive user of a motor vehicle owned by his employer at the time of this accident. He stated that he did not see the victim’s vehicle prior to the impact, and denied changing lanes before the accident.

Continue reading "Truck Accident in West Palm Beach, Florida Causes Traumatic Brain Injury" »

Very often, a truck accident involving a large truck and a smaller vehicle can have very tragic results since a large truck can weigh more than 80,000 pounds and can be up to 75 feet in length. So, it is not surprising that truck accidents result in more serious injuries and a higher number of deaths than other traffic accidents.

The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) compiles data about truck accidents, and statistics show that twelve percent of all traffic fatalities in the United States are due to truck accidents. Tractor trailer truck accidents are the most dangerous, and studies show that 98% of the time, the passengers or driver in the other vehicle are killed as opposed to the occupants of the truck.

The victim in this case was a 30 year old husband and father of two young sons, both less than three years old at the time of this accident.

While working to support his family, this victim was driving a truck on Interstate 10 in Madison County, Florida, when all of a sudden, a Mack truck carelessly and negligently attempted to make an unauthorized U-turn from the emergency shoulder across the eastbound lanes of Interstate 10 immediately in front our driver. This caused the Mack truck to collide with the motor vehicle being driven by the victim, causing the victim’s truck to become engulfed in fire, resulting in the death of this young father as he burned alive. The passenger in our victim’s truck was able to escape the fire, but unfortunately, he was not able to pull the driver to safety.

The family of the victim in this Florida truck accident case contacted Attorney Richard D. Schuler to assist them in their case against the driver of the Mack truck and the company that owned the Mack truck for the inexcusable neglect of its driver in attempting to make to make a U-turn under a bridge of a major throughway.

Mr. Schuler also pursued a claim against the company that employed the victim in this case because at the time of this accident, the victim was within the course and scope of his employment. The company did not carry workers’ compensation coverage for the benefit of its employees, in accordance with Florida Statute Section 440.02(16), subject to the provisions of Chapter 440, Florida Statutes. Since the company employed more than three (3) employees, all of which were non-exempt employees pursuant to the compliance requirements of Florida Statute Section 440.05, this company had a duty to secure workers’ compensation coverage for the benefit of its employees.

This was a very sad case since, of course, the wife and mother in this case has had to endure losing the comfort and companionship of her husband and best friend, and will have to raise their two sons on her own with the help of the children’s grandfather. The two little boys will never know their father, and will never have his guidance and companionship during their lifetimes. He will not be there to play ball or attend any of their sporting events, or to participate in any of the many activities young boys enjoy doing with their father. And they will all have to live with the memory of the horrible nature of his death for the rest of their lives.

With extensive investigation and discovery, Mr. Schuler was successful in obtaining a $3,000,000.00 settlement in this case for the family of this young father.