Articles Tagged with Fort Lauderdale bicycle accident

The Florida Supreme Court recently took on the issue of collateral source evidence in Joerg v. State Farm, a case stemming from a serious bicycle accident injury. bicyclenight

The collateral source rule, also sometimes referred to as the collateral source doctrine, prohibits the admission of evidence that a plaintiff or victim has received compensation from some source other than defendant. The idea is a defendant shouldn’t have to pay less for a tortious act just because a plaintiff had health insurance or collected workers’ compensation.

Still, since 1984, the court had allowed a limited admission of evidence regarding certain kinds of free or low-cost future collateral source benefits. But that has now changed. In the Joerg case, the court ruled all defendants are barred from introducing evidence of collateral source benefits plaintiffs may receive in the future. These include Medicare and Medicaid. Given that almost all Americans will at least collect on Medicare at some point in their lives, the decision has widespread implications in personal injury law. Continue reading

The good news is that for what seems like the first time in a long time, Florida has a relatively low rating when it comes to poor driving: 32 out of 51 (with D.C. included), according to a recent study by CarInsuranceComparison.com. In fact, it doesn’t even rank in the top 10 when study authors ranked factors such as:

  • Fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled;
  • Percentage of fatal crashes involving failure to obey traffic laws;
  • Drunk driving;
  • Speeding;
  • Careless driving resulting in fatal crashes with pedestrians and bicyclists per 100,000 residents.traffic6

Interestingly, Montana was deemed to have the worst drivers in the country. That was followed by South Carolina, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, Hawaii, North Dakota Delaware and Mississippi.

However, Florida did come out No. 1 in one category: Careless Driving. Continue reading

Contact Information