Item: Flaxman Law Group
Rating: 5
Author: Clara Barman

Being Injured in a Hotel in Miami or Florida

Published on: August 27, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

When you travel for business or for a vacation to Miami, you expect your hotel to be a comfortable place to retreat after a long day. Hotels in the city can be quiet expensive and of course you expect that these facilities will do all they can to make your stay pleasant and safe. In fact, many guests don’t even think about safety when checking into a hotel. On vacation, many of us turn our usual worries off and we don’t expect to have to be concerned about safety. Unfortunately, this can make us even more vulnerable.

The reality is that many people suffer serious injury in hotels in Miami and across Florida each year. The state attracts many tourists and while some hotels and motels are very careful about guest safety and security, some are not. Some guests suffer head injuries in their Miami hotel rooms due to poor building maintenance or rickety furniture. In some cases, guests become victims of assault, theft, or other crimes because hotels are negligent with security or fail to screen employees. These situations can not only ruin a trip but can also result in devastating and expensive injuries.

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CNBC Trucking Industry Investigation Highlights Some Causes of Trucking Accidents

Published on: August 27, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

As trucking collisions continue to happen in Homestead and across the country, many people ask why the numbers of these crashes is not dropping. Recently, one station, CNBC, aired an investigative report about the state of the trucking industry. According to the report and the Federal Motor Carrier Administration (FMCSA), the number of fatal trucking accidents across the country increased close to 18% between 2009 and 2012, despite an increased focus on driving safety. According to investigative reporters, there are a few key reasons why big rig and tractor trailer collisions continue to occur:

1) Repeat offenders.

Federal safety rules and policies are meant to prevent traffic accidents in Hollywood and across the country, but enforcing those rules and getting unsafe trucks and drivers off the roads is more difficult than many realize. According to the CNBC investigation, about 20% of trucks inspected in 2012 were not safe to be on the roads due to out-of-service violations such as bad tires. That amounts to more than 2 million potential unsafe trucks on the roads. In addition, about 5% of drivers inspected had violations that could have prevented them from driving. That amounts to about 171,000 unsafe drivers on the roads.

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Do You Have a Premises Liability Case?

Published on: August 22, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

If you have been injured while visiting a restaurant, hotel, or other business establishment, you may have a negligent security or premises liability case in Homestead or your community. This may also be the case if your injuries were caused in someone’s home or when you were visiting a condo or apartment building.

To launch a premises liability case, however, you need to be able to show that the property owner was negligent in providing you with a safe space. In some cases, there may be signs that a property owner has not taken due care to protect visitors to their property. For example, someone who has been injured may notice:

Poor lighting on a property
Debris on stairways and walkways
Lack of fencing or gate around a pool area
Dogs running loose on a property
Shelving not properly attached
Work areas and dangerous areas not blocked off or clearly marked
No railings on ramps and stairways
Spills on the floor that have not been mopped off
No warning signs for dangers
Uneven floors
Poorly maintained property
Broken gates, stairs, windows, and doors

All of these signs could be signs that a property owner has been negligent in providing a safe environment for visitors. If a visitor is injured as a result of this type of recklessness, they may have a legal claim against the property owner and any other liable parties.

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Some Trucking Companies Use Unsafe Tactics

Published on: August 21, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

While some truck companies and carriers have a good reputation for safety and take steps to protect their drivers and other motorists on the road, others are not so conscientious. Unfortunately, some of the unsafe tactics used by a small number of trucking companies in Florida and Fort Lauderdale result in serious trucking collisions and car crashes each year. According to safety experts, there are a few practices that trucking companies use that can be especially unsafe:

Fly-By-Night Carriers

According to the Truck Safety Coalition and other groups, some truck carriers re-register with a new name with the Department of Transportation to avoid violations, charges, and safety rules. Essentially, the companies will violate safety rules and then change their company name and re-open as a new company to avoid facing the consequences. These truck companies can be extremely unsafe because they know the legal loopholes that help them avoid liability while continuing to avoid basic safety procedures. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has started a crackdown on carriers who change names and corporate structure to avoid the law, but these companies can be hard to spot – especially if they change addresses as well as names.

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When Restaurants Serve Up More than Food: The Dangers of Dining Out

Published on: August 19, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

When we dine out, we expect to enjoy good food, a pleasant atmosphere, and good service. Unfortunately, each year diners in Miami and other cities are served up a lot more than just some comfort food. Each year, customers are seriously injured or even killed due to negligent security, poor restaurant maintenance, poor hygiene, and other preventable causes. The most common causes of restaurant-related injury include:

1) Property-related injuries.

Premises liability claims in Miami and Florida often include restaurants and there are many ways that these businesses can fail to protect customers. Spilled food and drink in the dining area, for example, can pose a serious slip and fall hazard. Poorly maintained buildings can literally cause ceiling tiles and fixtures to fall on customers. In some cases, customers have been injured due to uneven floors or decorative items that posed a trip and fall hazards. Restaurants are expected to create a safe as well as pleasant dining experience; when they fail to do so, they can be held liable if diners are injured.

Are you taking a risk when you dine out?

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Packing A Moving Truck To Make It Safer

Published on: August 18, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

Moving truck accidents in Hialeah and other communities lead to devastating accidents each year. Unfortunately, these types of collisions can be especially common at this time of year, as this tends to be a busy season for movers and moving truck rentals. Most safety experts agree that hiring movers or at least moving truck drivers is safer than trying to move yourself. This is because most people simply don’t have the experience and skills to handle a large moving truck with many blind spots. If movers are not an option for you, however, you may be able to minimize your risks by packing your moving truck. To do that, be sure to use these tips:

1) Use boxes, aiming to keep boxes the same size.

Using boxes rather than keeping items loose or using bags helps keep possessions from moving around. Using uniformly-sized boxes also makes the boxes easier to stack so that the load can be distributed evenly. Keeping your truck packed evenly and weight distributed evenly is important in helping you maintain control of the truck so that you can prevent a traffic collision.

2) Use padding on fragile items and large items that cannot be boxed.

This helps prevent your furniture and other items from being damaged, but can also help prevent injuries. A broken mirror or framed picture can create broken glass on the floor of your moving truck and during a busy move this can be a serious hazard.

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Are Trucking Collisions on the Rise?

Published on: August 15, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

Just how concerned should we be about trucking collisions in Hollywood and other Florida communities? According to recent statistics and safety experts, there may be reason for worry. Accidents involving semitrailers, big rigs, and other large trucks not only tend to be more serious than accidents involving smaller vehicles, but they tend to occur with troubling frequency. In many cases, these collisions are caused by tire blowouts in Hollywood and other communities as well as by other preventable causes.

Statistics released by Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration show that fatal truck crashes occur about 11 times, on average, across the country each day. This means that these collisions cause about 4,000 deaths each year. In addition to the fatalities, there are about 100,000 injuries – some of them permanent and devastating – occurring because of these roadway crashes each year. Even more troubling is the fact that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has stated that the number of fatalities caused by commercial trucks has increased since 2009. In fact, the agencies reports that the number of fatal truck accidents increased by 18% between 2009 and 2012. What is even more troubling is that in the same time frame, fatal car crashes declined 1.74 percent and the number of commercial trucks decreased 2.86%, which means that we might expect to see fewer trucking crashes, not more.

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Shift Work Can Lead to Work Injury in Tamarac and Other Injuries

Published on: August 15, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

Workplace injury in Tamarac and other communities is a serious concern for all workers. While we expect some workers – such as construction workers – to face higher risks because of the nature of their jobs, some studies suggest that shift work may be one of the job types that can be especially risky. There are a few reasons for this:

1) Shift workers often have disrupted sleep cycles, sometimes staying awake for long periods of time to readjust to a new shift.

This has been shown to have a negative impact on circadian rhythms, which in turn has been linked with higher instances of heart disease, some cancers, and other serious illness.

2) Shift workers may suffer from greater fatigue.

According to University of Buenos Aires researchers shift workers may have lower serotonin levels than other employees, which is one reason why they may be getting less sleep and lower quality sleep than workers who have more traditional jobs. No matter the cause, many studies have shown a strong link between fatigue and shift work.

Employees working the night shift could face additional risks

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How Truck Driver Shortages Could Affect Your Safety in Hollywood and Florida

Published on: August 13, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

When there are too few qualified truck drivers on the roads, could that increase the risk of trucking collisions in Hollywood or your community? Some safety experts think so.

A recent New York Times article pointed out that truck driver shortages are notable. Even with an overall unemployment rate of 6 percent across all sectors, there is a qualified driver shortage of about 30,000 drivers – and the amount of drivers needed is only expected to increase. A large part of the problem, as the article points out, is because wages for truck drivers are actually lower today than they were in 2003, once we adjust for inflation.

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Avoiding Back-to-School Child Injuries

Published on: August 13, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

While schools work hard to provide a safe environment for students, accidents and injuries do happen at schools. Child injury in Hollywood and other Florida communities can especially be a risk during the first few weeks of the new year. There is a new routine for students to get used to, and in some cases a new school means new challenges. Sometimes, children are so focused on getting back to class that they may be less cautious. There are a few things that parents can do, however, to keep their children safe at this time of year:

1) Consider traffic and pedestrian accidents.

Traffic crashes in Hollywood and other Florida communities are among the leading causes of child injury. Whether you are driving your children to school or your children are walking to school, come up with a way to keep them safe. If your child walks or bikes to school, that may mean having your child head to school with an older sibling or friends. If you drive your child to school, staying safer may mean carpooling or leaving a little earlier to avoid distracted and unsafe driving.

2) Take a look at your child’s schedule and after-school activities.

Injuries can happen at school, so take a look at what your child does at school to find ways to reduce the dangers. If your child takes part in after-school sports, for example, does your child have the right helmet and other safety gear to prevent sports injury at their Hollywood school? Is the coach qualified to train and supervise students? If your child has a science class, does he or she have safety goggles and any other required safety equipment?

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Florida Injury Lawyer Blog

1) Repeat offenders.

Fly-By-Night Carriers

1) Property-related injuries.

1) Use boxes, aiming to keep boxes the same size.

2) Use padding on fragile items and large items that cannot be boxed.

1) Shift workers often have disrupted sleep cycles, sometimes staying awake for long periods of time to readjust to a new shift.

2) Shift workers may suffer from greater fatigue.

1) Consider traffic and pedestrian accidents.

2) Take a look at your child’s schedule and after-school activities.