Uncategorized

Published on: August 15, 2024

Pregnant woman files lawsuit after she was exposed to Listeria, alleging Boar’s Head products are to blame.

A pregnant woman has filed a lawsuit after she claims she was hospitalized due to an illness brought on by Boar’s Head products following a recall of certain deli meats from the brand due to listeria.

The recall was issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Services after an investigation in Maryland by the Maryland Department of Health and the Baltimore City Health Department. Data collected by the Centers for Disease Control shows that at least 43 people have been affected by the outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes, a serious food infection contracted via food contamination. At least three people have died, according to the CDC.

Listeria can cause stillbirths and miscarriages in pregnant people. Other symptoms include fever, flu-like symptoms, a stiff neck, seizures, headaches, and or a loss of balance.

Published on: August 9, 2024

Port St. Lucie authorities are urging public to check carbon monoxide detectors following elderly woman’s death

By Leesfield & Partners

An 82-year-old Port St. Lucie woman died this week and her husband remains in the hospital after a car left running in the couple’s garage is suspected to have leaked carbon monoxide into the home, officials say.

Police were called out to the one-story home Sunday morning after a neighbor called to report she saw the woman’s 85-year-old husband on the floor inside, according to reporting from local news outlets. When first responders arrived, they said they found the man unconscious but still breathing.

Police found a car running in the couple’s garage that they believed to be the cause of the carbon monoxide leak. The woman did not survive and her husband remains in the hospital receiving treatment.

Published on: August 8, 2024

Florida Mechanic Killed Monday after Tire Explosion, authorities say

By Leesfield & Partners

A 20-year-old mechanic was killed at a shop in Fort Myers after a swollen tire exploded under pressure Monday, according to reporting from The Miami Herald.

The incident happened around 12:30 p.m. while the man and at least one other worker were filling tires with air. As the man relieved air pressure from the tire, police said, it blew off the rim and struck him in the head. The other worker was also hit in the leg. Coworkers used towels to help stop the bleeding but emergency responders pronounced the 20-year-old dead at the scene at around 1 p.m.

A Centers for Disease Control State Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (Face) Report, a program that examines fatal occupational injuries, conducted following a similar situation with a 20-year-old apprentice mechanic in California recommended that employees never perform maintenance on an inflated tire. Additional recommendations from the report included the supervision of new employees and testing employees following training to ensure that they are ready to take on the job with less supervision.

Published on: August 7, 2024

Nine people dead in devastating Palm Beach County SUV crash Monday night

By Leesfield & Partners

Nine out of the 10 people involved in an SUV crash Sunday have died from their injuries, according to reporting from local news outlets.

The crash happened around 7:30 p.m. Monday on Hatton Highway in Palm Beach County when a 2023 Ford Explorer hit a curve, went off the road into the grass and hit a guardrail before overturning into a canal. Four people were pronounced dead at the scene and six were taken to the hospital where five of them later died. The remaining survivor, a 26-year-old man, remains hospitalized as of Tuesday.

Hatton Highway is a two-lane road that stretches across agricultural fields.

Published on: July 26, 2024

FWC urges boaters to be on the lookout for divers-down flags following several incidents on the water this month

By Leesfield & Partners

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission sent out a public notice urging boaters to keep an eye out for divers-down flags in a month known statistically for a high rate of accidents on the water.

In their advisory, FWC encouraged boaters to avoid distraction and watch out for divers-down flags. These flags and buoys are essential warnings to approaching vessels that there are people in the water. These flags must have the divers-down symbol and be prominently displayed. When spotting a flag of this kind, boaters must operate at idle speed within 300 feet of the flag when in open water or within 100 feet when in inlets and or navigational channels. Divers must stay within the outlined distance of their flags.

Recent Incidents

Published on: July 19, 2024

Child’s heat-related death in Arizona car acts as stark reminder for parents to never leave children unattended in parked cars

By Leesfield & Partners

Safety is always at the top of parents’ minds. It seems that around every corner is a new hazard they must be on the lookout for. From choking hazards, gun-related incidents, car accidents and drownings that are more prevalent than ever before, the statistics are enough to send any parent into a spiral.

This week in Arizona, a family is suffering through the reality of one of those unthinkable fears after the father of a 2-year-old girl left her in a car parked in their Arizona driveway. In a summer that saw record-breaking heat, the father told police he left the child in the parked car with the engine running because he did not want to wake her. The father was allegedly distracted by video games and putting away groceries. He was occupied for about three hours before he checked on the little girl, according to reporting from national news outlets.

Police investigating the child’s death say that the father – who has since been charged with second-degree murder and child abuse related to his daughter’s death – regularly left the little girl and her two older brothers in the car and added that he knew the car would shut off when in park for more than 30 minutes. The temperature in Arizona on the day of the child’s death had reached 109 degrees.

Published on: July 18, 2024

‘Nearly as slippery as ice:’ Leesfield & Partners secures a $300,000 settlement for a client who suffered a violent fall at a Florida resort

By Leesfield & Partners

Leesfield & Partners attorneys, including Partner, Justin B. Shapiro, and Trial Lawyer, Evan Robinson, recently secured a $300,000 settlement for a client who suffered a traumatic fall at a Florida resort, causing him to shatter his wrist so severely it required painful reconstructive surgery with the implantation of metal hardware.

Our client fell in the bathroom of the resort’s main pool area, which employees described as being “constantly wet” from guests tracking in water from nearby showers, pools and hot tubs. Although a drain in the bathroom floor should have allowed this water to pass through it, the drain was not functioning properly on the day of our client’s fall, leaving a pool of dirty water that created dangerous, wet conditions. To make matters worse, the resort installed tiles in the bathroom that were so smooth and slippery when wet that our expert engineer who examined and tested the tiles described them as being “nearly as slippery as ice.”

On the day of our client’s fall, the bathroom floor was soaked with dirty water and littered with wet toilet paper and towels. The fall resulted in our client shattering his wrist, requiring him to undergo reconstructive surgery and the installation of metal hardware. Moreover, as a result of his fall, our client was diagnosed with De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis Syndrome, a condition that causes extreme pain and dysfunction due to nerve damage in the hand and wrist.

Published on: July 18, 2024

Pedestrian hit, killed while walking with children by two cars in Ohio, officials say. As more cars are on the road, it’s important to stay vigilant.

By Leesfield & Partners

An Ohio grandmother was struck July 8 by a car backing out of a driveway, then a passing SUV, resulting in the woman’s death.

The woman, 72, was walking down the sidewalk with two children, a toddler and a 7-year-old, around 11:30 a.m. when a car backed out of the driveway. A passing SUV also hit the grandmother. She sustained fatal injuries while the toddler had minor injuries, according to reporting from local news outlets. The 7-year-old was not injured.

The grandmother is being hailed a hero online by family members who said in a post honoring her that the children, who are her great-grandchildren, were “still here because of her.”

Published on: July 9, 2024

A 45-year-old Washington man was killed lighting holiday fireworks. How to celebrate safely.

By Leesfield & Partners

A Washington man was found unresponsive after the fireworks he was lighting accidentally hit him in the head, knocking him unconscious, according to reporting from local news outlets.

The incident happened around 2:30 a.m. on July 5 as the man lit mortar-style fireworks, a kind of firework legal in Washington that explodes into stars once the fuse has been lit. Emergency responders pronounced the man dead at the scene. In Florida, it is illegal to use fireworks that contain shells, mortars, multiple tube devices, Roman candles, firecrackers, and rockets.

Firework Injuries & Deaths in the United States

Published on: July 2, 2024

Lawsuit Filed in Case of City of Doral Police Department Officers injured in April shooting at Martini Bar

By Leesfield & Partners

Two police officers with the City of Doral Police Department are suing a local bar, its managing company, a security company and one other after a man was allowed inside the location with a gun.

The shooting happened on April 6, 2024, at the Martini Bar Doral, located at 3450 NW 83rd Ave., Suite 144. The two officers, Andre A. Romo and Ricardo A. Acevedo, were patrolling the area on off-duty detail when a dispute broke out involving 37-year-old Jamal Wayne Wood who entered the bar with a gun. The shooting resulted in the death of a security guard and the injury of seven others, including the two responding officers. Wood was also killed that night by responding officers.

Acevedo and and Romo responded to the scene after seeing the chaos of fleeing patrons. Both officers were injured by the stampede of customers as they tried to get inside to stop Wood’s rampage. Wood aimed and shot at Romo and Acevedo and the other officers who responded to the scene. Romo was “dangerously close” to being hit and Acevedo was shot in the leg, mere centimeters from his femoral artery, according to a lawsuit filed Monday by Bernardo Pimentel II, a Trial Attorney with Leesfield & Partners, P.A..