Miami Resort Injury Lawyer Blog

Summer time in South Florida signals humidity and high temperatures. To seek relief from the heat many will stay cool with some refreshing air conditioning. Others will head to a water park to cool down. Especially with school out during the summers, many families seek refuge from the heat at water parks.

There are over 1,000 water parks and they attracted over 79 million visitors in 2010. While usually a place for fun, water parks present great drowning dangers and a range of other non-submersion injuries. Between 1998 and 2007 over 3,000 people sought treatment at emergency rooms for injuries sustained at water parks.

A major contributor to these injuries is the speed that is often reached on water park slides. This speed can lead to major head and spinal injuries. Minor injuries could include cuts, sprains, and broken bones. However, many of these injuries are often the result of human error. So when you're at a water park, be aware of your surroundings and be safe!

Regardless of the human factor, water parks still have a duty of care to their visitors. For example, injuries often happen when consecutive riders hit each other on a slide. In order to avoid an accident like this from occurring, many water parks have installed traffic lights, closed circuit TVs and warning notices to control the flow of riders. Despite these safety measures, water parks still need to have staff physically present.

If you or a loved one are injured at a water or amusement park, car accident, or assaulted, while at a hotel, restaurant or bar, please contact us today for a free case evaluation. At Alvarez & Barbara, LLP, we've achieved favorable results for our clients who face the unfortunate circumstances of being injured.

Our firm has a proven track record representing clients in all areas of personal injury and premises liability claims. It is often helpful to work with an experienced attorney from the early stages of your case in an effort to strengthen the liability theory of your case, and help maximize potential recovery.

Continue reading "Water Park Safety Tips" »

The last thing a person expects while on vacation is for tragedy to happen. While vacationing at resorts, guests often relax in the cool pleasures of a whirlpool.

However, our personal injury attorneys continue to be concerned about the alarming rate of pool drownings, and other pool/spa related injuries, that occur way too frequently in Florida, and other resorts elsewhere. Many other helpless victims are way too often injured in public swimming pools because many public swimming pools are too often deemed unsafe, dirty and dangerous.

And that is one of the places where an easily avoided accident often happens. That is exactly what happened to John Van Hoy, Jr., a 33 year old who was vacationing at the Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort in Nassau.

While in the resort's hot tub, Van Hoy was sucked into to the drain and ultimately drowned as he was unable to break free. His fiancee attempted to free him from the suction drain, but she was unsuccessful. She sought the help of a resort employee, but the individual ignored her pleas for help and walked away. Other guests attempted to pry him from the suction drain, but they were unable to as well. Finally, one guest was able to free him, but it may have been too late at that point. Van Hoy's family is also alleging that none of the resort employees were willing to perform CPR on him.

Now, the family has filed suit against the resort in Miami-Dade County. The complaint alleges that no one could turn off the whirlpool because there was not an emergency shut-off button on scene. The complaint also alleges that after the death, hotel staff removed the phone from the fiancee's room and interrogated her to get her to somehow admit either she or Van Hoy were responsible for the death. Apart from the resort, the family is suing the companies that built or supplied parts for the whirlpool.

Sadly, these types of events occur quite often at resort pools and hot tubs. Resorts should be aware of the dangers presented by suction drains and ensure that they are working properly. They should also make sure that there is an emergency shut-off button and that staff is available to provide first-aid if necessary.

Nonetheless, one of the biggest dangers in a public, or private, swimming pool, or spa, is the drain typically found on the bottom of the pool. Drains with broken, missing, or faulty covers can entrap hair, the body, limbs, and jewelry and clothing, or cause other mishap.

In response to this growing issue, Congress passed the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, named after former Secretary of State James Baker's granddaughter, who became trapped in a hot-tub drain and drowned in 2002. This law set new standards for drain covers for public pools, spas, and hot tubs. The standards are optional for existing residential pools. However, all new equipment must meet the standards, so people repairing their pools or building new ones must install the new drain cover.

Our firm has a proven track record representing clients in all areas of swimming pool related claims and premises liability claims. It is often helpful to work with an experienced attorney from the early stages of your case in an effort to strengthen the liability theory of your case, and help maximize potential recovery.

Each year, nearly 300 children under the age of five drown in residential and public pools and spas. Other submersion incidents requiring medical attention, or hospitalization, number in the thousands, and many victims unfortunately experience permanent disability, including permanent brain damage.

Our personal injury attorneys continue to be concerned about the alarming rate of pool drownings, and other pool/spa related injuries, that occur way too frequently in Florida. Many other helpless victims are way too often injured in public swimming pools because many public swimming pools are too often deemed unsafe, dirty and dangerous.

According to the Miami Herald, from January 1 through July 23 of this year, five children under the age of five have drowned in Broward County and at least three more almost drowned. In Miami-Dade County, there have been at least three reported drownings of children under the age of five so far this year.

One of the biggest dangers in a public, or private, swimming pool, or spa, is the drain typically found on the bottom of the pool. Drains with broken, missing, or faulty covers can entrap hair, the body, limbs, and jewelry and clothing, or cause other mishap. The video found below illustrates this problem in greater detail.

In response to this growing issue, Congress passed the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, named after former Secretary of State James Baker's granddaughter, who became trapped in a hot-tub drain and drowned in 2002. This law set new standards for drain covers for public pools, spas, and hot tubs. The standards are optional for existing residential pools. However, all new equipment must meet the standards, so people repairing their pools or building new ones must install the new drain cover.

Of course, the best course of action to prevent these injuries from occurring is to ensure proper supervision of your children. The need for "arm length" supervision, of children, can't be stressed enough. Children should also wear life jackets while in a pool, and home owners should also place 4-foot high locked gates at home pools too.

Our firm has a proven track record representing clients in all areas of swimming pool related claims and premises liability claims. It is often helpful to work with an experienced attorney from the early stages of your case in an effort to strengthen the liability theory of your case, and help maximize potential recovery.

Continue reading "Pool and Spa Drownings & Prevention Efforts " »

A recent government report reveals that many public pools are dirty and dangerous. The report revealed that 1 in 8 public pools were shut down within the past two years because of dirty, and contaminated, water or other problems like missing safety equipment.

It should come as no surprise, but kiddie pools were found to be the dirtiest. The kiddie pools suffered from fecal matter and improper chlorination.

Fecal matter was found to be a common factor not only in kiddie pools, but also in fountains where children often play. But fecal matter is not the only problem the report reveals. Another problem is urine.

Urine contains nitrogen and eats up chlorine in the pool water, thereby depleting the supply of chlorine in the pool. And in 1 in 5 adults have admitted to peeing in public pools.

Sweat and suntan lotion also have the same effect on the chlorine. Therefore, the more people in a swimming pool that are unfortunately urinating, or that went into the swimming pool to cool off because they were hot, sweaty and lathered in suntan lotion, are all causing the chlorine supply in the swimming pool to be depleted. The depletion of the chlorine in the swimming pool is attributed to a rise in bacteria and germs that can cause one to get sick.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals that there are approximately 15 to 20 outbreaks from stomach problems, and other ailments, yearly that are blamed on dirty pools. The CDC suggests that people with diarrhea should not swim, and everyone should avoid swallowing pool water.

The CDC study suggests that a quarter of the swimming pool related outbreaks are caused by bacteria, viruses, or parasites that should have been killed by proper pool treatment and chlorination. Reports of pool related illnesses have been on the upswing over the course of the past decade. It is unknown if these increased reports are due to heighten awareness of the problem, more testing, or the addition of more swimming pools across the country.

Our firm has a proven track record representing clients in all areas of swimming pool related claims and premises liability claims. It is often helpful to work with an experienced attorney from the early stages of your case in an effort to strengthen the liability theory of your case, and help maximize potential recovery.

Continue reading "Public Swimming Pools Deemed Unsafe, Dirty and Dangerous" »

Florida, and South Florida in particular, attracts thousands of visitors each and every year. Many of those visitors travel to Florida to take advantage of the many fine beaches, lakes, and pools found throughout our great state.

Often times, many hotels, or resorts, advertise that one can participate in certain recreational activities, such as parasailing, while staying on their premises and enjoying their pools, lakes and beaches. And if those activities are unsupervised, unregulated, or just operated in a negligent manner, it could often times lead to serious injuries.

It is therefore critical to consult with an experienced personal injury lawyer if you, or a loved one, are injured while visiting Florida.

In Florida, one who maintains a public resort is required to exercise all proper precautions, skill and care commensurate with the circumstances to put and maintain the place and every part thereof in a reasonable safe condition for the use to which it may rightly be devoted. E.H.P. Corp. v. Cousin, 654 So.2d 976 (Fla. 2nd DCA 1995). In other words, in Florida, if a resort specifically caters to the public at large for its swimming pools, beaches, or other water related recreational activities, then those facts may be sufficient to impose a duty onto the resort to provide for adequate compensation for the injured party.

Beaches, and large swimming pools, are often times a haven for recreational activities that are much too often unregulated by the State and unsupervised by the resort. While the resorts may attempt to distance themselves from these "independent" operators of recreational activities on their property, the resorts very own promotional materials, and advertisements, will often likely be used to demonstrate that the "independent" operator is really nothing more than the resort's agent. This will allow an experienced personal injury attorney to seek adequate compensation for the party that was injured as a result of the "independent" operator's negligence.

Continue reading "Injured Parasailing or Engaging in other Recreational Activities While Visiting a Florida Resort or Hotel" »