South Florida Car Accident Lawyer Blog

I am involved in several cases now where one of the issues is under what circumstances may an employer be held responsible for the acts, in my cases, heinous acts, of an employee.

Under the rule of "respondeat superior" an employer is legally responsible for the acts of its employees. This rule applies when an employee is acting within the scope and course of his or her employment. The employer will generally be liable if the employee was doing his or her job in carrying out company business or acting on the employers behest when the incident in question arose.

The purpose of this rule is to hold employers responsible for the costs of doing business which include the costs of an employees negligence, misconduct or carelessness. If the employees acts result in an injury this is deemed to be one the risks of the business and the employer will be responsible for the consequences. If the employee acted independently or purely out of personal motives, the employer might not be liable. A smart employer will have ample insurance coverage for the possibility of a major judgement against them that arose out of the actions of an employee.

An employer would be well served in performing criminal and other background checks on a prospective employee before hiring them. A party who is injured by an employee can sue an employer for failing to take reasonable action in hiring the worker or in retaining keeping them after becoming aware of the fact that the employee poses a risk of danger. These are referred to a negligent hiring and negligent retention respectively. These rules also apply to actions of an employee committed outside the scope of employment as well.

Continue reading "When Can An Employer Be Held Legally Liable For An Assault Committed By An Employee?" »

The Digital Journal had an article today that updated us all on push by the Governor and his allies in the legislature to amend or end Florida's No-Fault-PIP system. Every few years, the Florida Legislature debates whether to end no-fault car insurance (PIP) or to amend or replace it.

Governor Rick Scott and a group of likeminded Florida lawmakers is ready once again to overhaul the state's car insurance laws. This time the result may be more than just a modification. The legislative end result may be a elimination of no-fault coverage for injured car accident victims.

Under the existing law, all Florida drivers are compelled to carry at least $10,000 in Personal Injury Protection coverage, or PIP. The proposed changes to the law would make that coverage optional rather than mandatory.

No-fault, PIP was established in 1972 in Florida. The intent of was to symplify the claims process and to reduce the number of car accident lawsuits. The legislature hoped that in allowing injured accident victims to receive up to $10,000 from their own insurance providers, regardless of fault for the car accident, the need for litigation to receive reimbursement for medical and other expenses would be reduced.

The Governor and other supporters of taking a wrecking ball to the current system maintain that the current system is encourages fraud and the staging of car accidents.

Cost of PIP coverage has also been raised as a factor in the debate. Right now Florida's drivers pay approximately $100 to $130 a year for the PIP, no-fault portion of their car insurance policies.

While these talked about modifications would reduce premiums for Florida's drivers who elect not to carry PIP coverage, it would also raise premiums for others for newly imposed requirements such as mandatory bodily injury coverage. This may result in more of Florida's drivers deciding to go completely uninsured.

If the Florida legislature eliminates the no-fault, PIP system, they will likely replace it with a tort system that requires injured car accident victims to prove negligence before they could receive compensation for their injuries and damages.

Continue reading "Florida Once Again Debating End To PIP Car Accident Insurance And This Time It May Happen" »

A report by the Journal of the American Medical Association found that a movement over the past ten years by states to put into effect grad­uated driver license laws may have inadvertently led to more teen road fatalities.

The report found that while the number of deadly car accidents for the age group of 16 and 17 year-old drivers declined, the num­ber of fatal car accidents for the 18 to 19 year age group went up by the same amount.

The report found that the legal restrictions placed placed on a new driv­er for night driving, cel­lphone usage, limits on the number of passengers in the car, implemented to protect them has led to a shift in the number of deadly car accidents to the older age bracket.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, automobile accidents are the number one of death among teens, result­ing in 4,054 deaths in 2008. In !996, The State of Florida was the first state to adopt Graduated Drivers License rules. Currently 50 states and the District of Columbia have passed some form of the plan.

In the years following Florida's adoption of Graduated Drivers License rules, there have been 1,348 fewer deadly car accidents involving 16 year old drivers but 1,086 more deadly auto accidents involving 18 year olds.

The study was performed by the Cali­fornia Department of Motor Vehi­cles Research and Development branch, which revealed the deadly accident rate to be higher for the 18 year olds in those states with more restrictive laws on newer drivers.

A study performed one year ago, however, in the journal Traffic Injury Prevention did not find a negative effect of stronger Graduated Drivers License laws on older teen drivers.

Continue reading "The Move To Graduated Drivers Licenses May Have Increased Teen Fatalities In Florida Car Accidents" »

The Insurance Journal reports that 24 percent of Floridians currently do not carry car insurance.As I have written before, in Florida you are required to carry $10.000.00 in Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and $10,000 in Property Damage Coverage. PIP, regardless of fault, pays 80 percent of your medical bills after any deductible you have elected to take. My recommendation is to have a zero deductible policy and to carry at a minimum $10,000.00 in medical benefits coverage. PIP also follows you wherever you may go, whether into another party's car or as a pedestrian. If you are struck by a car as a pedestrian your PIP will follow you onto the road that day and will pay your bills. The $10,000.00 in Property Damage coverage pays if you are at fault for an accident and cause damage to someone else's property. While you are not required to carry Bodily Injury coverage, if you are found liable for an accident in Florida, you in all likelihood shall remain legally responsible to potentially to compensate the innocent driver or pedestrian for their damages.

The purpose of this blog is not to speak about the need to carry bodily injury coverage, I will blog about that topic in the future. My purpose today is to once again warn of the absolute need to carry uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage and if you have several vehicles in your household insured under one insurance policy to elect to "stack" the coverages. According to Carinsurance.com, Florida is one of seventeen states that allow uninsured motorist coverages to be stacked.

If you have a policy with three vehicles insured on a policy for example, and carry $10,000.00 in uninsured motorist and don't elect to stack the coverages, in the event of a Florida car accident with an uninsured motorist, one that has elected not to carry Bodily Injury coverage, the most that you will be able to recover from your insurance company in an uninsured motorist claim is $10.000.00.

Continue reading "As 24 Percent Of Floridians Are Uninsured, Time To Increase And Stack Your Uninsured Motorist Coverage " »

I have previously written an article for the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel stressing the need to carry uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. In Florida as I have written in a previous blog entry many drivers are uninsured or fail to carry even the minimum "PIP" coverage as mandated by Florida law. While carrying uninsured motorist coverage is not mandated by Florida law, the sheer numbers of uninsured driver's make carrying that coverage an absolute necessity.

Let's say you are taking your three children to school one morning. Your plan is to drop them off and then proceed to work. But, as a wise man once said "life happens to you when you are busy making other plans>". You are stopped at a traffic signal when without warning your car is violently struck in the rear by a distracted driver, who was texing on his cell phone and did not see you. You and your children are injured and transported to the hospital by ambulance. You carry the minimum "PIP" coverage of $10,000.00 as required under Florida law. This coverage will pay 80% of your medical bills and those of your children after the $1000.00 deductible that your elected.

However, as you and your children were admitted into the hospital for several days after an emergency room evaluation your medical bills and those of your children after the "PIP" payments made by your insurance carrier remain $30,000.00. You hire an attorney and he finds that the driver that struck you had no insurance coverage whatsoever. He further discovers that you signed a rejection of uninsured motorist benefits. You look at your attorney with forlorn despair as he explains that as the third party texting driver had no insurance coverage whatsoever and as you elected to reject uninsured motorist coverage, there is no practical way to bring a claim or lawsuit for damages or to even at a minimum pay the hospital bills.

Continue reading "Never Reject Uninsured Motorist Coverage, It Can Be A Virtual Necessity To Bring A Car Accident Lawsuit In Florida" »

Summer is when we take long trips in our cars, motorcycles, SUV's. With the price of air travel skyrocketting this year, more and more Americans are taking to the road this summer.

Statistically most travelers will be safe and will not be involved in a car accident. The Chances are likely, however, that during our lifetimes we will be involved in at least one car crash.As a result of the "Great Recession" people are cutting back on all expenses, including their car insurance coverages. If one or both drivers involved in a car accident in uninsured or underinsured very serious questions arise as to how to hold the at-fault driver financially responsible for the injuries and other damages of the innocent driver.

The Insurance Research Council estimates that as of April, 2011 that in the United States today approximately one in seven drivers are uninsured. That is a shockingly high number. As a personal injury lawyer I have always counseled my clients to ALWAYS carry uninsured motorist coverage. Carrying uninsured motorist is akin to carrying an umbrella on what would seem to be a rainy day. It usually never rains when you take that umbrella and I implore drivers to carry uninsured motorist in the hope that an accident would never happen.

Continue reading "As One In Seven Drivers Are Uninsured Bringing A Successful Car Accident Lawsuit Will Continue To Be Difficult" »

One of the first questions that I am asked when meeting with a client who has been injured in a Florida car accident is when the case might settle and what it might settle for. My response is always the same. As a doctor can not diagnose a patients condition without a series of diagnostic tests so an attorney can not value a case without seeing the totality of all the evidence in the case. I always counsel a client that no attorney would ever give a dollar value of the case an initial meeting as their is no way that he or she would have sufficient information at their disposal to make that determination.

As each case has it's own specific characteristics as to the severity of the injuries sustained, the insurance potentially available, the amount of loss wages and medical bills, it is important to wait until a client has completed all of her or her medical treatment before a case value can be ascertained the case settled. In some cases, where a client has elected to have surgery, the wait time until a case may be settled will be prolonged because again the client's medical treatment will not be complete until after the surgery and any post-surgery evaluation or physical therapy that is recommended.

Continue reading "When To Settle Or Not to Settle Your Florida Car Accident Case" »

Pop singer Paulina Rubio was arrested Saturday when she got into an argument with police after a minor traffic accident.

Police said the accident was minor and Rubio was not at fault, but she became argumentative with officers at the scene.

The first officer at the accident told Rubio to get out of her car and wait on the sidewalk nearby, TMZ reports. She allegedly refused to get out of the car and began cursing at the officer in Spanish.

The officer then told Rubio she was under arrest and pulled her out of the car and handcuffed her. The singer reportedly started screaming for help.

Rubio continued to yell at the officers after they placed her, handcuffed, in the back seat of a patrol car, according to police reports. She calmed down about an hour later and apologized, TMZ reports.

Officers did not take Rubio to jail. They reportedly cited and released her because she claimed to have to rush home to breastfeed her 6-month-old child.

Rubio was arrested for disorderly conduct, refusal to obey a lawful command and obstruction of justice, TMZ reports.

When involved in a Florida car accident, you must by law remainat the scene if any parties are believed to have sustained injuries. When you are cleared by the responding policeofficer to leave the scene you may then do so.Ifyou fail to cooperate with the responding officer you may as Ms. Rubio be subject to arrest.

Florida is a no-fault state.What this means is that you must prove a serious and permanent injuryin order to bring a third party claim for pain and suffering. If you fail to be able to meet the no-fault threshold you will be limited tothe firstparty benefits under your PIP policy which will be pay 80 percent of your medical bills and 60percent of your lost wages after any deductible that you may have in your policy.If you meet the no-fault threshold then you may be able to bring a third party claim against the at-fault, negligence driver for your pain and suffering, as well as lost wages and medical bills not covered by your PIP policy. When involved in a Fort Lauderdale or Miami car accident or an accident in any city or town in Florida you should first call the police and fire rescue. You should then call an attorney to discuss your legal rights. Call the Law Offices of David I. Fuchs immediately for a free, no-obligation consultation at 954-568-3636. http://www.southfloridapersonalinjurylawyers.com/practice-areas/automobile-accidents/