Articles Posted in Florida

florida disc injury cases

Value of Injury Cases: Disc Injuries

I think it is useful to write about jury verdicts and give thoughts as to why I think the jury found as they did and the issues that arose in the case.  Why?  Because people are looking online for information about the value of their cases. So we summarize one case, Mayrink v. Luchsinger, the long way and then give sample settlements and verdicts in more Florida disc injury cases.

On our website, we provide a ton of verdict information for victims, many of which suffered a herniated disc.  This helps give some lens to the value of a case.  But it hardly tells the real story of the claim and why a jury may have valued it how they did.  So hopefully posts like this help educate those looking for answers.

Facts of Mayrink v. Luchsinger

This is a herniated disc case.  Plaintiff, a painter by trade, crashed into a median strip after being pushed off the road by the defendant who must have changed lanes without looking.   Usually, in these lane change cases, you almost invariably have a liability fight on your hands.  Defense counsel in this case, probably wisely, admitted responsibility.  Why is this wise?  Defense counsel often admits liability because they know if they fight and lose there is real credibility lost on the scope of the injuries battle.   By admitting fault, the defendant seems more credible and honest than if they fight on liability and lose.  Continue reading

A Florida wrongful death lawsuit, filed by the widow of a mentally ill Ohio man, has settled after a roughly five-hour settlement conference. The 2009 death occurred after the man was repeatedly pepper sprayed while being held at the Lee County Jail. The suit, filed against the Sheriff, the jail’s medical provider, and several deputies and nurses is said to have settled “well into” the seven figures.

The decedent had come to Florida to visit family, when he stopped taking his medications, causing him to act erratically. After being asked to leave his family’s home, he was later arrested at a motel for trespassing. Once at the jail, he was placed in an observation wing because he was loud.

Because of his continued behavior, he was repeatedly pepper sprayed, even after having been restrained to a chair. The man was exposed to pepper spray ten times during a forty-three-hour period while pleading for mercy as he couldn’t breathe. The record shows that the jail’s ventilation system was not adequate to dissipate the amount of spraying and that he was subjected to prolonged exposure of the pepper spray as the area was never adequately decontaminated after the spraying. After having passed out and rushed to a local medical center, he died two days later. According to the medical examiner, the pepper spray was found to be a contributing factor that led to heart and brain failure. Brutal, just brutal.

It used to be easy back in the old days. You had lawyers running Yellow Page ads, and you had lawyers with illegal runners. Think Danny DeVito in Rainmaker. (Fun fact: Claire Danes was in that 1997 movie.) Oh, yeah, and you had people getting personal injury cases the old fashioned way: doing good work and word of mouth.

Times have changed, obviously. In some states, the laws have changed pretty dramatically too. In states like Florida and New York, no-fault laws have lead to a new player in the game: the health care providers.

Matt Dolman, a good lawyer in Florida, has been pointing out some of the weakness in doing this, targeting the problems with what some health care providers have been doing, specifically 411 PAIN and its progeny. Matt argues that while 411 PAIN pushes itself as a “lawyer referral service” it is is really a health care provider answering service that pushes its own services.

A medical malpractice lawsuit on behalf of a Florida veteran will begin this week against the Miami Veterans’ Administration hospital. In the lawsuit, the plaintiff claims he contracted hepatitis C from an unclean medical device used in a 2007 colonoscopy. This may be the bellwether trial on this issue: there are a dozen similar lawsuits that have been filed in Florida and more have been filed in Tennessee. (Certainly, Tennessee – even with their new malpractice restrictions – is a more hospitable place than Florida for medical malpractice lawsuits.)

Florida Personal Injury Settlement Statistics

According to a not-so-recently published Jury Verdict Research study, the average verdict in a personal injury lawsuit in Florida is $1,732,150. Huge and almost invariably uncollectable verdicts, because of caps on a defendant’s ability to pay, and overturned verdicts inflate the average to a number that is really no longer meaningful. The better measure, the median verdict, was $149,411.

The breakdown of the injuries relative to the verdicts in the study was interesting:

The C.R. Bard Avaulta vaginal mesh implanted to treat pelvic organ prolapse may put women at risk for internal injuries and urinary problems. Bard Avaulta mesh lawsuits allege that the defective design of the device may increase the risk of infection, erosion and other painful complications. Plaintiffs seek damages from C. R. Bard, Inc., which makes and sells Avaulta Plus and Avaulta Solo synthetic surgical mesh tissue supports.

Women suffer from pelvic organ prolapse often after childbirth or surgery. Pelvic organ prolapse affects a woman when organs near the pelvis drop from their normal position and put pressure on the vagina. Mesh products have been designed to address problems that stem from prolapse, which include difficulties with bowel and bladder functions or during sex.

The Bard Avaulta vaginal mesh lawsuits allege that the vaginal slings were negligently designed, causing pain and other complications. The problem for many vaginal mesh users has been an erosion of the mesh into the vaginal wall causing tearing, cutting, and sometimes permanent erosion of the vaginal tissues.

florida injury casesThe average personal injury verdict in Florida is $1,819,751, according to Jury Verdict Research, a company that tracks jury verdicts. In Florida personal injury cases, plaintiffs win approximately 61 percent of cases that go to trial.

Florida’s threshold requiring a more serious injury in motor tort cases is one reason why the average jury verdict in Florida much higher than the national average. These Florida jury statistic verdicts also underscore that large cases inflate average jury verdicts and settlements. The median—as opposed to the average—money damages in Florida personal injury trials in Florida is $122,674.

If you have been injured in a serious car accident (our lawyers only handle serious claims), call us t 800-553-8082 or click here for free no-obligation consultation.

Very dated but still interesting data on Florida workers’ compensation cases: the average back injury settlement was $ 38,000 with medical care continuing (called “keeping your case open”). The average  workers’ compensation back injury settlement is $ 9,800 with no continuing opportunity for further medical care.

Jury Verdict Research reported this month on Florida personal injury lawsuit verdicts. The median – not be confused with average which is much higher – money recover in Florida personal injury lawsuits that go to trial is $185,000. Florida personal injury lawyers can expect to receive a verdict for their clients in 60 percent of lawsuits that go to trial.

Putting these number in context, the national median personal injury verdict is $35,000, and personal injury victims recover about half of the time. In other words, you can drive a truck through the difference between Florida and the rest of the nation. Florida voters may go for caps at the ballot box, but when faced with live human beings, they have a very different approach.

If you have been injury by a defective product or medical malpractice or in a car or truck accident in Florida in Miami, Jacksonville, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Tallahessee or anywhere in Florida, call our lawyers at 800-553-8082.

A Broward County, Florida jury has awarded $3.5 million to the family of a man who died 17 days after being implanted with a pacemaker. According to the family’s wrongful death lawyer, the jury found that doctors committed medical malpractice by not delaying the procedure because the man developed lung problems prior to the surgery.

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