Florida Child Injury Law Blog

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Summer is here.  Generally that means more families are traveling by car on day trips, long weekends and vacations.   Our daughter was in town recently with our young grandchildren. Her first priority was finding a car seat safety inspection station! Although our infant grandaughter’s new car seat appeared to be secured properly;  our daughter wanted to be sure. Did you know research shows 7 out of 10 car seats are NOT correctly installed?

 The American Automobile Association conducted a survey and found  76% of parents said safety is their main concern when buying a child safety seat but  the  majority of parents polled didn’t know the specifics in regard to placement, age and height recommendations. In a recent study of 3500 car safety and booster seat installations,  72%  of the safety seats were secured in a way that it could be expected a child would suffer injuries if  in a crash.

With all this in mind, here are some safe practices concerning child seat safety and a website to check the locations of child safety seat inspection stations in this area.

 Safety Checklist

•  Parents should ensure that children up to eight years old or four feet, nine inches tall should sit in a safety seat or booster.
•  All children 12 and younger should ride in the back seat of a vehicle.
•  The safest position for a single car seat is the center of the rear seat.

Florida law regarding safety requirements  for child car and booster seats  is more fully discussed in Chapter 1 of my free consumer guide, “When Kids Suffer Big Injuries: A Parent’s Guide to Child Injury in Florida”  available  on our Florida Child Injury Lawyer website.

Attorney James W. Dodson, working to make safety every child’s reality.

In a news release this past week, a Florida couple has won a $6 million civil verdict nearly seven years after their 16-year-old daughter was killed in a fatal car crash. 

 Carlos Pozo, serving a 5 ½ year prison sentence for vehicular manslaughter, was speeding at 100mph on a rain slicked road when he lost control of his car. Kaitlin Kazanjian’s was killed in the crash.  Pozo has no way of paying the verdict. 

 The victim’s father, Palm Beach County Sheriff Office Sgt. John Kazanjian, says it doesn’t matter and it was never about the money, stating:  “I just wanted to get everything on the record.  To this day he thinks this was an accident, “It wasn’t an accident. It was his fault. He killed my daughter.”

 Attorneys for Pozo say he has been “incredibly remorseful” since the day of the accident, writing letters to the Kazanjian’s and tearfully apologizing at his sentencing.  

 For over twenty-five years the Dodson Law Firm has been representing clients seriously injured in accidents as well as families affected by wrongful death.  To speak directly to Jim Dodson about your injury claim,  please call our office toll free at (888) 340-0840 and set up a time to discuss your case at no obligation. Read our No Fee Promise.

A study by the Florida Dept. of Education revealed too many drivers have limited understanding of  Florida laws governing the passing of school buses stopped to load and unload school children. The safety of children in and around school buses is tragically compromised by irresponsible and negligent drivers. Public service announcements to increase awareness and educate drivers and increased law enforcement and engineering measures to increase safety are beginning steps to reduce the alarming number of children who are injured or killed at Florida school bus stops. This is only a partial list posted by Bob Eubanks on February 26, 2010 on this website, to increase public awareness of those who have been injured or who have been killed  between 1981-2010.

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An advertisement by the Allstate Insurance Company  in the Wall Street Journal,  caught our attention!

The ad headline, with an eye-catching  graphic read: “Why do most 16-year-olds drive like their missing part of their brain?  Because they are.” 

A teenager’s brain is not fully developed until their 20’s. The dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex, the “missing part of the brain,” plays a major role in teenager’s decision-making and the understanding of consequences. That is why as parents of teen drivers, anxiety and a lot of prayer go along with seeing our young drivers pull out of the driveway; and a sigh of relief and thankfulness when they are home safely!

 Allstate reminds us  teen drivers, yes, even bright, seemingly mature teens sometimes do things the insurance people label as “stupid.”  But  they say- it’s not really their fault!

The company supports  the Standup Act, or the Safe Teen and Novice Driver Uniform Protection Act of 2009.

 The law creates a National Graduated Driver Licensing law that would provide teens with  on-the-road experience gradually, while helping them avoid risky conditions.

 States that have implemented GDL programs  have seen the number of fatal crashes among 16-year-old drivers fall by almost 40%.

Florida instituted it’s GDL program on July 1, 1996. 

Florida Child Injury Lawyer Jim Dodson, working to make safety, every child’s reality.

Obesity in children can lead to a shorter life.  Those are the results that were found in a study published this week by the New England Journal of Medicine.  Thousands of children were tracked through adulthood and the heaviest youngsters were more than twice as likely as the thinnest to die prematurely, before age 55, of illness or a self-inflicted injury.

 A condition called pre-diabetes brings great concern. Youngsters with this condition were at almost double the risk of dying before 55, and those plagued with high blood pressure were at some increased risk. Obesity however was the factor most closely related with an early death, researchers said.

 “The message here is that if you take your kid to the doctor and the doctor says, ‘Well, their blood pressure is O.K., their cholesterol is O.K. and their sugar’s O.K..,’ the kid who’s obese still warrants our attention,” said Dr. Peter F. Belamarich, chief of specialty medicine at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in the Bronx.

 In Florida, 33% of children are considered overweight or obese.  This is higher than the national average of 31.6%.  These statistics have gradually risen since 2003.

The news of a “cancer cluster” in The Acreage, a community near Palm Beach, Florida this week has been very disturbing.  The most distressing aspect was revealed Wednesday when state health officials announced that they would mount a campaign to raise awareness about childhood brain cancer rather than search for the environmental cause of the cancer cluster. 

Dr. Alina Alonso, director of the Palm Beach County Health Department said the state’s investigation hasn’t uncovered the reason behind the Palm Beach County community’s elevated levels of childhood brain cancer and brain tumors. Alsonso gave no hope that even after investigators wrap up the 2^nd phase of their work next month that an answer will be found. 

Senator Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, an attorney general candidate countered with his own comments saying, “It’s unreasonable to simply say there is no known cause, when many factors could have contributed to environmental contamination in The Acreage.”  The concerns lie in large groves and farms, and most notably in the nearby Pratt & Whitney plant, which has spilled chemicals on its property over the years.  The Health Department director pointed out to reporters that she has “nothing saying these cancers are a result of Pratt & Whitney.”

Results released Monday confirmed suspicions and fears.  Higher rates of brain tumors and cancer are evident in the 32,000-39,000 residents of this rural Palm Beach community.  The data reveals “significantly elevated” pediatric brain and central nervous system cancers, particularly for girls, in those up to 19 years old.

What’s next?   That part is unknown as this promises to be an incredibly frustrating and frightening series of events for the residents at The Acreage.  For the latest information visitors can find out more at acreageforum.org. 

Stories like this inspire us all!  Last week, a 12-year-old boy, Danny Happy stood front and center at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando.  He was being honored at the East-West Shrine Game.  Cameras followed his every move, the mayor shook his hand and introduced himself.  For Danny, being alive was indeed a special feat. 

 Just two years ago, he suffered burns over 95 percent of his body when a private plane crashed into his Sanford, Florida  home.  His little sister, 4-year-old Gabriela Dechat, like the neighbors next door, was killed. Since that time he has survived 42 surgeries and some unimaginable suffering. 

 The family’s lawyers settled the lawsuit with the plane’s owner, NASCAR.  It’s reported that the terms are enough to take care of all future surgeries.  It’s not known what future health concerns he might have as a result of the accident, since it is so rare for someone burned so badly to survive.

 Despite the enormous adversity, Danny maintains a positive outlook.  As the cameras circled around him he said, “Today I feel very alive.  I am very happy to be here.”

Read the entire article here.

More than 30,000 children are struck by cars each year in the United States.  Additionally, Florida is home to 4 of the 5 most dangerous cities for pedestrians in this country.

Nothing is more precious than the safety of one’s child. As a Florida Child Pedestrian lawyer, undertaking the representation of an injured child in a pedestrian accident case is extremely difficult. Yet, the fact is that child pedestrian injury is the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages 5-14.  Why? Simply because children are exposed to traffic threats which far exceed their cognitive and developmental abilities. Children are impulsive and lack the ability to sense danger.

Their vulnerability  is  further compounded by Florida’s lack of adequate infrastructure to prevent child pedestrian accidents. More and better sidewalks, reduced speed limits, wider medians, adequate pedestrian signage, intersection signals and well marked crosswalks are all needed.

At the same time, let’s not overlook our need to educate our children about pedestrian safety, the dangers of the road and our responsibility to adequately supervise our children to prevent accidents from happening.

A recent study from the  Tampa Tribune states Florida reports 200 cases of child abuse which tragically resulted in death.

The deaths from 2008 from 2007 show a 20% increase in deaths from child abuse. The study shows a strong link to unemployment and drug abuse.

According to the article, “Florida has one of the highest per-capita rates of child deaths reported to the state abuse hotline in the country, partly because its figures count such events as car accidents, drownings and suicides, which aren’t included in most other states.”

The Department of Children and Families serves as a hotline for child abuse cases. We all woud like this number to be less and less every year.

With the incidence of dog bite deaths in Florida, we have  provided a dog bite website link, in an effort to help the public understand why dogs may attack. The article from DogBiteLaw.com outlines some key statistics and answers concerning the subject of  dogs attacks  and dog bites. For additional information visit our website dog bite library section for videos; blogs on news articles related to local dog bites and attacks, as well as safety resources.

It has been accepted that dog bites have become too frequent and too violent to be ignored. The statistics support the view, first articulated  in 1999, that there exists a “dog bite epidemic” in the United States. There are differences of opinion, however, concerning breeds of  dogs which are deemed too dangerous, with some members of the public even refusing to accept that there is any such thing as a “dangerous dog.” 

The most recent nationwide survey of dog bites is over 10 years old. It established that there were approximately 4.7 million dog bites in the USA per year. Since that time, the number of bites clearly appears to have grown faster than the number of dogs.

Over 30 dog attacks per year result in the death of an American. These incidents are referred to as “canine homicides,” meaning deaths of humans that were inflicted by dogs. Although homicides are extremely rare, they are significant primarily because they are investigated closely, and a good amount of detail often is reported, enabling experts to form opinions about a variety of issues pertaining to dog bites. In the 1980s and 1990s there were about 17 fatalities in the USA per year, but 2006 and 2007 saw more than 30 per year.

A close look at the dispute over dangerous dogs, however, leads to the conclusion that the disagreement often is about how we talk about them, what makes them dangerous, and how we should curtail the danger. Many believe that we should not talk about a dog as being dangerous, but rather the owner being dangerous. Others say that no breed is inherently dangerous, and that we should regard a dog as dangerous only if it has behaved in a dangerous manner. Many strongly resist any proposed solution that would involve any distinction whatsoever among the breeds. The approach advocated by Attorney Kenneth Phillips and most experts is multi-focal, in recognition of the fact that there are many causes of the dog bite epidemic, requiring many corrective measures.

If you or a loved one has been injured by a dog bite attack in Florida, you need an experienced Florida Dog Bite Lawyer on your side.