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An explosion took place this afternoon in Sunny Isles Beach. Early reports mention a gas leak in the boiler room of a high rise condo was responsible for the damages. As many as 6 people have been reported injured on site, and off site, including a person who was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital.

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Boiler rooms require extensive and appropriate maintenance in order to avoid potential devastating consequences to members of the public and residents. Natural gas is one of the most widely used fuels for heating commercial and industrial properties. The dangers of gas leaks is they can go undetected for a significant period of time, and they present a clear and present explosive risk leading to structural damage, or worse, the loss of life.

A proper and adequate maintenance plan must be in effect to prevent against leaks and any other types of dangers that boiler rooms present. An automatic gas detection system will provide early warning of a gas release during unmanned periods.

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This past weekend, Alexis Musumeci (24) and her sister Brittany Musumeci (23) were killed when the vehicle they were in was crashed head-on by a vehicle driven by Admerson Cleber Eugenio Vicente (23).

sisters.jpgThere is no sense in explaining away why this incident occurred. It should never have happened. Last March, Vicente had his driver’s license revoked for 5 years for multiple traffic violations which included operating a motor vehicle on a suspended license and without insurance. Vicente’s license had been suspended after he was arrested and convicted for driving under the influence (twice over the legal limit)

Obviously, despite his serious run-ins with the criminal justice system, Vicente was again behind the wheel of a vehicle last Saturday, inexplicably driving on the wrong side of I-95, when he collided head-on with Alexis and Brittany’s vehicle.

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Find this article written for and published in the Daily Business Review.

Lawyers who fail to utilize social media’s increased role in the legal profession, or who fail to properly anticipate how it may come up in litigation, do so at their own detriment. Specifically with regard to personal injury litigation, social media is playing an ever-expanding role, and its impact on the practice is certain to continue growing.

Historically, when an insurance company wanted to investigate somebody who made a claim, it was necessary to hire a private investigator to discreetly follow the claimant around town. If they were lucky, maybe the investigator could manage to get a photo of an unsuspecting claimant bending down without issue to put air in a tire, or carrying heavy groceries from the store. That photo would then be used to defend against the personal injury claim, perhaps countering allegations of the severity of the back injury that the person is claiming to have sustained.

photo__2358378_daniel_diaz-balart.jpgNowadays, through the advent of social media, the hypothetical claimant mentioned above might, by their own doing, investigate and incriminate themselves and their injury to the detriment of their own claim. That’s because a recent Florida appellate court decision has determined that, in the context of personal injury litigation, photos posted on social media can, in some instances, be discoverable.

Naturally, people post photos of themselves on their social media accounts (some more than others, like that friend who won’t stop posting selfies). Individuals are often “tagged” in other people’s photos and videos, taking part in all kinds of activities. Users can “check in” to places they visit using mobile apps on their smart phones, leaving behind a virtual trail of the places they’ve visited.

Accordingly, defense attorneys often seek production of a personal injury plaintiff’s social media accounts and their contents, which can then become the topic of litigation. Despite the growing presence of social media in the legal realm, the number of Florida appellate court decisions that have dealt with social media discovery is actually quite small, and therefore permits for creative lawyering.

The Second District Court of Appeal took up the issue of Facebook discovery in the February 2014 case of Root v. Balfour Beatty Construction. In that case, a minor child was injured when he was struck by a vehicle near a construction site. The mother of the child brought suit against the defendants on behalf of her son, and the defendants in return sought production of a wide range of content from the mother’s Facebook page. The trial court allowed this expansive discovery request, which included things like counseling, psychological and mental health care obtained by the mother, any and all postings, statuses, photos, likes or videos related to her relationships with her children, other family members and boyfriends, and any posts related to alcohol use or other lawsuits filed by the mother.

The Second DCA proceeded to quash the trial court’s discovery order, determining that this expansive request was the type of carte blanche fishing expedition of irrelevant materials which was prohibited by Florida Supreme Court precedent. The requests were directed toward the injured child’s mother, who was not per se the injured party, and the defendants could not point to anything claimed by her to support their contention that the requested information was relevant.

The defendants in Nucci v. Target Corp., a January 2015 opinion from the Fourth District Court of Appeal, took a more focused and targeted approach with their social media discovery requests, and, as a result, fared better than their counterparts in Root. In this slip-and-fall case, the defense served narrowly tailored discovery requests limited to photos dating back two years from the date of incident, and all photos subsequent to the incident of the plaintiff herself. Notably, the requests did not seek any other Facebook content.

The Fourth DCA held that the photographs sought were “powerfully relevant to the damage issues in the lawsuit.” The court further noted that the relevance of the photos was enhanced due to post-accident surveillance video of the plaintiff which already suggested her injury was suspect. The court distinguished this case from Root, finding the requests at issue to be narrower in scope and far more calculated to lead to admissible evidence. As such, discovery of these photos from Facebook was allowed.

It should be noted that the Nucci court propounded that, generally, photos posted on a social networking site are neither privileged nor protected by any right of privacy, regardless of any privacy settings that the user may have established. In other words, individuals involved in personal injury litigation should post at their own risk.

Clearly, social media is here to stay, and all lawyers should be prepared to take full advantage of all it has to offer, whether we #like it or not.
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ebook-graphic-2.pngWith the development over the past few years of online crowd funding, websites like GoFundMe have gained in popularity at an exponential rate. Since its inception, GoFundMe claims to have raised over $1.2 billion through its website. Quite remarkable.

As a personal injury firm established in South Florida for over 38 years, Leesfield & Partners has seen first hand how a catastrophic event can transform an otherwise financially sound family into needing quick cash to pay next month’s mortgage or pay last month’s car payment that is over due.

7643873724_59cc54c54c_o.pngIn Florida, the Florida bar prohibits attorneys to loan money or advance cash to their clients. The only option to clients in the most dire situations was to contact a financial firm specialized in short-term loans based on lawsuits, more commonly called lawsuit loans. These loans are essentially an exchange of money for a promise of repayment + interest. While the idea of helping out people in temporary need until their case settles is a very noble one, abuse quickly became the norm. Today, these lawsuit loans are mainly operated by small entities who charge an exorbitant interest rate.

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jungle island drowning.jpgEarlier today at Miami’s Jungle Island, a 7-year-old child, who was on a field trip with his summer camp, nearly drowned on Jungle Island’s beach front. According to early reports, the children were playing in the water when suddenly a lifeguard saw a child dropping under water. He quickly came to the rescue of the child and administered CPR on the beach.

Miami Department Fire Rescue Captain Ignatius Carroll did not identify the child by name, but did share that the parents had been informed of what happened. The child was emergently transported to the Pediatric Unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital in cardiac arrest.

The latest report available stated that the young child was in stable condition at this time.

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This past weekend, a 3-year-old boy, Henrique Dias Amorim, was discovered “floating” by a family member after a family gathering organized at a waterfront home that family had borrowed for the occasion. Somehow, it is believed the child found his way out to the backyard and the pool during the gathering. The responding authorities have already declared that no charges would be brought against anyone in this case, and they qualified this to be a horrific accident. Early investigation has shown that the pool in question did not have a pool fence or barrier to prevent the child from going inside the pool. It is unclear as of yet whether the home should have been equipped with such protection.

Recently, Leesfield & Partners filed a lawsuit in another tragic drowning case, to another little boy who was found in the pool by his grandfather, despite the pool being equipped with a pool fence. In their lawsuits, Ira Leesfield and Tom Scolaro have alleged that the pool fence manufacturer was liable and responsible for the incident due to numerous significant defects in the pool fence manufacturer’s product. Thankfully, the child survived, but not before he sustained catastrophic brain damage, for which he will require medical care the rest of his life.

Poolfencing.jpgThe state of Florida has staggering statistics when it comes to fatalities of young children and pool drownings. According to Florida Health, Florida loses more children under age five to drowning than any other state. Annually in Florida, enough children to fill three to four preschool classrooms drown and do not live to see their fifth birthday.

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Yesterday, we reported on the tragic accident that took the life of a bicyclist and seriously injured another in a hit and run accident that occurred in Key Biscayne in the early morning hours.

Alejandro Alvarez.jpgIn the last 24 hours, police has released additional information on what caused the accident, and the identities of the people involved. 21-year-old Alejandro Alvarez was arrested by police after he admitted to running over bicyclists Walter Reyes, and Henry Hernandez. Walter Reyes succumbed to his injuries at the scene, while Henry Hernandez was emergently taken to Mercy Hospital for serious physical injuries. Henry is said to be in stable condition at this time.

Upon admitting being at the wheels of the 2014 VW Jetta involved in the incident, Alvarez was arrested by police. He is currently behind bars and facing multiple criminal charges, including manslaughter and driving under the influence.

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Early this morning, two bicyclists were ran over by a motor vehicle in Key Biscayne. Police has advised that the driver who struck the bicyclists fled the scene, yet investigators have since indicated that the alleged driver was currently in custody.

There are very few details to date about the incident other than it occurred at around 5:30 A.M. and that the fatally struck bicyclist was in the right lane of the Rickenbacker Causeway near Crandon Park Marina. The other bicyclist, whose health condition remains unknown, was transported by ambulance to the hospital. Both families have a civil claim against the driver, and any other potential and non-obvious defendants.

Sadly fatal accidents of bicyclists in Key Biscayne is nothing new to authorities and to our law firm. In 2012, Aaron Cohen was on his bicycle on the Rickenbacker Causeway with his friend Enda Welsh, when he was also struck by a motorist, Michele Traverso. Much like today’s incident, Traveso fled the scene only to surrender himself 18 hours later. By the time Traverso was in custody, police could no longer garner evidence that Traverso was intoxicated at the time of the incident, and therefore could not possibly charge him with a DUI. Traverso was ultimately sentenced for less than two years behind bar for leaving the scene of a fatal accident.

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We hope you noticed that Leesfield & Partners is now Leesfield & Partners, recognizing Tom Scolaro’s 15-year career at our firm which began as a law clerk and research assistant. Tom has excelled in every way recognized by the trial bar and fully earned his placement as a named partner.

During his career, Tom has tried numerous multi-million dollar verdicts, setting records throughout the state through his proactive and highly assertive litigation and trial skills. According to Founding Partner, Ira Leesfield, “Tom is a trial lawyer who consistently says ‘give me the ball.” He works tirelessly and never complains. His productivity demonstrates an understanding that the firm’s clients need to get their cases resolved: timely, but resolved fully.

The announcement of Leesfield & Partners has been well received with responses coming from Europe, Canada and throughout the United States, and, of course, from all points of Florida.

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On Saturday night, a two boats were involved in an accident off Biscayne Bay, one mile off Matheson Hammock in Coral Gables, Florida. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission which is investigating every single boating accident in the region has relayed minimal information through its spokesperson, Jorge Pino. What the public knows thus far is that a 68-foot motor yacht traveling north along the coast collided with a 27-foot pleasure boat that was navigating south along the coast.

5137409_G.jpgThree occupants of the smaller boat fell into the water and were injured in the accident. All three were pulled onto the yacht by some of the 21 passengers on board. Among the three injured people, Maria Del Valle, 29, was critically injured. She was initially taken to Mercy Hospital for treatment before being transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where she tragically died.

Maria Del Valle was the mother of four children, with the youngest child being just 14-months-old, according to the FWC. The father of her youngest child, Maykel Perdomo, 33, is among the injured people who were on the small boat and thrown into the water. He is said to be in stable condition at this time. The third person involved is Dayron Baralt, 23, who was still in critical condition yesterday. His status remains unknown at this time.

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