Florida Injury Lawyers Blog

As Miami-Dade auto accident lawyers, we were saddened to read about an accident that killed a father and daughter who just happened to be nearby. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported May 24 on the accident that killed Robert Kane, 79, and his 51-year-old daughter Odetta Kane. Angela Stracar, 24, was driving past the Boca Isles South subdivision in West Boca when she lost control of her SUV and hit the sign for the subdivision. The crash flipped the SUV over onto the Kanes’ Cadillac as they drove home from picking up food for dinner. Both were wearing seat belts, but died at the scene, leaving Ena Kane, 75, without her husband and only child. Stracar was taken to the hospital in good condition. Authorities are waiting for the results of an intoxication test to decide whether charges will be filed.

Evidence of intoxication would go a long way toward explaining why Stracar lost control of her vehicle. However, regardless of whether Stracar was intoxicated, the description of this accident makes it sound a lot like it was her fault. Drunk or sober, reasonably careful drivers do not hit roadside signs. The fact that her vehicle flipped across the road also suggests that she may have hit the sign with some force. If Stracar was at fault for the accident, Ena Kane would be able to hold her legally and financially responsible for the deaths of her husband and son. Even if authorities decline to file charges against Stracar, Ena Kane would have the right to pursue justice through the civil courts, with the help of a West Palm Beach car crash attorney. That includes requesting fair financial compensation for the loss of her husband and daughter’s financial support, as well as their love, companionship and care.

It’s also worth noting that Stracar was driving an SUV -- a type of vehicle that remains substantially more likely than other vehicle types to roll over during ordinary driving maneuvers. SUVs have higher centers of gravity, which means it’s easier to tip them over. In some models, in fact, it’s possible for the tipping over to happen without the vehicle hitting an object or another vehicle -- during sudden swerving to avoid an obstacle, sudden braking or drifting onto uneven dirt surfaces. Rollovers are especially bad accidents because they can throw the people inside the vehicle around and out of the vehicle, causing serious head injuries, spinal injuries and death. As this article shows, they can also bring the entire weight of the SUV to bear on anything that happens to be in the way, such as another vehicle and its passengers. If Stracar’s SUV was so defectively designed that it rolled over when other vehicles would not have, Ena Kane may also have a defective product claim against its manufacturer.

Continue reading "Possibly Intoxicated Driver Flips Car Over, Killing Nearby Father and Daughter " »

As Fort Lauderdale defective products attorneys, we were saddened to see an article about a young Florida Highway Patrolman’s death. According to the Miami Herald, Patrick Ambroise, 35, was killed May 15 when his parked patrol car was rear-ended near the Okeechobee Road toll plaza on the Florida Turnpike. The 2006 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor burst into flames, trapping Ambroise inside and killing him at the scene. The driver of the other vehicle, 19-year-old Jonathan Robert Garcia of Miramar, is hospitalized in stable but serious condition. Ambroise leaves behind a wife and two children, ages five years and three months, as well as a tight extended family. The FHP said the case is still under investigation and no charges have yet been filed.

The Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor is made especially for police work and is among the most widely used police vehicles in North America. Its design is considered well suited for police work, with a large engine and a design that minimizes repair needs after minor accidents. However, it has also been criticized in the last two decades for allegedly being prone to catastrophic fires after rear-end accidents like this one. Consumer and law enforcement groups say the fuel tanks on Crown Victorias (including those sold to the public without police features) are placed within the cars’ “crush zone,” outside the rear axle. When someone hits the vehicle at high speed, critics say, that tank can rupture, allowing sparks to ignite a fuel fire. Since 2005, Ford has offered optional safety shields to keep the fuel tank from being punctured and automatic fire suppression systems. It was not reported whether Ambroise’s vehicle had these features.

Our Miami-Dade product defect lawyers are sorry to see any death caused by a product with a serious safety flaw. Consumers should be able to trust the products they buy to be reasonably safe -- especially with cars, which can be used as a deadly weapon. But it’s particularly alarming to see a possibly flawed product sold to law enforcement officers, whose job already carries high risks. Officers spend more time than the average person driving at high speeds -- in fact, Crown Victoria Police Interceptors are designed specifically for this job, with higher maximum speeds than other Crown Victorias. For this reason, it would make sense for Ford to consider high-speed accidents when placing the fuel tank, which is well known as a fire risk thanks to the 1970s Ford Pinto scandal. If it has not done so, especially after consumer groups began protesting, officers and families like Ambroise’s would have a strong case against it.

Continue reading "FHP Officer’s Death Raises New Questions About Ford Crown Victoria Safety" »

An article about criminal charges against a Deerfield Beach man caught the attention of our Fort Lauderdale wrongful death lawyers. According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Mandy J. Romeu, 42, is charged with vessel homicide in the death of Christopher Smith, 31, of Boynton Beach. Romeu is accused of being under the influence of alcohol and possibly speeding when he ran his speedboat into a marker in the Intracoastal Waterway near Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach. He is also accused of operating a vehicle recklessly and violating navigational rules. He was released from Palm Beach County jail May 10 on $25,000 bail.

A spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said Romeu admitted that he’d been drinking the night of the crash. Specifically, he told authorities that he’d had four rum and Cokes between 7 p.m. and midnight on May 7, including while he was behind the wheel as well as before. When Romeu set out into the Intracoastal Waterway, neither he nor his two passengers -- Christopher Smith and Smith’s 36-year-old sister, Alexandra Smith -- were wearing life jackets. When the boat hit the marker, Christopher Smith was thrown from the vessel. He was found dead in the water an hour later. The FWCC is currently investigating whether Romeu was intoxicated at the time of the crash, as well as whether he was in a restricted-speed area when the 30-mph crash happened.

As Miami wrongful death lawyers, we’re sorry to see reports about preventable deaths like this one. Florida law makes drinking and boating a crime just like drunk driving, but boaters don’t always pay attention. Because they’re away from obvious enforcement signs like police cruisers, and often boating in a party atmosphere, too many boaters don’t think they need to observe the same rules they’d observe to be safe on the road. Unfortunately, drinking and boating can be even more dangerous, especially when the victims are thrown off the ship. Even if they can swim, they can hit their heads and end up unconscious in the water, or even be sucked into boats’ propellers. Swimmers can also get tired after an hour or more of treading water. The result can be needless deaths or serious, permanent injuries.

Continue reading "Allegedly Drunk Deerfield Beach Boater Charged With Vessel Homicide of Passenger" »

As Miami-Dade wrongful death attorneys, we were very interested to see a lengthy report in April 18’s Miami Herald about disturbing testimony in a wrongful death lawsuit. Martha Quesada is suing Rainbow Ranch, a group home for disabled children, and Dr. Steven L. Kaplan for the death of her severely autistic son, Denis Maltez. Maltez was 12 and had been under Rainbow Ranch’s care for four years when he died of serotonin syndrome, a rare condition that is exclusively caused by incorrect doses of psychiatric medication. The Herald’s story detailed some of the numerous charges made against Kaplan for his use of medication before Maltez died.

Maltez was under Kaplan’s treatment for about a year, after Rainbow Ranch changed his treatment from a team at Jackson Memorial Hospital, allegedly without his mother’s consent. Kaplan said in a deposition that he was told Maltez had been abandoned by his mother, which was not the case. However, Maltez did have physical and emotional outbursts that made him hard to control. Kaplan put the boy, who weighed 70 pounds, on adult doses of Zyprexa and Seroquel, both antipsychotics that were not approved for use in children. He also prescribed relatively high doses of the tranquilizer Klonopin and the mood stabilizer Depoakote. Two months later, caregivers started reporting that Maltez was sluggish in the mornings, and teachers reported him sleeping through class, which prompted an emergency room visit.

A number of Miami caregivers had expressed concerns by then that Kaplan’s patients were overmedicated, and no fewer than eight calls about Maltez had been placed to a state Department of Children and Families hotline. DCF, the Agency for Persons with Disabilities and the federal Agency for Healthcare Quality and Management all received complaints suggesting that Maltez was overmedicated, but each referred the case to another agency. On May 23, 2007, he died after getting into an altercation with a caregiver who restrained him on his stomach. After his death, the APD hired an outside psychiatrist who reported overmedication of 99% of Rainbow Ranch’s residents. Rainbow Ranch has since closed. Kaplan is still under scrutiny by several agencies, but is still in practice despite the Miami-Dade medical examiner’s office finding that Maltez died of overmedication.

As Fort Lauderdale wrongful death lawyers, we are disappointed that so many agencies couldn’t work together to take dangerous doctors away from their patients. As the article points out, doctors like Kaplan who take Medicaid’s notoriously small reimbursements are rare, which means administrators in homes like Rainbow Ranch can’t be very picky. That’s unfortunate, because children, disabled people and the elderly often can’t speak out when something is very wrong, as it may have been at Rainbow Ranch. Caregivers at homes and hospitals have to be the first line of defense when they notice shoddy care and intentional over-medication, and regulators need to step up when they get strong evidence that there’s a problem. If they don’t, tragedies like the needless death of Denis Maltez will continue to happen.

Continue reading "Testimony in Mother’s Lawsuit Suggests State Officials Ignored Boy’s Over Medication" »

As Fort Lauderdale car crash attorneys, we have followed news updates about the death of a young woman in a crash with a Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy. Cara Catlin, 14, was killed in January as her stepsister, 21-year-old Heather Meyer, made a left turn from Dixie Highway. The vehicle that hit their Honda Civic was driven by a sheriff’s deputy who witnesses said was speeding, even though his lights and siren were not on. On April 1, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that homicide investigators have confirmed this, calculating that Officer Frank McCurrie was driving at 89 mph when he entered the intersection at around 9:55 p.m. The posted speed limit at the area is 40 mph.

Using physical evidence like skid marks, accident reconstruction experts have determined that McCurrie was going 89 mph when he entered the intersection, while Meyer was going about 25 mph. BSO officials noted that McCurrie was not required to use his lights and siren at the time, because he was not responding to an emergency. He was traveling to back up another officer at a traffic stop. They also noted that McCurrie would have had the right of way, since he was proceeding straight through the intersection, while Meyer was making an unprotected left turn. The office wouldn’t say whether the department has a policy on travel speed for backup calls. McCurrie has not been charged with any crime, but he has been placed on desk duty, and Catlin’s death is being investigated as a homicide.

As West Palm Beach auto accident lawyers, we hope this investigation leads to any necessary changes in BSO policy, as well as justice for Catlin and her family. It’s true that left turners do not have the right of way, but it’s also undeniable that nobody expects opposing traffic to travel nearly 50 mph over the speed limit. If Meyer saw the deputy’s headlights, it would have been reasonable for her to assume the vehicle was being driven at or below the speed limit. By contrast, police sirens and lights would likely have warned her that she could expect the vehicle to be going above the speed limit. In fact, this is one of the reasons police cars have light bars and sirens. Police officers have extra privileges because of their job, but they also have a responsibility to use that privilege wisely. That includes avoiding negligent behavior that can cause a preventable tragedy.

Continue reading "Investigators Confirm BSO Deputy Was Speeding Without Siren Before Fatal Crash" »

Our Fort Lauderdale wrongful death attorneys have been following with interest the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Ereck Plancher. The Orlando Sentinel reported March 25 that the case’s newest judge has appointed a special master to oversee certain contentious depositions. Plancher was a redshirt freshman football player at the University of Central Florida when he collapsed and died during a routine offseason workout. Medical examination revealed that Plancher died of sickle-cell trait, a blood condition related to sickle cell disease (also called sickle cell anemia). Plancher’s parents are suing UCF’s Board of Trustees and Athletic Association, arguing that the university knew Plancher had the trait, but did not take it into account during difficult workouts, or even tell him. The university denies that Plancher did not know.

Sickle-cell disease causes red blood cells to change their shape, causing numerous circulatory problems and pain. It is a genetic disease that disproportionately affects African Americans. Sickle-cell trait appears in people who have only one of the two sickle-cell disease genes. Such people can live normal lives without realizing they have the condition, but during extreme physical exertion, their blood cells can sickle, causing a sudden lack of oxygen to organs. That was the case for Plancher, an otherwise fit 19-year-old. The lawsuit claims coaches didn’t make recommended accommodations for his condition, and ignored signs that he was struggling during the workout. It is not disputed that UCF knew about Plancher’s condition, but the two sides dispute whether Plancher himself knew, which is one reason the judge chose to appoint a special master to oversee pre-trial testimony of the coach and head athletic trainer.

As West Palm Beach wrongful death lawyers, we wish the Plancher family the best of luck. Sickle-cell trait is not well known outside of athletic circles, but it affects 1 in 12 African Americans. In fact, after the condition caused several 1970s-era military recruits to collapse during basic training, the Air Force temporarily banned recruits who had it. Athletic trainers and doctors have developed guidelines for protecting athletes with the condition. Included in those guidelines is a suggestion that coaches allow extra rest for athletes with the condition. Unfortunately, coaches who push their athletes hard may see genuine fatigue as malingering and penalize athletes for resting. In individuals with sickle-cell trait, this can be deadly. For coaches who know the athlete has sickle-cell trait, it may be negligence, leading to the kind of wrongful death claim UCF is now defending.

Continue reading "Judge Appoints Third Party to Oversee Testimony in Contentious Wrongful Death Case" »

Our West Palm Beach wrongful death attorneys were saddened to read about the death of a four-year-old British girl in a pedestrian accident in Daytona Beach. According to a March 22 item in the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Ellie Bland of Nottingham, England, was hit by a car while she walked across the beach, holding the hand of her great-uncle. Daytona Beach is one of the few beaches in the United States where car traffic is allowed. The accident is renewing calls in some quarters to ban beach driving, something advocates say would protect sea turtles as well as people.

Ellie’s great-uncle, John Langlands, 53 and also of Nottingham, waited with the girl for traffic to clear in both directions before crossing toward the ocean. But when they crossed, a car driven by 66-year-old Barbara Worley of Georgia clipped her, knocking her into the sand. Authorities say Worley stopped, but then panicked and hit the accelerator. The vehicle moved forward and ran over the little girl. A Florida Highway Patrol spokesperson said an investigation is expected to take several weeks, and that charges against Worley were pending.

The article barely touches on the controversy over driving on the beach in Daytona Beach, a tradition dating back a century in a city known for auto racing. The Orlando Sentinel reports that there have been four accidents on the beach since 2006, at least one of which was serious. As Fort Lauderdale wrongful death lawyers, we have serious safety concerns about this tradition. Beaches don’t have designated sidewalks or crosswalks, not to mention traffic signals, which makes it difficult for pedestrians to gauge when it’s safe to cross traffic lanes. As this accident shows, even holding the hand of a responsible adult doesn’t necessarily protect kids from inattentive (or drunk) drivers. The city may not need to fully ban driving on the beach to solve these problems, but it can and should erect warning signs and establish clear rules of the “road” for drivers and pedestrians.

Continue reading "British Child’s Death Renews Calls for Ban on Beach Driving in Daytona Beach" »

More than a year ago, two British businessmen visiting Florida were hit by an unknown driver and left on the side of State Road A1A in Fort Lauderdale. Our West Palm Beach wrongful death attorneys have watched the case ever since. On March 15, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that the Broward Sheriff’s Office was charging two Americans in connection with those deaths. Ryan LeVin, 34, was charged with hitting Kenneth Watkinson, 48, and Craig Elford, 39, with his Porsche 911 Turbo as they walked back to their hotel. Derek Wilhelm Cook, 38, is accused of dumping the damaged vehicle for LeVin after the crash. Both men already face wrongful death lawsuits from Elford’s and Watkinson’s families in Britain.

LeVin, the son of a wealthy Chicago-area family, has more than 50 traffic violations and a drug possession conviction in Illinois. At the time of the crash, he was on probation for causing a high-speed chase that injured three people; he later served six months for violating that parole order by failing to complete drug treatment. Law enforcement knew quickly that LeVin’s Porsche had been involved in the accident, but couldn’t show that he was driving at the time. He claims Cook was driving. However, law enforcement believes it can show through cell phone records and other documented evidence that this is not true.

At 2:13 a.m. on Feb. 13, 2009, LeVin was pulled over in the Porsche and given a warning for having a loud exhaust. Cook was not in the vehicle, but cell phone records show him in another vehicle heading toward Tamarac. Five minutes later, security cameras showed the Porsche racing another car up A1A, and hitting Elford and Watkinson. Four minutes later, phone records show that Cook had turned around and headed for LeVin’s parents’ condo, where he picked up LeVin in his BMW. Police later spotted the two drivers and their cars together, but the Porsche sped away and was abandoned on a highway interchange ramp. They successfully pulled over the BMW and found LeVin inside.

We’re glad to see that law enforcement has managed to build a case prosecutors are comfortable with taking to court. As Fort Lauderdale wrongful death lawyers, we’re sorry to say that in hit-and-run crashes, police are frequently unable to find enough evidence to file charges. As this story shows, it’s not enough to identify the car; law enforcement must also connect a specific driver to that car at that particular moment. Because that’s not always easy -- and because most cases are not this high-profile -- families may have no access to the criminal justice system, even when they have a good idea of who the driver is. In those cases, their best option for seeking justice may be the civil courts, where they can file a wrongful death lawsuit instead of a criminal case.

Continue reading "Charges Filed Against Men Accused of Hitting and Running British Businessmen " »

As West Palm Beach wrongful death attorneys, we know Florida law makes many cases involving medical care an uphill battle. That’s why we were pleased to see that the state’s Second District Court of Appeals upheld a wrongful death verdict for the family of a woman killed by a wrong prescription. According to a March 1 article in The Ledger of Lakeland, the family of Beth Hippely of Mulberry sued Walgreen’s after a pharmacy technician gave Hippely doses of a blood thinner that were ten times stronger than she had been prescribed. After taking it in 2002, Hippely suffered a brain hemorrhage and stroke that left her paralyzed and forced her to stop treatment for early-stage breast cancer. She died in January of 2007, just months before her family’s lawsuit against Walgreen’s went to trial.

According to earlier coverage from The Ledger, Hippely was prescribed a blood thinner to help fight her cancer. Her prognosis was good. But when she filled the prescription, the pharmacy gave her 10-milligram pills instead of one-milligram pills. She took the incorrect pills for nearly a month, until her severe headaches sent her to the hospital. There, she went into a coma and emerged in a “locked in” state, aware but unable to move. She was eventually able to regain some movement through physical therapy, but had to stop the cancer treatment. She died five days after doctors found that the breast cancer had metastasized into her lungs, and seven months before her husband and her three children who were minors at the time were awarded $25.8 million in damages.

We applaud the court for upholding the verdict, large though it may seem. Financial judgments are frequently large in wrongful death cases, because they have to cover all of the financial costs of the injured person’s death and illness or injury, as well as compensation (inadequate though it may be) for the family members who lost a spouse, parent or child. In this case, media reports showed that Walgreen’s was understaffed and using an untrained 19-year-old pharmacy technician to distribute prescription medications. And while the media doesn’t mention this, our Miami wrongful death attorneys know from experience that the bills for the type of medical intervention Hippely needed are astronomical.

Continue reading "Court Upholds Wrongful Death Verdict for Medication Mistake That Killed Mother" »

As West Palm Beach wrongful death attorneys, we were disappointed to see a recent article about the death of a former South Florida woman in Baton Rouge. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Feb. 5 that Mikel Carson, 20, was struck and killed after she got out of her car on Interstate 10. Carson was trying to make sure another motorist who was hit and run was okay. As she tapped at the other driver’s window, an SUV drove into her, killing her and knocking her into the plants by the side of the highway. The SUV did not stop, and the original hit-and-run victim left the scene. In fact, law enforcement towed Carson’s car without finding her body. It was only after morning commuters spotted Carson’s body by the roadside that police came back to retrieve her.

A graduate of Pompano Beach High School, Carson had recently moved to Louisiana to pursue a nursing degree. To support herself and her two-year-old daughter, she was working as a bartender. She was coming home from work around 3 a.m. when she witnessed a hit-and-run on the highway and stopped to talk to the victim. That driver didn’t mention Carson to police in her initial interview about her own crash. Asked about Carson in a second interview, that driver said she remembered the interaction, but that Carson simply disappeared. Law enforcement has traced the SUV they believe hit Carson to a body shop in New Orleans, but have not yet found the driver. Carson’s daughter has returned to Florida to live with her father, and the family is starting a trust to pay for her college education.

This case presents several interesting issues for Miami wrongful death lawyers like us. Of course, the fact that Carson was hit and run means that her daughter and family currently have no way to hold the at-fault driver legally responsible. For insurance coverage purposes, a hit-and-run driver is an uninsured driver, and that means any financial compensation would have to come from Carson’s own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. If police can find the driver, however, that driver (and his or her insurance company) would face serious civil liability as well as criminal charges. Juries generally aren’t too impressed by drivers who cause deaths and run away from the consequences. For this family, that could mean a chance to recover money to support Carson’s now-motherless daughter and contribute to her college fund.

Continue reading "Deerfield Beach Woman Dies in Louisiana Hit-and-Run While Trying to Help Motorist" »

As Fort Lauderdale car wreck attorneys, we were saddened to see a report that a teenager died in a crash involving a law enforcement officer. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel said Jan. 25 that Cara Catlin, 14, died Jan. 23 after her stepsister’s car collided with a patrol car from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office. The crash also injured her stepsister, 21-year-old Heather Meyer, and another passenger, 15-year-old Gabriel Alegria. They were both hospitalized in stable condition. Sheriff’s deputy Frank McCurrie, also 21, was treated for minor injuries and released. The newspaper said the crash severely damaged Meyer’s Honda Civic, ripping off the entire back end.

The accident took place around 10 p.m., as Meyer and her passengers were looking for something to eat. She made a left turn from Dixie Highway onto Northeast 56th Street, with a green light but not an arrow. At the same time, McCurrie was heading in the opposite direction on Dixie Highway. Catlin’s aunt said she was upset that McCurrie did not have his lights or siren on at the time. A spokesperson for the BSO said McCurrie didn’t need the emergency lights or siren because he wasn’t responding to an emergency. Traffic homicide investigators will look into the speed of both cars as a possible explanation for the crash. They are also looking for any witnesses they have not yet interviewed.

It’s difficult to tell who was at fault just from the facts in the article. As West Palm Beach auto accident lawyers, we find that most crashes involve some amount of fault on both sides, although most of the fault generally lies with one driver. But if investigators do find that McCurrie was speeding without lights and siren on to warn other drivers, it could make the Broward County Sheriff’s Office liable in any lawsuit Catlin’s family chooses to file. If that’s the case, the family would be suing a government agency, which means following specific and special rules that can complicate a case. Particularly in cases involving suing a government agency, experts say it’s essential to get the advice of an experienced attorney as early as possible in the process.

Continue reading "Car Accident Involving Broward County Deputy Sheriff Kills Teenage Girl" »

As Miami wrongful death lawyers, we were intrigued by a recent update on the sad case of a college football player who died on the field nearly two years ago. The Naples Daily News reported Dec. 31 that the family of Erick Plancher is continuing a lawsuit against the University of Central Florida over the young man’s death, despite bureaucratic and procedural obstacles. Plancher was a football star at Lely High School, near Naples, and was a wide receiver for the university during his freshman year. But during an off-season workout in March of that year, Plancher collapsed onto the field. He died a short time later, at the age of 19.

Doctors later determined that Plancher’s collapse was caused by a condition called sickle-cell trait. Caused by inheriting one, but not both, of the genes for sickle-cell anemia, sickle-cell trait can cause patients’ blood cells to sickle during intense, dehydrating exercise. It’s disputed whether Plancher and his coaches knew he had the condition, but ESPN reported in 2008 that some of his teammates believe coaches ignored signs of trouble. These allegations form part of the basis for the family’s wrongful death lawsuit against the UCF Athletics Association and the UCF Board of Trustees. That case is winding through Orange County’s courts, the newspaper said, and has already survived one challenge. A judge ruled Dec. 23 that the medical waiver Plancher signed does not automatically absolve the university of responsibility. The same judge also declined to designate the Athletics Association as a state agency, which would limit its financial liability in the case.

Our West Palm Beach wrongful death attorneys are not involved in this case, but we still applaud the rulings. The judge’s ruling on whether the school-supported Athletics Association is a state agency is important, because special rules apply to state agencies involved in lawsuits. Thanks to a legal doctrine called sovereign immunity, state agencies may set shorter deadlines and more obstacles for lawsuits, and the maximum they can be compelled to pay in most cases is $200,000. Similarly, the issue of the medical waiver could determine whether Plancher’s family, or any family in its sad position, is allowed to even have a day in court. The parties disagree on whether the waiver was clear. Just as important, however, is the issue of whether any waiver can absolve coaches of the responsibility to be careful about students’ health during grueling workouts. Thanks to this ruling, the issue will get a full and fair hearing at trial.

Continue reading "Family Pursues Wrongful Death Case in Collapse of UCF Football Player" »