CGWC Orlando Injury Attorney Blog

The Florida Department of Transportation and the Florida Highway Patrol have adopted May as Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month to remind all motorists to share the road with motorcycles and be alert to bikers. One of every ten traffic fatalities is a motorcyclist. According to the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), over 4500 bikers lost their lives in traffic accidents in 2005 alone, and over half of those accidents involved another vehicle.

Due to their size, it's not always easy to see motorcycles on the road. In addition, motorcyclists are much more vulnerable to injury and death with about 80% being injured or killed in motorcycle accidents, compared to 20% of automobile operators and passengers. And in the summer, more bikers take to the highways. So, it's important for automobile drivers to be alert to motorcycles and share the road.

So, be on the lookout for motorcyclists this summer. Never tailgate a motorcycle. Be aware that it is easy for a motorcyle to be hidden in your blindspot. And never ever try to share a lane with a motorcycle. Motorcycles have all the rights and privileges of other vehicles on the road, inlcuding the right to an entire lane of the highway. If you're a biker, be sure to position yourself to be seen and always wear protective gear. For more safety tips, see the following websites:

Statistics released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show that alcohol related traffic fatalities are at their highest total number since 1992. Preliminary data from the NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) indicate there were 17,941 alcohol related traffic accident deaths in 2006, up 2.4% from 2005. Mothers Against Drunk Driving is calling for legislative hearings and a plan of action to eliminate drunk driving on American highways and city streets. In addition to more aggressive law enforcement, MADD is seeking enforcement of the law through technology, such as legislation mandating alcohol ingition interlocks for all convicted drunk drivers, as well as exploring other advanced vehicle based techology to prevent drunk driving.

Florida House of Representatives Democrats are seeking to include consideration of an extension of the Florida Motor Vehcile No Fault Law in the summer special legislative session. The "No Fault" law requires automobile insurance companies to include in all automobile insurance policies, required of car owners in Florida, $ 10,000 in property damagea coverage and $ 10,000 in "personal injury protection" coverage that covers medical bills and wage loss resulting from automobile accidents. The decades old law is set to expire October 1, 2007 unless extended by the legislature.

Democrats, along with most hospitals and other health care providers, are worried abou the economic impact of the expiration of the "No Fault" statute. Lawmakers supporting an extension of the "No Fault" law say that statistics show that 40% of accident victims treated in emergency rooms and trauma centers have no health insurance coverage other than the benefits provided by the "Florida Motor Vehicle No Fault Law" which covers 80% of the medical expenses and 60% of the wage loss resulting from an automobile accident, up to a maximum of $ 10,000. Many policies provide additional medical benefits, known as medical payments coverage, up to as much as $ 50,000 over and above the "PIP" or personal injury protection benefits mandated by the "No Fault Law".

Hospital lobbyists, particularly, would like to see an extension of the law. They say that hospitals will end up with "pennies on the dollar" being paid on bills that would have otherwise been covered by "no fault" policies. Instead, Medicaid and group health insurance would pay substantially reduced rates. Or worse, the bills would be unpaid, resulting in hospitals being forced to sue victims personally for unpaid auto accident related bills.

According to a new study, the widely prescribed Avandia, a drug used to treat Type 2 diabetes, poses a greater risk of heart attack and death than previously thought. GlaxoSmithKline put Avandia on the market about 8 years ago. Since then, about 6 million people worldwide have taken the medication used to treat the most common form of diabetes which is linked to obesity. Results of dozens of studies now reveal a 45% greater risk of heart attack according to an analysis published online by the New England Journal of Medicine. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body does not make enough insulin or cannot effectively utilize the insulin it does produce. Avandia is supposed to help sensitize the body to insulin and had been considered a breakthrough medicine for controlling blood sugar. Several experts have said that this is another "Vioxx-like" example of the Food and Drug Administration failing to detect a safety problem before millions of people had bought and taken the drug.

A fourth grade student at a Brevard County school recently died from bacterial meningitis. This unfortunate incident raises concerns about how the child contracted the deadly infection and whether other children are at risk.

CGWC attorney Ronald S. Gilbert warns all parents to take signs of infection very seriously this time of year. Bacterial meningitis requires immediate antibiotics for survival. Before the bacteria makes its way to the spinal fluid, it is in the blood, where it is treatable. Bacterial meningitis is not contracted easily and is most commonly spread through sharing saliva, whether from sharing a drink or mouth to mouth contact.

While it is often impossible to ever know for sure how the disease is contracted, the signs and symptoms of the infection are certainly present several hours before the bacteria invades the spinal fluid. Successful treatment requires immediate care before the bacteria reaches the brain where it causes swelling. Bacterial meningitis usually has an incubation period of 7 to 14 days.

Symptoms of bacterial meningitis include fever, nausea, headache, back or neck pain, weakness and a rash that looks like bruising. See Kids Health for more information.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been airing a television advertisement claiming that "lawsuit abuse" costs American families $ 3,500 per year. According to FactCheck.Org the Chamber of Commerce claim is simply untrue. The figure actually represents the cost of ALL lawsuits, not just "abusive" lawsuits. Even the study's author says the Chamber is misleading the public in quoting that statistic. The study even specifically warns against drawing conclusions about the costs and benefits of the judicial system and says the benefits of our system of justice could outweigh ANY costs.

The Chamber of Commerce not only ignores the truth and warnings in the study, it also twists the facts. Perhaps most important of all, the U.S. Chamber completely ignores the fact that the study also estimated the cost of ALL lawsuits to be at the lowest level in ten (10) years! So, the truth is that this study does not in any way support the claims of "lawsuit abuse" touted by the Chamber of Commerce year after year.

Most lawsuits are not even "tort" or "injury" related, and are not only not "abusive" but perfectly just claims for debts owed, foreclosures, breaches of contracts, and other wrongs for which citizens are seeking justice. Obviously, members of chambers of commerce all over America avail themselves of courtrooms every day in business against business litigation.

Moreover, politicians who pander to their big business constituents like insurance companies and the health care industry by demanding damage caps and other legislative measures to curb "lawsuit abuse", often use courtrooms to seek justice for their own families injured by the negligence of others. For example, Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania has lobbied for "lawsuit reform" for years, yet he and his wife sued a chiropractor for more than the damage caps he sought for his well funded constituency. Tom Delay and his siblings sued a product manufacturer for the death of their father despite aggressively promoting tort reform for years thereafter. Trent Lott professed over and over that lawsuits were destroying American businesses and tort reform was needed, yet he and his family sued State Farm, their homeowners insurance company, for refusing to pay for damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. Apparently, lawsuits are frivolous to politicians only when it's not them making the claim.

Legitimate lawsuits for injuries or the death of a loved one are not "law suit abuse." What is abusive is the Chamber of Commerce suggesting it is wrong to seek legal help when you have been seriously injured or disabled by the negligence of a business or its employee, or when your loved one has been killed because of the carelessness of some company out to make a buck.

Florida doctors who often complain about the expense of medical malpractice insurance actually had an average claims payment significantly below the national average last year according to new data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The average payment in Florida was $ 241,800, well below the national average of $ 308,600. Payments in 33 states were higher than Florida. Illinois' $ 629,100 was the highest. View the full report for all the details.

The data comes from the National Practitioner Data Bank, a federal registry of medical malpractice claims paid on behalf of physicians and other health care providers. Insurance companies paid a total of $ 198.7 million arising from 822 claims in Florida last year. That is 14.6 claims per 1,000 doctors. Hardly a "litigation crisis."

These numbers come as no surprise to CGWC attorney, Ron Gilbert. The cap imposed the Florida Legislature in 2003 on damages in medical malpractice cases has reduced the potential exposure of doctors and insurance companies to verdicts hight enough to truly compensate victims of medical negligence. Naturally, the amount of the average claims payment will decrease when the potential outcome is limited by law.

This report would suggest that doctors' insurance premiums should be lower. But that hasn't happened. And it is unlikely to happen. Mr. Gilbert believes that the record profits of medical malpractice insurers should be investigated. The insurance industry continues to blame the fictional "lawsuit crisis" for high malpractice premiums. The real culprit has been and remains the greed of the medical malpractice insurers who charge exorbitant premiums while the average payment and quantity of medical malpractice claims decrease due to legislated restrictions on the patients' legal rights.

Last week the Governor of Washington signed the first law making it illegal to "drive while texting" on a telephone, PDA, Blackberry or similar device. The Governor likened it to driving while reading a newspaper. Florida does not yet have a similar law, but certain television equipment and headphones are prohibited while driving on Florida roads.

Indeed, distracted drivers account for a high percentage of accidents on American roadways. Work and family pressures cause all of us to "multi-task" in order to meet all our business and personal obligations. Whether or not a law is on the books prohibiting texting while driving, each of us has an obligation to use reasonable care while driving our cars, trucks, and other motor vehicles on urban streets and rural highways. Before you pick up your cellphone, your Blackberry, or your PDA, when behind the wheel, always ask yourself, "Can't this wait until I'm safely stopped?" Don't text and drive!

After a jury trial CGWC attorneys Melvin B. Wright and Ronald S. Gilbert recently obtained a verdict of $ 410,687 from a jury in Osceola County for a 61 year old client. The former drywall repairman had no symptoms from the arthritis in his neck and low back before being rearended by a dump truck on U.S. Highway 192 in Kissimmee. The insurance company for the dumptruck owner and operator had only offered $ 60,000. And that was not offered until the trial started.

CGWC is proud of the result, but mostly, we are happy this client was fortunate enough to be compensated for his injuries. So many times, jurors are swayed more by the millions of dollars spent over the last two decades by the insurance and health care industries to invoke negative images of attorneys and disparage injury claimants and their lawyers with the specific purpose of poisoning potential jurors against injured victims. Too often, before hearing any evidence at all, jurors think there's "something fishy" just because a person is making a claim for being injured. This is because the public has been conditioned, or poisoned, by many years of an organized multi-million dollar public relations campaign to discredit injury victims and their attorneys.

Thankfully, this jury of Osceola County citizens did their sworn duty and heard the evidence with open and unbiased minds. As a result, they did justice.

American drug companies have become incredibly aggressive in their advertising to consumers, physicians, and hospitals. Perhaps to illegal levels in some instances. This week, the manufacturer of Oxycontin, a powerful long-acting narcotic painkiller approved by the Food and Drug Adminstration in 1995, agreed to pay $ 600 million in fines and other payments for "misbranding" the drug. Three top executives also pled guilty to misdemeanors related to the misbranding.

Purdue Pharma and its executives admitted in federal court that they had misled doctors and patients, representing that oxycontin was less likely to be abused than traditional narcotics because of its time release formula. This false representation was at the core of an aggressive marketing campaign that sold over $ 1 billion worth of oxycontin per year.

In fact, oxycontin was nothing more than a pure and stronger version of a long used narcotic, oxycodone. It didn't take long for experienced drug users and novices alike to learn that chewing a tablet, or crushing and snorting or injecting the drug, would produce a powerful high akin to heroin use. By 2000, areas in the U.S. saw skyrocketing crime and drug abuse rates related to oxycontin abuse. According to testimony in the federal court, the results were rising crime rates, teenage drug addiction and many deaths. According to the director of the health research group at Public Citizen, "The damage to the public from these white collared drug pushers surely exceeds the collective damage done by traditional street drug pushers."

Drugs, whether approved by the FDA or not, can be harmful. Research any medication you are prescribed. Don't blindly follow your doctor's advice. Find out what the potential side effects may be before you take it. Find out whether it can be addictive or otherwise harmful. And remember, you cannot always rely on the company selling the product to tell you everything you need to know. In which case, you made need attorneys experienced in pharmaceutical product liability litigation.

When we heard that an administrative law judge in Washington D.C. had misused the law to sue a drycleaner owner for $ 65 Million over a lost pair of pants, all of the attorneys at CGWC were appalled that any member of the bar, much less a member of the judiciary, could participate in such an abuse of the civil justice system. Indeed, it is this rare "bad apple" that causes the public to believe that "the whole bunch is spoiled" when it comes to civil trial attorneys like us.

The fact is that civil trial attorneys are middle class America's keys to the courthouse. The last protector of the regular guy, the American worker, the American family. Protection for the powerless against the powerful. The average American's David versus Goliath in courtrooms all over the United States of America. At The Florida Firm we are proud of our role in society and the civil justice system, and we take our profession seriously and do not abuse it.

We are proud to announce that we are all members of the American Association for Justice, formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. The CEO of the AAJ recently wrote a letter to the District of Columbia Bar Association calling for a disciplinary investigation of the administrative law judge who sued the drycleaner for losing his pants. Jon Haber, the CEO of the AAJ, stated, "Our court system has no place for those who abuse the instruments of justice for personal gain or the intimidation of others." AAJ President Mike Eidson also wrote a letter stating, "As attorneys who are committed to helping Americans receive justice throughout courts, we are outraged by the very idea of a $ 65 million claim over a pair of pants. It is not only ridiculous--it is offensive to our values." AAJ CEO Jon Haber and President Mike Eidson also donated to the drycleaners' defense fund and have encouraged other AAJ members to do likewise by visiting www.customcleanersdefensefund.com to contribute.

CGWC, like the CEO and President of the AAJ, was offended and appalled at this absurd lawsuit which served no purpose and dealt a black eye to our profession and the civil justice system. We can only hope that peer pressure convinces this misguided judge to dismiss his lawsuit without further ado. Civil trial lawyers are supposed to slay Goliaths, like David slew the Philistine. Not behave like Goliaths. This judge is wrong. And he should dismiss his lawsuit or be disciplined.

About 36 years ago, Florida became the second state in the country to enact a motor vehicle no fault law which required all drivers to buy insurance coverage providing certain minimum protection from medical and wage loss resulting from an accident. Enacted in 1971, the current law requires all automobile insurance policies to provide $ 10,000 in medical and wage loss benefits, regardless of whether the policy holder was at fault for the accident. The law is set to expire in October of this year. In exchange for being required to provide this mandatory coverage, auto insurers were given protection, as well. This was another provision of the law that required proving a permanent injury before any injured person could recover money for pain and suffering against a driver with Florida No Fault coverage.

Florida legislators appear to be unable to reach an agreement extending the no fault law or devising a new law. So, unless something happens in a special session this summer, the 36 year old Florida Motor Vehicle No Fault Law will expire in October of this year. This means that auto insurers won't be required to provide those minimum levels of insurance. They will likely provide similar coverage voluntarily, but the coverage will also likely come with contractual restrictions that will probably not be in the best interests of the consumers and their doctors. That remains to be seen, but one can certainly expect insurers to include restrictions on such coverage that, until now, would have been illegal. It also means that accident victims won't have to prove that they sustained a permanent injury in order to recover money damages in court for pain and suffering from drivers at fault for an accident.

Without the "personal injury protection" benefits of the old no fault law, Florida hospitals and doctors who treat patients in emergency situations following auto accidents may be left unpaid or resorting to taxpayers, through the state Medicaid program, to satisfy unpaid debts for this care. In addition, those injured in auto accidents will have to pay out of their own pockets for follow up medical care or resort to their own health insurance, if they are lucky enough to be insured by an employer or private health insurance company. For most, wage losses will go uncompensated unless the injured person is fortunate enough to be covered by some kind of short or long term disability insurance, either private or through an employer benefit plan.

What this means to the consumer is that hiring an experienced and competent attorney early will be critical to minimizing the losses to the family of anyone injured in an accident. Medical expenses and wage loss, as well as intangible damages like pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, mental anguish, permanent disability and disfigurement, will have to be recovered from either the driver at fault and his insurer or the injured person's own uninsured motorist coverage. Given that about one in three drivers have no liability insurance coverage, uninsured motorist coverage may become more important that ever. Yet, insurers are not required to include that coverage in policies and some even encourage consumers to reject the coverage in writing, without truly explaining how important UM coverage can be.

If the Florida Legislature doesn't enact some special laws extending or modifying the no fault law this summer, consumers of automobile insurance in Florida will need to be very careful when buying automobile insurance in the coming years. They will need to be careful not to buy coverage that includes restrictions on their legal rights and their basic human right to adequate and appropriate health care. They will need to be careful to buy valuable protection, like uninsured motorist coverage, to protect against being injured by the often uninsured drivers on Florida roadways. If you are renewing your automobile insurance after the Florida Motor Vehicle No Fault Law expires and are concerned about what your insurer is offering you in place of the mandatory coverage required in policies for the last 36 years, call CGWC and ask for a free consultation about automobile insurance in Florida.