The driver of the car that caused the auto accident fled the scene. Witnesses followed her to an apartment on Jacksonville’s southside. That driver has been charged with DUI manslaughter.

Witnesses claim that that driver was driving erratically before the vehicle collision. She had recently been charged with several traffic offenses, including leaving the scene of another accident.

While the family will have the basis for a wrongful death lawsuit, no amount of money can ease their pain.

The man was driving at a high rate of speed and was not wearing his seat belt when he collided with the rear of the tow truck, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. The man was ejected from his vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene.

While it is not known if wearing a seatbelt would have prevented this man’s death, in all likelihood, it would have prevented his ejection, which presumably, was through the windshield. An ejection through a window causes devastating personal injuries, if not death. The need to always wear a seatbelt cannot be overstated.

Such agreements purport to require that any claim, dispute or lawsuit for medical malpractice, or nursing home abuse or negligence, be submitted to an arbitrator instead of a jury. In our opinion, in the event that negligence is proven, arbitrators are likely to award less than juries. In addition, such agreements often limit the damages you can recover and prevent you from being reimbursed your lawsuit costs in the event that you are sucessful. Lawsuit costs for medical malpractice cases often exceed $50,000.00.

Although such agreements can sometimes be challenged and found to be unenforceable, often they are enforceable ,and, as set forth above, greatly limit your rights. Our recommendation is to never sign such an agreement.

Nursing home abuse and neglect are concerns for all nursing home residents and their families. If you are concerned, one step you should take is to look at the Medicare ratings located at www.medicare.gov/NHCompare/. The State of Florida, Agency for Heath Care Administration, also has ratings of every nursing home in the state located at http://ahcaxnet.fdhc.state.fl.us/nhcguide/

You should also tour the facility. Look for cleaniness, a lack of foul odors and polite and eager staff. Also consider the quality of a nursing home’s medical director. Once your family member becomes a resident, make frequent visits, ask questions, request meetings with the staff and medical director if you have concerns and do not hesitate to have your loved one transferred if you sense a problem.

As Jacksonville nursing home lawyers, we have seen many types of nursing home abuse and neglect including: failing to provide adequate nutrition; undiagnosed infections; clostridium difficile infections (c. diff.); sepsis; failing to provide proper medication; failing to timely transfer a resident when serious complications arise; and neglected bedsores.

The insurer then denied the claim because the policy required that the truck be stored in a secured facility when not in use; however, the company that owned the truck was not given the policy prior to the theft and had no knowledge of such a requirement.

The trial court ruled that the insurer was not allowed to deny the claim on this basis, because the transportation company had no idea the truck had to be stored in a secure location. The District Court of Appeals upheld the trial court’s ruling.

Our Jacksonville insurance dispute attorneys handle insurance claim denial cases frequently. Often insurers are happy to accept premiums but reluctant to pay losses. In Florida, if you have to sue your own insurer and you are sucessful, you are entitled to recover the attorney fees spent on the case.

In many such instances, we agree to handle cases on a contingency basis, meaning we only get paid if we are sucessful and we get paid in addition to the value of your claim. In this manner, you can hire an insurance claim denial attorney without paying anything out of pocket and, if we are sucessful, you get 100% of the value of the insurance benefit.

The deceased was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the vehicle. The driver was also not wearing a seatbelt either and was seriously injured. The driver was taken to Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine. The official FHP report says alcohol was involved.

Once again, we see an example where an unbelted occupant of a vehicle is ejected in a vehicle rollover crash and killed. Ejection from a vehicle that flips is very common due to inertia causing the body to remain in place while the vehicle tumbles around that person causing the occupant to forcefully strike windows, doors or open spaces, such as an open window or the open top of a convertible car.

When personal injuries or wrongful death occurr in a car accident in Florida when a person is not wearing a seatbelt, the recovery for such injuries or death can be severely reduced. If the defendant can prove that the person would have received less significant or no injuries, then the jury is to award only for the injuries that would have occurred if the person was seatbelted.

An attorney for an injured plaintiff can face serious challenges proving that the same degree of injuries would have resulted if the injured person was belted.

McIntosh County is halfway between Savannah and Brunswick, about an hour and a half north of Jacksonville, Florida. Witnesses say that the truck was traveling at a high rate of speed prior to the automobile accident. The driver of the truck is from Jacksonville, Florida.

Tractor-trailer accidents often involve the most serious of personal injuries and wrongful death. Due to the immense weight of tractor-trailers, breaking distances can be quite large. As such drivers of eighteen wheelers must be especially careful of traffic conditions in front of them.

We are currently handling a similar case that occurred on I-10 in Jacksonville, where, thankfully, the victim in the car did not die, but did suffer serious personal injuries. Traffic conditions, especially during holidays and in areas of construction can cause sudden stops even on interstates, making it all the more important for all drivers to be on the lookout for slow down or stop conditions.

A woman died in the single vehicle accident and the other two people, including a baby, were hospitalized with personal injuries. The woman was pronounced dead at Shands Jacksonville Medical Center. Police are still investigating the cause of the accident. Thick fog may have played a role.

Car accidents such as this are all too frequent in Jacksonville. Whether any of the ejected occupants were wearing a seatbelt is unknown. It is also unkown if the baby was properly restrained in an infant car seat. It is very common for unrestrained occupants to be ejected from a vehicle if it flips or becomes airborne, often throwing occupants through closed windows. Obviously serious personal injury or wrongful death can result from being ejected.

Seatbelts are not only legally required to be worn in Florida, they can prevent ejection in rollover accidents and can prevent the resulting devastating injuries.

This incident brings to mind several dangerous scenarios that we have run across as Jacksonville injury lawyers. First, gas leaks, especially propane gas, can cause catastrophic explosions and fires. The results from such an incident can include devastating personal injuries and wrongful death.

Such leaks can result from faulty regulators, leaks in piping, and accidents causing a rupture of piping. Since liquid propane gas is heavier than air, when it leaks it can “pool” in a home instead of dissipating. This pool of gas is highly flammable and can be ignited by many sources including heaters or electric motors that cause sparks.

The second type of incident called to mind is the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning. Since carbon monoxide itself is odorless, the accumulation can cause deadly consequences to unsuspecting victims. Various household appliances, that operate on gas, can cause carbon monoxide to build inside a home, if there is not proper ventilation.

The driver of the car was intending to turn left onto I-295 Northbound. The driver of the motorcycle was in critical condition following the crash.

Left turns across oncoming traffic represent the second most common type of car accident we see as Jacksonville car accident lawyers, the most common being rear-end collisions. Drivers turning left must yeild to oncoming traffic. Often such drivers mistake the speed of oncoming cars and the length of time it takes them to accelerate from a stop to cross the oncoming lanes. Also, motorcycles can be more difficult to see.

Left turn auto collisions typically result in a “T-bone” collsion with serious personal injuries, and, at times, fatal accidents.