Articles Posted in Car Accidents

MIAMI, FL—Authorities have found a person of interest in the ongoing investigation into the unfortunate April 30, 2011 hit-and-run accident that claimed the life of a 14-year-old Miami Gardens boy. According to information provided by the Orlando Sentinel, the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) identified their person of interest as 40-year-old Odingo K. Walden, who was caught on camera driving a pickup truck strikingly similar to the one involved in the fatal Miami-Dade County car crash.

Reports indicated Andre McCarthy was trying to cross Northwest 27th Avenue when an unspecified red pickup truck slammed into him in the northbound lanes, near Northwest 194th Street. It was not clear if the teenage crash victim succumbed to his severe injuries at the scene, or if emergency medical services (EMS) rushed him to a hospital beforehand.

The hit-and-run driver, on the other hand, subsequently fled the scene. FHP troopers relayed witness reports, which described a red pickup striking the teen upon turning out of a parking lot. Surveillance photos show Walden behind the wheel of a red Dodge Ram pickup truck moments before the deadly collision occurred.

Earlier this month, our firm along with the the Florida Justice Association traveled to Tallahassee, FL to lobby the the Florida legislature. One proposed bill of particular interest would increase the minimum amount of automobile insurance coverage a convicted felon would be required to carry while operating a car or other motor vehicle in Florida.

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A private road may only be open to certain drivers, but when it is inadequately designed and constructed, danger isn’t choosy. Our client, a 71-year-old truck driver, suffered a skull fracture
— resulting in hospitalization, rehabilitation, and an enormous workman’s compensation lien — in a 2005 accident on a private road used by contractors hauling fill material to a construction site.

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Questions still remain about Florida’s No Fault Insurance Law. Under the previous legislation, which expired on October 1, 2007 Florida drivers were required to hold $10,000 of personal injury protection on their car or automobile insurance policies. Under the existing law, individuals who sustain injuries in a car or automobile accident were covered for the first $10,0000 of the medical bills regardless of who causes the crash.

The effects and future of this legislation will have a significant for those who are injured in car and other automobile accidents. Florida was one of only twelve states to carry this legislation. Charlie Christ has included the scope of the legislative special set session of Florida law markers by adding no-fault auto insurance to the agenda.

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No renewal of no-fault before Oct. 1
As Florida’s no-fault insurance law ends its three-decade run Oct. 1, the state’s highly competitive automobile insurance market may be ready to enjoy a new dawn — or enter a new Dark Ages, depending on who you talk to.Hospitals fear being stuck with unpaid emergency room bills. Insurance agents are puzzling over what to advise their clients — no-fault protection won’t go away all at once but rather as policies come for renewal in the coming months. And consumers are often confused that the only plan for the future seems to be allowing no-fault to sunset and letting the chips fall as they may.

The only consensus among lawmakers and various business interests is that the current law invites fraud. There’s no agreement on any kind of solution.The Legislature is now supposed to meet for a budget-cutting session Oct. 3, rather than Sept. 18 as originally projected. Many lawmakers anticipated a last-minute effort to extend or even reform no-fault during the earlier date.Now that the target is Oct. 3, it’s certain that no-fault will expire — and there’s no word on whether the special session order that should be published this week will contain any agenda item other than the budget.

It’s a PIP

The centerpiece of no-fault is its mandatory $10,000 personal injury protection coverage, which pays 80 percent of medical expenses and 60 percent of lost wages plus miscellaneous household expenses that might be caused by an accident — for example, hiring cleaning or yard service while convalescing.

PIP has been effective in providing quick settlements of legitimate medical expenses, especially emergency room bills.But it’s also spawned many outpatient “PIP clinics,” mainly in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. These medical facilities are noted less for the effectiveness of the treatments they provide than for the speed with which they can file claims totaling $10,000.”Our no-fault system was by no means perfect. You are never going to come up with a perfect system as long as there are people out there looking to play the system and defraud the system,” said Jim Nolan, president of Nolan Family Insurance. “It drives auto insurance costs for every consumer up by hundreds of dollars every year.

“The ripple effects from this are going to be heard for years to come,” he said.

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