Community News

Published on: August 30, 2018

Are you prepared for Hurricane Season?

September in South Florida means that storm season is here, and with the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Irma rapidly approaching, it is imperative that you and your family take the necessary precautions before it is too late. While hurricane season is certainly an unsettling time of year, you and your family can take steps to ensure that your property is safe. Though property insurance cannot physically protect your home from nature’s elements, it legally protects you in the event that there is damage to your property after the storm passes.

How can you protect yourself?

Preparation is key. Now is the time to make sure that your property insurance is up to date on any home you may own. Be sure that your policy extends coverage through the end of the calendar year, and that all of the necessary premiums have been paid. Missing payments and failing to renew your policy in time could put your policy in bad standing with your insurance company, which would prevent you from making a valid property damage claim after the storm.

Published on: June 22, 2017

How Much Is A Doctor’s Mistake Worth?

by Friedland | Carmona

Everyone makes mistakes, even doctors. Unfortunately, however, when a doctor makes a mistake, the damage is often irrevocable. While no amount of money can completely erase any damages caused by these mistakes, money is usually the only available remedy.

For more than a decade, Florida law has had placed a cap on the amount of money that patients can recover from medical malpractice suits against a doctor. Patients or loved ones seeking non-economic damages for pain and suffering have been limited to recovering $500,000. Compensation for economic damages, however, has remained unlimited. In other words, if you or your loved one was injured severely due to a doctor’s mistake, and it resulted in pain and suffering (e.g., mental anguish, emotional trauma, etc.), the amount of compensation available has been restricted.

As of June 9^th of this year, this is no longer the law. The Florida Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, found these caps to be unconstitutional. It reasoned that the caps on non-economic damages arbitrarily decreased the monetary amount that could be awarded to persons who have suffered the most drastic injuries without actually taking into consideration the severity of the injury. The Supreme Court ruled that this violated equal-protection rights.

Published on: March 16, 2017

America’s Top 100 Attorneys: Lifetime Achievement Selection

by Friedland | Carmona

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Announcing the Lifetime Achievement selection of Jonathan R. Friedland among America’s Top 100 Attorneys®. Lifetime Achievement selection to America’s Top 100 Attorneys® is by invitation only and is reserved to identify the nation’s most exceptional attorneys whose accomplishments and impact on the legal profession merit a Lifetime Achievement award.

Published on: February 10, 2017

Workplace Injuries and Deaths

by Friedland | Carmona

Miami-Dade County has been rated one of the fastest growing markets for construction for several years now, largely due to the building boom in Downtown Miami and Brickell. While this is great for the local economy there are also some risks. Recently an elevated construction boom struck a Metromover rail car in Downtown Miami, killing a construction worker and injuring another. Luckily, no passengers were on the Metromover at the time because it was late and the car was doing a maintenance run.

While that fatal collision was preventable it is unfortunately not uncommon, particularly in cities with a lot of ongoing construction. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reports that there are over 4500 workplace fatalities each year; nearly all of them preventable. In fact, OSHA estimates about 150 worker deaths per day, meaning by the time you finish reading this article, someone will have lost their life at work. An even greater number of people are seriously injured at work, resulting in over a million incidents every year serious enough to require time away from work to recover.

Published on: October 28, 2016

Bicycles, Beaches and Busy Streets

by Friedland | Carmona

Miami and the surrounding areas are known as very active flourishing communities in many ways. One thing all of these areas have in common are avid bike riders. Many members of the community choose biking as their favorite past time, a more efficient form of transportation, or a way to preserve the environment. This all sounds like a great trait for a community until you look at the number of bicycle riders injured or killed yearly in the Miami-Dade and surrounding areas due to negligent drivers.

It is important to note that bicyclist have many responsibilities when riding on public roads, however if you are injured in a bicycle accident or hit by a motorist your injuries you may have a claim for damages from the party that injured you. These tragic accidents can result in a daily struggle to recover. Sadly, many times these accidents are fatal and the families of the riders must move forward without their loved one and manage the loss of income, support, and services the family member was previously capable of providing to the household.

If you or a loved one is involved in an accident involving a bicycle it is important to contact an experienced bicycle injury attorney as soon as possible. Your attorney will be able to evaluate the liability among all of the parties and guide you to the solution that will result in the greatest remedy for your situation. A family member that becomes disabled or injured will never be replaced with any monetary award however, these remedies will help in the transition for the rest of the family in managing their new daily way of living.

Published on: October 24, 2016

Need a Lyft or an Uber?

by Friedland | Carmona

Uber and Lyft have increasingly become a streamlined part of everyday life for a majority of people looking for an inexpensive and convenient way to get around. Uber has over 15.6 million users a month in the United States and is a prominent transportation option for most of us who live in the Miami-Dade, Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale and other surrounding areas.Uber and Lyft are helpful and convenient but what happens when your ride doesn’t go as smoothly as planned? Both ridesharing companies employee the general public to use their own vehicles in conjunction with the Uber or Lyft platform to transport passengers and make a little extra money. Uber and Lyft operate a service that puts every customer in the car of someone they do not know. So, when there is a car accident and an Uber or Lyft customer is in the car during the accident what can they do?
Many people are surprised to hear that Uber and Lyft both provide additional insurance to their drivers. The companies require their drivers to carry specific insurance based on the type and frequency of services they plan to provide and based on the car they own. Additionally Uber provides $1 million of liability coverage per incident, $1 million of uninsured/underinsured insurance, comprehensive and collision insurance, no-fault coverage is provided in some states and coverage for bodily injury up to $50,000/individual/accident with a total of $100,000/accident and up to $25,000 for property damage.
It is very important to understand the urgency in reporting and filing your claim because there are limitations on how much time you have to take action before the opportunity expires. Contact the auto accident and personal injury attorneys at the Friedland | Carmona today to ensure you are properly cared for and potentially compensated for your accident.

Published on: October 12, 2016

Deadly Dressers

by Friedland | Carmona

Dressers leading to the death of small children sounds like a bad horror film. However, this unfortunate series of events has been a reality for at least three families so far. Sold in several small pieces requiring extensive instruction and a bit of time are the typical furnishings purchased from the Swedish company, IKEA.

IKEA is a leading furniture seller across the world and valued itself at over 11 billion dollars in 2012.¹ IKEA has been aware of the danger posed by the dressers and made a first attempt to remedy the defect by providing kits to every purchaser of the dressers with instructions to secure the dressers to the walls where they will stand. Unfortunately, this did not solve the problem and another infant death followed. After tragedy struck again IKEA made the decision to recall the dressers. The IKEA website describes the recall as follows.

The recall affects children’s chests and dressers taller than 23.5 inches and adult chests and dressers taller than 29.5 inches … manufactured and sold through June 2016 and include the 3-drawer, 4-drawer, 5-drawer and 6-drawer models. Other IKEA chests and dressers in this recall were sold at various times through June 2016.”

Published on: September 9, 2016

Advocating for Your Injured Child

by Friedland | Carmona

Sometimes a very unfortunate event affects those who cannot advocate for themselves because they are under the age of 18. If your child is injured on a playground, in a car accident, in a bicycle accident, at a store or in any way that results in a physical injury to your child and is someone else’s fault, you as their parent have the ability to bring a lawsuit on their behalf.

Children have the same access to remedies for harm to them as adults do and as their parents, you also have a right to recover medical expenses you incur while tending to the needs of your injured child.

Children have special rules in court. Some of these exceptions are:

Published on: August 21, 2016

Do I Need a Personal Injury Lawyer?

by Friedland | Carmona

Personal injury law is utilized when someone causes physical harm to another and the injured wants to be made whole or compensated for that injury. The experienced attorneys at Friedland | Carmona provide free consultations to those who believe they may have a case and are seeking more information on the options available to them. Examples of situations when people normally seek personal injury lawyers in Miami, Coral Gables, and the surrounding areas include but are not limited to:

Auto accidents,

Trip and falls/slip and fall: There are many dangerous conditions like torn carpeting, changes in flooring, poor lighting, narrow stairs, or a wet floor can cause someone to slip and be injured. Same goes if someone trips on a broken or cracked public sidewalks, or falls down a flight of stairs. In addition, a slip and fall case might arise when someone slips or falls outdoors because of rain, ice, snow or a hidden hazard, such as a pothole in the ground. In any event, the plaintiff must have sustained some kind of injury, however minor, in order to collect, http://injury.findlaw.com/torts-and-personal-injuries/slip-and-fall-accidents-overview.html

Published on: May 12, 2016

Giving Back to the Community: The Friedland | Carmona Serves Dinner to the Homeless

by Friedland | Carmona

On Monday, February 29, Jon Friedland, managing partner, Michael Carmona, associate attorney, and the rest of the Friedland | Carmona staff worked with the Community Partnership for the Homeless, serving food to those in need. Mr. Friedland’s wife and two young sons joined the firm in helping the homeless. Serving the homeless enabled Mr. Friedland, his family, and the Friedland | Carmona staff to give back to the Miami-Dade community.

Mr. Friedland is a former president of the Miami Dade Justice Association and continues to participate in as many of their community service activities as he can. Understanding that times are difficult for many families in the Miami-Dade community right now, the attorneys are glad they were able to give back the community this way. The Community Partnership for the Homeless is located on 1550 N. Miami Avenue in Miami.

The attorneys at the Friedland | Carmona have always been dedicated to helping their community. Mr. Friedland is an active participant in the Big Brother Big Sister program in Miami-Dade County. Additionally, Mr. Friedland is an active supporter in the fight against Multiple Sclerosis. Mr. Carmona is an active supporter of the Cuban community in South Florida. He is a member of the Cuban American Bar Association and the Florida Justice Association. Mr. Carmona is also dedicated to helping children in the Miami-Dade community– he is an active member of the Kiwanis Club of Little Havana, helping underprivileged kids in the Miami-Dade area.