Articles Tagged with child injury lawyer

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Our Orlando child injury lawyers know that when you send your child to school each day, the school accepts responsibility for your child’s safety and well-being. This is a “duty of care” owed by the school. The question at issue in Florida child injury lawsuits is often the extent of that duty. 

In the past, Florida’s sovereign immunity laws were generally thought to bar lawsuits against school districts (a government entity), even when their actions resulted in the personal injury of a child. Then in 1981, Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeal ruled the state’s amended sovereign immunity law was unconstitutional, and that a school district could be held liable for failure to supervise an extracurricular activity resulting in personal injury. This decision was affirmed by the Florida Supreme court in Rupp v. Bryant. In 1984, Florida’s 5th District Court of Appeal ruled in Leahy v. Sch. Bd. of Hernando Cnty., that in the context of student athletes, schools have a responsibility to avoid aggravation of injury. In 2000, Florida’s 2nd District Court of Appeal expanded consideration of duty owed by a school, widening analysis to factual scope, extent and performance of that duty.

Still, Orlando child injury lawyers know that claims against school districts can still be difficult, given the hurdles we must overcome due to the fact that sovereign immunity laws do still apply, though waiver can be found in F.S. 768.28. Claims under this provision are also capped at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident, the only exception being those who press for an individual claims bill through the state legislature. Continue reading →

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The horrific events of last month at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County left 17 people killed and dozens of people wounded. It also left the community, the state and the nation reeling, once again trying to make sense of the whys and the hows and who should be held responsible. Most notably, this has sparked another heated debate over access to guns and Second Amendment rights. However, it’s also an important time to examine what duty of care schools, law enforcement officials and other government entities have in keeping students safe, and who should be held accountable when those measures fail or aren’t enough. 

The Miami Herald recently reported that one 15-year-old student, shot five times in both legs, intends to sue Broward County and seek monetary damages to help cover the cost of his long-time recovery. The notice of intent to file a lawsuit names several entities, including the Broward County Public Schools, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and the school resource officer who was on duty that day. In a briefly outlined statement, his attorney indicated actions by these entities and individuals failed to protect students (and this student in particular) from life-threatening harm, and further were unreasonable, callous and negligent. He asserted the defendants’ actions/ inaction were the proximate cause of plaintiff’s serious and lasting injuries.

Now, we must pause here for a moment to explain because it is a seemingly foreign concept that someone other than the person firing the shots could be legally responsible for the attack. Within the criminal justice system, absent any evidence of collusion or conspiracy, that is probably true. However, within the civil justice system we are looking at anybody who owed a duty of care to the person who was hurt, whether those duties were breached and whether those breaches allowed the perpetrator the access and opportunity to carry out his plots.  Continue reading →

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A tiny tick in a mountainous region of China set off a chain of events leading to a $40 million verdict against a Connecticut school – a verdict recently affirmed by the Connecticut Supreme Court.

Although the court’s ruling doesn’t have a direct impact on case law in Florida, state high courts often look to their sister courts in considering rulings that may set precedent. The case was certified to the state supreme court from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which sought answers as to whether public policy supports imposing a duty on a school to warn about or protect against the risk of a serious insect-borne disease in organizing an abroad trip. The court was also asked whether damages in the amount of $41.5 million warranted a remittitur (reduction). The court answered yes to the first and no to the second.

The court’s ruling underscored that schools do have an affirmative duty to protect children in their care. The ruling doesn’t definitively settle the case, the outcome of which is expected to play a role in how – or whether – schools provide such travel opportunities in the future. Continue reading →

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A child under three is injured every eight minutes in the U.S. as a result of a product-related accident. Most of these involve products like:

  • Cribs
  • Walkers
  • Strollers
  • Carriers

In many cases, the child suffers a concussion or other type of head injury.

This information was derived from a new extensive study, published in the journal Pediatrics, conducted by researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio. This all breaks down to about 66,000 serious child injuries a year that require treatment at a hospital emergency department. What’s especially troubling about the study, which analyzed data over the course of 20 years, is that baby and toddler product injuries were on a downward trend for the first several years, but have since been climbing again.  Continue reading →

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Parents of an Oklahoma boy have filed a personal injury lawsuit on behalf of their young son, alleging he suffered a brain injury while at day care.

Of course, our injury lawyers know that kids are prone to getting hurt. They can be clumsy. They don’t always pay close attention to where they are walking or climbing or running. They often fail to appreciate the danger in every day situations. But that’s all common knowledge, and that’s precisely why a company running a daycare has the responsibility to keep a watchful eye. They have a duty to make sure their staffers are fully vetted, properly trained and carefully watched. They have a responsibility to make sure they hire enough staffers in ratio to the number of children in their care and that appropriate action is taken to prevent accidents, injuries and illnesses that are foreseeable.

Plaintiffs in these cases need to show that the child’s injuries were the result of negligence, which means the daycare facility and/ or staffers failed to exercise due care to prevent a foreseeable injury. Accidents that involve falls from playground equipment, illnesses caused by unsanitary conditions or slipping on some substance that wasn’t quickly cleaned – these are all incidents that were probably foreseeable. Similarly, a child injured by a daycare worker with a violent criminal background or a lack of basic experience would also be a foreseeable injury. Continue reading →

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An increasing number of new mothers and fathers are finding especially handy baby slings, those cloth wraps that can be used to help carry an infant in a reclined or upright position. The problem is that there weren’t any federally-mandated standard to regulate the safe design and use of those slings – until now.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that the new federally-mandated standard created by ASTM International, Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Sling Carriers.

The new standard incorporates some of the most recent voluntary standards, with a slight modification involving label attachments. The new rule slightly modifies the ASTM’s standard by making it necessary to manufacture warning labels in a way where they will be permanent on the garment. The other mandatory standards for the baby carriers/ slings cover:

  • The structural integrity to make certain that even after all testing, there isn’t any tearing in the fabric, seam separation or breakage;
  • That the slings can carry triple the recommended weight of the manufacturer;
  • That the devices will stop the child from falling out when it’s being used normally (i.e., even if the child is wiggly).

Continue reading →

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While the holidays are over, hopefully the kids are still getting some mileage out of their gifts. Chances are, some of those included toys. Safety of children’s products is largely overseen by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), which announced recently it was teaming up with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) to halt the flow of dangerous toys from reaching children this season.

The effectiveness of the effort this past year is still being weighed, but we do know this: Over the four years prior, the team stopped more than 8 million units of about 4,500 different kinds of toys and children’s products that failed to meet federal safety standards from reaching store shelves. These shipments included high levels of lead, small parts, sharp points and violations of labeling requirements. Further, in fiscal year 2016, the number of toy recalls fell sharply to 24, with only one of those being a lead violation, as compared to the 172 toy recalls issued in fiscal year 2009, with 19 of those involving high lead levels. Last year, toys were recalled for dangers that included fire and mechanical and choking hazards.

A new report released by the CPSC indicated that in 2015, there were an estimated 185,500 toy-related injuries that had to be treated at hospital emergency rooms. These cases involved only children under the age of 15, and at least 11 incidents resulted in death (final death counts may not yet be available). Most toy-related injuries involved some type of cut or bruise. Of those injuries that resulted in death, nearly half were riding toys – specifically, non-motorized scooters.  Continue reading →

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A mother in Texas has filed a lawsuit against a flea market where her child was run over by a motor vehicle last year. At the time of the accident, the girl was just 18-months-old. Now age 2, her mother says she is still “struggling to live a normal life.” 

She has filed a premises liability lawsuit against the flea market, as well as a general negligence lawsuit against the driver of the vehicle. Plaintiff raises questions about the safety of the property where pedestrians were so close to motor vehicle traffic.

Flea markets – both indoor and open air – are popular in Florida (including Fort Lauderdale) as well as other southern states. Questions of liability can be tricky, however, because you’re dealing with a host of different businesses. You have the vendors, then the operator of the facility and, often, a separate owner of the land. There may be other companies contracted to provide traffic control or security. There is potential in these types of cases to name numerous defendants, but it’s important to conduct a thorough investigation so that all parties can be properly identified and the narrative fully formed by the time negotiations begin or litigation is filed.  Continue reading →

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It’s been seven years since a New Jersey girl was shot accidentally in her head with an metal arrow by a young boy, causing her to suffer a massive stroke and aneurysm that almost killed her. Now, according to NJ.com, a judge has allowed that discovery for her claim for product liability – including punitive damages – against the distributor of that arrow set may proceed. However, the judge denied discovery in the claim against the boy’s father, leaving the sporting goods store as the only defendant. 

According to news reports of the case, the girl and her twin sister were at a friend’s house one day in July 2010 when she wandered in front of a 9-year-old boy who was practicing archery with a compound bow in the same yard. The arrow, which can only be purchased by an adult with a hunting license, struck the girl between her nose and right eye. It tore through her cerebral artery, lodging into the left temporal lobe in the middle of her brain.

The arrow was reportedly purchased by the boy’s father at a sporting goods store in New Jersey. Under state law, it’s illegal to shoot any metal-tipped arrow without a hunting license – and those are only available in that state when a child turns 10. Further, anyone who sells youth-sized or metal-tipped arrows is supposed to inquire as to whether the user has a child’s hunting license. Continue reading →

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The parents of an infant who died tragically in a hot car that was parked outside a Florida daycare facility for seven hours in the summer will not be able to collect any compensation from the driver’s personal insurance policy.

That’s according to a new ruling by Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal in Bryant v. Windhaven Insurance Co., which is part of a larger case in which the parents are seeking justice from the van driver personally, as well as the day care center (his employer) and the landlord of the property where the incident occurred.

This ruling will only affect the case insofar as it relates to the van driver’s personal liability. He may yet still be found personally liable and obligated to pay, but he will not have his personal insurance company to be responsible for that payment if that happens. Continue reading →

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