November has remained busy for Leesfield & Partners in Key West events.
Over the weekend in the Keys, Leesfield & Partners attorneys Justin B. Shapiro, Carlos A. Fabano and Evan Robinson attended the career celebration and retirement party for 16th Judicial Circuit Judge Luis Garcia.
Leesfield & Partners at dinner on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, honoring Judge Luis Garcia.
Evan Robinson, a Leesfield & Partners Trial Lawyer, secured a $350,000 settlement for a woman who shattered her hip as a result of a violent fall at a Monroe County tourist attraction.
Our client visited the popular tourist attraction while on vacation in the Keys with her husband. As the couple navigated the property’s narrow and crowded walkway, that was supposed to be flanked with gravel on both sides, our client stepped off the edge of the walkway and into a trench in an area where there was no gravel. As a result, our client lost her balance and fell violently onto the concrete ground, causing an injury that would forever alter her previously active lifestyle.
During the course of the litigation, Mr. Robinson learned that the walkway on which our client fell posed a dangerous hazard that was well-known to numerous employees and managers who worked at the attraction. Specifically, the frequent displacement of gravel caused by visitors constantly kicking it around resulted in the walkway repeatedly becoming unlevel. This recurring hazard presented such a serious danger that it required daily inspections and maintenance for over 16 years. In fact, every employee who worked at the attraction was instructed to keep watch over this area and bags of additional gravel were kept on site so that maintenance personnel could re-level the walkway when the gravel was displaced.
A Key West man was charged this week with three felonies and other misdemeanors after police say he pointed gloves with lasers into their car, almost causing an accident.
John Maximilian Zahner, 40, was charged with three felony charges of misusing a laser device, resisting arrest without violence and misdemeanor charges of providing a false identity to law enforcement, according to local media.
The strange events unfolded Monday around 2:15 a.m. when Zahner allegedly began shining the lasers from his gloves into the patrol vehicles of at least three officers who were driving on Duval Street. The lasers were so bright that one officer reported experiencing temporary blurry vision and nearly hitting the patrol car in front of him. The officers saw Zahner standing in front of Bourbon Street Pub and turned their vehicles around but say he ran back into the bar, according to reporting from news outlets.
Spotting flames or smoke in your home—a space that should be a sanctuary—can trigger panic and immobilize even the calmest individuals but smoke alarms can alert you to a problem at the first hint of danger.
During this nightmarish situation, it can be hard to think clearly. Thousands of people die each year in the United States due to trying to save their possessions or put out the fire themselves to save their homes instead of evacuating.
For that very reason, it is crucial to know how to improve your reaction times and have the proper safety equipment installed in your home to alert you of any dangers. In honor of Fire Safety Awareness Month, the Key West Fire Department accepted recent donations of smoke alarms from the Opal Key Resort, which will later be distributed for free to community members, according to local media. These detectors will be available at the Central Fire Station No. 1 at 1600 North Roosevelt Blvd.
The nephew of famed surfer, Bethany Hamilton, was injured over the weekend in a Hawaii drowning incident. Now, the family is taking to social media to ask for help.
The incident took place on Oct. 11. The child was medevacked to a different hospital and “has fight in him,” his aunt wrote on social media.
“We are wrecked,” Hamilton said in the post shared to her Instagram account with over 2.4 million followers. “But I know how proper medical support can make or break someone’s chance of survival and in this case we’re asking for help from anyone who has information [on] what we can do to give my nephew the best chance.”
As Floridians pick up the pieces left behind by the devastation of Hurricane Milton, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission experts warn about the dangers of carbon monoxide exposure.
On average, there are approximately 200 Americans who die each year from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning, and 400 die in total from exposure in the United States, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. At least 92 of these deaths were linked back to portable generators.
With about 2.4 million Floridians still without power as of Friday morning, it is likely many will turn to generators to charge electronic devices to be able to contact family and friends, cook, and, in some cases, keep the electricity running for medical equipment. Knowing this, experts have sent out advisories reminding Floridians how to best and safely use their generators as they take stock of the damage from the storm.
Nearly three months have passed since a spearfisherman was killed by a passing boater over the July Fourth Weekend. Recently, authorities have charged that boater in the man’s death.
Palmer Reid Long Jr., 72, of Placida, Florida, was charged on Sept. 23, with vessel homicide after police say he didn’t slow down despite there being visible divers-down flags in the area. Vessel homicide is a second-degree felony and a conviction could mean up to 15 years in prison.
The incident happened on July 5, killing spearfisherman, Israel “Kiko” Boza, 56, of Hialeah, according to reporting from local news outlets. That same weekend, three separate incidents on the water in the Florida Keys injured about eight people, including a 12-year-old.
Divers broke records this year in an annual competition to remove invasive lionfish from Florida waters, according to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission press release.
The 2024 Lionfish Season concluded with a record-breaking 31,773 species being pulled from the water. Just under 300 divers went on over 700 trips throughout the state to retrieve the animals that are dangerous to native fish and coral reefs.
One lionfish can reduce a native reef fish population by over 70%. They also present a risk to humans with their venomous spines which can cause painful stings. In 2022, over 25,000 lionfish were removed from Florida waters in FWC’s annual, summer-long challenge, which began in 2016.
A woman pregnant with her second child and her husband have died following a snorkeling incident while on vacation in Maui.
The tragedy took place on Saturday, Sept. 14 just after noon on the north side of Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve, according to reporting from national news outlets.
The couple was out snorkeling while their oldest son, an 18-month-old, stayed with his aunt and uncle. The woman, 26-year-old Sophia Tsaruk, was allegedly found by a rescue team member on a jet ski who brought her to shore to begin CPR. Her husband, Ilya Tsaruk, 25, was found by firefighters with the Maui County Fire Department approximately 100-150 yards away from the shore.
A speeding boat gunning for hundreds of swimmers and kayakers participating in a local event in Islamorada Saturday was stopped by a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission helicopter.
“From our angle, he was the only thing stopping that boat from going across all of those people,” Capt. Matt Bellinger, a local fishing guide who was on the water that day, told reporters with Florida Keys News.
The driver of the boat, identified as 55-year-old Thomas Michael Reichert, of Naples, Florida, was charged with boating under the influence, possessing spiny lobster tails and operating a boat in a safety zone, local news outlets reported Wednesday. Reichert is alleged to have 12 wrung tails on board, a second-degree misdemeanor.
