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Florida Legal Blog, Courtesy of Dennis Hernandez & Associates, PA
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Can a parent sign a waiver for a child?
As personal injury attorneys who fight for the interests of children who suffer personal injuries due to the negligence of others, the personal injury lawyers of Dennis Hernandez & Associates, PA, note last month’s Florida Supreme Court decision holding that parents cannot sign releases or waivers on behalf of their minor children who subsequently suffer personal injuries. The opinion can be found at http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/decisions/2008/sc07-1739.pdf This ruling will allow children who suffer personal injuries while participating in commercial activities, such as on inflatable devices or at amusement parks, to prosecute their personal injury claims and seek damages caused by the negligence of the business operator.
The Florida Supreme Court saw injustice when a parent agrees to waive the personal injury claims of a minor child. Such a waiver of the right to bring a personal injury claim deprives the child of the right to damages if the child is injured as a result of someone else’s negligence.
The Tampa personal injury attorneys of Dennis Hernandez & Associates focus on and fight for the rights of children who suffer personal injuries throughout the State of Florida. ADD LINK TO CHILDREN’s LAW COMMERCIAL.
The Florida Supreme Court’s ruling may help children who have suffered personal injuries overcome an obstacle that business owners and insurance companies have used for years to beat these claims.
If your child has suffered personal injuries due to the negligence of another, be it in a commercial setting or in a car crash, call the Tampa personal injury attorneys at Dennis Hernandez & Associates, PA. The personal injury lawyers at Dennis Hernandez & Associates handle real cases and strive to achieve real results.
- Tampa Personal Injury Attorney
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
With Super Parties Comes Super Responsibility
With the NFL’s Championship game in Tampa you can expect a tremendous influx of visitors to the area, and the hospitality industry is capitalizing with a full week of events, functions and parties.
If you plan on attending any of these events or even find yourself out on the roads late at night, please take the time to be cautious of people not acting responsibly. It is a celebratory time for Pittsburg Steeler and Arizona Cardinal fans, and the safety of others might not be on the top of their minds after a few libations and an evening of festivities.
Avoid confrontation with overzealous fans and drive defensively when on the roads.
The Florida personal injury lawyers at Dennis Hernandez & Associates represent individuals and families who are victims of criminal negligence. Victims of drunk drivers and assault need dedicated representation to restore quality of life. Dennis Hernandez & Associates will fight to ensure real results for these victims. Representing Florida residents and visitors, Dennis Hernandez has legal representatives available for consultation 24 hours a day.
Call 1-888-878-4LAW (1-888-878-4529).
Friday, January 23, 2009
A little history about personal injury attorneys.
What is a personal injury and why do you need a personal injury attorney?
Personal injury law is derived from our legal tradition and comes from tort law under the English system. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_injury
Each state, including Florida, has its own personal injury law. In order to deal with complex issues that arise from a car crash or other serious personal injury issue, you should contact a qualified personal injury attorney.
With offices in Tampa and Sarasota, the personal injury lawyers of Dennis Hernandez & Associates, PA, www.dhpersonalinjury.com, are familiar with the Florida laws about this important topic. If you have been injured, contact a personal injury attorney at Dennis Hernandez & Associates. It is important that the work start immediately and that the strategy in working to prosecute claims be implemented by qualified attorneys.
- Tampa Personal Injury Attorney
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Shoulder injuries are often misdiagnosed or undiagnosed.
The human shoulder is a complex network of bone, cartilage, tendon and muscle.
Often times, people who suffer personal injuries describe shoulder pain to their doctors, but the doctors sometimes attribute that pain to being pain radiating from the neck.
If you have suffered a personal injury to your shoulder in a car crash, you should be clear and ask you doctor to order tests (like MRIs) to determine if your shoulder pain requires specific treatment. You should also consult with a Tampa personal injury attorney who is familiar with various injuries and their treatments. Such a qualified Tampa personal injury attorney can explain your damages to the insurance companies and fight for the best results in your case.
With offices in Tampa and Sarasota, the personal injury lawyers of Dennis Hernandez & Associates, PA, understand the issues involved in personal injury and car crash cases and fight hard for their clients’ rights.
- Tampa Personal Injury Attorney
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Recent articles have highlighted the damages, personal injuries and wrongful deaths that tragically result from car crashes and accidents involving teen drivers.
http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=498409
The statistics are troubling: according to teensafety.com, a teenager is injured in a car crash every 55 seconds and killed every 6.5 minutes.
As a society seeking to eliminate personal injuries and wrongful death, we need to take the time to provide thoughtful, thorough training to our young drivers who are new to the roads and whose inexperience can be deadly.
Of course, insurance companies look at these injuries and fatalities in terms of dollars and cents, raising premiums and challenging claims. Through our legal system, as well, monetary compensation is often the only civil remedy available for personal injury and wrongful death.
Often times, negligent drivers injure or kill inexperienced teen drivers. The Tampa personal injury lawyers of Dennis Hernandez & Associates, PA, not only recognize the importance of prosecuting claims against negligent drivers, but they also understand the human element and the emotional, psychological and financial burdens placed upon people who suffer personal injuries (and their families).
If you have (or even know) a teen driver, please stress the importance of proper training and safe driving. It could truly make a difference in that person’s life.
- Tampa Personal Injury Attorney
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Tampa personal injury attorney Dennis Hernandez was recognized in the November, 2008, edition of the Florida Jury Verdict Review & Analysis publication (www.jvra.com) for his efforts in obtaining a million dollar settlement ($1,000,000 settlement) for a little boy who suffered personal injuries and a broken leg when he was thrown from a horse drawn carriage at a Hilton Hotel.
If you suffer a personal injury due to the acts of an employee of a large company, you need a personal injury attorney with the resources and aggressiveness to take on the large opponent. With offices in Tampa and Sarasota, the personal injury attorneys of Dennis Hernandez & Associates, PA, will happily discuss your case with you.
- Tampa Personal Injury Attorney
Monday, January 19, 2009
Visitors are coming. Be courteous, be careful!
Now we know who will be playing in Super Bowl XLIII. www.superbowl.com.
With Tampa playing host to the big game, there will be many visitors to the Tampa Bay area. For those of us who live in and around Tampa, this is a great time for us to show our hospitality and be courteous to our guests.
It is also a time for us to be mindful of the fact that many of our visitors will not be familiar with our roads and may create dangerous conditions as they drive around the area. Be on the lookout and be careful, drivers who are unfamiliar with the roads are more likely to cause crashes.
Even if you take all precautions, sometimes a negligent driver will still cause a crash. If you suffer personal injury as a result of another driver, you should hire a qualified personal injury lawyer immediately. A qualified personal injury attorney, like those at Dennis Hernandez & Associates, PA, can seek the relief and the recovery that you deserve.
- Tampa Personal Injury Attorney
Friday, January 16, 2009
“One too many” leads to too many personal injuries.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched a winter crackdown on drunk drivers. Between 2002 and 2006, nearly 4 out of 10 fatalities in car crashes involved crashes in the last two weeks of December. The “Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest.” law enforcement and public awareness campaign is supported by a $7 million national television and radio advertising campaign.
If you or someone you love has been injured by a drunk driver, you may be entitled to monetary compensation for your personal injuries and damages. You should contact a qualified personal injury lawyer immediately. The sooner you get a qualified personal injury attorney working for you, the sooner the lawyer can start seeking the relief and the recovery that you deserve.
- Tampa Personal Injury Attorney
Thursday, January 15, 2009
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, someone in the United States is involved in a car crash every ten seconds.
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/
Approximately one third of all accidents result in injury and nearly one percent result in death.
If you are injured by someone else’s negligence in a car crash on these dangerous roads, you should contact a qualified personal injury lawyer immediately. The sooner you get a qualified personal injury attorney working for you, the sooner the lawyer can start seeking the relief and the recovery that you deserve.
- Tampa Personal Injury Attorney
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Too Often Missed – The Brain Injury in Personal Injury Cases
Often times, the personal injury that someone suffers in a car crash is obvious: a broken leg, neck pain, cuts from shattered glass, etc. However, often times there are more serious injuries that are not so obvious. These personal injuries are much more difficult to detect and much more difficult to treat – they are brain injuries.
In a car accident, different parts of the brain can be injured and can create subtle symptoms: loss of the ability to interact with other people, loss of focus on tasks, mood changes, changes in social behavior, changes in personality, difficulty with problem solving, problems reading, loss of hand-eye coordination, vision problems, short term memory loss, increased aggressive behavior, dizziness, sleeping problems and many others.
Too often, doctors miss these symptoms because they don’t ask and the injured person doesn’t tell them. A qualified personal injury attorney can work to point out these injuries and fight for the full value of a personal injury claim. If you are injured by someone else’s negligence in a car crash, you should contact a qualified personal injury lawyer immediately. The sooner you get a qualified personal injury attorney (who is familiar with head injuries and brain injuries) working for you, the sooner the personal injury lawyer can start working to get the recovery that you deserve.
- Tampa Personal Injury Attorney
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
In good hands?
Insurance companies are not your friends, especially if you have received a personal injury in a car crash because someone else was not paying attention, speeding, talking on a cell phone or sending text messages.
Recent reports have listed some of the worst accident insurers, like Farmers, Liberty Mutual, State Farm and Progressive, with Allstate being the worst. “While Allstate publicly touts its 'good hands' approach, it has instead privately instructed its agents to employ a 'boxing gloves' strategy against its policyholders," said American Association for Justice CEO Jon Haber. “Allstate ducks, bobs and weaves to avoid paying claims to increase its profits.”
These reports allege that insurance companies really want to deter valid lawsuits, to make the public think that lawsuits are bogus, to make injured people think that they do not have a claim or that they should not file a lawsuit and to limit the rights of injured people. Outside consultants have reportedly told the insurance companies how to make more money: “pay less on claims and take a longer time to pay those claims.”
In steps a qualified personal injury lawyer. Research has indicated that cases where personal injury attorneys are involved settle for over three times the amount of money as those cases where a personal injury lawyer is not involved. If you are injured by someone else’s negligence in a car crash, you should contact a qualified personal injury lawyer immediately. Do not talk to the insurance company! The sooner you get a qualified personal injury attorney working for you, the sooner the lawyer can start working against the insurance company and start seeking the relief and the recovery that you deserve.
- Tampa Personal Injury Attorney
Monday, January 12, 2009
Recently, a disturbing trend is emerging that is harming people who suffer personal injuries in car crashes. Because of the bad economy, drivers are not paying their automobile insurance premiums but they are continuing to drive. This means that a growing number of drivers are on the road without insurance to pay for the personal injuries that they cause when they are involved in a car crash!
What does this mean for the innocent victims of the negligence of others? Often times, it means that that they are limited to recovery from their own insurance company. That insurance must be purchased and is called Uninsured Motorist Coverage or Underinsured Motorist Coverage (“UM”). UM insurance helps protect you if you are injured in a car accident and the negligent driver does not have enough insurance to pay for your claim.
If you are injured by someone else’s negligence in a car crash and that person does not have enough insurance to cover your claim, you will have to rely on your UM coverage to pay for your damages. In any event, if you are in a crash you should contact a personal injury lawyer immediately. The sooner you get a qualified personal injury attorney working for you, the sooner the lawyer can start seeking the relief and the recovery that you deserve. This includes making a claim against the insurance company of the negligent driver and your own insurance company, if you have UM.
- Tampa Personal Injury Attorney
Friday, January 9, 2009
Construction Changes Demand Your Attention
Over the last few months, traffic patterns around Tampa International Airport have changed dramatically. Just last month, five new exits opened in and around the area. A map of the changes can be found at:
http://mytbi.com/projects/map.asp?mapID=442&roadid=1
These changes demand your attention while driving.
Unfortunately, not all drivers pay attention and car crashes are certainly going to happen. By talking on their cell phones, sending text messages or simply not reading the new exit signs, negligent and careless drivers are going to cause car crashes and accidents, causing personal injuries to innocent drivers.
If you are injured by someone else’s negligence in a car crash on these dangerous roads, you should contact a qualified personal injury lawyer immediately. The sooner you get a qualified personal injury attorney working for you, the sooner the lawyer can start seeking the relief and the recovery that you deserve.
- Tampa Personal Injury Attorney
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