Hardesty, Tyde, Green & Ashton, P.A. blog

If you have been injured on the job it is critical that you report the accident as soon as possible to the employer. The employer then has 7 days to report the accident to their insurance company. While Florida Statute 440.185 allows the injured employee up to 30 days to report the injury it is critical to report it as soon as possible. Delay in the reporting may cause the employer and ultimately the insurance company to question the accident and consequently fight the compensability (acceptance of the claim). This can cause a denial or delay in benefits of an otherwise valid claim. Many insurance carriers are looking for a way to deny or delay providing medical and wage loss benefits. Providing the insurance carrier with an excuse to do so may cause needless medical and financial difficulties. If you have been injured on the job and need assistance please contact us to assist with your workers compensation case.

Florida law allows alimony to terminate upon the death of either party, the remarriage of the receiving party or if the receiving party cohabits with someone in a supportive relationship. The cohabitation portion of the law has raised many questions as to when alimony may terminate.

In June 2008 the Fourth District Court of Appeal decided Linsoth v. Dorgan. The parties divorced in 1992 and the wife was awarded permanent alimony. The wife began cohabiting in 2002 and did so continuously up to the trial for a period of five years. She and her friend were financially and emotionally mutually supportive, although there was no commingling of money. The trial court did not find a supportive relationship, AND granted the wife’s request to increase her alimony. The Fourth DCA affirmed. There is a strong and lengthy dissent. The two opinions thoroughly discuss the Florida cohabitation statute.

In Wilbur v. Wilbur, a Second DCA case decided in May 2008, the Husband had a huge arrearage. Trial court ordered husband to take out an equity loan on his homesteaded residence in order to pay it. The Second DCA affirmed.

If we can assist you with a family law matter please contact us at jaxlegal.com.

A recent study showed that over half a million commercial semi tractor trailer drivers were operating these huge rigs on our highways despite disabilities that qualified them as being totally disabled by the Veterans Administration, United States Labor Department or Social Security Administration. These disabilities ranged from vision and hearing loss to seizure disorders and uncontrolled heart problems. The result has been accidents that cost the lives of innocent motorists as well as the truck drivers themselves. Florida and Georgia ranked at the top of the study that looked at violations of medical rules. In a serious truck accident the background and history of a driver must be completely investigated. If you or someone you care about has been the victim of an accident please contact us to help.

According to a new U.S. safety study, hundreds of thousands of truck and bus drivers have commercial licenses even though they also qualify for full federal disability payments. Many of these drivers have suffered from seizures, heart attacks, or unconscious spells while driving that have led to fatal truck accidents. In fact, a federal study found that cases such as these were a leading cause of serious crashes involving large trucks.

Truckers violating federal medical rules have been caught in every state. Florida ranks among the top twelve states where the most drivers have been caught for breaking medical rules, including such things as failing to carry a valid medical certificate.

Take this example:

A Florida bus driver who uses three daily inhalers and suffers from black lung disease recently told congressional investigators that he “occasionally blacks out and forgets things.” He does not possess a medical certificate and has been receiving Social Security benefits since 1994.

The consequences of allowing impaired truck drivers on the road can be disastrous. In May 2005, a trucker suffering from sleep apnea crossed a median, killing a woman and her ten-month old son. It was later discovered the driver failed to disclose his condition when obtaining the medical certification he needed to drive.

If you or someone you care about has been injured in a truck accident and need help, contact our experienced attorneys.

For more information, go to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/21/AR2008072100222.html?nav=rss_business/industries

Next time you have the urge to post something on one of the Internet social sites think again before you do it. Sites such as Facebook, My Space and the host of others are gaining attention from Judges and Attorneys as a place to view evidence and search for self incrimination. Pictures, Stories or blogs are all sources for problems in the courtroom. Take the example of Joshua Lipton a Rhode Island student charged with DUI and causing an accident severely injuring a woman. The prosecutor found Facebook photos from a Halloween party two weeks after the accident with Lipton dressed in a mock prison suit and a sign saying "Jail Bird." The judge took the photos into account as he sentenced Lipton to 2 years in prison. To read the entire story see this link:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/18/facebook.evidence.ap/index.html

The best judgement is to understand that if something is posted on the Internet it becomes difficult if not impossible to remove it entirely. Never post anything that is even questionable regarding content. The content posted on the Internet is public and is usable in virtually every type of case (criminal, family law, workers compensation, personal injury, medical malpractice). Please contact us if we can assist with a legal matter.

Most people go to work, do their jobs and never get injured. Those are the fortunate folks that have never had to face the Florida Workers Compensation system outlined in Florida Statutes Chapter 440. The law governing injuries in the workplace creates many roadblocks and pitfalls for the employee to navigate.

Imagine being told you cannot use your own doctor that you have come to trust and who has the best knowledge of you as a patient. Imagine a insurance company staffer determining what type of treatment will or will not be approved and then hiring a team of claim fighters to try and prevent the injured employee from getting the treatment that is medically necessary. Imagine an injured employee suffering a very serious injury and requiring multiple surgeries and rehabilitation treatment and being told by the law that the victim is at maximum medical improvement because two years has passed since the date of injury. That's right, it is not based on what trained medical professionals determine but what the Florida legislature passed in 2003. These scenarios occur each and every day to workers across this State.

We are familiar with these complex problems and dealing with the workers compensation system. If you need help please contact us.

The Miranda warnings arose out of a murder case in Arizona that was litigated in the United States Supreme court. The outgrowth of this case created the infamous "Miranda Warnings" or "Miranda Rights." Miranda only applies in custodial interrogation by law enforcement or their agents. That is there must be two requirements to require the rights to be read: 1. The person must be in custody (arrest or not free to leave) and 2. Interrogation (questioning). Statements made by a person spontaneously while in custody are not subject to these protections. The Miranda rights are as follows:

YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT(That means keep quiet, you are generally not going to be able to talk your way out of the situation so why not keep quiet and refrain from making a bad situation worse)

ANYTHING YOU SAY CAN AND WILL BE USED AGAINST YOU IN A COURT OF LAW (That means if you do not remain silent that your statements become great evidence in the governments case against you, why would you want to help the other side?)

YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO AN ATTORNEY (Use it, contact us so that we can assist in a bad situation) , IF YOU CANNOT AFFORD AN ATTORNEY ONE WILL BE APPOINTED TO YOU (You will be assigned a public defender if you can demonstrate financial need)

The National Highway Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has determined from investigating Motorcycle accidents nationwide that a person driving and wearing a helmet is 37 percent less likely to die in the accident. A motorcycle passenger wearing a helmet is 41 percent less likely to die in a crash. What should be noted is that these statistics took into account a variety of "helmet headgear" ranging from the spike WWI Kaiser helmet, beanie helmet and the full head and face covering of a competition helmet. It is fairly obvious that the higher quality and safety rated helmets improve the survivability statistics significantly. While optional helmet laws are widespread and certainly a bikers choice it is at least reasonable to know the facts and numbers. If you or a friend have been injured in a motorcycle accident please contact us. We have the experience and resources to help.

Driver Fatigue was the cause of the January 2006 accident caused by Alvin Wilkerson was 25 miles into an 85-mile trip hauling bottled water for Crete Carrier Corp. Wilkerson slammed into the back of a van that was stopped behind a school bus. He had been awake for nearly 34 hours and fell asleep while driving.

The crash killed 15-year-old driver, Nikki Mann, her siblings, Elizabeth Mann, 15, Johnny Mann, 13, and Heaven Mann, 3; two cousins, Ashley Keen, 14, and Miranda Finn, 10; and the Manns’ foster brother, Anthony Lamb, 20 months.

Both the van and tractor-trailer rammed into the school bus. The van burst into flames and killed everyone inside. Ten children on the school bus were also hurt, some severely.

Wilkerson was charged with seven counts of vehicular homicide and 10 counts of misdemeanor culpable negligence. He was sentenced to 7 years (one year for each death).

State Attorney William Cervone of Gainsville said that the conviction may be the first case in Florida where someone went to prison for falling asleep behind the wheel.

Cervone also indicated that the prison sentence doesn’t end the pursuit of justice in the case. Wilkerson has already discussed his sleep deprivation with prosecutors.

Assistant State Attorney Geoffrey Fleck added:

“We’re hoping that this will send a message to the trucking companies that if they drive sleep-deprived drivers, they could be not only civilly but criminally liable.”
That message is vital. Companies that pressure truckers to break the hours-of-service rules put the lives of innocent men, women and children at risk. Those companies should have to face criminal charges.

If you have been hurt or a loved one has been hurt or died as a result of a truck driver's carelessness, contact our firm Hardesty, Tyde, Green & Ashton by clicking here or calling (904) 398-2212.

For several years now, the nursing group which sets the standards for intravenous (IV) infusion of medications, the Infusion Nurses Society, has set practice standards for infusion of medications through peripheral short catheters, the type a patient commonly gets in the hand/arm during hospitalization. These IV infusion standards specifically indicate it is improper for a hospital or nurse to use a peripheral short catheter for infusion of medications with a pH of less than 5 or more than 9.

Many doctors and hospitals order use of the drug Phenergan to assist in controlling nausea in post-operative patients. Although it can be administered rectally via suppository or intramuscularly via injection, it is frequently ordered IV. The problem with this is that Phenergan has a pH of 4-5 and should not be given in a typical IV in the small veins of the hand according to INS standards. This is because the small peripheral veins can easily be damaged by this drug. If the drug extravasates or infiltrates into surrounding tissue, it can cause significant tissue or nerve damage. Cases involving the need for amputation of the limb have been reported to the drug manufacturer. Other conditions, including RSD (reflex sympathetic dystrophy) or CRPS (complex regional pain syndrome) which are extremely painful conditions that can render a limb nearly useless, may also result from improper administration of Phenergan. In fact, our law firm has handled multiple medical malpractice cases in which improper administration of Phenergan has caused RSD or CRPS.

While many hospitals have now banned the IV infusion of Phenergan, it is still being given on a daily basis in too many other hospitals. These institutions need to be educated on the dangers of Phenergan and should require it to be administered by other than IV means or should require the IV use of other, less toxic, anti-nausea medications. Too often, the hospital nursing staff is not aware of the risks of the drug and infuses it too quickly, without proper dilution and/or fails to stop the infusion immediately when the patient complains of pain. The result is often catastrophic to the patient.

A new law which allows a person wrongfully convicted and incarcerated of a felony to apply for compensation from the State was to take effect July 1, 2008.

After the court's order vacating the felony conviction and sentence becomes final, a person can petition the original sentencing court for a determination whether he qualifies as a "wrongfully incarcerated person." The petition must contain verifiable and substantial evidence of actual innocence and must state that prior to the wrongful incarceration the person was not a convicted felon, that during the wrongful incarceration the person was not convicted of a felony and that the person was not serving a concurrent sentence for another felony for which the person was not wrongfully convicted.

The petition has to be filed within 90 days of the court's order vacating the conviction and sentence if vacated on or after July 1, 2008. For cases in which the conviction and sentence were vacated before July 1, 2008 the petition must be filed by July 1, 2010.

The prosecutor must be provided notice of the petition and has 30 days to respond by either certifying that no further criminal proceedings will take place in the case and that the petitioner is not disqualified from seeking compensation or by contesting the evidence of actual innocence, the related facts or the petitioner's eligibility.

If the prosecutor contests the petition the court must determine the petitioners eligibility through a process described in the new law.

The maximum compensation is $50,000 for each year of wrongful incarceration up to a $2 million cap. Non-monetary benefits can include tuition and fee waiver at certain state educational facilities.

Hardesty, Tyde, Green and Ashton proudly represent client's rights in the areas of personal injury, workers compensation, social security, criminal defense and family law.

We are thankful for the privilege of living in the greatest nation on earth and remember that it was not that long ago (only 232 years) that our founding fathers fought for the rights we now enjoy!

If you have not read the Declaration of Independence recently please take a moment to do so:


In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

New Hampshire - Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts - John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island - Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut - Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York - William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey - Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania - Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware - Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland - Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia - George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina - William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina - Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton Georgia - Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton