The Florida Supreme Court recently ruled 5-2 that a tractor is indeed a “dangerous instrumentality.” This ruling clarifies and expands a law that is unique to Florida. According to the Miami Herald, this law allows an individual to sue the owner of a tractor if they are injured by the vehicle, even if someone else is driving it. In Florida, automobiles, golf carts, and forklifts have also been determined to be dangerous instrumentalities.

Florida’s dangerous instrumentality doctrine holds that the owner of an inherently dangerous vehicle or tool is responsible for
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All lawsuits filed in federal court against Actos for possible links to bladder cancer have been consolidated into the Western District of Louisiana. According to Bloomberg News, the experienced Honorable Judge Rebecca Doherty will be presiding over this multidistrict litigation. Actos is the world’s most popular drug used to control blood sugar in adults with Type 2 diabetes. Over the summer though, federal regulators from the FDA found study
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More current and former players have filed lawsuits against the NFL for purportedly negligent and fraudulent actions regarding the research, handling, and treatment of concussions, according to CBS News. Lawsuits of this nature have already been filed in New Jersey, New York, Georgia, and Florida. The players and former players allege that repeated concussions caused them to have current memory loss, depression, and even degenerative brain disease. The NFL is attemp
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Florida lawmakers, businesses, and low-wage workers have begun to work together to create a statewide law setting procedures for wage theft disputes. According to the Miami Herald, this new unlikely cooperation between traditional opponents is because there was the conception that different Florida counties and cities were creating a patchwork of wage theft laws by formulating different statutes on the subject. This discussion arose when Miami-Dade County developed its own wage theft ordinance and then Palm Beach County started a process to do the same.

Karen Woodall, an advocate fo
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The law ruled on the side of a Florida woman against the overwhelming debt collection tactics of one of the industry’s biggest corporations, Bank of America. According to the Wall Street Journal, a Florida judge ruled that Bank of America and the company it hired to collect debts, West Asset Management, engaged in debt collection attempts that amount to harassment. Allegedly, 68-year-old Linda Long was called as many as ten times per day in an attempt to get her to pay her dece
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 The Florida State Senate has passed a bill approving a $10.75 million settlement for Eric Brody, who was seriously injured when hit by a Broward County Sheriff’s deputy. A jury awarded Brody over $30 million in 2005 but the Senate must approve any award over $200,000 that is paid by a government agency. Now 32, Brody was driving home from a part-time job in 1988 when the college-bound high school student was rear-ended by Sheriff’s deputy Christopher Thieman. Though the speed limit was 45 miles per hour, it is estimated that the deputy was going at least 70 miles per hour,
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In a landmark decision certain to have far reaching implications in the private sector, the National Labor Relations Board (henceforth, NLRB) ruled last week in D.R. Horton, Inc. and Michael Cuda that employers may not prohibit workers from filing work-related class actions. The decision essentially invalidates any employment agreement which would require workers to pursue claims individually through arbitration. Prior to the labor board’s findings, these sorts of agreements were some of the most widely administered by companies across the United States. However, by the NLRB’s d
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A bus crash in Manatee County left twenty-one students injured after the bus plowed into a semi-tractor trailer, according to the Herald-Tribune. The bus, driven by Charles Orr, was carrying 40 students from Braden River Middle School. Allegedly, Orr turned around in his seat to hand out a disciplinary referral to a student and took his eyes off the road. Despite screams from the students, Orr was unable to stop the bus from smashing into the back of a semi, which was stopped at a traffic light. In all, 21 students plus the drivers of both the bus and the semi truck were taken to area hospi
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A motorcyclist was killed in a tragic accident this week when a van turned into his path after not seeing him, according to Tampa Bay Online.  Allegedly, a 2005 Chrysler van driven by 75-year-old Sarsfield McNulty made a left hand turn after stopping at the end of an exit ramp, veering into the path of 64-year-old John Meredith. Meredith’s motorcycle slammed into the left front of the van and burst into flames. Though his bike ended up under the van, Mer
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Florida Representative Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, has proposed legislation to repeal a 2010 law that allows motorists to be ticketed for being caught running red lights on newly-installed cameras at intersections. The bill, HB 4177, has not yet received a Senate backer, meaning that it may not be able to move any further than it is currently. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Representative Richard Corcoran, R-New Port Richey, introduced a similar bill last year t
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