Key West Injury Lawyer Blog

Published on: December 11, 2017

2017 – Watersports & Community Involvement – In Review

2017 was, again, a record year for verdicts, settlements and community contributions for Leesfield Scolaro. Clients from around the country and local residents of Key West and the Florida Keys selected our Firm in over 25 separate matters, including injuries from watersports, motor vehicle injuries, bicycles, moped disasters, hotels and resort injuries and many unimaginable events to visitors and residents alike.

When a private transportation bus crushed the vehicle of our clients visiting from Orange, Virginia, the result was a mediated settlement in excess of $1 million. The case was resolved in less than a year with our clients getting the financial assistance to put their lives together again.

A brief look at our Firm’s noteworthy results over the year would include:

Published on: August 23, 2017

Trial Lawyers support community and celebrate 44 years in Key West

By Leesfield Scolaro

Leesfield Scolaro continues its community involvement in Key West and Monroe County as it enters its 44th year as personal injury trial counsel.

In 1973, our managing partner Ira Leesfield, tried a wrongful death case on behalf of a Navy family, resulting in a widely known verdict. Since that trial, Leesfield and his partners have been called on to represent local families and visitors from all over the United States and the world.

Partner Thomas Scolaro has noted that our firm has tried to verdict and settled more substantial cases than any firm practicing in Key West. Mr. Scolaro’s $40.5 million verdict in September 2007 is certainly a record. However, the firm has a number of seven figure settlements and verdicts having represented many families and leaders of Monroe County.

Published on: February 27, 2017

2016 – In review / 2017 – Off to a good start!

By Leesfield Scolaro

-Cases Resolved in Key West and Monroe County on a rapid increase.

In our 40-year practice in Key West and Monroe County, we have seen the trend for serious and unnecessary injuries and deaths increase for a number of reasons. First, the number of visitors from the United States and abroad to Key West/Monroe County has now topped three million per year. Moreover, poorly maintained streets, bicycle and moped activities and heavy selling of water sports have contributed greatly to this trend. Key West is now much more than visiting the Ernest Hemingway House or the Truman Little White House. We now see cases where children’s hands have been attacked by sharks in the tank, serious boating and jet ski accidents. Inexperienced excursion guides with a lack of supervision are major culprits in this recent increase. All along Duval Street, local vendors are selling snorkeling trips, diving tours, parasailing tours, boating, jet ski, bicycle and moped rentals. After the purchase, the unknowing, entrapped, unsuspicious visitor is then poorly supervised or instructed. There are no directions on how to use land based or aquatic equipment. Representative results from this category of neglect includes:

∙ Family involved in a jet ski/boat collision awarded $1 million.

Published on: January 16, 2017

Fumes-related Key Largo Fatal Incident, First Responders to be Praised

By Leesfield Scolaro

This morning three workers became trapped when they investigated the reason for the newly-paved Long Key Road was settling. Their investigation took them inside a drainage manhole, from which none of them came out alive. The three victims were working on a road project for Douglas N. Higgins, General Contractor.

When first responders arrived on scene, a volunteer firefighter with Ley Largo Volunteer Fire Department and two deputies with Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, they had to go inside the manhole themselves in an attempt to rescue the three workers. Two of the workers who had collapsed, probably due to some toxic fumes, were pronounced dead at the scene. Later in the day, the body of the third worker was recovered hours later, deeper inside the manhole.

Once the rescue was over, the volunteer firefighter also collapsed and was emergently transported to Mariners Hospital. Soon after, the two deputies part of the rescue were also sent to the Hospital. However, due to the firefighter’s condition qualified as critical, he was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami at Ryder Trauma Center.

Published on: October 13, 2016

Spearfisherman seriously injured in Key West

By Leesfield Scolaro

Diver down flag – Courtesy of diveasia.com

Recently, Leesfield Scolaro represented the family of a young child who was fatally injured while snorkeling by the propellers of a boat off of Cow Key Channel, in Key West, Florida. Last weekend, a very similar incident took place, this time near Edward B. Knight Pier, formerly named White Street Pier. While boating accidents involving swimmers / divers are statistically down, it remains one of the top 3 concerns in Florida according to the latest boating accident statistics released by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (“FWC”).

In this latest tragedy, 29 year old David Corlew was spearfishing approximately 200 yards off the pier with fellow spearfisherman. At around 8:30 a.m., a a twin-engine 32-foot commercial charter Sea Vee vessel operated by Robert Householder struck David Corlew, who was displaying a diver-down flag as required by Florida Law, which caused him to sustain traumatic leg injuries.

Published on: September 12, 2016

Legal Tip #5 – How Florida’s Comparative Fault System Affects Your Recovery

By Leesfield Scolaro

At Leesfield Scolaro, P.A., we get this question a lot: I was injured by more than one person/corporation. Who is responsible for compensating me?

In long-ago passing Fla. Stat. § 768.81, Florida has adopted what is known as a “pure comparative fault” system. Under this regime, every party to an action, including the plaintiff as the injured party, is responsible for the proportion of the damages caused by his/her/its negligence.

Take, for example, a house fire with multiple defendants that cause severe, nearly deadly, third-degree burns on 90 percent of the plaintiff’s body and effectively paralyzes him. Pure comparative fault allows a jury to find, for example, that:

Published on: March 17, 2016

Leesfield Scolaro – Key West Events

By Leesfield Scolaro

On March 10, 2016, Leesfield Scolaro co-sponsored the Monroe County Bar Association luncheon honoring Appellate Judge Ed Scales. The overflow luncheon crowd warmly received Judge Scales’ analysis of recent appellate decisions. This event, which coincided with Spring Break, marks the 40th year founding partner Ira Leesfield has worked with lawyers and clients in the Florida Keys. Says Leesfield, “I was overwhelmed by the activity, congestion and crowds surrounding Spring break in the Florida Keys.” “Unfortunately, drinking, combined with driving, mopeds, bicycles and all water sport activities, is not always a safe combination,” noted Tom Scolaro who recently obtained a $41 million verdict against a local resort for negligent security.

Ira Leesfield‘s career began in Key West with a $2 million medical negligence recovery against a Florida Keys hospital, followed by a $2.1 verdict for a motor vehicle/moped collision (Kemp v. AMR). In addition to settlements for medical malpractice, negligent security, water jet ski and boating safety, moped, bicycle and street safety, Leesfield Scolaro holds record verdicts for settlements in Key West and throughout the Florida Keys. These results include the crash of a tourist stunt plane in Marathon, resulting in the death of a young mother with two children.

Following catastrophic injuries to bicycle and moped operators, the firm has aggressively pushed the “Share the Road” campaign, as well as supporting Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) and boating safety.

Published on: September 30, 2015

Justin Shapiro made Partner at Leesfield Scolaro, P.A.

By Leesfield Scolaro

Leesfield Scolaro, P.A., a leading Miami-based personal injury law firm recently announced Justin B. Shapiro is being named partner. He joined the firm in 2011 and will help lead the firm’s Recreational and Resort Litigation Section.

“As we enter our 40th year in practice this October, Justin’s promotion is a clear indicator of our continued growth,” said Managing Partner Ira Leesfield.

justin shapiro.jpg Justin received his juris doctor degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Miami School of Law, graduating at the top of his class, and was inducted to the Order of the Coif. He holds a bachelor’s degree, cum laude, from the University of Central Florida. Since graduation, Justin has actively litigated hundreds of cases for the firm’s statewide practice, obtaining outstanding results in complex personal injury matters.

His verdicts and settlements for severely injured clients have been recognized by leading Florida journals and organizations. He will continue to focus his practice in the areas of personal injury/wrongful death, premises liability, auto and motor vehicle accidents, and complex personal injury cases.

He is actively involved in numerous professional organizations, including the Florida Justice Association, an organization dedicated to protect the rights of Florida citizens, the Dade County Bar Association and the Coral Gables Bar Association.

Justin is married to Karina Smuclovisky, who is also a practicing attorney. They reside in Coral Gables, Florida.
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Published on: March 23, 2015

Three tragic incidents lead to three wrongful death lawsuits filed by Leesfield Scolaro

By Leesfield Scolaro

Established in Key West for over 3 decades, Leesfield Scolaro has filed countless lawsuits in Key West. This year, Ira Leesfield and Tom Scolaro have already filed three wrongful death lawsuits either in Monroe County or cases that originated from the Florida Keys.

Last January, a lawsuit was filed against a driver who ran over a bicyclist. The victim was former NFL player, Christopher Dyko, who was riding along U.S. 1. The driver of the car, Domingo Veloso, was arrested at the scene after he returned a few hours after the incident. Veloso is facing criminal charges at this time.

This month, a lawsuit was filed in Miami-Dade County by the Florida Keys’ family of a young child who hung himself while he was taken in by a mental health center. “At 14, [L.V.] hit an emotional wall,” said Ira Leesfield to news reporters, adding the teen was depressed. “He had a lot of problems and just needed help.” “[The facility was] aware of his history,” and “he should’ve never been left alone.”

Published on: January 9, 2015

Alcohol, Drugs, and Open House Parties

By Leesfield Scolaro

In Florida, parents can be held criminally responsible if alcohol or drugs are consumed on their property during an “open house party”. Florida law provides clearly that “A person having control of any residence may not allow an open house party to take place at the residence if any alcoholic beverage or drug is possessed or consumed at the residence by any minor where the person knows that an alcoholic beverage or drug is in the possession of or being consumed by a minor at the residence and where the person fails to take reasonable steps to prevent the possession or consumption of the alcoholic beverage or drug.” F.S. 856.015(2).

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, underage consumtion of alcohol and other illicit drugs continues to ravage the lives of many youngsters and their families. In its latest report, the CDC notes that “alcohol is the most commonly used and abused drug among youth in the United States, more than tobacco and illicit drugs, and is responsible for more than 4,300 annual deaths among underage youth. In 2010, there were approximately 189,000 emergency rooms visits by persons under age 21 for injuries and other conditions linked to alcohol.”

Open house parties in Florida were front and center in the 1990s when a young male teenager was beaten to death by fellow guests of an open house party. The brutal beating took place in the front lawn of the house where the party occurred. The legislator reacted to the events and passed a new law, which is the current law stated above.