In Key West, the land where Jimmy Buffet songs and margaritas reign supreme, it is important for victims of a slip and fall or other accident to know what recourse they have for recovery.
At Leesfield & Partners, a personal injury law firm with nearly five decades of experience throughout Florida, our attorneys know that accidents can occur at any time — no matter the venue.
Whether a tourist or a local, hitting the iconic stops along Duval Street or events at Mallory Square, a night of fun-filled live music can quickly turn sour through no fault of your own. While no one expects such a thing to occur, the countless recoveries obtained on behalf of injured clients throughout the firm’s history are enough to prove that they do. It can be something as simple as slipping in the unmopped remnants of a spilled drink, being trampled by a throng of cruise ship passengers in an overcrowded bar or being injured due to building code violations.
No matter how the injury occurs, the injured party must have a way to recover lost wages due to permanent injuries or time spent recovering, as well as cover the often substantial medical expenses that result. When this happens, those responsible must be held accountable for failing to maintain a safe, hazard-free environment for patrons. And this isn’t simply the opinion of the skilled trial attorneys at Leesfield & Partners. It’s Florida law.
Premises Liability
Under premises liability, a legal principle that holds property owners and management companies responsible for harm to patrons, these entities owe a duty of care to maintain a safe premises. Likewise, if an issue arises, it is the duty of the property owner and/or management company to address and fix any hazard in a timely manner.
For example, if a crowded bar on Duval Street fails to provide adequate security or properly control the number of patrons inside, and an incident occurs that causes the crowd to panic and rush, resulting in injury, the injured person may have grounds to file a premises liability claim.
In such cases, it is the bar’s legal responsibility to ensure sufficient security measures and crowd management to protect guests from foreseeable harm. In this scenario, it would be the bar’s responsibility to anticipate the risk of overcrowding and hire sufficient security or implement crowd-control measures to prevent harm.
Imagine next a busy Key West bar where a patron spills a drink on the dance floor. Staff are aware of the spill but fail to clean it up in a timely manner or place a “Wet Floor” sign, warning guests about the spill.
As the crowd continues to sway with the music, a guest begins to weave their way through the sea of people. As they approach the area where the spill occurred, there is no sign that would alert them to be extra careful so as not to fall. They unknowingly step into the area, slip, and suffer a serious injury. Under Florida premises liability law, the bar may be liable if the spill existed long enough that staff should have discovered and addressed it, or if they had actual knowledge of the hazard and failed to take reasonable measures to protect patrons.
Leesfield & Partners: 49 Years of Leading Results in Monroe County
Ira Leesfield, the firm’s Founder and Managing Partner, previously advocated for the passage of carbon monoxide protections in the state. This stemmed from a Leesfield & Partners case that attracted the attention of nationwide outlets after numerous people were exposed to the colorless, odorless, gas at a Key West hotel.
Mr. Leesfield obtained a confidential settlement for the family who was visiting the area from Iowa. The family was
The source of the carbon monoxide leak in this case was a boiler roof vent that had been improperly repaired following damage during Hurricane Wilma. The hotel failed to have a licensed technician to repair or inspect the vent.
Leesfield & Partners has handled countless matters on behalf of injured clients in Key West and throughout the Florida Keys. The firm’s local ties to the area are strong and go back to at least three years before the firm opened in 1976. At that time, Mr. Leesfield was a fledgling attorney trying his first Monroe County case on behalf of a family that had lost their 14-year-old child in Key West. This was the first case in Florida tried under the Florida Supreme Court’s comparative negligence law.
After holding the company involved accountable for the boy’s death, Mr. Leesfield obtained a recovery for the grieving family and went on to start Leesfield & Partners three years later. He maintained strong ties to the area and, in the 1980s, opened the firm’s Key West office on historic Whitehead Street.
Negligent Security
In the vein of ensuring the safety of patrons, guests and other invitees to the property, owners must have proper security measures to protect them from foreseeable crimes. While property owners are not liable for the criminal acts of a third party, they must take reasonable precautions like installing security cameras, properly lighting the area around their property and, if needed, security guards to deter violence. If the property has a known history of criminal acts that property owners did nothing to warn or protect guests from, then the owners or property managers can be held liable.
In a historic negligent security case involving a Key West hotel, Leesfield & Partners represented a woman who was attacked by a hammer in an parking garage. The woman was attacked in the unlocked parking garage of a resort hotel in the area where a man was able to enter and roam around in a “drug-induced” state without being approached or questioned by any security. The man wandered for about 20 minutes before encountering our client and beginning the violent attack.
As a result of this horrific ordeal, she suffered serious and permanent injuries to her face and head. The hotel entered into a confidential settlement the night before a $40,580,000 verdict was handed down against the remaining defendant.
In another Monroe County case, Leesfield & Partners represented a hotel housekeeper who was brutally raped on the job by a man who was not a guest at the property. The firm settled the case for $1 million.
The firm recovered $1 million for the family of a 26-year-old who tragically died after being assaulted at a Monroe County bar.
What to Consider
When filing a personal injury claim in Florida, plaintiff must take the statute of limitations, notice requirements, and insurance details into account. Usually, plaintiffs have four years from the date of injury to file a claim, but there are some exceptions, depending on the case.
A plaintiff can typically seek compensation for medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and, in some cases, punitive damages. Punitive damages aren’t awarded in every case — they’re meant to punish the wrongdoer when their behavior was especially reckless or intentional, not just careless. In Florida, plaintiffs and their attorneys must show clear and convincing evidence that the person responsible acted with intentional misconduct or gross negligence to get punitive damages.
It is important for the injured party and their attorney to gather evidence demonstrating the impact of this injury. That means tracking down any security footage that might have captured what happened, reports from police or staff where the injury took place, and all medical records showing the injury’s full impact. Photos are particularly important as they can show what the scene looked like, the injury and how it has affected the plaintiff’s daily life. This is particularly important for punitive damages, which requires a higher level of proof.
In a Leesfield & Partners case, Partner Justin B. Shapiro and other attorneys at the firm were able to obtain punitive damages for the family of a man who was left brain dead from the subpar medical care received at a prison infirmary. Our client’s loved one, a 29-year-old man, was admitted to a Florida jail with a life-threatening heart infection and symptoms that warranted immediate transport to an emergency room. The urgency needed in such a case was nowhere to be found among the medical professionals overseeing this man’s care. They ignored his symptoms and denied him life-saving treatment. He deteriorated over seven days and was only admitted to the hospital when it was too late — he was brain dead.
By then, he had lost 40 pounds, had pressure ulcers, was severely septic and soaked in his own urine.
Our attorneys proved that not only was the jail “grossly understaffed” but its medical professionals had also committed numerous protocol violations.
“In fact, every single Corizon doctor and nurse deposed in this matter admitted to numerous protocol violations, and they blamed each other for Corizon’s grossly indifferent lack of humanity to this dying husband and father,” said Leesfield & Partners attorneys who worked the case.
A medical expert who examined the case called the medical care our client’s loved one received “shocking.
“There [are] no words to describe my revulsion toward how this poor man was treated by fellow health care professionals,” the expert said.
If you or a loved one was involved in a premises liability accident in Monroe County, don’t wait. Call a Leesfield & Partners attorney today at 305-854-4900 to see if you may be eligible to make a claim.