The CNN video investigation continues concerning insurance company’s growing efforts to increase profit by limiting payments to accident victims of what they consider to be minor impact crashes.

In this video, Jim Mathis, a prior insurance company insider who now testifies against insurance companies, says “It’s not based on what should be a settlement value or offer to this claimant, it’s not based on ethics, it’s not based on profit… It’s based on ‘how much’ profit.”

Industry insiders say 80 to 90% of injured persons don’t fight and just take whatever the insurance companies offer them.

To view the video, click here – Anderson Cooper – questionable auto insurance practices – Part 2

If you or a loved one has been injured in a motor vehicle accident due to the negligence of another driver, call South Florida Personal Injury Attorney Shannon J. Sagan at 1-800-FLA-LAWYER today for a consultation at no cost to you.

Time and time again you hear stories from lobbyists and political parties representing the large insurance companies, blaming personal injury attorneys and lawsuits for the rising costs of auto insurance premiums.

This CNN video investigation serves as a frightening reminder of a situation that is becoming more and more common.  The two largest auto insurance companies in the US, State Farm and Allstate, are taking a firm stance against what they consider ‘small impact crashes’.  Despite the amount of car repair costs, mounting medical expenses, and any need for future care, these powerful insurance companies are forcing clients to accept low settlement offers or move forward into court proceedings.  This new approach, broken down in this video into three elements (delay, deny, and defend), is hurting people injured in accidents and ensuring a significant profit increase for insurance companies who enforce it.

This type of adjusting is an uphill battle for the injured client and their attorney.  These Delaying, Denying, and Defending tactics add to the financial and emotional burden that a car accident has already caused to someone who is injured.  With less cases going to court lately, and insurance companies still making record profits, you be the judge!!

To view the video, click here – Anderson Cooper – questionable auto insurance practices – Part 1

If you or a loved one has been injured in a motor vehicle accident due to the negligence of another driver, call South Florida Personal Injury Attorney Shannon J. Sagan at 1-800-FLA-LAWYER today for a consultation at no cost to you.

It seems like there is something on the news every day in South Florida about the pill-mill epidemic and the varying effects of this great problem. One of the effects has been the increase of prescription drug-induced drivers, DUIs and crashes in South Florida.

According to a recent Palm Beach Post news report, drug-related crashes increased 18 percent last year in Palm Beach County. Drugs such as oxycodone and other painkillers, tranquilizers, sedatives and muscle relaxers are being taken with alcohol, severely impairing drivers and tragically ending lives as a result. Boca Raton Officer Fred Laurie told the Palm Beach Post that he is noticing a shift in impaired-driving cases. When he became a police officer 13 years ago, most impaired driving was due to alcohol whereas now, drug impairment is beginning to compete with drunk driving.

If a bottle of medication warns on the label that it may cause drowsiness and if mixed with alcohol, that this drowy feeling may increase dramatically or even slightly, why take the chance and drive? There are obvious errors in judgement involved but the problem stems way beyond that – the ease of attaining these types of drugs is staggering all on it’s own.

On recent news, there has been overwhelming mention of pill-mill sting operations, shut downs and further investigations. This is an undeniable move in the right direction but coupled with that, people need to be more responsible and make better choices.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a motor vehicle accident due to the negligence of another driver, call South Florida Personal Injury Lawyer Shannon J. Sagan at 1-800-FLA-LAWYER today to schedule your free consultation and go over your legal rights.

The holidays are a time to spend with family and friends and a time to give thanks for the many wonderful things life offers us year-round.  Unfortunately, the holidays also bring an increase in motor vehicle accidents in Florida.  There is an increase in traffic with seasonal visitors as well as more people traveling in general to visit family and friends for the holidays.  There is also the time change which makes the darkness of night arrive earlier than usual and there are holiday and cocktail parties, just to name a few of the contributing factors.

The Florida Highway Patrol confirms that around Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s celebrations, the Highway Patrol schedules are adjusted to be more vigilant by maximizing the number of troopers on the road, because there is always an increase in motor vehicle accidents.

Traffic accidents can happen any time of day or night and surely at any time of year, but if statistics show the risk is greater at a certain time, take note and drive as safely as possible or avoid the road all together as much as you can.  If despite your caution, you or a loved one has unfortunately been injured as a result of a motor vehicle accident, call South Florida Personal Injury Lawyer Shannon J. Sagan at 1-800-FLA-LAWYER today to schedule a consultation to discuss your legal rights at no cost to you.

Tailgating parties are a well-known tradition revolving sporting events in the United States but this past weekend a tailgating party at Yale Bowl turned to tragedy.

According to The New York Times, “A truck carrying beer kegs went out of control during a tailgate party on Saturday before the Yale-Harvard game at Yale Bowl, swerving into a crowd and hitting three people, the authorities said. One person, a 30-year-old woman, was fatally injured.”

Witnesses said the truck had just left an ID checkpoint and suddenly accelerated out of control.  They also said the driver seemed to be completely sober.  The accident is still being investigated and Yale announced that the athletic department and the College Dean’s Office would review the tailgating policies.

This is another reminder of how quickly an accident can change lives forever.  If you or a loved one has been injured as a result of an auto accident, call the Law Offices of Shannon J. Sagan at 1-800-FLA-LAWYER today to schedule a free consultation with Florida Attorney Shannon J. Sagan.

According to the Palm Beach Post, authorities are still trying to contact the family of a man who died in an auto accident near Belle Glade early yesterday morning, but they have released the names of the drivers in two other vehicles also involved in the crash.

The crash happened at approximately 5:15 a.m. on State Road 700 about four miles east of Hatton Highway and six miles west of State Road 80, according to the report issued by Palm Beach County Sheriff’s officials this morning.  Much of State Road 700 is dark, unsigned and has canals alongside of the road.

The report states Alain Pena, 33, of West Palm Beach was headed west in a pickup truck on State Road 700, when a driver in an Infinity collided with the back of his truck, sending both vehicles into the guard rail.

The Infinity overturned and the driver was ejected and killed, according to Sheriff’s traffic homicide investigators.

A third car, driven by Eduardo Ceballo, 48, of Key West, also hit the pickup truck after the initial crash.  Alain Pena and Eduardo Ceballo were both transported to Lakeside Medical Center in Belle Glade with minor injuries.

With the time change, it is getting dark a lot earlier and I have been noticing many cars without their lights on.  The cause of this accident is unknown and it happened in the early morning but please see this as a reminder to be cautious on the roadways, especially roadways that are not well lit.

If you or a loved one has been injured in an auto accident due to the negligence of another driver, call 1-800-FLA-LAWYER today to schedule your free consultation and discuss your legal rights.

Clips of real accidents are included in a video posted on a new Florida Department of Transportation website as part of a campaign aimed at reducing the high number of bicyclist and pedestrian fatalities in Tampa Bay. Florida leads the nation in bicyclist and pedestrian fatalities. And the Tampa Bay area is one of the worst in Florida. In 2009, the region averaged seven pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities per month.

The video comes with a ‘unsuitable for small children warning’ and understandably so, as parts of the video are undoubtedly tough to watch but maybe the shock value is what people need to wake up and be a little more cautious with what is going on around them.  For many, the act of driving becomes so routine (especially wnen traveling to and from work every day) that some people literally start to become a little numb to things going on around them and frankly, become somewhat robotic.  There are also the cases of people bluntly breaking laws on the roadways and endangering their own lives as well as the lives of others anywhere around them.

According to a recent article in the St. Petersburg Times, the goal is to reduce pedestrian deaths in the Tampa Bay region by 20 percent in three years.  “In the past a lot of our campaigns have been very vanilla,” said Kris Carson, a department spokeswoman. “We wanted to catch someone’s attention.”  This campaign is certainly catching attention with both supporters and others who think the video is taking things too far.

As part of the campaign, SeeTheBlindSpots.com features safety tips for both bicyclists and pedestrians, crash data and images using trains, tanks and elephants to represent how much damage cars can do to pedestrians.

In addition to the video, the Florida Department of Transportation is spending $430,000 received from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to pay overtime for law enforcement officers to focus solely on pedestrian safety and the state is also spending $2 million on “high intensity pavement markings,” to make sure crosswalks are visible, Carson said.

Driving is such a huge responsibility, mixed with the unpredictability of any one driver’s actions at any given time, there is little to no room for a ‘robotic’ attitude toward driving.

Be alert and take notice of things around you.  If you need to switch your route to work or any where else you travel to daily, to make it a little less mundane, do so… it could mean the difference between life and death.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a motor vehicle-involved accident due to the negligence of another, call the Law Offices of Shannon J. Sagan at 1-800-FLA-LAWYER today to schedule your free consultation.

The team here at the Law Offices of Shannon J. Sagan asks boaters to travel our waterways with caution year-round to prevent accidents and related injuries but sometimes of the year warrant an additional layer of caution.

November is Manatee Awareness month and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) wants to alert boaters to slow down and pay attention to slow speed zones which went into effect on November 15 and carry into spring time.  With colder temperatures moving into other parts of the world, manatees migrate to Florida’s warmer waters via rivers, canals and other waterways.

It is important for boaters to stay alert as manatees are not able to move too quickly and the FWC also reminds boaters that if you see a manatee, you should give the animal plenty of room just in case they are traveling with a calf or other manatee.

According to a recently published article in the Brevard Times, you can spot this aquatic giant by scanning the water near or in front of your vessel and looking for signs that manatees are close by, including swirls resembling a large footprint, a repetitive line of half-moon swirls, a mud trail, or a snout or fluke (tail) breaking the water’s surface.

Other steps that boaters and personal watercraft operators can take to help manatees migrate safely:

• Keep vessels in marked channels;
• Wear polarized sunglasses to improve your vision;
• Obey posted boat speed zones;
• Use poles, paddles or trolling motors when close to manatees;
• Have someone help scan the water when under way.

If you believe you have spotted a sick, distressed, injured, orphaned or entangled manatee, immediately report this to the FWC’s Wildlife Alert hotline at 888-404-FWCC  (3922) or text message Tip@MyFWC.com(standard usage fees may apply). Florida residents also can call #FWC and *FWC via cell phone.

To view the Brevard Times article and see a listing of speed zone changes by Florida counties, click here.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a boating accident due to the negligence of another, call the Law Offices of Shannon J. Sagan at 1-800-FLA-LAWYER today to schedule your free consultation.