Dangerous conditions on public and private property cause thousands of serious injuries and deaths each year. The importance of premises liability litigation to the safety of our fellow citizens cannot be overestimated. In Florida, we see tragic occurrences from hazardous conditions in and around construction sites, swimming and diving facilities, on boat ramps and dockages, in commercial buildings, in private residences, in public parks and around public thoroughfares. Our lawyers have over thirty years experience successfully handling these types of cases for our clients and their families. We are gratified that through our efforts many hazardous conditions and practices have been eliminated and many other potential injuries and deaths avoided.
JUDGMENT/SETTLEMENT: Child Falls from Office Building. In Molot v. Vordermeier/Firemen's Fund Ins. Co., 415 So. 2d 1347 (Fla. 4th DCA1982), after four years of complex litigation, Scott Sheftall collected $1.2 million for a six-year-old child who severely injured his arm when he fell from a fifth-floor parking garage roof, which he had accessed through open doors and windows in an unsupervised commercial office building. The building owner's insurer denied coverage and refused to defend the court-appointed receiver whose negligent management of the building contributed to the accident. Mr. Sheftall won a judgment that the insurer's denial of coverage and a defense to the receiver was wrongful, thus triggering automatic liability for the child's damages. The insurance company's failed gamble resulted in it having to pay $200,000 more than its $1 million insurance policy limits.
SETTLEMENT: Negligence of Janitorial Service. In the Green case, Scott Sheftall negotiated a settlement of $440,000 to compensate his client for a chronic allergy and respiratory deficiency she sustained when the defendant negligently instructed her to mix together a variety of cleaning solutions whose resulting fumes severely irritated her lungs.
SETTLEMENT: Negligent Supervision by Bar Owner. Scott Sheftall settled a claim with a bar owner's insurer for $375,000 as compensation for injuries his client sustained when he was shot without justification in an altercation. The client's permanent injuries included a keloid scar on his neck, which required revision surgery.
SETTLEMENT: Unsafe Practice in Industrial Yard/Eye Injury. Scott Sheftall represented a truck driver who was an unwitting bystander during an engine repair when negligent hammering on the engine block caused a sliver of metal to pierce his eye. The case was settled on a confidential basis for $350,000.
SETTLEMENT: Electric Shock in Bucket Truck. Scott Sheftall represented a Dade County worker who was shocked while working in a "bucket truck" to service high tension wires. The bucket truck was rented in a dangerous and defective condition in that the bucket was not properly insulated and grounded. The case was settled for $300,000 as compensation for the client's injuries, which included pain and numbness in his arm.
JURY VERDICT: Slip and Fall in Hospital. Scott Sheftall turned down a settlement offer of $10,000 and proceeded to trial, where he won a jury verdict of $232,000 for Ellie Foley against James Archer Smith Hospital in Homestead, Florida. At trial, the evidence established that the Mr. Sheftall's client had sustained a herniation in her lumbar spine when she slipped and fell on water, which had leaked from a nearby bathroom onto the floor of the hospital's patient waiting area.
JURY VERDICT: Dangerous Hotel Diving Facility. In Estate of Miller v. H.K. Corp., 405 So. 2d 218 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981), Scott Sheftall won a jury verdict in a case arising from a pool diving accident. A Pennsylvania tourist dove off the hotel's ten-foot high diving board and struck the bottom of the pool's diving pit. In the first case of its kind in Florida, Mr. Sheftall established that the defendant hotel owner was "negligent per se" for its violation of Florida's administrative regulation that prescribes minimum depths and dimensions for diving pits utilized in conjunction with diving boards of various heights. The jury's award of $76,000 in damages was to compensate the plaintiff for his pain and suffering and expense from the shoulder injury he suffered in the diving accident until he died from unrelated causes 2? years later.
SETTLEMENT: Telephone Company Negligence. In the Moore case, Scott Sheftall secured a $50,000 confidential settlement for the estate of an elderly woman who injured her hip when she tripped and fell on a telephone line, which the defendant carrier negligently had left unburied in the back yard of her Dade County home.
