Florida Injury Lawyer Blawg
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.
A deputy with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office was also injured in the incident, WPLTV reporters said. The Palm Beach Post called this the “deadliest crash … in recent memory.”
Additional details including how fast the vehicle was going at the time of the crash or whether there was alcohol suspected to be involved were not immediately available Tuesday. The crash remains under investigation by authorities.
Leesfield & Partners
Getting into the car for daily commutes to work or school, no one thinks about the life-threatening potential hazards. Buckling your seatbelt, adjusting your car’s radio, and sitting in traffic are all seemingly a mundane part of everyday life, however, for many people annually, car accidents can have deadly consequences. In Florida, there are over 3,000 fatal crashes each year, according to numbers from the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. The state is ranked in 30th place, according to the latest available data from the Centers for Disease Control, following closely behind places like Oregon and Alabama.
Miami-Dade County totaled 292 fatal crashes in 2023 resulting in 309 fatalities, according to the FLHSMV crash dashboard which collects data on various crashes throughout the state. Of the deceased, 17 were bicyclists, 53 were motorcyclists and 94 were pedestrians. At least 185 injuries resulted from the fatal crashes. As of August 2024, there have been approximately 152 fatalities from crashes on the road in Miami-Dade County. In data collected by Florida Highway Patrol, distracted drivers were the cause of an estimated 50,000 reported crashes in 2023.
Ira H. Leesfield, the Founder and Managing Partner of Leesfield & Partners, has become a public safety advocate in his years of personal injury litigation advocating against distracted driving and road hazards such as E-bikes and e-scooters. In the 48 years of personal injury practice, Leesfield & Partners attorneys have diligently worked toward the best possible outcome for clients, many of whom have been drivers, passengers, and pedestrians in cases of drunk, distracted and or reckless driving.
Past Cases
Leesfield & Partners attorneys secured a landmark settlement involving a devastating case in which a drunk driver forever changed the lives of one family heading to the airport to drop their daughter off at her medical school graduation. The drunk driver, who was overserved at a popular Miami bar, was speeding and going the wrong way down I-95 when he hit the family head-on, causing the death of the young medical student and orthopedic injuries to her brother.
Following the crash, the brother has been unable to speak, needing both a wheelchair and round-the-clock care. Attorneys were able to secure a record-setting verdict of $57 million for the son and $38 million for the parents resulting in a combined $95 million award for the family whose lives were forever changed as a result of an impaired driver.
Another wrongful death involving a motor vehicle crash handled by attorneys with the firm resulted in a $36,960,000 award for a grieving family.
A family visiting the state from Canada was represented by Leesfield & Partners following the tragic and avoidable death of a young mother and wife as she attempted to cross the street. The woman was crushed by a pickup driver whose driver said they did not see her. The case was mediated with an $8.5 million settlement with the defendant after a $27 million arbitration award.
A tragic case involving the permanent injury of a Leesfield & Partners client, a 34-year-old mother of three, happened when a speeding car ran over the woman’s vehicle. She had permanent brain damage following the horrible crash. Attorneys with the firm were able to obtain a $5,300,000 settlement for the woman.
If you or a loved one was involved in a wreck on Florida roads, call a Leesfield & Partners attorney today at 305-854-4900 for a free consultation.
