"Ira Leesfield"

Published on: April 13, 2017

92% of drivers use their phone means 100% of the public is at risk

004-TextingLaw A new study revealed that 92% of motorists use their phone while operating their vehicle. That reality must sink in. Whether you are in traffic, stopped at a red light, making 60mph on the highway, a pedestrian walking across an intersection, a bicyclist on a Sunday morning run, or in an Uber, understand that you are simply 100% at risk of injury. More and more, motorists see being in a moving car as being in a moving elevator: an opportunity to check emails, respond to texts, send a snap, read a story on Facebook, take a selfie to post on Instagram. The obvious difference is one is potentially deadly. This reality will remain true until we all operate self-driving vehicles.

For the last time, Floridians are undeniably on notice: Florida is the second-worst state for distracted driving. The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles’ statistics show that a distracted driving-related accident will occur every 10-12 minutes in Florida. That adds up to almost 50,000 crashes involving distracted-driving, and the consequences are life-altering, causing 3,500 catastrophic injuries and 233 deaths in 2016.

Just a few days ago, Ira H. Leesfield and Adam Rose published an op-ed titled “Texting while driving is nothing to ‘LOL’ about” in the Daily Business Review stressing the urgency of public officials to act before more lives are lost and affected by this behavioral epidemic.

Published on: March 6, 2017

Cases from other places and from our good friends here in Florida

By Leesfield & Partners

Steady growth and continued client satisfaction marks the 40th anniversary of Leesfield & Partners, as our statewide practice expands. This year, trial lawyers Mason Kerns and Adam T. Rose joined the Leesfield & Partners team.

The firm continues to serve the State of Florida as our offices from Key West and Central Florida attract local and out-of-state business. A recent influx of clients and cases from the great state of Texas has allowed our firm to serve longtime co-counsel and friends with high value recent results. See “Texas Cases from Texas Places” (right). Texas visitors combined with clients and referrals from 26 other U.S. states, Canada, United Kingdom and around the world, have reinforced the firm’s cases from other places.

We have been fortunate to bring about outstanding results for clients nationwide and around the world, including:

Published on: September 29, 2014

Addressing the Perils of Parasailing – by Ira H. Leesfield

By Leesfield & Partners

Among all water-based recreation activities that Floridians participate in year-round, parasailing has proven to be the most dangerous. By the very nature of parasailing, accidents invariably result in either catastrophic injuries or death. Leesfield & Partners with other key advocates have been at the forefront of promoting the passage of laws and regulations to increase parasailing safety. After numerous articles and blogs, answers have finally come with the recent passage of the White-Miskell Act, and, now, this week’s release from the NTSB’s Special Investigation Report: Parasailing Safety.

Promoting parasail safety has become a priority of mine since 2007 while representing the family of two teenage-sisters, injured and killed during a flawed parasail ride. This was national news and rightly so. Witness videos and photos showed the boat towing the parasail as it was pushed ashore due to strong currents and very high winds, and on the end of the towing rope, you could see the two sisters in the parasail, dangling dangerously high up in the air, at the mercy of the elements. Seconds later, the towing rope snapped and both girls were catapulted against several buildings, dragged across rooftops, and falling lifeless into palm trees.

After speaking with members of the Coast Guard, it became clear that human error was the common denominator in almost every single parasailing accident. Faulty equipment, inadequate weather-tracking equipment, operator error, or lack of training are always contributing factors of parasailing tragedies. There was no protection from the State of Florida nor did the Federal Government have any regulation in place to safeguard the public from irresponsible operators at the time. For years, the parasailing industry was a modern version of the wild wild west: Buy a boat, a rope, a chute, you are in the parasailing business! Things had to change.

Published on: June 24, 2014

South Florida Roads: Six fatalities under 24 hours

By Leesfield & Partners

In less than 24 hours, South Florida roadways have witnesses four motor vehicle accidents which caused the death of six people. While the number of traffic accident fatalities is in somewhat decline in the State overall, last weekend’s events are a brutal reminder that traffic safety remains the greatest cause for unnatural deaths in Florida.

In Miami Beach, a woman was killed while crossing the street at Rue Granville and Normandy Drive. She was struck by a car on Sunday night and was emergently transported to the hospital. She succumbed to her serious injures at the hospital.

Earlier that day, two women crossing Alligator Alley were killed when they were struck by an SUV near mile marker 63. According to the driver of the vehicle who struck them, the police said the deceased were walking along the median of Alligator Alley and began crossing the road in the direction of their car that was parked in a rest area along the road. The driver of the SUV was unable to avoid them and after hitting the windshield, they both died at the scene.

Published on: June 4, 2014

Electrocuted workers in Miami Beach in critical condition at Ryder Trauma Center

By Leesfield & Partners

On 69th Street and Harding Avenue in Miami Beach, two men working on an apartment complex renovations and repairs were violently electrocuted when they came into contact with a power line.

The two workers’ identities have yet to be released by the authorities, but some of the facts of this incident seem to be without dispute at this early stage. The two men were in the bucket of a cherry picker. A Miami Beach resident whose window was close from where the incident took place, Greg Maas, woke up to loud screams outside his window. When he looked out into the street, he saw the two men laying flat at the bottom of the bucket.

Photo courtesy of wsvn – 7News

Published on: February 10, 2014

Ira Leesfield recognized amidst the release of George Clooney’s The Monuments Men

By Leesfield & Partners

Appointed by President Clinton to investigate and track down looted Holocaust art and cultural treasures stolen during World War II across Europe, Ira Leesfield was recently recognized by the Miami Herald for the role he played in the U.S. Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets from 1998 to 2000.

The release of George Clooney’s latest movie, The Monuments Men, has led many men and women to being honored at various Washington institutions that played major roles in the protection, investigation, and in several cases, rescue of European treasures during and after World War Two.

The Commission made several significant findings, some of which are below:

Published on: July 5, 2013

Health of teenagers injured in Panama City parasailing accident improving amidst questions about potential Parasail operator’s negligence

By Leesfield & Partners

According to the latest reports, both teenagers’ health are slowly improving and their respective doctors are expecting both girls to recover from their traumatic injuries. The family of Sidney Renea Good and Alexis Fairchild, 17-year-old girls from Huntington and Roanoke, Indiana, have shared that their daughters have both suffered head trauma and severe lacerations. However they are both communicating with their doctors and close family members with small hand gestures.

Earlier this week, Sidney and Alexis purchased a parasail ride with Aquatic Adventures in Panama City. While both girls were up in the air, the weather deteriorated and strong winds rolled onto the the shore. The rope of the parasail snapped and both girls, who were riding in tandem, were catapulted onto a condominium near the shore, before hitting a power line or a utility pole. They crashed seconds later on top of an SUV in a nearby parking lot. Both girls were breathing at the scene, but one of them was knocked unconscious.

The statement released by the family of the two girls reads as follows: “Alexis has severe back injuries and Sidney has neck trauma. However, we are fortunately seeing some positive signs from both Sidney and Alexis. Sidney has been responsive to caregivers and has been able to use small movements to communicate including a thumbs up for her parents. Alexis had surgery (Wednesday) on her spine and has also been responsive including a small wave at her parents when she returned from surgery. Our families are incredibly touched by all the support we’ve received from friends at home and from many people we haven’t met before who are praying for our girls. While the situation is still critical we are encouraged by these very small signs of progress. We have heard from so many generous people who have offered to help and we are working to establish a fund for the medical care of both Sidney and Alexis. We will have more information on that to come. Thank you again to all who are thinking of and praying for our girls. Your prayers are working!”

Published on: June 10, 2013

Three people killed by carbon monoxide in North Carolina hotel room in two months

By Leesfield & Partners

Jeffrey Lee Williams and his mother Jeannie Williams were staying in hotel room 225 at the Best Western in Boone, North Carolina, this past weekend. On Saturday, the hotel staff was alerted by Jeannie’s husband that he could not reach his family and asked to go check on them. When they opened the door, first responders found the dead body of 11-year-old Jeffrey. Next to him was his mother Jeannie, who was still alive, but in a deep state of asphyxia. She was rushed to the hospital by ambulance, and as of today, Jeannie is listed in stable condition, still recovering at Watauga Medical Center.

On Monday afternoon, the Watauga County Health Department in charge with finding the cause of this incident advised that carbon monoxide was found in the hotel room where Jeffrey and his mother were staying this past weekend. Initially, the cause of death of the young boy was asphyxia, which leads to believe that something in the hotel room had caused his death.

Local news station WCNC-TV reports today that the hotel room in which the mother and son were staying was situated directly above the swimming pool of the hotel and the gas heater used to heat the water of the pool. The investigation is ongoing and further testings will be conducted in the next few days.

Published on: May 13, 2013

Florida’s ban on texting while driving – A toothless law in need of more bite!

By Leesfield & Partners

On May 2, 2013, the State of Florida approved a bill named the “Florida Ban on Texting While Driving Law”. The new law, which is to come into effect on October 1, 2013, will ban all drivers from texting and driving. We have previously reported on the new bill earlier this year in our post titled: “Florida on its way to ban texting-while-driving? How a worthless piece of legislation will keep roads unsafe”

In the better part of the last decade, the legislator has failed to come to an agreement on a law that would ban texting while driving and pass a law to finally deter and reduce the number of distracted drivers who travel through the populous and dangerous roads of Florida. Today, very little can derail this bill to become law. It only awaits a signature by Florida Governor Rick Scott, which should officially occur in the next few weeks.

texting while driving02.jpg As discussed in our previously-mentioned post, informed proponents of a ban on texting while driving have openly criticized the future law in that it does not go far enough. The main point of criticism is that the Florida legislature has voted to make any violation of the texting ban a secondary offense, or a toothless bite.

Published on: April 10, 2013

Florida on its way to ban texting-while-driving? How a worthless piece of legislation will keep roads unsafe

By Leesfield & Partners

On April 8, 2013, the Florida Judiciary Committee approved by unanimous vote a bill (SB 52) that would ban texting while driving statewide for the first time in Florida. The bill cleared The Senate Transportation Committee last February, cleared the Senate Communications, Energy, and Public Utilities Committee in March and this week cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill can now be taken to Florida’s Senators for a final vote.

If the bill passes the Senate and the House, this will mark the first time that a ban on texting while driving becomes in effect (on October 1, 2013) after several years of futile attempts to ban texting behind the wheel.

While any ban on texting and driving is a step in the right direction, the proposed law is so meaningless in its reach that it will sadly create absolutely no incentive or deterring effects to dissuade drivers to stop texting while driving throughout the State.