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A federal investigation from the U.S. Department of Labor concluded that two contractors’ safety violations could have prevented a Fort Lauderdale crane collapse in April that killed a 27-year-old construction worker.

The investigation concluded that Phoenix Rigging & Erecting LLC and Maxim Crane Works LP be cited for the alleged safety violations the day the man, Jorge de la Torre, fell 30 stories to his death on April 4, 2024. These findings come from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which is a branch of the Department of Labor. 

De la Torre is alleged to not have been properly secured in the incident but a co-worker who was “wearing the required fall protection” was not injured, according to reporting from WSVN Channel 7 News Miami.

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Evan Robinson, a Leesfield & Partners Trial Lawyer,  secured a $350,000 settlement for a woman who shattered her hip as a result of a violent fall at a Monroe County tourist attraction. 

Our client visited the popular tourist attraction while on vacation in the Keys with her husband.  As the couple navigated the property’s narrow and crowded walkway, that was supposed to be flanked with gravel on both sides, our client stepped off the edge of the walkway and into a trench in an area where there was no gravel.  As a result, our client lost her balance and fell violently onto the concrete ground, causing an injury that would forever alter her previously active lifestyle.  

During the course of the litigation, Mr. Robinson learned that the walkway on which our client fell posed a dangerous hazard that was well-known to numerous employees and managers who worked at the attraction. Specifically, the frequent displacement of gravel caused by visitors constantly kicking it around resulted in the walkway repeatedly becoming unlevel.  This recurring hazard presented such a serious danger that it required daily inspections and maintenance for over 16 years.  In fact, every employee who worked at the attraction was instructed to keep watch over this area and bags of additional gravel were kept on site so that maintenance personnel could re-level the walkway when the gravel was displaced. 

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At least one person died and four others were hospitalized with severe burns following a boat explosion at a marina in Dania Beach, according to reporting from The Miami herald. 

The incident took place around 4:30 p.m. Friday when a boat that was delivered to the marina for work before the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show, which is expected to run from Wednesday until Nov. 3. 

The boat exploded after five workers began fueling, according to local media. Witnesses reported hearing a “massive boom” before emergency responders rushed to the scene to get people to the hospital. 

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A fatal, overnight crash that killed one and left two others in the hospital caused parts of I-95 to still be shut down Friday morning. 

The crash happened around 2:20 a.m. near Northwest 119th Street on I-95 when a Dodge SUV driver lost control of the vehicle, slamming into a concrete wall, according to local media. 

A black Honda sedan crashed into the dodge and several others who were standing in the road. 

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In 2023, the families of Edward Dixon and Taborez White were rocked by the news of their deaths in two separate shootings within the same Miami Gardens community. Now, over a year after their deaths, their families have banded together in a lawsuit, claiming that Cedar Grove Apartments, the complex where the shootings took place, didn’t do enough to protect them. 

“He was in the prime of his life when he was ripped from this Earth and us,” Marcia Dixon, Dixon’s mother, said in a press conference Wednesday. 

Dixon went to the apartment complex to visit a friend in January 2023 when he was shot, his mother told local media.

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A family of a baby girl whose neck was broken—resulting in a spinal cord injury that caused paralysis—is now suing the Orlando facility following her death, claiming they tried to cover up the baby’s injury in a new medical malpractice case.

Jahxy Peets was born about three months early at the Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies where she was intubated and admitted to the NICU in June 2022. While there, a nurse allegedly broke the 2-week-old baby’s neck and placed her back in her incubator without alerting other staff or medical professionals. The break caused a “debilitating spinal cord injury” that left the newborn paralyzed. 

Other staff later noticed that the baby was not moving her arms or legs. Jahxy stopped breathing on her own and her organs began shutting down, her parents’ attorneys told local media. A June 29, 2022, MRI revealed the injury. The family’s attorneys claim that there was an attempted cover-up to hide Jahxy’s injuries. 

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Following the tragic deaths of at least five infants across the United States, Fisher-Price is recalling 2 million swings over suffocation risks. 

The concern lies with the company’s Snuga Swing products, which feature pillows depicting different animals, such as raccoons, cats, bears, and puppies, on which parents can lay their infants down before clipping them safely inside. Included in the recall are replacement sleep pads for these swings. 

Similar products appeared to still be for sale Wednesday online at retailers such as Walmart and Poshmark, retailing anywhere from $50 for used products to over $100 for new ones. In reporting from CNN, some of the recalled swings were allegedly for sale for $160. 

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About a year after a young man was killed in a horrific boat crash, his family retained Leesfield & Partners to represent them in a case against the negligent boater responsible for his death.

Our clients are seeking justice for the irreparable damage done to their family with the loss of their son due to the negligence of Eric Rodriguez, 25, the captain of the boat on the night of the crash.

Rodriguez was intoxicated, according to law enforcement, and fully aware that the plan for that day involved binge drinking. He failed to secure a safe and sober boater to ensure the group could return to shore safely and drove the boat recklessly, speeding far beyond the area’s posted limit.

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E-bike crashes have been splashed across newspaper headlines since their advent in 2020, creating an epidemic of injuries and deaths across the country. 

Over the weekend in Palm Beach, another person was sadly injured by these dangerous modes of transport. 

The incident happened Saturday around 11 p.m. when the E-Bike rider was heading west on Forest Hill Boulevard in West Palm Beach. An Audi driver was driving directly behind them in the same lane and the driver alleged in reporting from 12 News not to have seen the rider. 

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Videos of electric vehicle fires  amid the Hurricane Milton storm surges have spread across social media. 

Tesla, a clean-energy company, sent advisories to customers urging them to move their cars to higher ground ahead of Hurricane Milton. Various insurance carriers also alerted electric vehicle owners to make storage arrangements ahead of the storm, suggesting that people park their cars in protected garages and on higher ground to ward against fires and other damage caused by flooding. 

And it’s not just cars. The Florida Fire Marshal has called the vehicles and other products  “ticking time bombs” due to their lithium-ion batteries.

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