Fort Lauderdale Injury Lawyer Blog

Pablo never liked taking Pablito to the hardware store with him.  “He just runs around and gets in trouble,” Pablo frequently complained, knowing the potential for a Fort Lauderdale premises liability accident.  One Saturday morning, though, Pablo had no choice: he needed a new faucet, and with all the water turned-off in the house, he needed that new faucet right away.  Heaving a long sigh, Pablo loaded Pablito into the mini-van, and they went to the Read the rest of this entry »

One rainy morning, Fred went down the street to his favorite home improvement retailer to pick-up, ironically, rain gear.  The store had advertised a special sale, and Fred needed the full suit for an outdoor project he had to complete.  Naturally, as Fred walked into the store, the floor around the entrance was extremely wet.  The water on the very smooth concrete floor made it extremely slippery, but “I didn’t give it a second thought,” Fred said later.

Looking around for the deep-discounted rain gear, Fred got distracted and a sales associate bumped into him, causing him to slip and fall.  “Oh, my goodness,” the associate gasped, “I didn’t even see you.  I am so sorry.”  Standing up slowly, Fred brushed the water from his jeans, checked for bumps, found himself apparently okay as the pain in his tailbone subsided, and “I didn’t give it a second thought,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »

At first, the mom thought her toddler just had a little tickle in her throat, and she went on with her housework.  But the cough grew deeper and more strained.  Still, the mom thought, “just a little bug going around.”  Then, she heard her daughter gasping for breath and realized her child was struggling to scream but couldn’t.  Running to help her terrified child, the mom saw her worst fears realized: Read the rest of this entry »

A very recent Harvard Medical School study, supported by the Centers for Disease Control, reported that almost all young physicians completing their residencies suffer chronic sleep deprivation.  At first, many people shrug-off the finding, thinking as traditional medical educators have thought, “Hey, the discipline and rigorous demands make the young docs tougher.”  The study found, however, that young doctors’ sleep deprivation puts patients seriously at-risk.  More than 20% of the sleep-deprived doctors either had missed a diagnosis or improperly diagnosed patients’ conditions, often ordering unnecessary tests, calling for unnecessary invasive procedures, or prescribing incorrect medications in improper doses.  Often, these “innocent” mistakes seriously complicated patients’ conditions.

Given that missing even one night’s proper sleep induces symptoms exactly like drug or alcohol intoxication, sleep-deprived young doctors pose a considerable threat to the health and safety of the patients they have sworn to serve.  And, frequently, residents will go three, four, and five days on just two or three hours’ sleep each night.  Their concentration and analytic skills diminish dramatically with each extra hour of sleep they lose.  The Harvard study found the problem was especially bad in emergency rooms and Intensive Care Units—the two places where critical patients most depend on physicians’ acumen.

What if you were one of the 2-out-of-10 patients whose condition was improperly diagnosed and treated? Would you know you have legal recourse against these physicians?  Would you know that Fort Lauderdale medical malpractice attorneys specialize in Read the rest of this entry »

With the ongoing financial downturn nabbing the headlines daily, it is no surprise that the country - Fort Lauderdale included - has latched on to a villain in this crisis: Bernard Madoff. The allegations against Madoff are truly remarkable - the stuff of legend - and the lengths of the apparent disregard and decpetion is perhaps unprecedented. It is somehow easier with a person, a face, to lock onto in dealing with the ongoing anxiety and upset of these times. In seeing Madoff splashed across the front page, we feel we can say, “Here is the face of securities fraud.” And it is true. Perhaps what is most striking is the simplicity of the fundamental fraud: though the numbers are large and the jargon thick, Madoff himself has admitted that his crime is basically a Ponzi scheme.

In recent years, things in the financial sector seem to move in a big way or not at all. So, Madoff is the type of story that we have come to identify as securities fraud. Perhaps we can sketch out a description: Financial losses in the millions or billions. Huge companies rotting from the inside out with corruption. World-renown financial figures/celebraties folding beneath their own greed. Above all, it is remarkable, sensational, and spectacular.

However, it is not a legal requirement that securities fraud meet these superlatives. Fraudulence comes in all shapes and sizes, all of it illegal, whatever the fall out. The average investor would never know it by reading the papers, but far more common than the towering schemes of the front page are small-time frauds, cheating the small-scale investor. It takes only one bad broker to ruin the lives of many investors. And sadly, these smaller cases can seem even more serious. Though Madoff is no doubt on track for dire legal straights, his financial ability to post a $10 million dollar bond to stay out of jail instantly puts his situation far apart from a middle-class couple, losing their nest egg to a predatory or otherwise incompetent small-time broker. The crime is the same, it is only scale that is different.

Some have suggested that the sheer attention and newsworthiness of the large-scale, catastrophic fraud cases of recent memory render the average investor that much more vulnerable. When we begin to identify financial fraudulence as a phenomenon that strikes rich people, on a large scale, we blind ourselves to any other kind of deception, even one staring us in the face. Here are some tips from the SEC to help with safe investing.

Pose questions, follow up on answers. For centuries, con men (and women) of all variety have relied on one universal truth: most individuals do not do their homework before investing.

Investigate the company before you invest. Take the time to do as much research as necessary until you are sure that you have a strong grasp of the nature of the business, the products, and the services of any company you are considering investing in. Verify this information from several sources.

Consider the source. Investigate the salesperson. Professional con people can easily gain the trust of nearly anyone. Investigate the salesperson championing the investment/opportunity. This step should be taken irregardless of any already-established, (perhaps social) relationship.

Be especially dilligent with unsolicited offers. E-mail is free, easily accessed, and difficult to trace. Are these qualities that create confidence in using e-mail information for investing your money? Compile your own research, independently, and be extra careful should you learn of a tip through e-mail, fax, or online.

Under the best circumstances, with the best precautions, it is still possible to be duped. Immediately report an incidents or suspect incidents and seek the legal counsel of an experienced Fort Lauderdale securities fraud attorney: this is what distinguishes good investing from bad.

If you or a loved one is in need of legal assistance, call Fenster Cohen & Sobol, (954) 845-8989, (561) 737-7789 or (877) 845-8989 or submit an online questionnaire. The initial consultation is free of charge, and if we agree to handle your case, we will work on a contingency fee basis, which means we get paid for our services only if there is a monetary recovery of funds. In many cases, a lawsuit must be filed before an applicable expiration date, known as a statute of limitations. Please call right away to ensure that you do not waive your right to possible compensation.

Transportation vehicles of all variety - bikes, motorbikes, cars, trucks, trains - all may potentially be subject to accident. “Accident,” of course, is a general term. It could mean any number of unintended occurrences with a vehicle: a bump against a curb, finding the bottom of a pothole or even a collision with an animal in the road. That said, we all know what we mean by “accident.” It is an unexpected incident causing vehicular damage; perhaps personal damage as well. In some cases, all involved - drivers, passengers, and their vehicles - emerge unscathed; in other cases, tragedy strikes and lives are shattered or lost.

We are a mobile society. As such, accidents are simply part of life and we recognize it. This is apparent in aspects of operating a vehicle - the regulation of mandatory insurance is a good example. And still, beside the acceptance of accidents is a stubborn “it-won’t-happen-to-me” mindset. Whether driving a car, riding a bike or a motorcycle, it seem that more driving leads to a greater sense of invulnerability, as we come to expect no problems. This numbing to the all-too-real potential of an accident is dangerous but difficult to avoid, though we sometimes experience it again if we drive a different vehicle: switching from a car to a motorcycle, for example, gives a fresh sense of the realities of driving.

Further proof of the expectation of accidents in overall society is civil law, personal injury law, and the dominance of vehicle-related cases in courts today. These types of cases are overwhelmingly common: plaintiffs seek rectification and compensation for personal injury and property damage resulting from vehicular accidents. As for the defendants, they point to the partial fault of the plaintiff (contributory negligence), weather or other driving conditions, or simply old-fashioned innocence. The system of civil law is well-constructed and remains effective in checking and balancing the behavior of private citizens, offering a path to justice for those wrongs which may not qualify as criminal.

When you find that you have been the victim of a Florida accident, regardless of particulars, you stand the greatest chance at success in a legal hearing by securing quality legal advice. Having passion, feeling justified, and even being right are not necessarily enough to win your case. You must play by the rules, within the clearly defined boundaries of the law, with an experienced Fort Lauderdale car accident attorney as your guide, from the inital case evaluation through the settlement award.