2009 March Archive

If you ever carry a child in a car seat in the back seat of your car you must read this article.

Fatal Distraction, an article published in the Washington Post on March 8, tells us that all kinds of adults have forgotten their child in the car, from rocket scientists, to doctors, to postal workers. If you have forgotten your cell phone at home, you are capable of doing this too.

It’s a tough read but please take the time to do so and pass it on to everyone you know who has a child they carry in the back seat.

Already this year, two little ones have been left to die in the sweltering heat of cars by inattentive adults. In Florida, heat stroke or hyperthermia can happen in a matter of minutes. Please let’s not let any more cases of wrongful death in Florida happen to another child.

Kids and Cars, the advocacy organization says you can prevent this with a few no-cost reminders.

• If you carry a child, put something you’ll need like a handbag, a lunch, an employee badge on the floor board of the back seat. Always open the back door of your vehicle every time you reach your destination – make it a habit. It’s called the Look before you Lock campaign.
• It may sound ridiculous, but put a reminder of the child in the back seat with you. A large stuffed toy that you normally keep in the child seat, replace in the front seat when you drive. It’s a visual reminder that you have a little passenger, sometimes a silent one, in the back seat.
• Another good tip is to arrange to have your day care provider call you if the child does not arrive as scheduled. Many children’s lives could have been saved with a simple phone call.

Always get involved by looking inside cars in a parking lot. Pets can inadvertently be left there too. I challenge you to read this article and not recognize yourself in it. Truly this can happen to anyone who just had their mind elsewhere that day. Pass this important article onto everyone you know who carries children – it could save a life.

If you have any questions regarding child safety or if your child has been invovled in an auto accident, please contact Jacksonville’s top personal injury lawyers at Farah and Farah.

Parental waivers have been standard fare for quite some time and are favored heavily by Florida’s tourism industry – a big industry in Florida that ranges from swimming with the dolphins, horseback riding, or renting a boat.

However, according to a report, a recent state Supreme Court ruling determined that parents do not have the right to release a business from accountability when their children participate in sports, making the waivers basically invalid.

The Florida legislature, with the help of Big Tourism, Disney and SeaWorld, is trying to remedy that.

A controversial bill is making its way through the legislature. It ensures parents that they can sign pre-injury waivers on behalf of their children so they can participate in sports.

Most trial lawyers oppose the bill and for good reason. What if a business is negligent? Don’t you want to be able to hold them accountable if a company has an unseaworthy boat, or has a harness that breaks? Do you want to sign away all of your rights to make them accountable? What happens when accidents occur due to premises liability in Florida?

The proposal is already having an effect.

Imagine – Gatorland has had to raise the age for participating in the “Trainer for a Day” program from 12 to 18. You now have to be 18 to put yourself in harm’s way with a gator.

This highlights just how absurd it is to do away with any incentives that force a business to take the utmost care to make sure that your child is safe in their hands.

If your child has been injured due to the negligence of another person or company, it is crucial for you to seek quality legal representation from Farah & Farah. Our experienced Florida personal injury attorneys understand that personal injuries may include all kinds of physical, emotional, or financial hardships endured as a result of the fault of another group or person. Call us today for a free evaluation.

St. Johns County has launched a new campaign to stop underage drinking.

Just on the edge of spring break, “The Party’s Over” was announced by St. Johns County, south and west of Jacksonville by Sheriff David Shoar. Teens will be able to text in anonymously to report anyone who is drinking and under the age of 21. The campaign will be plastered on billboards, along with the numbers.

Underage drinking has gotten out of hand, Shoar says, and for some reason the rates are higher in St. Johns than Duval County where Jacksonville is located.

The death of two teens in Orangedale in January is blamed on an open house party where alcohol was served. A 14-year-old came within losing her life at a house party after she drank too much. Luckily some other kids saw her condition and got her to a hospital.

In a 2008 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey, 43.3 percent of high school students in the area said they had used alcohol in the last 30 days. A similar survey of Duval County teens, where Jacksonville is located found 34.4 percent.

Let’s be clear – this campaign is also intended to scare parents who think that they can safely supervise teens drinking in their home. They cannot, but they can lose their home if a teen is harmed or killed. That’s quite a price to pay for being the “cool” parent. Zero Tolerance is the message loud and clear to parents. Period.

As skilled Jacksonville personal injury attorneys at Farah and Farah, we would expect to see some lawsuits result from incidents similar to the ones mentioned above. However, the goal is not to arrest underage kids for alcohol possession or sue someone for a bunch of money; instead, we must counsel underage kids about the dangers of alcohol and addiction.

“We’re not giving up on our kids. It just can’t happen. We have to do everything that we can to send the right message,” says Shoar.

Somehow when kids know we are watching, they get the message.

If you are in a major auto accident in a small Georgia city such as Valdosta, or Dalton, you have an increased risk of death.

That’s because the state cannot afford to fully fund trauma centers that make every second count when they are treating a badly injured accident victim.

But the state is coming up with a creative solution to funding those vital centers. Soon, it really may not pay to be a “Super Speeder” in Georgia, according to a report. Those who drive fast on the state’s highway are facing an increased fine of $200.

The proposal is a good one because it solves two problems at once.

First, it would encourage speeders to slow down. Secondly, the extra money, about $30 million a year, would fund the state’s ailing network of hospitals that take trauma cases.

Georgia lawmakers have tried unsuccessfully for three years to pay for the trauma centers, which are operating in the red.

Drivers busted for going over 85 miles per hour on a four-lane road would face a $200 fine as would those going over 75 mph on a two-lane road.

The proposal, backed by Gov. Purdue, now goes to the Senate for approval.

As skilled auto accident attorneys in Jacksonville at Farah and Farah, we see the impact a car accident, that happens in a moment of time, can have on an entire family. Every second counts in saving lives.

Having a trauma center in smaller cities could save an estimated 700 lives every year.

Since about three-quarter of traumas result from motor vehicle accidents, using the money for that purpose sounds like a win-win for injured motorists and the state.

A recent report has stated that on Tuesday, the Coast Guard stopped the official search for two NFL players and a third man missing for more than four days off the west coast of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico. The men went on a fishing trip from Clearwater Pass when winds increased later in the day. Apparently, their boat overturned Saturday in forceful seas of 7-15 foot waves. A fourth man, former South Florida player, Nick Schuyler, was found holding on to the boat’s hull and rescued on Monday.

Schuyler’s doctor says it is a “miracle” that he survived the Florida coast boating accident after spending almost two days in 63-degree water.

Friends and family have gathered private boats and planes to search the waters off the Florida coast, refusing to give up the search for NFL players Marquis Cooper, Corey Smith and former South Florida player William Bleakley. Cooper’s 21-foot boat was found by authorities 50 miles west of Sarasota.

Tank Johnson, a childhood friend and college teammate of Cooper’s, has taken a lead role in the new search.
“I truly believe he is out there somewhere being strong,” Johnson said.

Our hearts go out to the missing men and their families during this extremely difficult time. We admire the strength of Schuyler’s brave survival and hope his recovery goes smoothly.

Although we never expect that anyone we know will be injured or even killed in an incident such as this one, boating accidents in Florida and throughout the nation cause nearly 3,500 injuries and 700 deaths each year. In this case, we hope along with Johnson, that if the men are not found alive, that their remains are recovered so that families can experience closure.

If you have any questions regarding boating accidents or Maritime and Admiralty Law, please contact the skilled Florida boating accident attorneys at Farah and Farah by calling 1-800-533-3555.

California is the latest state to notice wallboards that are emitting a noxious sulfur or rotten egg smell from this defective product. It’s a problem that originated in Florida, where high humidity is causing people to move out, their electronics and appliances to corrode, and people coughing and concerned about their health.

There may be 65,000 homes nationwide that were built with substandard wallboard during the building boom. A German manufacturer, Knauf, apparently used contractors in China to create the wallboard. No one has established that the smell is hazardous to your health, but it sure is consistently corroding wiring across the country.

A number of lawsuits are underway in Florida, the most recent filed in Miami claiming that a rotten egg small is corroding wiring in homes and electronics. A Florida product liability class-action has been filed on behalf of residents here. Plaintiffs want to repair the homes or replace them, and to receive relocation costs, as well as to be reimbursed their personal property and for medical monitoring.

Medical monitoring is the only way to know whether we have more than a massive inconvenience here.

The wallboard in question reportedly reacts in high humidity and isn’t that what Florida is known for?  The builders in question Lennar Corp, a major builder in Florida appears to be cooperating to the best of its ability, but it’s a terrible problem for all around. If you have any questions regarding this faulty drywall or any other defective or failing products, please contact the experienced Florida personal injury attorneys at Farah and Farah.

The American Cancer Society is warning teen girls that they are being targeted with a new campaign dressed in pink.  But the message from Big Tobacco is the same - buy cigarettes.

Tobacco companies must think that young women are stupid. They are making pretty pink “purse packs” of cigarettes to attract young women smokers.  As if selling cigarettes to third world nations is not bring in enough to offset the increasing number of Americans who are quitting. This is despicable, even for Big Tobacco.

“It’s so sad, because it is so appealing, and what people don’t realize is that it takes just four cigarettes within the course of an evening to set up this addiction,” Jeneene Brengelman of the American Cancer Society says.

Brengelman should know. She has been helping smokers quit for nearly 30 years and she says it’s tougher for women to quit.

The numbers confirm that. Lung cancer is declining in men, but increasing in women, now surpassing breast cancer as a leading cause of cancer in women.

In a desperate effort to increase sales of an increasingly unpopular pastime, Philip Morris USA and R.J. Reynolds have launched these obvious aggressive campaigns to target young teens.  Besides the purse packs which contain “Superslim Lights,” they are clearly tying cigarette smoking to staying slim.

Reynolds has been equally repugnant calling cigarettes “stilettos” and “light and luscious.” Giveaways ran in magazines and included lip gloss, cell phone jewelry and wristbands, in hot pink.  Misleading terms such as “light’ and “low-tar” are designed to lure the unsuspecting to their brand by indicating they are safer cigarettes.

For parents this is an opportunity to provide a life lesson. Look at what lengths tobacco companies will go to sell you on a “nicotine delivery system”, as insiders call cigarettes. Our team of skilled Jacksonville tobacco lawyers at Farah and Farah have seen firsthand the destruction that comes from an addiction to nicotine, pushed for decades by tobacco companies to create lifetime customers.

Pretty in Pink, Purple or Aqua – the message should be from parents to teens and youngsters that never lighting up is the best way to put out cigarettes.