Leesfield & Partners: 49 Years of Personal Injury Law

Published on: July 7, 2025

Pam Rock Act Set to go into Effect July 1 in Florida. What to Know.

Nearly three years after mail carrier Pamela Jane Rock was killed by a pack of dogs in Florida, a law has been created to increase safety and penalties for aggressive animal owners.

Per HB 593, which goes into effect July 1 in the state, owners of dogs considered to be “dangerous” must microchip their animals, secure them and have at least $100,000 in liability insurance. This bill defines a dangerous dog as those subject to an investigation which have killed or bitten a person to a “certain severity.” This severity is defined as a score of five or higher on the Dunbar bite scale, a system designed to classify dog bite severities.

The scale ranges as follows:

Published on: June 27, 2025

FWC Fatal Boat Crash Investigation Concludes with Criminal Charges for Vessel Operator. What to Know.

By Leesfield & Partners

A Broward County man is facing criminal charges after authorities say he crashed his 21-foot center console vessel into a sailboat, resulting in at least one death in the Florida Keys.

Guy Erdman,61, of Oakland Park, was charged Wednesday with manslaughter, boating under the influence and several other misdemeanor charges, according to officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The crash happened on Dec. 27 around 8 p.m. with Erdman’s vessel and a sailboat that was anchored in Buttonwood Sound in Key Largo. Erdman was ejected from the vessel along with three passengers. A passing boater rescued Erman and two passengers from the water, but the third, Sydney Cole, 24, of North Carolina, was missing, according to reporting from The Miami Herald.

Published on: June 25, 2025

Driver in Fatal November 2024 Florida Keys Boat Crash Faces Charges, police say. What Happened?

By Leesfield & Partners

The driver in a fatal boat crash that ejected at least six people in the Florida Keys faces charges related to a woman’s death nearly seven months later, according to reporting from local media.

Reinaldo Aquit, 48, of Miami Beach, was charged Friday with vessel homicide and eight other misdemeanors. The misdemeanor charges had not been released as of Monday morning, though jail records show that three are related to public order crimes, such as reckless operation of a vessel, and three are related to health and safety.

Stephanie Rodriguez, 28, of Hialeah, was among the passengers on the boat the day of the crash. She died from her injuries. Rodriguez was “kind, loving, and playful,” according to a GoFundMe page that was started to help provide support to her family in the wake of her death.

Published on: June 25, 2025

MiLB Baseball Player Dies at 19 in Florida Jet Ski Crash on Father’s Day. What to Know.

By Leesfield & Partners

A minor league shortstop for the Baltimore Orioles has died after a jet ski crash in Sarasota, Florida.

Luis Alexander Guevara, 19, of Venezuela was identified as one of four people who were involved in a crash near Lido Key, an island west of Sarasota. All four people were thrown into the water following the head-on collision between two jet skis around 8 p.m. Sunday.

Witnesses told reporters with The Baltimore Sun that the jet skis were driving “recklessly” around the beach area and that multiple watercrafts were “extremely close to boats and the children that were in the water.”