Fort Lauderdale Injury Lawyer Blog

The Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel reports that a landlord arguing with the father of one his tenants was chased down by the irate father in his car and run over. The incident was captured on an outdoor surveillance camera.

Police said the driver threatened the victim and stated: "I am going to get you, mother f-----!" The victim can be seen on the videotape running for his life, falling near the sidewalk before being run over by the Ford Taurus, which stopped on top of him.

The man remained trapped under the car until officers arrived to rescue him. Police had to ask bystanders to help lift up the 1992 Ford Tauras to free the man. Fortunately, in addition to the police, a weightlifter was available to help pull the man out from under the car. The man survived the impact and paramedics took him to the emergency room at Broward General Hospital.

The driver was criminally charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of assault for getting into fights outside the car. The video shows the driver fleeing the scene and then fighting with one bystander, later entering the a grocery store where he punched a 24-year-old woman.

Because of the obvious intentional nature of this incident, even if the driver here had purchased liability insurance on his car, any claim would probably be denied by his insurance company. Most liability policies have an "intentional acts" exclusion which states the policy will not pay for damages caused by a driver who deliberately tries to injure someone while operating his car. The driver can still be sued for battery (an unlawful touching) and even for negligence under the theory that somehow the impact wsa just an "accident," but it will be very difficult to get paid under the driver's policy. If the landlord owned his own car and had purchased uninsured motorist coverage, he might be able to recover for his damages under that policy. Although these types of cases are very unusual, this illustrates the importance of purchasing uninusured motorist coverage for you and your family.

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In the early morning of October 30, 2009, a high-school student and his two friends rode their bicycles from one boy's Miami Shores house to another's home in North Miami. The cyclists believed they were safe at night because their bikes had front and rear lights.

Their safety lights did not help them. As the student rode his bike along Biscayne Boulevard he was struck and killed by a car his friends say was speeding. ``The bicycle was pinned down under the front tire of the car,'' according to a witness who arrived at the scene shortly after the accident.

On November 27, 2009, the monthly Critical Mass ride -- organized by cyclists demonstrating for their safety -- was dedicated to this boy. From the usual starting location at Miami-Dade County Hall in downtown Miami, the ride proceeded north on Biscayne Boulevard to 113th Street, where the student was killed. There his friends and family gathered to place a memorial in his memory.

This case represents another cycling fatality in the state of Florida which has the most in the country. Florida law classifies bicycles as vehicles, giving cyclists the right to use the roadway. After dark, cyclists are required to have bike lights front and rear.

Like other cities, Miami has seen an increase in the popularity of cycling despite streets widely regarded as dangerous to bicyclists, in part because many roads are designed for fast motorized traffic and lack marked bike lanes.

Cycling activists have, without success, requested the Florida Department of Transportation, which manages Biscayne Boulevard, to add bike lanes on that road which is a major north-south cycling route in eastern Miami-Dade County.

This tragic case reminds us that cyclists should always wear helmets, although I am not sure that it would have made a difference here. Even with flashing lights and reflectors on bicycles, a lot of motorists still do not see cyclists on the road. Unfortunately, when a collision occurs between a car and a bicycle, the end result is usually very serious to the cyclist. One of the ways that a cyclist can financially protect himself from the adverse consequences of a collision with a car is to make sure that if he owns an automobile, that he has purchased uninsured motorist coverage. This coverage may extend from the automobile to your bicycle in the event that the at-fault motorist does not have any, or does not have enough, liability coverage for the damages incurred.

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