2010 August Archive

It was just the second day of school and a teacher was turning into Lakeside Junior High School in Orange Park, Tuesday, August 24. Unfortunately, the teacher struck bicyclist, Joshua Gallettan, 33, who was heading south on the sidewalk. The accident happened at about 8:20 a.m. along Moody Avenue, according to an article on News4Jax.com. The bicyclist was taken to Orange Park Medical Center, and then airlifted to Shands Jacksonville in critical condition. The teacher was identified as Marilyn Duke, 61, who was not injured in the accident. Mr. Gallettan had no connection to the school. Since the accident happened about an hour before the start of school, it is not believed that any students witnessed the collision.

Our prayers go out to the family of Mr. Gallettan for his swift and complete recovery.

Pedestrian & Bicyclist Collisions
Share the Road is the name of a Florida campaign to make drivers aware they are not the only ones who use our roadways. Jacksonville has a noticeable lack of bike lanes and sidewalks. Unlike other major eastern cities, Florida planners have not always thought about any form of transportation other than the automobile. That has not only frustrated bikers, but led to fatality and serious bicycle injury accidents in Florida.

According to statistics from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, 604 pedestrians and bicyclists were involved in accidents with automobiles and 29 were killed in 2009. That number has increased from 566 injuries in 2008.

Nationally, a dozen people are killed every day when they opt to walk or take a bicycle, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The family of Mr. Gallettan and other bicyclers who are injured would be well-advised to contact a Florida bicycle accident attorney to make sure their rights are preserved following an accident with an automobile.

A man was killed in a Columbia County two-vehicle crash that injured two others Wednesday, August 18, according to News4Jax. The 55-year-old man, who has not been identified, was from Fort Lauderdale.

The man, who was driving a Jeep, was heading west on CR 240 around 10:35 a.m. when he drove into the intersection at Southwest Tustenuggee Avenue. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, he drove into the path of a Honda being driven northbound by Dennis T. Register, 24, of Lake City. The Honda struck the left side of the Jeep.

The Jeep ran off the road, then hit a fence and rolled over, ejecting the driver. He was not wearing a seat belt. The occupants of the Honda were all wearing their seat belts. Their vehicle hit a power pole.

Injured was a 10-month-old boy, Gavin Register, who was riding with Register and Krystal Wood, 20. They were all taken to Shands Hospital in Gainesville. The baby is reported to be in critical condition.

Intersection Statistics
According to the Federal Highway Administration, over 1.8 million crashes at intersections occur each year. Red-light running accounted for 206,000 intersection crashes in 2003 that resulted in 934 deaths.

In Florida, there were 42 crashes that occurred when one party ran a stop sign that resulted in 50 deaths, according to Department of Transportation Statistics from 2005.

Liability Issues
As of October 1, 2009, a new Florida law makes the basic driver improvement course a requirement for anyone who runs a stop sign. Florida Statute 316.123 says that every driver must stop at a clearly marked stop line.

If you have questions about a moving violation that involves running a stop sign, a Florida auto accident attorney will be able to answer your questions in a free consultation of your case.

An outbreak of Salmonella-infected eggs traced to two Iowa farms has sickened more than 2,000 individuals around the country, including as far east as Georgia.

The Salmonella strain in question is Enteritidis (SE). As many as 2,000 people may have been sickened in 17 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So far, no cases have been reported in Florida.

Salmonella causes severe cramps, fever, diarrhea, and in some cases in people with a weak immune system, can cause a life-threatening bloodstream infection.

The FDA continues to have on-site investigators at Hilldale Farms of Iowa, Inc. and Wright County Egg in Iowa after a laboratory confirmed the strain of Salmonella Enteritidis, which is associated with the shell eggs.

So far, the number of recalled eggs has reached 550 million after being sold to various distribution centers and retailers.

Eggs are distributed in 6-egg cartons, dozen-egg cartons, 18-egg cartons, 30-egg packages, and 5-dozen cases with the plant code of:

-P1860 – Julian dates ranging from 099 to 230

-P1663 – Julian dates ranging from 137 to 230

The eggs in question were sold under the Hilldale Farms, Sunny Farms, and Sunny Meadow names through the following stores:

Farm Fresh, James Farms, Glenview, Mountain Dairy, Ralphs, Boomsma, Lund, Kemps and Pacific Coast, Lucerne, Ralphs, Boomsma’s, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, and Dutch Farms.

Cases began coming forward in May, but were not linked to a national outbreak until July.

Salmonella
Hens can pass on the bacterial infection by eating feed that is contaminated with rodent feces, which contains the bacterium. They then can lay eggs that are infected, or eggs can become contaminated during shipping or packaging. The FDA is checking the feed supply to the two farms.

The outbreak occurred just as new federal regulations designed to prevent salmonella contamination of eggs took effect on July 9, reports the Washington Post.

The rules, under development since 2004, require egg farms of a certain size to test for “environmental contamination,” to control rodents, to have clean poultry houses and transport eggs at cool temperatures. The farms in question say they had already voluntarily been following the measures which will now become mandatory.

Cooking an egg thoroughly kills the bacterium and it is not advised to eat dirty eggs, ones that are cracked in the box, or eggs that have been left unrefrigerated for more than two hours, reports the FDA. Florida food recall attorneys would like to remind you to be safe and check your eggs to ensure that you have not gotten a contaminated batch.

The BP oil spill, the worst environmental disaster ever, has largely disappeared from the front pages of the newspapers amid assurances from public officials that the oil has disappeared. That’s convenient.

Where has five million barrels of oil released into the Gulf gone?

For all the business operators and Gulf workers who claim they have lost their livelihood, that is a convenient out. But it does not make their losses any less, and it may not be true.

Rick Outzen is the publisher and editor of Independent News, the alternative newsweekly for Northwest Florida and his report is republished in the Daily Beast.

He reports that fishermen hired by BP are still finding tar balls but are being instructed to hide that fact. One fisherman, Mark Williams, tells the paper he found tar balls as large as three inches wide floating off the Florida coast. When he told his boss, a private consulting company hired by BP, the report logbook reflected there was “no reporting of oil or tar balls anymore.” They didn’t want to hear it. They were there to remove booms, that’s all.

Certainly, it is in the best interest of BP to minimize the damage. Less damage means less payout of the $20 billion it has committed to compensate businesses and workers devastated by the environmental disaster. Less damage means BP can cut back on response operations. Less damage means that fishing season can resume. But who wants to eat the catch from the crude oil soaked Gulf, which also has chemical dispersants in an unknown quantity?

Commercial fisherman, Mark Stewart, has a video on YouTube showing his crew dipping an absorbent cloth into the Gulf water three-quarters of a mile off the Mississippi beaches.

The Florida oil spill loss attorneys at Farah & Farah is still talking to individuals and businesses that have suffered damages due to the Gulf Coast oil spill. Potential damages include, but are not limited to, injuries from the spill, property damage, lost employment, and lost business revenue.

We are dedicated to helping serious affected victims recover from substantial and catastrophic losses, despite all of the hype about the oil spill disappearing.

Charles Carnell, 33, made his initial court appearance in Sauk County, Wisconsin, Wednesday, August 18, charged with first-degree reckless injury, a felony which could bring him up to 25 years in prison and $100,000 in fines, the Associated Press reported.

Carnell was operating the Terminal Velocity free-fall ride when he failed to protect Teagan Marti, 12, of Parkland, Florida from falling 100 feet. She is in critical condition in a Wisconsin hospital. There is no word on her condition but her father, who is a doctor, reports he thought she was dead when he reached her after the fall. Teagan suffered brain swelling and may be paralyzed.

Carnell says he “blanked out” and forgot to get the all-clear signal before he released Teagan from the ride at Extreme World in Lake Delton July 30.

Because of this accident we are getting a look at how it was supposed to work.

Participants get in a cage which is raised to 165 feet above air bags. The dive operator (Carnell) is supposed to look over the side of the cage and signal all-clear to ground workers. In return, he is supposed to get a signal that the air bags have been inflated and a safety net is in place.

For some reason, Carnell says he “blanked out” and didn’t look and didn’t get the signal before he prepared Teagan and unhooked her safety device. Then he saw her fall and heard a thud.

The air bag had not been inflated. The only saving grace here is that Teagan fell 100 feet as the cage had not been taken to the top.

The family’s attorney says the ride needs a fail-safe mechanism and obviously just hand signals and a line-of-sight confirmation is woefully inadequate. He calls the ride and the way it was operated “atrocious.” We agree. To drop anyone 100 feet with no net extended is an outrage.

Unfortunately, every summer we hear about teenagers who are injured or killed on amusement park rides, usually because equipment has not been maintained, or operators are untrained. If you or a loved one has experienced an amusement park injury, the Jacksonville personal injury attorneys at Farah & Farah can offer a consultation on your case to seek compensation for your injuries and suffering.

One doesn’t often think of personal injury prevention preparedness on a college campus, but that is exactly what they are teaching at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

Since April, school officials have conducting sessions for about 700 USF staffers, faculty and students to train them on what to do if there is a gunman on campus. Twenty-eight “active shooter” training sessions have covered such topics as developing a “survival mind-set” which includes reacting when shots are heard and not just becoming a passive victim. Participants are taught when to get out of a building even if it involves a life-or-death scenario.

Developing “resistance” is the key.

Then there are the signs to look for when someone is experiencing a meltdown before they become violent. They would include a change in appearance and attitude, a failure to turn in homework, and shouting or becoming withdrawn.

Of course the chances of this happening on any college campus are very small, but the world became of the potential for violence on campus most recently in 2007 when a Virginia Tech student became a shooter and murdered 32 people, before killing himself. Last October, USF also experienced a bomb hoax that froze the campus for three hours.

The training features a 20-minute video produced by the Center for Personal Protection & Safety, a Spokane Washington company. Not only Fortune 100 companies but more than 900 campuses, including Florida State and the University of Florida have been trained. The video is called Shots Fired on Campus.

Not only does this training help, but USF has set up a siren system that can be heard campus wide. An auto e-mail system will alert about 66,000 people immediately if there is a shooter on campus.

The video is available online with a USF log-in and password.

A new survey finds Jacksonville is lacking in safety features for our youngest population. Men’s Health Magazine finds, among 100 cities, that Jacksonville ranked last as a safe city for children. Considered were accidental deaths, car-seat inspection locations, abused children protection and the number of sex offenders.

One of the factors that may be skewing this survey is the massive size of Jacksonville. We are the largest city by land mass within the U.S. Not to make excuses, but the larger the city, the more problems you are likely to find.

John Harrell, who is a spokesman for the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) takes exception to the survey.

“The fact of the matter is the New York Times, the National Public Radio have praised the many innovations taking place in child welfare in Jacksonville,” said John Harrell to News4Jax.

“We were honored by Prevent Child Abuse America as being the first pinwheel city in the country for our child abuse prevention efforts. Forget being last in the country. Prevent Child Abuse America says that Jacksonville’s No. 1.”

Harrell says when DCF contacted the magazine to ask how the survey was conducted; the magazine would not say when or how the data was collected.

Child Safety
While data and surveys are debatable, one thing is not. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among children under the age of 14. Child safety seats, whether an infant seat, car seat or booster seat, when properly installed, reduce the risk of fatal injury by 80 percent. Florida auto accident attorneys would like to remind you to please keep your children safe when they ride in a motor vehicle.

PIP stands for Personal Injury Protection. It is the type of insurance we all are expected to have in Florida to cover auto accidents and pay for medical expenses, lost wages and a death benefit, no matter who is at fault.

But is PIP a cause to celebrate? Organizers of a monthly social mixer in Fort Lauderdale think so. Its advertisements for “PIP Thursdays” feature a woman dressed in cocktail dress ready to party next to the scene of an auto accident. The party is held at the Fort Lauderdale Blue Martini Lounge. Two orthopedic surgeons sponsor the event.

Not everyone is ready to party.

The Coalition Against Insurance Fraud is among them. The group has brought the ad to the attention of the Insurance Consumer Advocate’s round table last week on Personal Injury Protection fraud.

Dennis Jay, executive director of the anti-fraud coalition, said the ad suggests that accidents are a reason to celebrate, reports the Sun-Sentinel newspaper.

Florida is in the process of beefing up laws that fight PIP fraud. With an easy $10,000 to be gained from auto accidents, some scammers have faked accidents and bring in medical clinics as part of the insurance fraud.

Dennis Jay’s group is proposing that medical clinics have their licenses renewed periodically to check for insurance fraud and giving the state the ability to revoke licenses and accreditation of medical providers who are convicted of insurance fraud. The state needs more prosecutors to investigate insurance fraud as well, says Jay.

If you have questions about your PIP coverage or suspect you may have been the victim of a staged auto accident in Florida, call Farah & Farah to discuss the specifics of your case.

The Florida Highway Patrol reports that an elderly Orlando woman, who was a passenger in an SUV that was in an accident Monday, August 9, has died.

The SUV was reported to have turned into the path of another vehicle, according to Orlando Sentinel. Santos Ledee, 79, of Orlando, was driving a 2004 Chrysler SUV on Goldenrod Road. He tried to make a left turn onto Rio Pinar Lakes Boulevard around 8:30 p.m. when he collided with a 1999 Ford pickup.

That truck was being driven by 44-year-old Christopher Conway of Orlando. The truck hit the right side of Ledee’s SUV which then ran into a stop sign. Conway’s truck was then hit on the left side by a 2006 Chrysler SUV driven by Tina Lanzarotto, 34, of Orlando.

When it was all over, the driver, Mr. Ledee was hospitalized at Orlando Regional in critical condition. His passenger, Raquel Ledee, 73, died at the hospital. The other persons in the Ledee vehicle, 12-year-old Iliana Rodriguez, and Mackenzie Cosme, 3, were treated and released.

Neither Conway or Lanzarotto and her passengers were injured.

Our condolences go out to the family of Ms. Ledee for this tragic accident.

Intersection Accidents
Florida has high number of intersection accidents. It’s been estimated that one-third of all accidents occur at an intersection.

In fact, the Driving Institute of America states that over 40% of all car accident fatalities involved drivers either failing to yield the right of way, driving through a stop sign, or ignoring a traffic light.

The frequent running of red lights is one of the reasons Florida recently enacted red-light cameras at intersections to catch and ticket these types of speeders.

If you have been involved in an accident that resulted from red-light running, the Florida intersection accident attorneys at Farah & Farah would like to help you receive the compensation you deserve for your medical bills and property damage. Give us a call to discuss your case.

The controversy in Canada is being heard over the border by law enforcement in the U.S. A government inquiry there found stun guns could be lethal and urged police to limit their use, according to Reuters. On Tuesday, August 10, a Canadian judge allowed the findings to stand and refused to follow pressure from Taser International, a stun gun maker, to quash the findings.

Taser International had argued that the findings were unreasonable and it was treated unfairly by the government inquiry. Stun guns, also known as Tasers, are used by law enforcement to immobilize a suspect by delivering a jolt of up to 50,000 volts of electricity. The shock has caused some people’s hearts to fail.

The Canadian inquiry began after a Polish immigrant was tasered to death at the Vancouver airport. He had received seven shots with the stun gun before he died. Taser International denies any weapons it makes could cause any deaths. The Arizona-based company says the inquiry has cost it sales.

The inquiry Commissioner, retired judge Thomas Braidwood, suggests law enforcement restrict using Tasers just to crime where there is a clear threat of danger to the public. He also suggests that the “gun” should not be shot near a person’s heart.

Taser International had previously made the same recommendation to law enforcement in the U.S. after the deaths of several suspects including 56-year-old Emily Delafield. In 2006, police were called to her Florida home. Delafield, a schizophrenic, was found sitting in her wheelchair in the street holding a hammer and kitchen knives.

Two officers from Green Cove Springs, Florida decided to stun her to bring her under control. Unfortunately, the shocks, which were applied for 121 seconds brought the heart of the obese woman to a stop. Her family sued the two police officers after her death was ruled a homicide.