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Every instance of Florida sexual assault of a patient by a healthcare provider is an egregious breach of trust and professional ethics. For doctors, it’s a violation of the sacred Hippocratic Oath to “first, do no harm.” But can it be considered “medical malpractice?”Florida civil sexual assault attorney Palm Beach

Medical malpractice is a type of civil claim. But not all civil claims against healthcare providers or institutions are necessarily for malpractice.

Our West Palm Beach civil trial lawyers are experienced in the successful handling of both civil sexual assault cases and medical malpractice claims in South Florida. While each case is fact-specific, we generally frame patient sexual assaults as torts of general negligence rather than medical malpractice.

For one thing, it can be argued that sexual assault does not “arise out of” the administration of healthcare, for which a breach of duty is governed by applicable standards of care. It’s an intentional act by the accused perpetrator, and one that may have been reasonably foreseeable/preventable had the facility and/or employer exercised a reasonable degree of basic oversight/security.

Beyond this, Florida medical malpractice claims are held to much more rigorous standards for proof burdens, allowable evidence, and timelines. There are a lot more legal and procedural hurdles to clear just to get your foot in the door with a medical malpractice claim compared to other types of civil claims. Prevailing in medical malpractice cases also requires more time, resources, and legal expertise.

Defendants in medical malpractice cases also may not be required to pay out as much as those sued for ordinary negligence. While Florida has no caps on medical malpractice injury economic damages (compensation for things like medical bills and loss of income related to medical negligence), it does cap non-economic damages for things like anxiety, mental anguish, trauma, pain and suffering, and loss of companionship. The cap is set at $500,000 for practitioner defendants, such as doctors and nurses, and $750,000 for non-practitioner defendants, such as hospitals and healthcare systems (assuming the victim wasn’t left dead or in a vegetative state, in which case, the damage award goes up slightly). Non-economic damages are often a big part of damages sought in Florida civil sexual assault cases.

The end result of requiring these of sexual assault to be filed as medical malpractice is that victims have have a tougher time filing and establishing liability. They’ll pay more to do so, wait longer for justice, and likely be compensated less.

Recently, reporters with ProPublica and The Salt Lake Tribune reported on this phenomenon in Utah. The expose detailed the nearly-five-decade career of a doctor who faced civil lawsuits by 94 former patients who accused him of sexual assault. Several of those claims have been dismissed because a lower court judge has held they should be filed as medical malpractice claims – and the filings fall short of the more stringent standards for such cases. The Utah Supreme Court has granted review of appeals by several of those plaintiffs. But if the lower court’s ruling stands, it will also mean foreclosing on many future claims, because the statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims in those states is shorter than for ordinary negligence. It will also mean that even successful cases would be subject to the medical malpractice damage caps.

Here in Florida, courts have ruled both ways.

Florida Court Rulings on Health Care Sexual Assaults as Medical Malpractice Claims

Some examples: Continue reading

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In the aftermath of a Southeast Florida car accident, there’s no requirement that you MUST hire a Palm Beach personal injury lawyer with a claim for damages. But there is strong statistical evidence that doing so will significantly improve your odds of prevailing with full and fair damages. Palm Beach injury lawyer

One analysis published by the Insurance Research Council a few years ago revealed lawyer-represented crash victims received damage awards that were on average 3.5 times higher compared to those who didn’t hire a lawyer.

This supports much of the previously-established data on this issue.

In a 2010 empirical evidence study published in the peer-reviewed Seattle Journal for Social Justice, researchers conducted meta analysis of other studies dating back decades on how access to a lawyer impacts the outcomes of civil cases – including personal injury claims. What they found was:

  • In every study reviewed, “lawyered-up” claimants were far more likely to win. (Exactly how much more likely varied from study-to-study, with most ranging somewhere from 20 percent higher to 4 times higher.) Part of this might be explained by the fact that civil lawyers tend to take on more meritorious cases. But then again, that’s one of the many benefits you get with hiring a Palm Beach injury lawyer: Confidence that you aren’t wasting your time because you’ve got a case worth pursuing.
  • To minimize the influence of the merit-based argument, another study involved civil lawyers providing their services at random to a group of sample litigants. The outcomes in their cases were then compared to those of similarly-situated (but non-represented) litigants. Those who had lawyers were 4.4 times more likely to win than those who represented themselves.
  • Another analysis concluded that in higher complexity civil cases (including serious personal injuries, medical malpractice, and wrongful death), plaintiffs represented by attorneys were 40 percent more likely to win.

Why Does Hiring a Palm Beach Injury Lawyer Make Such a Difference?

Some of the researchers’ theories about why hiring a lawyer makes such a difference in case outcomes: Continue reading

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Despite the fact that an electric scooter does not meet the technical definition of a “motor vehicle” by Florida law, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit held that does not exempt an auto insurer from having to payout uninsured motorist (UM) benefits. West Palm Beach injury lawyer electric scooter injury

The court’s recent ruling in State Farm v. Spangler reversed the trial court’s previous grant of summary judgment in favor of the insurer.

The car insurance company had argued that its uninsured motorist policies were reserved solely for accidents caused by motor vehicles – which are defined in Florida’s Financial Responsibility Law as well as in the uninsured motorist statute.

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Over the last few years, there have been thousands of reported rideshare sexual assault allegations across the country – a fair number of those in Florida. Filing civil sexual assault lawsuits against rideshare companies like Uber or Lyft is somewhat complicated by the fact that drivers are not employees, but independent contractors. As such, they can not be held vicariously liable for the actions of employees for wrongdoing on-the-job.

However, as our Palm Beach sexual assault attorneys can explain, they can be held responsible for direct negligence with respect to inadequate background checks and failure to warn passengers of a driver with a violent criminal record.Palm Beach rideshare sexual assault lawyer There may in fact be several legal theories upon which you may base a successful claim against Uber, Lyft, or other rideshare company for failure to protect against sexual assault. This is true for drivers as well as passengers (as both have reportedly been attacked).

Two recent Florida rideshare liability lawsuits allege systemic shortcomings with respect to adequate background checks of drivers. One of those cases involves sexual assault, the other identity theft. (Even though the alleged crimes were dissimilar, the underlying issue with prior criminal records can establish a pattern.)

In one of those cases, a young woman in Tampa alleges an Uber driver sexually assaulted her after she scheduled a ride home after a night out. She was intoxicated, she said, and did the right thing by calling for an Uber driver to get her home safely. But according to the sheriff’s office, he did not take her home. Instead, he sexually assaulted her over a period of 4 hours. Eventually, he took her to the hotel where her friends were staying. Her friends said she returned with undergarments askew and having soiled herself. The following morning, after piecing together what happened, she went to a rape crisis center and underwent a sexual assault exam. When later questioned by police, the driver – who was twice the victim’s age – admitted to engaging in sexual intercourse with her, but insisted it was consensual. However, she said she was so impaired she has no memory of what happened. She did not consent – and could not have consented given how impaired she was.

The driver was arrested for sexual battery and has pleaded not guilty. But the Florida civil sexual assault lawsuit against Uber alleges the driver should never have been working for that company to begin with – especially knowing he’d be entrusted with the safety of vulnerable passengers absent any direct supervision. Continue reading

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As West Palm Beach medical malpractice lawyers, we’ve been carefully watching the shifting landscape of OBGYN healthcare since the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade last year.Florida medical malpractice abortion bans

Since then, many states – including Florida – have moved to substantially restricted abortion access. Along with that, there have been a growing number of reports of doctors and hospitals refusing to end pregnancies, even when women are facing life-threatening complications. While most state with abortion restrictions have carved out exceptions when the life of the mother is in jeopardy, healthcare providers say these exceptions are so narrowly written that they run the risk of criminal prosecution or loss of their medical license if they act before the woman’s situation is truly dire.

Much of this comes down to the fact that clearly identifying when a condition is “life-threatening” isn’t so simple. Every scenario is different, and there may not be universal consensus. Further, even when doctors know the woman’s situation WILL inevitably become life-threatening if they don’t act, they say the law paralyzes them from doing anything until her life is actually in danger.

Take for example a case that ABC News reported on about a woman in Texas who had to wait until she developed sepsis – a life-threatening infection of the blood – before doctors were willing to provide her with a lifesaving abortion. They knew she would develop sepsis, but reportedly couldn’t do anything to help her until she did. She was 4 months pregnant when her water broke, causing her to lose her amniotic fluid, which is essential to keeping a fetus alive. Texas law prohibits abortion after fetal cardiac activity is detected. So even though she arrived at the hospital, shaking, feverish, no amniotic fluid, and no chance the fetus would survive, doctors said they could not provide her immediate emergency abortion care – because the fetus’s heartbeat was still detected. She had to wait nearly a full day to develop full-blown sepsis before she could acquire abortion care. Doctors told her, “You will get very sick before we can help you.” Had she been a patient in a state with less restrictive abortion laws, she could have received abortion care immediately and avoided sepsis – and all the major health risks that go with that. She reportedly continues to suffer health complications because of that infection.

In Florida, abortions after 6 weeks were recently banned by a law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. However, that ban is on pause until the Florida Supreme Court can weigh in. For now, Florida is a top destination for Southerners seeking abortions up to 15 weeks. There’s no assured timeline – or outcome – in the state high court decision, but it’s widely expected that the conservative-leaning court will allow the abortion restrictions – with no exceptions for rape or incest – to remain in place.

Will Doctors Refusing Abortions Be Shielded From Florida Medical Malpractice Claims?

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The chairman of a pro golf tour and his wife have been named as defendants in a Florida sexual assault lawsuit filed on behalf of a teen girl who alleges she was sexually assaulted twice at their home during an alcohol-fueled teen party. The high school student, a friend of the chairman’s stepdaughter, reportedly attended the outdoor pool party in September 2021 at their Palm Beach Gardens mansion, where she says alcohol was being freely served to minors.Florida sexual assault lawsuit underage party

At one point, according to her lawsuit, the girl says she was sexually assaulted by two individuals (identified only by their initials in the filing), who were also both underage. The assaults reportedly took place on a grassy area near the pool. At the time, she was allegedly unable to even stand on her own due to intoxication.

The girl and her parents accuse the homeowners of negligence and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. They allege the hosts breached their duty of care by not safeguarding or preventing injury to her health and wellbeing – including the abusive conduct of other minor invitees that was at least partially the direct result of having alcohol unlawfully served to them.

Suing for Florida Sex Assault Using Social Host Liability Law

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The vast majority of successful Palm Beach personal injury cases end in a settlement, as opposed to a trial. Trials are time-consuming, expensive, and sometimes traumatic for plaintiffs and their loved ones. But how are these settlements actually paid out? personal injury settlement Florida

Let’s start with the fact that if you hire an experienced injury attorney, you might not even need to file a lawsuit. Settlements can be reached by mutual agreement at any time – whether there’s a lawsuit or not.

Let the Negotiations Begin

You will probably need to submit a claim to the other party, but that’s not the same as a formal lawsuit. Skilled attorneys can sometimes negotiate favorable pretrial settlements within just a few weeks – possibly even days – without every stepping foot in a courtroom.

If those negotiations are failing and the defendant is refusing to pay you fair compensation, then it’s time to file a lawsuit. Under Florida’s new statute of limitations outlined in F.S. 95.11, you have a 2-year deadline in which to file your case. (Up until this March, it was 4 years.)

That said, settlement negotiations can continue all the way up to trial – and even at any point prior to a verdict. Ideally though, they’ll conclude sooner than later and in your favor.

Although the Palm Beach personal injury claim is technically against the individual who was allegedly negligent in causing the harm, negotiations typically involve insurance companies and their attorneys. That’s because it’s probably ultimately going to be the insurer who pays out the claim.

But even once you reach a settlement, the insurer isn’t automatically going to just cut you a check. The insurer is going to want to protect themselves and their client from any future claims of liability. Before paying up, the insurer will want you to sign a final release. It’s really important that you read over the terms of this release before signing anything. These documents can contain language that can come back to haunt you – particularly if you have latent injuries OR there are other defendants from whom you might still be seeking accountability. The final release stipulates that you forever waive your right to pursue this case in exchange for the agreed-upon payout. It’s not uncommon for these releases to include language that you agree to forfeit your right to make future claims for this incident against any party. If there are other defendants with cases still pending, you really must be careful about this.

Liens & Bills to Be Paid

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Attorneys fighting for victims of decades-old child sexual abuse, the March 2023 Third District Court of Appeals’ ruling in Doe v. Archdiocese of Miami, Inc. represented a key victory for abuse survivors. The appellate panel gave the green light to a plaintiff pursuing a civil lawsuit against the Catholic church for liability of a priest’s alleged sexual abuse – despite the passage of more than 20 years. However, the archdiocese is now asking for the Florida Supreme Court to intervene and have the case dismissed, calling it “a case of exceptional importance for employers.” Palm Beach sexual abuse lawyer church sex abuse lawsuit

Plaintiff in the case is a man who came forward about the sexual abuse he suffered on dozens of occasions from the time he was 7 until he was 9 by a priest. The complaint – which is against the church and does not name the priest – alleges the archdiocese was aware that the priest in question had an extensive history of child sexual abuse dating back to at least the late 1960s. The church allegedly not only concealed prior allegations, but continued to place this priest in positions where he still had access to children. Nothing was done to prevent further abuse, the complaint alleges.

The 3rd DCA’s ruling held that the alleged victim could not sue the church for negligence because there is a 4-year statute of limitations on negligence claims, per F.S. 95.11(9). (Or at least, there was. A recent change to the law has shortened that window down to just 2 years.) However, the court did reverse the circuit court’s dismissal of a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress against the church, per F.S. 95.11(7), which references intentional tort claims based on abuse. That provision of the law was passed in 2010 law and lifted certain statute of limitation restrictions on cases that involve sexual battery of victims younger than 16. Rather than a hardline 4-year statute of limitations, claims brought forth on this basis may commence whichever of the following occurs latest:

  • Within 7 years after the victim reaches the age of majority OR
  • Within 4 years after the injured person leaves the dependency of the abuser OR
  • Within 4 years of discovering both the injury and causal relationship between the injury of abuse.

Finding that the claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress was rooted in the intentional tort of abuse, the 3rd DCA applied this statute, and concluded the plaintiff’s intentional tort claim survived until 2017, which was 7 years after he turned 18.

Furthermore, the court rejected the Catholic church’s argument that such claims could be only made against an institution, rather than an individual.

As our West Palm Beach sexual abuse lawyers can explain, most civil sexual abuse claims are against institutions – employers, schools, property owners, sports organizations, and churches.

Why? Continue reading

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Childhood injuries are a fact of life – but that doesn’t mean they aren’t preventable or that those who caused them can’t be held accountable.child personal injury lawyer Palm Beach

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a child in America is treated for an injury in an emergency department every 4 seconds. Per the National Safety Council, unintentional child injury deaths among is somewhere around 9,000 each year. Hundreds of thousands of kids suffer non-fatal injuries. Car accidents, gunshots, bicycle accidents, suffocation, drowning, poisoning, fires, and falls are among the leading causes.

When these injuries are the result of someone else’s carelessness on the road, a dangerous toy, hazardous property conditions, medical mistakes, or lack of property supervision/security/safe hiring practices, etc. – your child may have a viable Palm Beach personal injury claim for monetary damages. However, while it’s your child who is hurt and suffering, they aren’t going to be the one who pays the medical bills, hires the attorney, accepts/rejects insurance payout offers, files the lawsuit, etc. It will be you as the parent or guardian.

In fact, this is required by law. According to F.S. 744.301, the child’s “natural guardians” (i.e., “parents”) are the ones who should file an action to recover damages for the child’s injury if they are under the age of 18 (unless they are legally emancipated or parental rights have been terminated). Alternatively, the court has the authority to appoint someone else other than the parents to bring the claim on behalf of the child. That usually only happens under narrow circumstances, like when the court determines it’s not in the child’s best interests to allow the parents to act on their behalf. Continue reading

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A recent Florida Supreme Court ruling in a medical malpractice lawsuit struck a major blow for victims of negligent healthcare providers. The impact is likely to be that Florida medical malpractice lawsuits are going to:

  • Be more expensive.
  • Drag on for longer.
  • Face additional hurdles to success.
  • Shake up legal strategies of both plaintiff and defendant attorneys. Palm Beach medical malpractice lawyer

Central to the rule – which was changed outside the Court’s normal process for rulemaking – allows hospitals and healthcare providers being sued for medical malpractice to immediately appeal an order denying a motion to dismiss on grounds that plaintiff’s medical expert witness isn’t adequately qualified to testify against the defendant.

The surprising ruling was something of a quick two-step. First, the Court ruled that the defendant hospital wasn’t allowed to get a rapid re-hearing on its motion to dismiss the claim altogether. But then, the Court turned around and immediately issued another opinion that switched up the game on the issue, amending the Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure to allow for interlocutory (mid-litigation) appeals over the issue of qualified expert witnesses.

In a short dissent, one Supreme Court Justice insisted a change this substantial to Florida medical malpractice case procedure shouldn’t be adopted before it’s weighed by the appropriate committee, which would be responsible for careful review followed by precise recommendations. That’s the way it typically works. But the Court just abruptly side-stepped that procedure. Although it is accepting public comment and requests for oral argument until mid-September, the rule change goes into effect immediately.

Proponents of tort reform are, of course, over-the-moon about this. They’re saying it will help ensure that only truly qualified expert witnesses will have the opportunity to testify against other doctors in court.

But as our Palm Beach medical malpractice lawyers can explain, that take ignores the unequivocal fact that the expert witness vetting process in Florida medical malpractice cases is already quite stringent. Plaintiffs can’t even file the lawsuit until they submit an affidavit of an expert medical witness with the same or substantially similar education, training, and practice as the defendant. The judge has to sign off on that witness before the case even gets started. Continue reading

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