In the Courtroom
Partner Justin Shapiro represented a family visiting Key West from California that was involved in a jet ski incident and Partner Adam Rose represented the family of a Monroe County Sheriff’s Deputy injured in a motor vehicle accident.
Unparalleled Experience and Success Representing Victims of Jet Ski Incidents
In 1987, Leesfield & Partners opened their offices in Key West on the heels of a wrongful death case tried to verdict by Ira Leesfield. For the past four decades, the firm’s involvement in Monroe County has continued to grow both in the courts and in the community through educational programs, scholarships and contributions to numerous food banks. Every year the firm is a proud sponsor to the Marques Butler Memorial Softball annual tournament that is held in honor and memory of Marques Butler, a former client. The firm also looks forward to organizing, sponsoring and participating in the Monroe County Bar Association’s Annual Continuing Legal Education luncheon customarily held at Leesfield & Partners’s Key West Offices on Whitehead Street.
It is through its personal injury practice that the firm makes the biggest difference in the community. Most recently, Partner Thomas Scolaro has obtained an 8-figure settlement stemming from a house fire in Ramrod Key. This is the second time Mr. Scolaro secures such a result for clients. A few years ago he tried E.E. vs. XYZ Resort Hotel & Marina and MARK JASON HOLMES to verdict and won $40,580,000 for his client. To this day, this remains the highest personal injury verdict in the history of Monroe County.
Ira Leesfield and Thomas Scolaro also reached a seven-figure settlement on behalf of an Iowa family that was injured following carbon monoxide exposure at a Key West Hotel. In addition to proving that the hotel’s negligent repair to the boiler roof vent caused carbon monoxide to be forced back down into the boiler room of the hotel and into the adjoining guest rooms where our clients slept, the firm successfully fought for passage of Senate Bill 1822. It was the first law at the time that required public lodging establishments to install one or more carbon monoxide detectors that we all take for granted today.
On Memorial Day, our client’s young boy who was snorkeling at the time was run over by a family boat operated by a 6-grader while at full speed and on a full plane. The propeller fatally injured him. Despite having a diver’s down flag prominently displayed, the reckless teenager who never should have been trusted with operating the boat alone fled the scene, went home, covered up evidence of his crime and lied to the police. Our investigation found five witnesses who saw him flee at full speed.
A lawsuit was filed against multiple defendants including the parents under counts of negligent entrustment and negligent supervision. Courts look at the following elements of negligent entrustment when the allegation is made against the parents of a young child: whether the parent entrusts an instrumentality to a child who because of his lack of (1) age, (2) judgment or (3) experience, may become a source of danger to others. In this case, our firm was able to satisfy every element by establishing that the recklessness behavior of the 13 year-old child/boat operator
Whether the parents knew or should have known with due care that injury to another was possible because of their child’s past reckless operation of the boat would constitute negligent supervision. We established through witness testimony, including from one neighbor who had previously seen the teen operating his boat in a reckless manner while the neighbor’s family was snorkeling at the docks off his house.
Leesfield & Partners – KEY WEST UPDATE
Leesfield & Partners Partner, ADAM ROSE, has been elected to serve as Secretary of the Monroe County Bar Association (MCBA). During our 40-year involvement with the organization, Adam is the first lawyer at Leesfield & Partners to serve as an officer. We are very proud of his years of work in Monroe County and throughout the state of Florida.
Adam graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Miami School of Law in 2016. He joined Leesfield & Partners the same year, and has undertaken responsibility for numerous high level results since graduation, a large number of those cases in Key West and throughout Monroe County.
Miami Attorneys Thomas Scolaro and Adam Rose have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Sunset Watersports, the company operating the parasailing tour that resulted in the death of Nicholas Hayward. Mr. Hayward is survived by his 10-year-old son.
On July 17, Sunset Watersports’ boat captain, Andrew Santeiro, harnessed Nicholas and his girlfriend to their parasail and launched them in the air despite dangerous weather conditions. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission’s investigative arm has already concluded that “severe weather [was] a contributing factor”. Scolaro says that, “this incident would not have occurred but for Sunset Watersports’ utter disregard for the safety of its passengers and violations of Florida Law.” Scolaro further says that “Witnesses have already confirmed that the boat operator was displaying a ‘cowboy attitude’ ignoring passengers’ screams to slow down. Passengers report the operator never should have put them out there because they could not even stand on the deck without tipping over.”
Florida Statute 327.375 prohibits parasailing if the observed wind conditions are more than 20 mph or wind gusts are more than 25 mph. “Laws mean nothing if your health and safety are in the hands of cowboys who do not think the law applies to them. A young boy will grow up without a father because a boat operator wanted to play chicken with mother nature.”
This week, a tragic parasailing incident took the life of 36-year-old Nicholas Hayward and critically injured 28-year-old Azalea Silva. This is a very sad reminder that Florida laws regulating – or attempting to regulate – the parasailing industry are still utterly inadequate and do not protect life. A very similar case was handled by Leesfield & Partners in 2007, which resulted in the passage of the very first law of its kind in the state of Florida. Ira Leesfield and Thomas Scolaro have been at the forefront of this issue, and it is time for reform.
The Miami Herald has reported on the latest incident that the commercial boat used to launch tourists up their parasail was operated by Sunset Watersports. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which investigates all boating accidents, has already stated that “severe weather [was] a contributing factor with this boating accident.” The spokesman for FWC, Officer Bobby Dube, described to reporters that the boat was operating in the middle of “harsh weather” when the incident occurred at around noon. Dube added that the incident took place as the duo began their ascent, they apparently fell very quickly and crashed in the water.
Regulation of the Florida parasailing industry is very light. The Amber May Law came into effect on October 1, 2014. It was named after Amber May, a young teenager who perished in a similar parasailing incident in 2007 in Broward County. Amber and her younger sister were also sent in the air as a duo in the middle of severe weather. Neither the small boat nor the rope could resist the high winds, and ultimately the rope snapped. The girls were catapulted against nearby buildings and hotels. Crystal, Amber May’s sister, lost her best friend and sustained a traumatic brain injury in an incident that was 100% preventable. Leesfield & Partners filed suit against multiple defendants immediately and secured a settlement on behalf of the family.
Over the course of Leesfield & Partners’s 42-year history, we have seen a remarkable increase in grievous injuries and fatalities with the evolution of the watersports and boating industries. As water excursion operators compete vigorously for the consumer dollar, the tours, vehicles, and equipment they offer become more thrilling, and in turn, more dangerous. We now live in a world where traditional boat charters and snorkeling excursions are not enough. The public now craves the thrill of high speed jet ski tours, parasailing at 800 feet in the sky, water-propelled hover boards and jet packs, amphibious duck boats, paddle boards, and so on. The industry is producing so many new products and services that it is impossible for the government to properly regulate the activities. This inevitably results in tragedy as members of the public put their lives in the hands of poorly trained excursion operators with negligently maintained equipment.
A prime example made national news in July 2018 when an amphibious duck boat capsized and claimed the lives of 17 passengers in a southwestern Missouri lake. Duck boats are unique vehicles that resemble a bus while traveling on land but can also operate as a boat in the water. Regulations are spotty, however, because they are technically neither a bus nor a boat. This particular tragedy encompassed all of the notoriously dangerous elements of water excursions that we have seen in our practice for decades: (1) an inherently dangerous vehicle, (2) reckless and poorly trained employees, and (3) a failure to provide necessary safety equipment.
Over the years, Leesfield & Partners has successfully prosecuted a large number of cases involving traditional and novel water-related incidents, including:
For the past 22 years, March has been an eventful month for our law firm and the Monroe County Bar Association. This year is no different, as we welcome Supreme Court Justice Fred Lewis and Third DCA Judge Ed Scales as keynote speakers to our CLE luncheon to be held at Mangoes Restaurant on March 28th. The luncheon is sponsored by our Firm and is complimentary. Two CLE credits are available to those in attendance. Our judicial guests will address current and significant changes in judicial administration. Over 70 guests have already responded to this sold out event.
Keeping with the tradition of welcoming and celebrating the important work of our judiciary, the day continues with our Annual Conch Fritter and Margarita Party from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.
The Leesfield & Partners social gathering has become an important tradition for the past 22 years and brings together clients, friends, judicial administrators and court personnel, as well as all of the Monroe County judiciary. As usual, the venue is our historic Key West office.
2017 was, again, a record year for verdicts, settlements and community contributions for Leesfield & Partners. 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:
Leesfield & Partners 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.
Key West Injury Lawyer Blog