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Animal coverage is not just for those who own dogs. I have handled cases where pet monkeys have caused serious injuries. Horse owners should also make sure they have coverage.

There are two things you can do minimize your financial exposure. First, if’ you have a pet, make sure you have animal coverage included in your homeowner’s policy. The only way to know is by reading your policy. Don’t rely on the outline of coverage at the front of your policy. While the law requires your insurance company to outline the major policy exclusions, I’ve seen outlines that do not advise that animal coverage is excluded. Secondly. don’t rely on what your agent tells you. Your agent might be wonderful, but many agents don’t know that the major carries they broker policies for have begun to exclude animals from coverage.

Secondly, when it comes to dogs–especially if you have a large dog, post a “Beware of’ Dog” sign in a conspicuous place in the front or your home. The law makes you automatically liable when your dog causes injury to someone. The law does not, contrary to popular opinion, give your dog “one free bite.” Most injuries take place on the property of the home where the dog lives. However, if’ you have a sign, you are no longer automatically liable. In order to recover, the animal attack victim must prove that you ”ere negligent. In other words, the difference between having and not having a sign is automatic liability versus liability only if it can be proven that you failed to do something a reasonable person would have done. A sign will not protect you from liability if you allow your dog to roam freely outside your home. It will not protect you if you are walking your dog without a leash. The law is in a state of flux right now as to whether you can be held responsible to a trespasser injured by your dog. If you have a large prope1ty, it would be a good idea to have dog signs posted at regular intervals around your property.

Has your dog bitten someone before? Be extremely careful! Florida law allows you to be held responsible for punitive damages if your dog bites and has done so before. Your homeowner’s carrier does not cover you for punitive damages. What do you do if someone is injured because of your pet? After first aid has been administered, call your insurance company and repo11 what happened. Secondly, if you did post signs, take pictures of them so you can prove they were posted. If you have animal insurance included in your homeowner’s policy, your insurance company will handle the claim from there. When you finish reading this article, it would be a good time to review your policy. If you have an animal, especially a dog; and if your policy excludes animal attacks from its coverage, get a new insurance policy.

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Like most people, you know you have insurance, but now that you need it, what do you really have? Pull out your automobile declaration page it5 you read this article; and let’s see if you’re happy with what your agent sold you. Florida law requires you to have two components of automobile insurance. Everyone must have $10,000 of personal injury protection (PIP) and $10,000 of property damage (PD) coverage.

PIP comes in two flavors, no deductible and a deductible. If your PIP does not have a deductible; and fortunately, yours did not, your insurance carrier will pay for 80% of your medical bills or 60% of your lost wages, up to a total of’ $10,000. It does not matter whether you apply your PIP coverage to medical bills, lost wages or a combination of both, but once you reach $10,000, PIP is exhausted.

Your insurance company pays these PIP benefits to you or your doctors, regardless of who was at fault, hence “No-fault” insurance. Who pays the remaining 20%? Hold that question for a couple of paragraphs. If you have PIP with a deductible, usually $2,000, you still have the same coverage as above, except, your insurance company will not pay the first $2,000. Who pays that $2,000?

You do! “Butt,” you say, “The accident wasn’t my fault!” Sorry, Florida’s No-Fault scheme figures that by purchasing a deductible you saved on premiums and have recouped your $2,000.

The PD coverage is not par1 of’ the No-fault roll scheme. Unlike PIP, PD pays for the damage you caused to someone else’s property. If you or someone else caused damage to your car. your optional collision insurance “ill pay. subject to the deductible you selected. Alternatively. you can make a claim against the other driver’s carrier.

BMW, Mercedes and Lexus owners beware! The ten thousand in PD coverage gets utilized quickly, so be sure you have collision sufficient to cover your import.

After PIP pays, you have $2,000 in unpaid medical bills and $12,000 in lost wages. Who pays the rest of your $14,000 in economic damages? This is the scary pan. Like the student who rear-ended you, most South Florida drivers only have what Florida requires and nothing more.

lot of drivers have no insurance at all. Bodily inju1y (Bl) coverage pays for the lost wages, medical bills and non-economic damages (pain. disfigurement. lost enjoyment of life) you cause when you negligently operate your car. It is not required (Florida is more concerned about someone paying for your property damage than your broken knee), but as someone who has worked hard, you need this coverage to protect your assets if you cause an accidental injury

Bl coverage always has two numbers, usually expressed with a “/” between the two. Your policy may have $10,000 – $20,000 or $300,000 – $ 500.000.00 or some other combination.  The first number is the maximum amount your carrier will pay any one person. If you hit a car with multiple passengers and you have a I 0/20 policy, your carrier will pay up to $20,000 for the entire claim, but no one person will be paid more than $10,000.

If you purchase BI coverage, Florida requires your insurance carrier to give you an equal amount of uninsured motorist (UM) coverage. UM is son of like PIP. It is the amount of money your carrier will pay you, the occupants or your car and your dependents when someone like George hits you and has no Bl.

Unlike PIP, however, UM only pays when you can prove George was at fault. Since most people have no Bl. I strongly recommend that everyone purchase UM. It is the single most important part of your automobile insurance.

Be careful! When you purchase auto insurance you will be asked if you want to waive UM coverage. Don’t! If you did. you probably did not understand what it was; and were enticed with the idea of saving money on your premiums.

Look at your policy’s declaration page. If you don’t see UM or uninsured motorist coverage listed, you don’t have it. Call your insurance agent at once. If you own two cars, you can combine your UM coverage by purchasing “stacked” coverage.

Fortunately, your agent sold you a policy with UM; and now your insurance company will pay you for the injuries George caused.

There are two other provisions you should know about, both of which are optional. Medical Payments sometimes abbreviated as “Med Pay” will pay your own doctors what is not covered by PIP. It covers the 20% that PIP does not pay, plus

any additional bills, up to the amount of your combined PIP and Med Pay coverage. $5,000 is a standard Med Pay coverage.

You may not want to purchase it if you have a health insurance plan that covers you for what your PIP does not pay. However. it is relatively inexpensive.

Another relatively inexpensive option is additional PIP. If you have $50,000 in PIP and $1 0,000 in Med Pay coverage, your carrier will pay your doctors up to $60,000 for yours and your family’s injuries and lost wages. Given today’s high cost of medical care. you don’t need to be catastrophically injured to insure $60,000 in medical bills.

Driving in South Florida can be frightening. Not understanding your coverage in advance or an accident can be financially debilitating.

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“Landlords are required to comply with the Fair Housing Act, the federal law that has banned housing discrimination for the last 50 years,” said Anna Maria Farias, HUD assistant secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity, in a statement. “It’s against the law to harass residents of housing because of sex, disability or any other protected characteristic. The settlements we are announcing today reflect HUD’s commitment to rooting out sexual harassment and all housing discrimination as we know it.”

The Fair Housing Act — title VII of the landmark 1968 Civil Rights Act — makes it illegal to discriminate against any individual based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status or disability. Sexual harassment falls under the umbrella of illegal discrimination based on sex.

A female tenant of a Jacksonville, Florida, public housing authority residence reported that she was sexually harassed on multiple occasions by an employee of the housing complex. The alleged harassment included unwelcome sexual comments, request for sex and sexual favors and threats of eviction if the tenant did not submit to such requests, according to HUD.

The housing authority at the center of the complaint agreed to pay the resident $75,000 as well as a adopt a new sexual harassment policy and require staff to attend fair housing training, as part of the settlement agreement.

HUD entered a conciliation agreement in Virginia to resolve allegations that an independent living facility failed to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of a female tenant by another tenant, according to the agency.

The female tenant reported that a male tenant harassed her with unwelcome and unsolicited advances, made suggestive comments, whistled at her and followed her around the apartment complex, according to the complaint. The facility agreed to pay the complainant $37,500 and adopt a new sexual harassment policy.

HUD also entered into a conciliation agreement in California to resolve allegations that a landlord repeatedly made unwanted sexual advances toward a male tenant with a mental disability. The landlord allegedly evicted the tenant for refusing the advances. As a result of the agreement, the landlord agreed to pay the tenant $12,000 and attend fair housing training.

April marked the 50th anniversary of the passing of the Fair Housing Act, and HUD announced, last month, a joint campaign with the United States Justice Department to address sexual harassment in housing through the creation of an interagency task force to combat sexual harassment, an outreach toolkit and a public awareness campaign.

HUD has also pondered removing anti-discrimination language from its mission statement, a consideration which drew backlash from the real estate industry.

Some in the real estate industry also believe the Fair Housing Act doesn’t go far enough to address discrimination. The National Association of Gay and Lesbian Real Estate Professionals is among the many groups calling on Congress to amend the Civil Rights Act to include protections for individuals based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Source: https://www.inman.com/2018/05/01/hud-settles-three-separate-sexual-harassment-lawsuits/

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It’s a one-line law that says that children over the age of 25 do not have a claim for wrongful death when their parents die as a result of medical neglect. This leaves most adult children without a remedy. Children 25-years-old and younger can make a claim. This often results in situations where some siblings have a claim and their older brothers and sisters do not. It also puts doctors and hospitals in a safe zone. Medical mistakes made on older widows and widowers don’t carry the same civil sanction as mistakes made on younger adults and children. No matter what you think of our civil justice system, if you are one of many who believe it provides incentives to make life safer, it’s not so with medical malpractice. Quite the opposite-with older people, there is no civil down stroke to treating them below the standard of care. There are other caverns of inequity in the law.

Consider another fictitious example. A horrible accident occurs on the Sawgrass Expressway and University Drive. Two passengers, Jim and Tim, with identical neck injuries are placed on backboards. Two ambulances arrive. Jim gets taken to a private hospital. Tim to a public. Each hospital commits flat out. glaring. Medical malpractice failing to diagnose brain stem injuries which swell, causing identical. permanent spinal cord injuries. Jim and Tim lose the use of their limbs for the rest of their lives. over which. Their medical expenses are projected into the tens of millions of dollars.

Putting aside the non-economic damages for a moment. the economic damages. including lost wages and medical expenses to which Tim and Jim’s families would ordinarily be entitled, are capped for Tim at $100,000. He was injured by an agent of the state of Florida and subject to its sovereign immunity cap of $100,000. Jim and his family, on the other hand, are limited only by what a jury believes is fair and reasonable. Jim’s family gets compensated for all of his medical bills and all of his lost income over his pre-accident life expectancy. Tim’s family doesn’t even get enough to cover the medical expenses he’ll incur in the first week of care. Fair, huh? And then there are the non-economic damages compensation for physical and emotional pain and lost enjoyment of life. Tim’s $100,000 cap is for both economic and non-economic damages. Jim’s noneconomic damages are capped at $1,000,000, including the claims of his wife and children, who now live without Jim’s comfort and society. It doesn’t matter how many doctors or hospital employees deviated from the standards of what their peers would and should have done in the same situation, had they acted reasonably. Non-economic damages in medical malpractice are statutorily capped at $500,000, but. because Jim’s injuries are catastrophic, his cap is one million.

But, there’s hope. If the auto accident that hurt Jim and Tim was caused by an at fault driver; and if that driver has enough insurance, Jim and Tim can receive full compensation, including any damages caused by the malpractice (which, but for the automobile accident would not have occurred). But, Oops! Another cavern awaits our poor Jim and Tim.

The accident was caused by two vehicles-one owned by the South Florida Water Management District (part of the state of Florida) and another by the National Park Service (owned by the United States of America). Each was half at fault. Unlike the State of Florida, the federal government does not limit the amount of damages Jim and Tim can receive when the United States or one of its departments causes injury or death. Their full measure of damages are collectable. So. Because the Federal government was half at fault. Jim, Tim and their families can get one half of their total damages, without any caps whatsoever. Against the state, however. they can only collect $100,000 of the other ha f of their damages.

Two years ago, if there were two negligent drivers whose conduct combined to cause injuries to another driver or his passenger, the economic damages suffered by each victim in excess of $25,000 would be the responsibility of both defendants, no matter how much responsibility they bore for the accident. This concept. known as joint and several liabilities. was abolished. Before, under our Jim and Tim example, even though the South Florida Water Management District was half at fault, the United States would be responsible for paying all of the economic damages over $25.000. so that Jim, Tim and their families, who were completely without fault for the accident, would not have to bear the financial consequences of someone else’s neglect. Not so today. The United States would only pay its share of the liability; and the innocent victims and their families would have to make do without the other half of their damages for one simple reason-Florida doesn’t want to pay when it hurts people.

These laws exist-why? Because they are fair to the victims? Because they reduce medical malpractice premiums? Because Florida can’t afford insurance to pay for the damages it causes? No. Because the people who we vote for in Tallahassee want it this way in order to protect the industries that pay for their campaigns. Fair, huh?

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In Ken’s analysis, the likelihood of obtaining a meaningful financial recovery from the shooter or his family is small and the obstacles to recovering from the mental health clinics that treated the shooter are enormous. In Ken’s opinion, the lawsuit will be amended as soon as the 6 month notice period expires as to the Broward County Sheriff and School Board.

Once a verdict or settlement is reached, any amount over $300,000.00 must be approved by the Florida Legislature and Governor in a claims bill process. Ken is one of very few attorneys who has successfully had a claims bill passed for his client and recovered over $2.5 million in a  case against the South Florida Water Management District.

In Ken’s opinion, there will be a claims bill for the MSD victims and possibly a Federal Tort Claims Act lawsuit filed for the negligent conduct of the FBI.

If you would like to speak with Ken about the legal viability of a lawsuit for personal injury, he may be reached at 954-526-7007 or Ken@sobellegal.com  At Sobel Legal we are here to help.

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In traumatic situations, you rarely know if you are in pain until a considerable passage of time. But here comes the scruffy. uninsured dim wit that just hit you, asking, “Hey, I’m sorry man! Are you alright?” STOP! Fast-forward 18 months down the road. The dim wit is wearing a new suit, found a razor and a barber and is telling the jury, “I asked him if he was alright, and he said, ‘I feel fine!’” The truth is, within the first minutes after an accident, you feel nothing! Your brain couldn’t process a feeling of “fine” any more than it could process what was really going on- a ripped, bleeding rotator cuff and a herniated disc in your neck. Okay, let’s return to the scene. How should you answer Dim Wit? How about, “Call the police” or “I don’t know yet.”

The police arrive; and want to know what happened. Again, fast forward to your trial. Dim wit’s attorney is arguing that you share some blame for the accident because your brake lights weren’t on as you were sitting at the light. He is now questioning the officer: “Isn’t it true Officer. that Ms. In the right told you she didn’t know whether her foot was on the brake or she was in neutral with her foot off the brake?” Because you have hired the world’s greatest trial lawyer, he rises to your defense before an answer can be uttered and says, “Objection! What my client did or did not tell the officer is privileged.” You win the objection and the officer is not heard by the jury. Why? Florida wants to promote accident investigations by encouraging you to share with the officer, exactly what took place. To do this, Florida law prohibits an officer from testifying about what was said by a party to an accident. So, don’t talk to Dim Wit, but feel free to talk to the officer.

You’re now in the emergency room. The nurse or doctor asks you what happened. In certain circumstances, what you tell your doctors can be used against you at trial, so be careful. Like the game or telephone, you played as a kid, it is amazing how often doctors and nurses misstate what you tell them. To them, it does not matter if you slipped vs. tripped, if you fell in a pothole or were smoking pot. They are over worked. often tired and therefore, inaccurate in transcribing your account of what happened, so, do what my law professors taught me- KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)! In this case, just say, I was in an automobile accident.  Even if you were rear-ended and it wasn’t your fault, don’t give your doctors or their nurses more opportunities to mess up your case by giving them an overwhelming amount of detail. Believe me, they don’t want it anyway! Resist the urge to tell your story; and just give them the essentials. All that they really need to know is the direction from which you were hit and whether you were wearing your seat belt. This information alerts them to your potential injuries.

Eight hours later. you’re home. You got some Tylenol for your sore shoulder and neck and the hospital doctor diagnosed whiplash. You don’t know that you have a rotator cuff tear that will require surgery and a herniated disc that will cause you pain and limitations for the rest of your life. Unaware that the doctor made an optimistic diagnosis. you left the hospital feeling bad, but relieved. You think you’re going to be okay. What do you do now?

You need to notify your insurance company. Under your policy, if you fail to give your carrier timely notice of your accident, they can refuse to pay. You pull out your insurance card, get the telephone number for claims; and get Mr. happy, cheery claims adjuster on the phone (whose job it is to screw you out of any benefits he can). What do you tell them? NOTHING!  Hang up the phone! Pull the cord out of the wall! It’s lawyer time. Don’t have a lawyer? Get one. It’s free. sort of.

Personal injury attorneys work on a contingent free basis. They take a percentage of what they collect for you. If you collect nothing, or it turns out you don’t have a compensable claim, they get paid nothing. Most attorneys will even advance the costs involved and delay reimbursement until there is a recovery. No recovery. no fees or costs.

Your attorney will contact the insurance company for you. Why is that important?  Well in this case, because Dim Wit had no insurance and your shoulder surgery is going to cost more than the $10,000 personal injury protection policy you purchased (see my blog on “Car insurance, what you need to know.”) you are going to be making a claim against your own insurance carrier for uninsured motorist benefits. That puts your insurance company in the position of wanting to help Dim Wit; not you.

Anything you tell them can and will be used against you. Let your attorney handle them.

Your attorney will do more than that. He will guide you in the selection of a qualified physician who is not only good at hastening your recovery, but also, in documenting and testifying about your injury so that a jury can hear a fair description of what your injuries were, how they affected you, what your prognosis is and how much your injury will cost you in future medical costs. Good cases are frequently lost by honest victims who go to good doctors who don’t know how to document their patient’s injury, or have no jury appeal. You’ll be happy you have a doctor that can go toe to toe with the silver haired foxes the insurance company hires to testify that you were never hurt.

Your car needs fixing. Please don’t get it fixed without taking pictures. If you hired an attorney, he’ll arrange it. However, you can save some costs by doing it yourself. Get a good camera or a friend who has one and take pictures of your car from all of the o’clock positions, standing ten feet away. Where there is visible damage, take multiple pictures of those parts, both close up as well as from ten feet. Do you have visible injuries, such as bruises across your shoulder or lap from the seat belt? Take clear pictures so you can prove you were wearing your seal bell.

You have collision insurance on your car and so does Dim Wit, so which insurance company should pay for your car repairs? In most cases, yours. Go to a shop they recommend. Why? Because when their repair shop does not do the job right, you can have your insurance company pay all over again to do it right the second time. Your insurance company will collect your deductible from Dim Wit’s insurance carrier as well as what they spent to repair your car. If you were not at fault, your rates will not go up. If your carrier wants to increase your rates because you were in an accident that was not your fault, you’re with the wrong carrier: You have now done what you need to help obtain a fair recovery from your accident.

If you or a loved one have been personally injured by the negligence of another, protect your rights today. Sobel Legal is here to help you. Call 954-526-7007 or email Ken@SobelLegal.com.

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Like most people, you know you have insurance, but now that you need it, what do you really have? Pull out your automobile declaration page as you read this article; and let’s see if you’re happy with what your agent sold you.

Florida law requires you to have two components of automobile insurance. Everyone must have $10,000 of personal injury protection (PIP) and $ 10,000 of property damage (PD) coverage. PIP comes in two flavors, no deductible and a deductible. lf your PIP does not have a deductible; and fortunately, yours did not, your insurance carrier will pay for 80% of your medical bills or 60% of your lost wages, up to a total of $10,000. It does not matter whether you apply your PIP coverage to medical bills, lost wages or a combination of both, but once you reach $1 0,000, PIP is exhausted. Your insurance company pays these PIP benefits to you or your doctors, regardless of who was at fault, hence “No-fault” insurance. Who pays the remaining 20%? Hold that question for a couple of paragraphs.

If you have PlP with a deductible, usually $2,000, you still have the same coverage as above, except, your insurance company will not pay the first $2,000. Who pays that $2,000? You do! “but,” you say, “The accident wasn’t my fault!” Sorry, Florida’s No-Fault scheme figures that by purchasing a deductible you saved on premiums and have recouped your $2,000.

The PD coverage is not part of the No-fault scheme. Unlike Pl P, PD pays for the damage you caused to someone else’s property. If you or someone else caused damage to your car. Your optional collision insurance “ill pay. subject to the deductible you selected. Alternatively. you can make a claim against the other driver’s carrier. BMW, Mercedes and Lexus owners beware! The ten thousand in PD coverage gets utilized quickly, so be sure you have collision sufficient to cover your import.

After Pl P pays, you have $2,000 in unpaid medical bills and $ 12,000 in lost wages. Who pays the rest of your $ 14,000 in economic damages? This is the scary pan. Like the student who rear-ended you, most South Florida drivers only have what Florida requires and nothing more. A lot of drivers have no insurance at all. Bodily injury (BI) coverage pays for the lost wages, medical bills and non-economic damages (pain, disfigurement, lost enjoyment of life) you cause when you negligently operate your car. It is not required (Florida is more concerned about someone paying for your prope11y damage than your broken knee), but as someone who has worked hard, you need this coverage to protect your assets if you cause an accidental injury.

BI coverage al\ways has two numbers, usually expressed with a “/” between the two. Your policy may have $10,000/$20,000 or $300,000/$500,000,00 or some other combination. The first number is the maximum amount your carrier will pay any one person. If you hit a car with multiple passengers and you have a I 0/20 policy, your carrier will pay up to $20,000 for the entire claim, but no one person will be paid more than $10,000.

If you purchase BI coverage, Florida requires your insurance carrier to give you an equal amount of uninsured motorist (UM) coverage. UM is son of like PIP. It is the amount of money your carrier will pay you, the occupants or your car and your dependents when someone like George hits you and has no Bl. Unlike PIP, however, UM only pays when you can prove George was at fault. Since most people have no BI. I strongly recommend that everyone purchase UM. It is the single most important pan or your automobile insurance.

Be careful! When you purchase auto insurance you will be asked if you want to waive UM coverage. DON’T! If you did. you probably did not understand what it was; and were enticed with the idea of saving money on your premiums. Look at your policy’s declaration page. If you don’t see UM or uninsured motorist coverage listed, you don’t have it. Call your insurance agent at once. If you own two cars, you can combine your UM coverage by purchasing “stacked” coverage.

Fortunately, your agent sold you a policy with UM; and now your insurance company will pay you for the injuries George caused. There are two other provisions you should know about, both of which are optional.

Medical Payments, sometimes abbreviated as “Med Pay” will pay your own doctors what is not covered by PIP. It covers the 20% that PIP does not pay, plus any additional bills, up to the amount of your combined PIP and Med Pay coverage. $5,000 is a standard Med Pay coverage. You may not want to purchase it if you have a health insurance plan that covers you for what your PIP does not pay. However, it is relatively inexpensive.

Another relatively inexpensive option is additional PI P. If you have $50,000 in Pl P and $ I 0,000 in Med Pay coverage, your carrier will pay your doctors up to $60.000 for yours and your family’s injuries and lost wages. Given today’s high cost of medical care. you don’t need to be catastrophically injured to incur $60.000 in medical bills.

Driving in South Florida can be frightening. Not understanding your coverage in advance or an accident can be financially debilitating.

If you or a loved one have been personally injured by the negligence of another, protect your rights today. Sobel Legal is here to help you. Call 954-526-7007 or email Ken@SobelLegal.com.

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Fast forward again and I’m the veteran of hearing many a sad tale of parents whose children have either died or suffered serious injury as a result of their own or a friend’s inebriated exploits behind the wheel. Fearing my son is too much like I was, I’m afraid. Like many parents, I know there is little we can do to keep our kids safe when they leave the cocoon, but I’m going to try. I’ve made a deal with my son which I’ve been thinking about a lot lately; and I thought I’d share it.

It’s called a Safety Contract. It’s a deal you make with your teen and a friend of yours or any adult you can trust, but more importantly, someone with whom your teen feels comfortable and can trust. First, you take a deep breath and acknowledge that while you may think your teen is an angel, there are times when they are not; and part of being a teen is exploring and making your own mistakes. Knowing there will be times when your teen will either cave to peer influence or be the passenger of someone who should not be driving when it’s time to come home, you make a deal that goes like this.

The teen promises to call the adult friend whenever (even at 2am) he perceives himself in an unsafe situation where he needs help. The adult promises to drop everything and be there for your teen. Here’s the catch — the adult is prohibited from telling you. They are the knight in shining armor that potentially saves your child’s life; and they must, in order for this to work, resist the temptation to let you know. Otherwise, it does not work. Any benefit you and your teen might realize by your knowing what your teen has been up 10 is less important than the safety net you purchase by sticking to the deal. If your child is having repeated problems, then hopefully your own parenting skills will alert you to it without the need of’ your child’s guardian angel whispering in your car.

The deal can be, but does not have to be, in writing. Being a lawyer, I was tempted to draw up papers, but resisted. The only benefit 10 putting it in writing would be 10 solemnize the agreement. There are many permutations to such an agreement. It can be reciprocal, where you agree to be the guardian for your teen’s guardian’s teen. But that only works if your friend’s teen trusts you. You can enter into this agreement with a group of your friends and have a pool of guardians. You may not be able to reciprocate for your teen’s guardian, but you can make a promise along the lines of the theme of the movie, “Pay it forward,” and agree to make yourself available as a guardian to someone else’s teen.

This agreement may not save anyone’s life. Your teen may suffer a lapse in judgment by not calling the guardian when they should. However, if the Safety Contract saves the life of just one person, it would certainly be worth the effort. Both the shame and the beauty of it is, if it works, you’ll never know. Be safe.

If you or a loved one have been personally injured by the negligence of another, protect your rights today. Sobel Legal is here to help you. Call 954-526-7007 or email Ken@SobelLegal.com.

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This article is brought to you by Sobel Legal, keeping South Florida informed and safe, one family at a time.

By GIO BENITEZ

A week after the deadly bridge collapse at Florida International University, one of the survivors is speaking out in the wake of filing a lawsuit against the engineers and construction companies behind the project.

Katrina Collazo, who was injured in the collapse, was overcome with emotion as she told ABC News’ Gio Benitez about that tragic day where six people lost their lives.

In an interview set to air Friday on “Good Morning America,” Collazo, the mother of a 3-year-old girl, said she was sitting at the spotlight in her Nissan SUV when she felt something slam against the roof of her car.

“I thought somebody had hit me from behind until I looked to the side and I saw all those cars under that bridge, knowing that they were dead. There was no way they could’ve survived something like that,” said Collazo, a medical assistant.

“To tell you the truth, I just screamed,” she added. “I remember people running to my car and trying to get me out. And I just remember screaming and screaming not understanding what was going on.”

The entire back half of her SUV was completely destroyed in the collapse.

Collazo, who was on her way to FIU to look into joining the nursing program, said she can’t shake the image of those cars flattened right next to her.

“I’m thankful for being here today and being able to speak. But there are those that aren’t, that will never hold their children again, that will never graduate. That is not fair. This is not supposed to happen to anybody,” she said.

Her daughter was not in the car, but her car seat in the back seat was entirely crushed in the collapse, Collazo said.

“That crosses my mind every second of the day that just because it was 1:47 p.m., my daughter was not in that car. I don’t even know what I would’ve done. I don’t know because she’s my life, she’s my daughter,” said Collazo. “Imagine if she had been there.”

Several other victims and their families also filed lawsuits this week. Among Collazo’s complaints in the lawsuit are that two of the companies involved — FIGG Bridge Engineers and Munilla Construction Management — “had a duty to take all actions necessary to preserve the health, safety and welfare of the general public.”

“Traffic should not have been permitted to go underneath it until it was safe and there were indications well before this accident happened that this bridge had cracks, that there were safety concerns. And at that moment, traffic should have been stopped until it could have been repaired,” said Spencer Aronfeld, Collazo’s attorney.

In a statement to ABC News, FIGG Bridge Engineer said, “We are aware that a lawsuit has been announced regarding the pedestrian bridge accident. Our priority focus continues to place sympathies for the victims at the forefront of our thoughts. FIGG Bridge Engineers will work diligently with authorized investigators in an earnest ongoing effort to determine what led to the accident and what can be done to ensure that nothing like it happens again.”

MCM did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment Thursday, but previously said: “Our family’s thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this terrible tragedy. The new UniversityCity Bridge, which was under construction, experienced a catastrophic collapse causing injuries and loss of life. MCM is a family business and we are all devastated and doing everything we can to assist. We will conduct a full investigation to determine exactly what went wrong and will cooperate with investigators on scene in every way.”

Collazo has her own message for the families who lost loved ones.

“I want them to know that my prayers are with them. We’re going to the bottom of this, that we are going to make sure this never happens again,” she said.

If you or a loved one have been personally injured by the negligence of another, protect your rights today. Sobel Legal is here to help you. Call 954-526-7007 or email Ken@SobelLegal.com.

Source: https://abcnews.go.com/US/bridge-collapse-survivor-haunted-daughters-crushed-car-seat/story?id=53947637

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