Jacksonville Injury Attorney

Flagler County Jury Awards $5.1 Million in Fatal Truck Accident Case

A Flagler County jury returned a $5.1 million verdict in a wrongful death case resulting from a fatal trucking accident. A tractor trailer struck a husband and wife driving a minivan. The accident happened at a rural intersection and the plaintiff claimed that the truck driver ran a stop sign.

The wife was killed instantly and the husband suffered personal injuries including a pelvic fracture. The two had recently retired and moved to Palm Coast, Florida, located about one hour south of Jacksonville.

In wrongful death truck accident cases such as this, it is important that the attorney for the plaintiff thoroughly investigate the driver and the employer’s decisions regarding hiring and retaining the driver. In addition, it is important to determine how many hours the trucker had been driving in order to determine if federal laws limiting the number of hours a driver can work in a given time period were violated.

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Pedestrian Struck by Car in Jacksonville Suffers Life-Threatening Injuries

Last night, a pedestrian was struck by a sport-utility vehicle at a Jacksonville Northside intersection. The SUV was traveling on North Main Street near 53rd Street when the man was struck. It was raining at the time of the accident.

The victim was taken to Shands Jacksonville Medical Center with life-threatening personal injuries. A relative told the Times-Union that he died.

Car accidents involving pedestrians seem are far too common in the Jacksonville area. Of course, these types of accidents cause devastating if not fatal injuries to a pedestrian.

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Five Vehicle Accident on I-95 in Jacksonville Leaves Four Injured

This morning, on I-95 near downtown Jacksonville, one car accident lead to two more. After an initial vehicle accident, a police officer was on the scene. A work truck then collided with the officer’s patrol car. Following that, an ambulance following the work truck crashed and rolled over.

The ambulance was carrying a patient, whose status is unknown. However the police officer and three others suffered personal injuries and were taken to a Jacksonville hospital.

Auto accidents such as this bring two things to mind. First, Florida law requires drivers to move out of the lane closest to a police vehicle that is stopped on the side of the road. Second, all drivers must maintain a safe distance behind cars in front of them in the event of sudden stops.

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One Person Dies and Two More are Injured in Jacksonville Apartment Fire

This afternoon, a fire broke out in an Arlington apartment complex in Jacksonville, Florida. The roof collapsed killing one person and causing personal injuries to two others. Jacksonville Fire and Rescue responded and called it a three-alarm fire. The cause of the fire has not yet been reported.

Fires can lead to personal injury and wrongful death cases if the fire was caused by the negligence of others. In an apartment complex, such negligence could result from improper wiring, lack of sprinkler systems, lack of fire extinguishers or propane gas leaks.

As Jacksonville injury lawyers, we have handled cases involving personal injuries resulting from fires. Burns can cause some of the most serious and life altering injuries possible.

It is important that people always make sure they have fire extinguishers on hand and that they have a plan of escape in case of fire. Persons living on a second or higher floor should have a second way of leaving the building in case a stairwell is engulfed in flames. We have seen burn cases resulting from liquid propane (LP) gas, faulty wiring, cooking, water heaters set too high, and space heaters.

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Teen Killed in Car Accident on JTB Bridge in Jacksonville

Late last night, an eighteen year old woman lost control of her car and struck the concrete wall that lines the J. Turner Butler Bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway in Jacksonville, Florida. She left the immediate area of her car.

A seventeen year old driver then hit her car. He was not wearing his seatbelt and died at the scene. A passenger in his car was wearing his seatbelt and suffered serious personal injuries. That passenger was taken to Shands Jacksonville Medical Center.

This provides us yet another example of one person in a car without a seatbelt being more seriously injured than another who was seatbelted during a car accident. Many of our Jacksonville Injury Attorney blog entries below highlight this all too familar occurrence. Seatbelts save lives.

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One Dead, Two Injured in South Jacksonville Auto Crash

Tuesday night, near the intersection of Old Kings Road and St. Augustine Road, in Jacksonville Florida, a car collision killed one person and caused personal injuries to two other people.

The car accident happened at about 8:30 p.m., when a van T-boned a vehicle that was traveling on Old Kings Road. The passenger of the vehicle died at Shands Jacksonville Medical Center.

As Jacksonville accident attorneys, we see “T-bone” car accidents quite frequently. Often they result from one car attempting to turn left across oncoming traffic. Given that it was the passenger side of the car that was T-boned in this instance, it very well could have been a left turn scenario.

The difficulty posed by a left turn accident is that the driver with the right of way, the one going straight, often has little or no warning that the other car is going to turn across his or her lane of travel. These types of car collisions typically result in severe impacts and serious personal injuries.

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Florida Boy Killed in Go-Cart Accident

A twelve-year-old boy died as a result of being ejected from a go-cart that was traveling about 30 mph down a dirt road Saturday afternoon in Palm Bay, Florida. Palm Bay is approximately 200 miles south of Jacksonville, Florida.

Police said that a 16-year-old was driving the go-cart when he lost control of it after braking sharply to avoid a large hole in the road. The 16 year old and another passenger, who was fifteen years old, suffered personal injuries and were taken to the hospital.

As Florida injury attorneys, we see a lot of similar accidents. Many self-propelled vehicles aimed at children, such as motorized scooters, mini-bikes, and go-carts travel at high rates of speed and can be very dangerous. Often the children operating such vehicles have no training on their safe use and helmets and seatbelts are not used.

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Jacksonville Jury Awards $1.8 million in Wrongful Death Case

A Duval County jury awarded $1.8 million to the family of a Marine killed in a drive-by shooting at an Arlington gas station in 2002. Lance Cpl. Timothy Stamper was home on leave when he was shot and killed while out with friends.

The family filed a wrongful death, premises liability suit against the gas station owner, alleging that security protocols were not followed the night of the killing.

Among other things, the lawsuit claimed the attendant working that night had not been trained in security procedures and observed a rowdy crowd in the gas station parking lot, but did not call police until the shooting started. The verdict came after a seven-day trial.

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Obtaining Medical Care for Personal Injuries When You Have No Insurance - Letters of Protection

As Jacksonville injury lawyers, we have many clients who are injured that have no health insurance. With the downturn in the economy many people have lost their jobs and the health insurance benefits that came with the job. Also, some employers have stopped offering health insurance as a way to save money.

A letter of protection can be an important tool for personal injury clients who lack health insurance or have used all of their personal injury protection (”PIP:) benefits following an auto accident. Many doctors and facilities in the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Fernandina areas will accept a “letter of protection.”

A letter of protection permits the patient to continue to receive treatment without having to pay for it until their personal injury case resolves. Typically, the health care provider receives a direct reimbursement from the settlement or jury award.

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Single Car Crash Causes Injuries in St. Augustine, Florida

This morning, a woman was driving north on Masters Drive in St. Augustine when she lost control of the car. The car went into a roadside ditch and flipped. The woman was partially ejected and trapped in the car.

The woman was life flighted to Shands Jacksonville Medical Center for her personal injuries including a fractured ankle and lacerations to her head.

Interestingly, the area of Masters Drive where this auto accident occured, near Highway 16, has numerous speed bumps, as it has had many problems with motorists driving too fast. It is unknown if speed was a factor in this crash.

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