Articles Posted in Premises Liability

Neighbors who live close to the Miami-Dade canal, which is near the intersection of 102nd Avenue and 144th Street, have a cause for concern. Two weeks ago, a twenty-two year old female drove her car right through seven orange and white road markers and metal posts and went straight into the canal. While she was able to swim away as the water swallowed her car, residents are concerned that another driver might miss the signs and suffer a worse fate.

Many neighbors feel the section of the road that feeds into the canal has become a “thorn,” with shattered glass still splayed around following a late night hit and run accident, damp receipts left over from a “careening Mitsubishi that splashed into” the canal, and pieces of cars from other accidents. The canal, which is protected by little signage and some knee-high grass between the roadway and the waterway, has been the site of several accidents. One resident stated that there have been over 10 major accidents in the past ten years. Neighbors fear that drivers are going to start dying in the canal and wish that something would be done about the premises.

A recent crash pulled the guardrail off of its posts and made it unusable as a guardrail. Residents have asked the county to replace the guardrail by the canal. In the interim, roadway markers were put up to warn drivers. Many residents feel as though that isn’t enough, after the young girl drove right by the markers. Residents are pushing for a “10-foot-wide sign installed by the canal that unquestionably tells drivers they can’t go any further.” The county believes a replaced guardrail and the roadway markers are sufficient to protect drivers. Almost of all of the accidents that have occurred at the canal have occurred at night, meaning that as the driver approaches the canal, they cannot see it and continue to drive believing that they are still on the road. Other residents have asked for barricades to be put up believing it will stop drivers at night, but past efforts have proved unsuccessful as drivers continually drove through the barriers. As of now, only the guardrail and posts remain.

Canal crash heightens safety concerns among Kendall residents, www.miamiherald.com July 23, 2012.

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Marcus Gustafsson, former medical student at the University of Pennsylvania was in a hurry to catch the bus to his morning class in 2004 when he stepped into an uncovered manhole in Philadelphia causing serious personal injuries. Mr. Gustafsson suffered severe back injuries causing him to forego his medical career. He needed to have three different serious back injuries. In 2009 a jury awarded Mr. Gustafsson an $85 million dollar verdict against Trigen, a steam energy company. Prior to the jury reaching a verdict the lawyers entered into a high/low agreement which limited Mr. Gustaffson to an $18 million dollar verdict if he was rewarded a verdict over $18 million dollars but guaranteed him $1 million dollars if a verdict of less than $1 million dollars was entered. In the instant case Mr. Gustafsson was rewarded a verdict in the amount of $85 million dollars, but he will only receive $18 million dollars due to the high low agreement. Mr. Gustafsson settled with other defendants out of court for a combined total of $4.9 million dollars.

Mr. Gustafsson was working towards his medical degree and a doctorate in molecular biology at the prestigious Ivy League institution of University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Gustaffson was unable to continue his degree due to severe complications in his back resulting in three substantial surgeries from this premises liability accident. On the date of the incident Mr. Gustafsson was in a hurry to catch a bus for his morning class when he fell through the uncovered manhole. Earlier in the day a security guard working at a nearby bank witnessed a homeless man remove the cover of the manhole. Mr. Gustaffson sued the security guard, the homeless man, security guard’s company and Trigen who designs the manholes and inserts them throughout the city. All of the parties in this case settled prior to going to trial except for the Defendant, Trigen.

Trigen is a steam energy company that uses underground tunnels to operate throughout the city. These tunnels are accessed through holes within the city which are covered by manholes. The manholes and tunnels are both used quite often by homeless people throughout the city for protection. The manhole covers are used as shelter and the tunnels are accessed by homeless people to stay warm from the hot steam. Prior to the date of accident Trigen was well aware that homeless people had been stealing the manhole covers and living in their tunnels. Trigen had prior notice through many incident reports that this had been a problem. Mr. Casey who represented Mr. Gustafsson in his personal injury lawsuit said, “we had a lot of documentation to show that their workers were calling the office and writing incident reports about manhole covers that had been removed.” One particular incident report referred to a tunnel area near Mr. Gustaffson’s accident site as a “homeless hotel.”

`Verdicts & Settlements January 13, 2009: $85 million for fall into manhole, www.allbusiness.com, January 13, 2009.

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Imagine walking down South Beach on a beautiful sunny day when all of a sudden a hotel hangover roof collapses and almost kills you. Believe it or not this is not a fantasy and this actually occurred at a Miami Beach hotel. This collapse happened on February 5, 2011, at approximately 3:15 p.m. This occurred above the Ocean Seven restaurant which will most likely remain closed for two weeks post accident. The near fatal accident occurred at the Majestic Hotel at 660 Ocean Dr.

Miami-Dade Fire rescue was called upon the scene to investigate the hotel building collapse. Also called onto the scene were building inspectors who claim that the most likely reason for the roof hangover collapse was due to “wear and tear” and the fact that it was an “old building”. Building inspector, Abraham Alvarez said, “the eyebrow collapsed most likely because of water being on top of it. Just wear and tear.” He further stated that the there should have been a water drainage system but it wasn’t in place because it was an old building.

Luckily, nobody was injured from the collapsed roof which could have been a fatal and tragic accident. This begs the obvious question of how can a hotel building that profits millions of dollars from the general public not take adequate precautions to protect their own patrons, employees and pedestrians. Restaurant employee Alex Gonzalez, said, I just heard a big old boom and we came to the side to see if anybody was hurt. Thank God nobody was hurt.”

`Wear and tear’ likely caused Miami Beach hotel accident, building inspector says , www.miamiherald.com, February 6, 2011.

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