News & Articles

Passengers who sailed on the cruise ship that lost power and drifted at sea for days are looking to get compensation for their traumatic experience and residual medical problems, Detroit Press reports. About three dozen people are suing Miami-based Carnival Corp. for alleged problems such as kidney stones, post-traumatic stress disorder and respiratory problems.

On February 7, 2013 the Triumph left Galveston, Texas for a four-day cruise, with a stop in Cozumel, Mexico. On February 10, a fire broke out at 5 a.m., causing the engine to lose power and leaving the shop without most of its electricity. Passengers were forced to drift at sea for five days, surrounded by sewage in the hallways, limited water, noxious odors and extreme heat.

The lawsuit has gone to trial and passengers have been testifying before Senior U.S. District Judge Donald Graham without a jury. Testimony finished on Wednesday after the three-week trial, and Graham said he would make a decision later.

Many of the 33 passengers said that the traumatic experience caused them to have emotional issues, such as PTSD, anxiety and depression. Some passengers allege that they suffered physical problems because of the foul conditions, including leg pain, diarrhea, upper respiratory issues and even aggravated hemorrhoids. Dr. Ernest Schiodo, an expert witness for the passengers, said that the health problems were “caused by the exposure or aggravated by the exposure” due to conditions on the ship, including exposure to human waste.

Larry Poret of Lufkin, Texas brought his then-12-year old daughter Rebecca on the cruise. He says he remains scarred by how frightened she was, especially when trying to sleep in the deck in the pitch black nights. “Something that was supposed to be so much fun turned out to be a nightmare. I felt like I let my daughter down…You just can’t get it out of your mind.”

Carnival says that at least nine other Triumph lawsuits are pending in South Florida federal court. One proposed class action lawsuit is looking to represent all of the passengers, roughly 3,000 people. Carnival is the world’s largest cruise line; tickets require lawsuits to only be filed in South Florida federal court.

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A 68-year old West Palm Beach man was killed Tuesday morning at around 9.15 after being struck by a crane near the intersection of South County Road and Royal Palm Way. Police say that James Brennan died at the scene after the 40-ton vehicle turned form Royal Palm Way onto southbound South County Road. According to Capt. Jeff Trylch, the crane was driven by 49-year old Christoper Geroda, of Royal Palm Beach. Apparently, Geroda did not know that he had hit somebody and kept driving to a construction site on Jungle Road.

The crane was owned by Beyel Brothers Crane and Rigging of South Florida. The company has a local office in Riviera Beach.   

Keith Nardone of Keith Nardone Painting was a witness and described the horrific scene to Palm Beach Daily News. “I saw this guy fall underneath the crane. And when he fell down, he tried to grab up the middle of the crane to pull himself up, and the crane started dragging the guy. I tooted my horn and tried to holler at the guy (Geroda) to stop, and by the time I opened up my door to get out and try to run in front of him to stop him, the guy (Brennan) let go underneath the crane.” He said.

Nardone also told Palm Beach Daily News that it looked like Brennan was not in the crosswalk. He looked like he was just waiting to cross the street but somehow fell near the middle of the crane towards the back tires.

“I don’t believe the driver of the crane had any clue there was a guy there…He was just standing at the curb getting ready to move across, and I think he just fell down underneath the crane. It was a horrific sight. It was the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” said Nardone.

The accident closed traffic between Royal Palm Way and Brazilian Avenue until about 2:40 p.m.

This is the second vehicle-pedestrian death to happen in the 300 block of South County Road since 2000. According to the police records department, a woman died that year after being hit by a vehicle 18 feet north of the crosswalk between Brazilian Avenue and South County Road.

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Saturday was a tragic day in South Florida, as three people were killed in three different car crashes. Miami Herald reports that on Sunday, the Florida Highway Patrol identified the victims in the collisions. A 14-year old girl named Daniela Perez was killed in the first crash, which occurred on the Julia Tuttle Causeway west of Alton Road before 5p.m., the incident report says. Perez was in a Chevy Trailblazer with six other people when the driver, 43-year old Arnaldo Campo Romaguera, lost control of the SUV.

The vehicle hit the guardrail on the north shoulder and flipped over, landing on its roof in the grassy embankment. Miami Fire Rescue Lt. Ignatius Carroll described the scene as “chaotic” because there were so many victims, and rescuers were not sure how many passengers were in the car. Carroll says that Perez was ejected from the vehicle when the crash happened. The accident is still under investigation, according to Miami Herald. The other injured victims were Romaguera, 40-year-old Miriam Borrego, 22-year-old, Dayron Gonzalez, 7-year-old Barbara Urrutia, 42-year-old Jose Miguel Sanchez Blanco and 36-year-old Barbaro Urrutia. These victims, some with critical injuries, were all taken to Ryder Trauma Center.

The second crash happened on the southbound Palmetto Expressway north of Okeechobee Road at about 6:30 p.m. Tokavia Hardy, who was driving a Ford Expedition, rear –ended a Toyota Corolla and dragged it about 500 feet, killing 52-year-old Sara Beatriz Hernandez Medina of Miami. Medina was a passenger in the Corolla. None of the Expedition’s passengers, including 5 children, were injured. Juan Balibrea Llerena, the driver of the Corolla, was also not injured. Miguel Hernandez, 58, was a passenger in the Corolla and suffered minor injuries.

Twenty-two year-old Carla Trinidad of Miami was killed in the third crash, which happened on Westbound 836, west of 45^th Ave. at 10:15 p.m. The driver of a red vehicle was speeding and changed lanes in front of a Toyota Camry, which swerved right and in turn hit a converted cab bus. The bus hit a barrier wall and flipped, ejecting Trinidad, who died later from her injuries. The drivers of the Camry and bus were 23-year-old Janol Vinson of Kentucky and 36-year-old Marnell Smith of Miramar, respectively. The other passengers in the van were Viorica Dumbrava, Klara Kocvarona, Andrea Bohrn and Rosa Occhibianchi. They all suffered minor injuries. An Audi driven by Angelica Armador, 32, of Sunrise, then collided with the van; Armador also suffered minor injuries.  

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The driver of a pick-up truck that collided with another vehicle this weekend was killed when a third vehicle ran him down as he was inspecting his truck’s damage, according to deputies.

The Douglas County man’s wife and their 18-year-old son witnessed the scene from inside their gray Nissan as the man was struck at 5:20 Sunday morning, according to The Sun-Sentinel. The second accident occurred on West Commercial Boulevard in Tamarac, said Broward Sheriff's Office spokeswoman, Dani Moschella. "It had to be horrific," she said.

John W. Jenkins, 58,  of Villa Rica, Georgia, was killed said investigators, as he and his family were returning home following a weekend away in South Florida, Moschella explained. The driver who struck Jenkins remained at the scene and was identified as Jerson R. Paul, 32, of Tamarac; he was driving a Dodge Ram. Meanwhile, according to The Sun Sentinel, the person involved in the first collision fled the scene.

A few hours following the Commercial Boulevard crash, which occurred at the entrance to Florida’s Turnpike, investigators announced that they located the hit-and-run vehicle with the help of video from the turnpike, The Sun-Sentinel reported. The vehicle involved in the initial crash is a model year, 2007 dark-blue Chevy Avalanche, which was located after 1:30 p.m. Sunday. The airbags had been deployed in the damaged truck that was partially concealed in a parking spot at an apartment building located at 313 SW First Court in Pompano Beach.

Paramedics from the Tamarac fire station transported Jenkins to Broward Health Medical Center. The Tamarac fire station is just a few yards away from the crash scene; Moschella said they heard the crash and ran over to help. Sadly, Jenkins was pronounced dead at the Fort Lauderdale hospital, according to Moschella, The Sun-Sentinel reported.

Debris from the crash was strewn over a broad area of the intersection, blocking westbound traffic on Commercial Boulevard and the exits from Commercial to the Florida Turnpike for more than five hours, according to The Sun-Sentinel. Jenkins’ sneakers and cellphone were found next to Jenkins’ damaged truck, said Moschella, as well as a large pool of blood.

Investigators were working on locating the Avalanche driver that hit Jenkins' truck, Moschella said. Deputies appealed to the driver who fled. "He knows he's not responsible for that fatality, but he left the scene," Moschella said, according to The Sun-Sentinel. As of recent reports, investigator had not yet identified the driver, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

“I was on the phone with the 911 operator, had just stepped away from my husband when I hear my son screaming, ‘Dad, Dad,’” Shirley Jenkins said, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I said, ‘Oh, my God, someone just killed my husband.’ I couldn’t believe it.” Mrs. Jenkins said that her husband was killed on their son’s 18^th birthday.

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Five people, including four University of South Florida students, died in a horrific crash that occurred Sunday on Interstate 275 in Tampa. The fatal crash occurred around 2 a.m., when an unidentified driver of an SUV was heading south in the northbound lanes of I-275. Authorities say that the SUV collided with a Hyundai Sonata, bursting into flames. The four victims in the Hyundai were all males in their early 20’s and were fraternity brothers that the University of South Florida.

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A young, attractive woman of 18, a mother of a young son, was left in a coma and unable to walk, talk, and feed herself after undergoing a routine breast augmentation at a Miami, Florida clinic.

Linda Perez is described as being “fun loving” and “spirited” according to The New York Daily News and is now skeletal after suffering significant damage after her surgery last August. Linda remained in a coma for three months and is, according to reports, unrecognizable from her former self.

"She goes into depression and crying," her mother, Mariela Diaz, told the Miami Herald. Linda barely speaks and is under 24-hour nursing care. "She sees that she cannot walk, and when she realizes what happened to her she cries," her mom added.

Linda went in for breast augmentation surgery on August 12, 2013 at the Coral Gables Cosmetic Center. She paid a discounted price of $2,100, according to The NY Daily News. One hour after surgery, Linda experienced complications and lapsed into a coma from which she awoke in October. Her attorney explains that, although Linda is no longer in a vegetative state, she is unable to eat, bathe, or use the bathroom on her own; she requires 24 hour care, he told The NY Daily News. She can no longer care for her young son and her mother describes her condition as that of an infant.

The attorney says that the clinic is at fault and that a typically healthy 18-year-old should not end up in a vegetative state after undergoing a routine surgical procedure. An attorney for the Center argues that some potential, prior medical issue with Linda may have been present over which she was not forthcoming, according to The NY Daily News. The coma left Linda Perez with complications that damaged her brain and heart.

Her surgeon, Dr. Jacob Freiman, indicated that the problems Perez underwent were similar to those she experienced in childbirth, citing these details to one of Perez’s physicians. "They put a spinal anesthetic, and she needed to be intubated," the report revealed, concerning her post-labor, which was obtained by the Herald. The doctor alleges that Perez hid this information so that she could continue with the reconstruction.

Perez’s attorney says this is “hogwash” and that the medical records obtained when Perez gave birth to her son revealed that she underwent an epidural needing no anesthesia and that allegations that she suffered an adverse reaction to anesthesia were concocted by the cosmetic center’s attorney in an effort to blame the victim and mitigate gross negligence, according to The NY Daily News.

Although records indicate that Freiman is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and has no history of malpractice complaints, the anesthesiologist involved, Dr. Mario Alverto Diaz, does have a history. In 2006, Dr. Diaz was sentenced to 30 months in prison and two years' probation when he was found to have illegally sold drugs online in Iowa. The anesthesiologist was also a defendant in a medical malpractice case involving the death of a 35-year-old patient following buttock augmentation, according to the Herald. Dr. Diaz is no longer working at the center, although his license remains active.

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They are not in Jacksonville, Fla. At least, that’s what Allstate Insurance Co. found in its annual list of the safest cities for drivers in the U.S. According to The Jacksonville Times-Union, the city ranked 73rd among a list of 200 of the nation’s largest cities.

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A husband and wife en route to their Florida home recently were killed in a head-on collision with another car. The couple was traveling on US-27 when their vehicle was struck by another car. The driver’s side of each vehicle collided in the crash. The offending vehicle was traveling north, while the couple's car was heading south.

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Police and road safety officials were out in full force as they conducted a checkpoint in the Lauderdale Lakes area on the night of Friday, Nov. 22.

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Florida's waterways present unique hazards to many drivers in the state and far too often, motorists are crashing through guardrails and landing in the water.

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