Orlando

Published on: December 13, 2024

Florida Classroom Vacated Following Beloved Teacher’s Legionnaires’ Disease Death.

Seven elementary school classrooms in Pinellas County, Florida, were vacated this month after a beloved teacher died from Legionnaires’ Disease.

Katherine Pennington, a kindergarten teacher employed by the Pinellas County School District, died on Nov. 24 after testing positive for Legionella bacteria. As of Wednesday morning, it is unclear where Pennington may have been exposed to the bacteria.

This month, as a precaution, the students were moved from the building where Pennington taught to other classrooms on the campus while the school’s air systems and water systems were checked. In a statement to the public, the Pinellas County School District announced that an environmental company was cleaning the building.

Published on: November 20, 2024

Judge Orders Miami Developer to Surrender to Authorities in Vessel Homicide Case Resulting From 2022 Boca Chita Crash. A Look at Previous Leesfield & Partners Boating Cases

By Leesfield & Partners

The operator of a boat involved in a 2022 boat crash in Boca Chita Key that killed one teen and permanently injured another has been ordered to surrender to police after news broke last month he would be facing vessel homicide charges, according to local news outlets.

The order was signed by a judge Wednesday and calls for 54-year-old George Pino, a Miami real estate developer, to surrender to authorities. In addition to the vessel homicide charge, Pino will allegedly face one count of driving a vessel in a reckless manner.

What Happened?

Published on: October 22, 2024

Orlando NICU accused of covering up injury that paralyzed newborn baby, lawsuit says

By Leesfield & Partners

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.

Published on: July 11, 2024

Man’s drowning Monday at Orlando resort marks the second incident in just as many months at that location.

By Leesfield & Partners

A 51-year-old man who drowned Monday at Discovery Cove in Orlando is the second person to die after swimming in the property’s pool.

Emergency responders were called out to the resort, a theme park promising interactive activities with marine animals, for a call about a man who was found unresponsive in the pool. The man, who was reportedly a guest at the resort, was rushed to the hospital in critical condition but died later that night.

Just two months before on May 28, a 13-year-old girl was also found unresponsive in the pool at Discovery Cove, according to local reporting. The girl died at the hospital a day later.