You will often hear a driver say that he can “stop his car on a dime”.  While that is a colorful description it is far from being accurate.  As motorists we live in a very complex environment with danger all around us.  Our job as responsible drivers is to be aware of this environment, be alert for hazards, and once the hazards are detected to react to them appropriately.  It not as easy as it may seem.

No matter how well maintained our vehicle may be, no matter how skillful we are as drivers, we simply cannot escape the laws of physics.  It takes time to perceive danger, formulate a response and then put that plan into effect.  This is referred to as reaction time.  Often engineers will break reaction time down to its component parts which include perception time, decision time, human action, mechanical action.  The perception time is very brief and it involves first becoming aware of the danger, next in a complex environment decisions must be made, do I brake, do I accelerate, do I swerve?  Once the decision is made, more time elapses as a foot moves from the gas pedal to the brake, and finally it takes time for the mechanical and hydraulic systems in your car to respond.  Now, finally you are starting to brake or beginning your swerve.

All these times added together are your reaction time.  They are very brief, perhaps a second or a second and a half but a lot can happen in a brief time.  For example, if a car runs a stop sign and violates your right of way in a place where you are lawfully traveling 45 miles per hour, you will travel 66 feet per second until you start to brake.  In the real world, what that means is you will travel the equivalent of roughly 3 to 6 car lengths during your reaction time.  You may be involved in this accident no matter how alert and skillful you are before you even have a chance to begin braking.

Click on the following link to test you reaction time-but if you do well don’t get over confident.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/sheep/reaction_version5.swf

Remember this is a controlled environment where you know a test is taking place so you can anticipate and be prepared.  It does not recreate the conditions that a driver faces where every decision can be a life altering one.  We at the Kane Law Firm have devoted our professional lives to helping those who have been injured in automobile crashes.  We understand the law and how crashes occur.  Please drive defensively

Hurricanes and Tropical Storms, such as Tropical Storm Fay that recently hit Central Florida, can cause incredible damage to property, yourself, or your family members.  Injuries and death can even occur due to downed power lines, electrocution, falling limbs, drowning, or car accidents that occur more frequently during the poor driving conditions caused by inclement weather.What should you do if your home or other property is flooded?  Many homeowners face the dismal task of flood cleanup and property damage repair after a hurricane or tropical storm.  There are several things that should be kept in mind for personal safety:

• If you have doubts about the safety of a flooded building, do not enter it. Seek professional advice first.
• If you do enter a damaged building, check for buckled walls, electrical hazards, loose bricks, cracks, or any shifting of the foundation.
• Flood waters may include: pesticides; harmful chemicals; sewage; broken gas lines; electrical hazards; dead animal carcasses; displaced wildlife; and many other hazards which are a potential threat to you and your family.
• Your electrical system may be damaged. Contact your utility company about restoring the service, or see an electrician before you restore breakers, or attempt to use electrical equipment.
• Keep children safe.. Never leave them alone, or allow them to play in flood-damaged buildings or areas that might be unsafe.
• Give special attention to cleaning children’s toys, cribs, playpens and play equipment. Items a baby or toddler may put in his mouth should be boiled, or disinfected. Discard stuffed toys that are not easily cleaned or are water logged.
• Keep chemicals used for disinfection and poisons for insect and rodent control out of reach of children.
• Wear protective clothing covering limbs, feet and hands while cleaning up debris, and rubber gloves while scrubbing flood-damaged interiors and furniture.
• Steam clean all carpeting.
• Be sure electrical appliances are dry and in good condition before using. Fiberglass insulation which has been in contact with floodwaters should be replaced.
• Clean the building of all silt and refuse left by the flood. After dirt has been removed, all wall and floor areas which have been touched by the floodwater should be washed down with concentrated detergent solution, and then rinsed with a chlorine solution. If the presence of “flood smell” remains, the building has not been thoroughly disinfected. Care should be taken to wash chlorine solution from any metal objects 10 to 15 minutes after application to prevent rusting.

If you have been the victim of an injury or insurance duspute as the result of a hurricane or tropical storm, contact the accident and injury attorneys from Kane Law Firm, P.A. in Orlando, who specialize in such cases.  Phone: 407-898-9130, or email: info@kaneinjury.com .

An airbag, also known as an Air Cushion Restraint System (ACRS) or the Supplemental Inflatable Restraint (SIR), is a flexible envelope which rapidly inflates to cushion against hard interior objects (such as steering wheels) in the case of an automobile collision.  However, a faulty airbag will not deploy and protect its passenger.

BMW has recently announced that it will be recalling 200,000 vehicles due to a faulty airbag sensor.  The seat detection mat which deactivates the airbag if no one is in the seat has been found to develop cracks which could lead to the passenger front air bag not deploying.  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched an investigation in 2007 to examine claims that the airbag light was staying on even when no one was in the seat and have now expanded their investigation to include the 2004-2006 Z4, 2006 X5, 2006 6 Series and some 2004-2006 7 Series vehicles.

BMW says it will extend the warranty to 10 years without any mileage limit for the following vehicles: 2006 6 Series, 2006 3 Series with standard seat, 2004-2005 Z4, 2004-2006 7 Series, 2006 X5 and 2004-2006 5 Series with comfort seats.  Under this new warranty, the cost of replacing the seat detection mat will be covered by BMW.

Although there have yet to be any reported injuries due to the faulty seat detection mat, there are plenty of people who are now susceptible to a wide range of injuries ranging from concussions to permanent spinal injuries.  Although BMW has now taken steps to insure a recall of the affected automobiles there are still a great number of their cars and SUVs on the road that could still pose a hazard to passengers.  Recalls due to defects or flaws in the manufacturing process of automobiles have been some of the deadliest in product liability history.  For example, when design failures in the Firestone tire on Ford explorers were found, more than 100 people had already been killed.

In order to ensure that the products you use including automobiles, food and medicine are all defect free you can visit http://www.recalls.gov/,  which gives up to date information on the latest recalls that could affect you.

If you or a loved one has been the victim of an automobile, truck, motor vehicle or car accident in Florida and have specific questions or concerns about compensation for your losses, your insurance policies or your legal rights, please call the Florida Automobile Accident Attorneys at the Kane Law Firm, P.A. in Orlando, Florida at (407) 898-9130, submit a contact form on our website, or email us at Info@KaneInjury.com.  Our personal injury lawyers will to assist you by diligently pursuing the individuals or companies that caused your injuries, determining what insurance is available, and maximizing your recovery.

There will be pageantry: An estimated 15,000 performers, as many as 35,000 fireworks shells and 80 to 90 heads of state will fuel and follow the Opening Ceremony for the 2008 Olympics.  China’s most famous film director, Zhang Yimou (“Raise the Red Lantern,” “House of Flying Daggers”), spent the last three years designing the spectacle, trying to boil 5,000 years of Chinese history into a 50-minute show.

Although the extravaganza is largely kept secret, renowed artist Cai Guo-Oiang said the climax of the performances will release fireworks depicting pictures of 2,008 smiling faces collected from all around the world in the sky - a technically demanding endeavor which has taken two years to perfect.  Also, be ready for a dramatic countdown, giant whales, an illuminated globe and performers flying through the air like Peter Pan.

Coverage begins on August 8, 2008 at 7:30pm EST on NBC.

The Second Amendment to the US Constitution states “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed”.  This language has been widely interpreted over the past few centuries, and has troubled constitutional interpreters with its unusual language.

Recently, through a historic 5-4 decision in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller  (554 U.S. ___2008), the Supreme Court has declared that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right, and not just a militia’s right to keep and bear firearms. Justice Scalia led the majority and concluded that the words of the Second Amendment “guarantee the individual the right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation.”

Immediate results of this decision will be evident as the District of Columbia and some states will now strike down laws on handguns, and trigger-lock requirement on other firearms, which are said by some groups to have reduced violence. However, the National Rifle Association (NRA) considers this the start of providing relief for law-abiding Americans everywhere that have been deprived of their freedom. 

On July 1, 2008, a new law took effect in Florida that allows workers and customers with concealed-weapon permits to keep guns in their cars when parked in lots owned by private or government employers. Some workplaces, including schools, public hospitals, prisons and defense plants are still able to ban firearms.  Locally, Disney World and Universal Studios have been in the news with their efforts to prohibit guns at their workplaces.

Undeniably, the “Right to Bear Arms” is a topic that will be discussed and debated for a long time to come.

In a civil lawsuit, “damages” refers to the money payment recovered in the Courts for an injury or loss caused by an unlawful act, omission or negligence of another.  Damages can be awarded in two major classifications: Compensatory or Punitive.  While similar in many respects, Compensatory and Punitive Damages differ greatly in their goals.  Compensatory Damages are aimed at “compensating,” or making amends to, the Plaintiff for their loss.  Punitive Damages are intended to “punish” the Defendant for egregious conduct, and to reform or deter the Defendant and similar persons from continuing a course of action such as that which damaged the Plaintiff.           

Punitive damages are often a topic of dispute.  Many believe that Courts do not show enough restraint in awarding Punitive Damages, while others believe that the large sums of money are appropriate in providing a deterrent towards future similar behavior. Exxon, a giant oil refining company, has fought vigorously to reduce or erase the Punitive Damages verdict by a jury in Alaska four years ago for the 1989 accident that dumped eleven million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound. The environmental disaster led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of seabirds and marine animals, and caused economic harm to many local businesses and fishermen.

The June 25, 2008 Supreme Court ruling (Exxon v. Baker, 554 U.S. ____ 2008) in the Exxon Valdez oil spill case has now set a major precedent in terms of Punitive Damages.  At the trial court level, $507.5 million was awarded as Compensatory Damages, and $5 billion as Punitive Damages; however, the Punitive Damages were later reduced to $2.5 billion at the Appellate Court level.  The Appellate Court decision has now been reduced again by the Supreme Court to $507.5 million.  By reducing Punitive Damages so drastically, the Supreme Court has made their stance on Punitive Damages clear. The 5-3 majority said that there should be a 1:1 ratio between Compensatory and Punitive Damages in the Maritime Law context, and they wrote of their concern of the “stark unpredictability of punitive awards”.

Although this decision is not binding outside of Maritime Law, which is a unique branch of federal common law, it does provide insight as to the trend of Punitive Damages in Federal Courts.  Many business advocates have commended the Supreme Court on their ruling, but the question remains whether those on the other side of the equation, the Plaintiffs, will be as reasonably compensated for their losses in the future.

The phrase “seatbelts save lives” has become ingrained into our society for years, yet the importance of seatbelts is still overlooked, and even disregarded, when many people get behind the wheel of their car.  The failure to use seatbelts, however, does not just affect the driver.

According to FloridaDrivers.com, “The fact is that all Floridians pay the price for those who do not wear safety belts, through higher health care and insurance costs. The costs of hospital care for an unbuckled driver are 50 percent higher than those for a driver wearing a safety belt. Florida citizens - not the individual - bear 85 percent of those costs, and these costs are further increased in Florida with the added drivers on Florida roads due to tourism. Businesses are paying the price as well. On-the-job crashes cost employers $22,000 per crash and $110,000 per injury due to lost productivity and higher insurance and medical costs.”

Money is not the only item at stake though.  A study of Florida crash statistics by the State Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles concluded that drivers and passengers who didn’t buckle up were approximately 14 times more likely to die in a traffic crash than those who wore their safety belts.

According to the Orlando Business Journal, the Florida Department of Transportation announced that statewide seat belt usage set a record of 81.7 percent, following its annual “Click It or Ticket” safety belt campaign held May 19-June 1.  The previous record was 80.7 percent in 2006. The state department has a goal of at least 80 percent safety belt usage.  Since Florida joined the national “Click It or Ticket” campaign in 2001, safety belt usage has jumped 20 percent, which has helped save lives, according to the FDOT.

These sobering facts reveal that by not wearing your seat belt you not only endanger yourself but you also force the costs of your accident upon the innocent taxpayer.  Next time you get in your car, remember to buckle up, not only for your sake, but for others as well.

 Dogs are often considered family members.   People often find comfort in man’s best friend and a loyalty that is often hard to match.  However, owning a dog is also a responsibility.  This responsibility is not only to your dog but to the public as well.  The best way of meeting the obligation of being a responsible pet owner is to make sure that your dog is on a leash when on a walk.  The Center for Disease Control estimates that 4.7 million people are bitten each year by dogs in the U.S., with many of these attacks being preventable through the use of leashes.Section 767 of the Florida Statutes (2007) sets forth the strict liability consequences that an animal owner may face if their pet bites another person. 

• An owner who had no previous warning that his dog was dangerous, will have their dog immediately confiscated by an animal control authority and placed in quarantine, if necessary, for the proper length of time or held for 10 business days after the owner is given written notification under s. 767.12, and thereafter destroyed in an expeditious and humane manner. This 10-day time period shall allow the owner to request a hearing pursuant to Section 767.12. The owner shall be responsible for payment of all boarding costs and other fees as may be required to humanely and safely keep the animal during any appeal procedure.

• In addition, if the owner of the dog had prior knowledge of the dog’s dangerous propensities, yet demonstrated a reckless disregard for such propensities under the circumstances, or if a dog that has previously been declared dangerous attacks, bites or causes severe injury to a person or a domestic animal, the owner is guilty of criminal charges under Chapter 775 of the Florida Statutes. In addition, the dangerous dog shall be immediately confiscated by an animal control authority, placed in quarantine, if necessary, for the proper length of time, or held for 10 business days after the owner is given written notification under s. 767.12, and thereafter destroyed in an expeditious and humane manner. This 10-day time period shall allow the owner to request a hearing pursuant to Section 767.12. The owner shall be responsible for payment of all boarding costs and other fees as may be required to humanely and safely keep the animal during any appeal procedure.

If you have been bitten by an animal, you should immediately call your doctor.  The wound should be washed gently with soap and water and pressure applied with a sterile bandage to stop any bleeding.  The injury should be kept elevated above the level of the heart to slow swelling and prevent infection.  The incident should be reported to the proper authority in your community (for example, the animal control office or the police).

The Kane Law Firm, P.A. is dedicated and experienced in dog and other animal bite litigation in the Central Florida area, so we can help you navigate the complexities of your case - filing a claim, promptly collecting evidence, gathering all of the pertinent data and documents, making a determination, and enabling medical providers and other expert witnesses to evaluate any injuries.  Our family of attorneys will help you pursue the maximum damages to which you are entitled. 

If you or a loved one has been the victim of a dog or other animal bite or attack, please call the Central Florida Dog Bite and Animal Attack Attorneys at the Kane Law Firm, P.A. in Orlando, Florida at (407) 898-9130, submit a contact form on our website, or email us at Info@KaneInjury.com.  

We offer a free initial consultation, and if we agree to take your case, we will work on a contingency basis. This means we will get paid for our services only if there is a monetary award or recovery of funds, otherwise you would owe us nothing.

People are often unaware of the hidden dangers in a business or a public place that can lead to a serious injury.  Many of these injuries are often caused by what is known as a “Slip and Fall” accident, in which the responsible party at the location of the accident (the Defendant in a Personal Injury lawsuit) was negligent, by failing to correct the condition that led to the accident.  Innocent people, who follow the strictest of safety precautions, can fall victim to the carelessness of others, potentially leading to serious and even permanent injury.  If you have been the victim of a Slip and Fall injury, there are several steps that should be taken:

1. Get necessary medical attention as soon as possible.
2. Inspect the area where you fell, and try to determine what caused the fall.
3. Have the manager or supervisor record the incident, being sure to get a copy for yourself.
4. Write down the names, addresses and phone numbers of anyone in the vicinity of the accident.  Even if they did not see you fall, they could, if necessary, describe the conditions of the environment in which the accident occurred.
5. Do not give any statement of what happened to the business owner or supervisor.
6. Take photographs of the area as soon as you can, so that a record is kept.  Property owners often attempt to change the conditions after the accident occurred in order to claim a safe environment.
7. If possible, obtain a sample of the substance that you slipped on.
8. Contact an attorney with experience in handling claims for personal injury resulting from slip and fall accidents.  If your accident occurred in Central Florida, contact a local Personal Injury attorney familiar with Florida law.  If you do decide to pursue a claim, an experienced Personal Injury attorney will be able to guide you through the process.
9. Make sure that you keep your shoes in a bag or box until you speak to an attorney. They could provide crucial evidence as to the nature of the fall.

Businesses and public places should not be the only place of concern.  Overlooked items in a house are often the cause of a preventable slip and falls injury that can have serious consequences for both the home owner and guest.  Simple steps can reduce the chance of many of these accidents from happening.
How can you prevent slip and fall accidents from occurring in your own home? 

• Simple measures such as placing a lamp close to a bed can often help prevent accidents.  Light switches should be easily accessible in rooms, and should be installed at both the top and bottom of stairs, so that the lights can easily be turned on.
• Remove items such as boxes, newspapers and electric cords from hallways. 
• Loose rugs should be secured with double-faced tape, tacks or a slip-resistant backing, to prevent them from sliding. 
• Use only nonskid floor wax when cleaning floors.
• Immediately clean up spilled liquids and food.

If you are the victim of a slip and fall accident, contact an experienced attorney in order to preserve your legal rights.  You can contact the Central Florida Personal Injury Attorneys at the Kane Law Firm, P.A. in Orlando, Florida at (407) 898-9130, submit a contact form on our website, or email us at Info@KaneInjury.com. 

You know how your car’s age, but do you know how old its tires are?

Knowing the age of the tires on your car could mean the difference between a fun and safe trip to the beach and a family tragedy. Safety researchers have looked at tires that appear fine, have plenty of tread life left on them and show no outward sign of deterioration. Yet these tires experienced catastrophic failure that resulted in terrible accidents. The common denominator in each case was that the tire that failed was at least 6 years old. They may have appeared to be “new” or even recently installed on the car but each tire was at least six years old from the date of manufacture.

The industry, through its trade groups, have denied that there is a problem and have resisted efforts to put expiration dates on tires. However, car makers such as Volkswagen, Toyota, Ford and many others realize a problem exists and have included a warning in their owners manual to replace any tire older than six years no matter what its tread depth may be.
The problem with old tires is that they have a tendency to just come apart. The tread suddenly and without warning will separate from the body of the tire. At highway speeds, this is a formula for disaster, since the driver will often be unable to control the vehicle. If the tire comes off the rim, and the rim then digs into the road surface, it creates a pivot point that can result in the vehicle spinning or rolling over. This is a hidden defect that the ordinary driver will never be able to discover by examining his or her tires.

You should not assume that a new car or a new set of tires are fresh. Tires often sit in warehouses unsold for extended periods of time. This may be especially true if it is an uncommon tire size. Research indicates that tires degrade even if they are not in use, so that an old spare tire or a “new” tire that has been sitting on a shelf at your dealer for 6 years may be just as dangerous as the tire that you have been driving on.

It helps to understand how a tire is made to understand why it degrades after 6 years. A steel belt tire is made of several component parts including the inner liner, two polyester body plies, two steel belts, two bead-reinforcing strips, the sidewall structure and finally the tread. Once these parts are assembled the tire is loaded into a tire press for vulcanization, which is a process that that fuses the component parts together under extreme heat and pressure. Over time that vulcanization process begins to deteriorate as the component parts dry out and air permeates the inner liner causing the parts to begin to separate. All products have a useful life. Most of us have an expectation that the fatigue life or its useful life should always exceed the tread life by some margin of safety for all reasonably foreseeable uses and conditions. Sadly this reasonable assumption is not true.

You can determine the actual age of the tire.
There is a Department of Transportation Code number on every tire, although it may be hard to find and decipher. This code number is a combination of letters and numbers that can reveal a lot of information:

• The number should begin with “DOT.”
• The next two characters indicate the manufacturer; the next two characters indicate the plant where the tire was made.
• The next 3 or 4 characters are optional and for the internal use of the manufacturer to record company specific information about the tire and are therefore only meaningful to that company.
• The last 3 or 4 digits tell us when the tire was manufactured. If the tire was made before the year 2000 the last digit tells us the year of manufacture and the 2 digits before the last one tell us which week during the year. So if the last 3 digits are 125 we know that that tire was produced during the 12^th week of 1995 or 1985 After 2000 4 digits are used in the code so that if we saw the numbers 1205 we would know that that particular tire was produced in the 12^th week of the year 2005.

Most consumers have no idea of the hazards posed by old tires. We happily drive off assuming that if there is adequate tread there is still life in those old tires. No matter what the life of a tire might be under ideal circumstance, no tire exists in ideal circumstances. That is particularly true here in Florida where many of us live in coastal areas with a high salt concentration and all of us deal with the intense Florida heat. Old tires come to us in many ways - it was a spare for a long time or maybe we just don’t drive a lot, from a dealer, swap meet, flea market or even online. If the tires look good, few of us would ever question when they might have been manufactured.

The tire industry makes little or no effort to educate the motoring public of the hazard of aged tires. In fact, when their products fail and cause injury their response is to blame the consumer by claiming improper maintenance, bad repair, under- or over-inflation or exposure to road hazards that caused tire failure. The DOT Code number is unknown to most consumers, and how to decode it is known to even fewer. The DOT Code was never meant to act as a consumer warning. The consumer has never been provided with an adequate warning of the dangers posed by the use of old tires and in fact the industry itself has never been able to agree on a uniform standard relating to when a tire should be taken out of service. Most independent researchers agree that the older the tire, the higher the chance of failure, and 6 years seems to be a sensible line of demarcation to replace aging tires.