Archive for February, 2012

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27
Feb

Nine Employees Busted for PIP Fraud

February 27, 2012

Florida’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jeff Atwater announced a big personal insurance protection (PIP) bust in Tampa, reports the Sunshine Slate.

Fraud investigators posing as victims of auto accidents were encouraged by employees of various clinics to sign fraudulent treatment forms indicating medical services that they had never received.

The clinics included Tampa Rehab Center, Auto Injury Doctors of Tampa, and PVC Medical Center. After the forms were completed, the clinics submitted the fraudulent paperwork to insurance companies such as Nationwide, Farmers, Progressive, and 21st Century Insurance.

Facing up to 15 years in prison each for their crimes, the nine employees were arrested and charged with third-degree felonies related to “patient brokering and filing fraudulent insurance claims.”

A statewide grand jury report on exactly this type of PIP fraud noted that prosecutions are rare. “Unfortunately, a number of greedy and unscrupulous legal and medical professionals have turned that $10,000 coverage into their personal slush fund,” said the report. “The result is loss of coverage and marginal medical treatment for those who are injured, as well as higher insurance rates for all drivers.”

CFO Atwater encourages anyone with information about suspected PIP fraud to please call 1-800-378-0445. Tipsters can remain anonymous, and there are possible rewards of up to $25,000.

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Have you or someone you know been injured in a Florida auto accident? The Florida auto accident lawyers at Steinger, Iscoe & Greene may be able to help.

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24
Feb

Should Roadside Memorials Be Removed?

February 24, 2012

Are the roadside memorials sprinkled throughout South Florida intended to stand eternally?

Some Florida cities don’t follow their own rules for regulating the erection or duration of roadside memorials. They want to avoid the delicate and emotional issue of taking down a marker in memory of somebody who was killed, according to the Sun-Sentinel.

After receiving its first complaint, the city of Coral Springs agreed to start taking down memorials within city limits.

“The families have every right to erect memorials on their own properties or at cemeteries or wherever, but we should not be forced to be the permanent memorial site for their grieving,” a resident wrote in an email to the mayor.

He said that the memorial on Brokenwood Drive is in violation of city rules. Families are allowed to erect their own memorials for 12 months, at which point the memorial is to be replaced with a nonreligious sign.

Whether someone has the right to put up a memorial on roads in Florida depends on where the road is. Some cities don’t allow memorial markers on city roads; some do.

On state roads, the Florida Department of Transportation will install “lollipop” markers unless local governments ban them.

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Have you or someone you know been injured in a Florida auto accident? The Florida auto accident lawyers at Steinger, Iscoe & Greene may be able to help.

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22
Feb

Witness in Desoto County Car Accident Wanted

February 22, 2012

In Desoto County, the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) is requesting assistance in locating a witness to a serious vehicle accident, reports Wink News Now.

On Friday at 4:40 p.m. on CR 769 and CR 760, a crash involving serious bodily injury occurred. The vehicle that crashed was a black four-door sedan.

It was reported that there was a vehicle in the area which could have been a witness to this crash.

This reported vehicle was described as traveling westbound on CR 760 and approaching a stop sign intersection. The vehicle may have been traveling behind a red four-door sedan, also approaching the stop sign intersection.

The operator of the reported vehicle may have witnessed the red sedan travel into the intersection and cause a black four-door sedan, traveling northbound on CR 769, to swerve into the southbound lane and then swerve back across the northbound lane. It overturned on the east grass shoulder of CR 769.

The crash caused serious bodily injury to the driver of the black sedan. The needed witness may have also witnessed the red sedan flee the scene of the crash.

Anyone with possible information on the crash witness is asked to contact Trooper Hathcock with the Florida Highway Patrol at (941) 751-8350, extension 31794.

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Have you or someone you know been injured in a Florida auto accident? The Florida auto accident lawyers at Steinger, Iscoe & Greene may be able to help.

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20
Feb

I-95 4-vehicle Crash Kills Jupiter Woman

February 20, 2012

A 44-year-old Jupiter woman was killed in an early-morning crash on Interstate 95 on Sunday at Boynton Beach, reports the Palm Beach Post.

A 19-year-old man of West Palm Beach was driving a 1999 Isuzu pickup truck north just after 5 a.m. when the truck’s right rear tire separated. The truck hit a concrete median, causing it to veer across the northbound lanes of traffic.

The 44-year-old female driver of a 2002 Mitsubishi sedan, also traveling north, moved from the second inside northbound lane to the middle lane to avoid colliding with the pickup truck. The Mitsubishi then hit two other northbound vehicles.

Two passengers in the Mitsubishi were taken to Delray Medical Center. The  48-year-old woman and a 50-year-old man, both of Palm Beach Gardens, were seriously injured in the crash.

The pickup truck driver and his passenger, a 20-year-old man, also of West Palm Beach, sustained serious injuries and were taken to Bethesda Memorial Hospital in Boynton Beach.

A 26-year-old man, of Boynton Beach, was uninjured when the Mitsubishi hit his 2006 Dodge Charger on its left side.

A 31-year-old man, of Palm Beach Gardens was driving a 2002 Ford truck whose front end also collided with the Mitsubishi. He also was uninjured.

All northbound lanes of Interstate 95 between Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach and Woolbright Road were shut down after the accident. They were reopened by mid-morning.

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The Florida auto accident lawyers at Steinger, Iscoe & Greene send our condolences to the woman’s family.

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17
Feb

Fatal Florida Crash on Shoulder of I-75 Southbound

February 17, 2012

In Ocala, a Summerfield man died in a traffic crash Thursday afternoon on southbound I-75 when he was struck from behind while working on his stalled vehicle on the shoulder of the busy roadway, according to The Gainesville Sun.

Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) troopers said that a 57-year-old man was working on the engine of a 1974 Volkswagen “Bug” on the shoulder of I-75 after pulling to the side of the highway.

A 56-year-old man, who was driving a white 2006 Chevy Silverado pickup, apparently had a “medical condition” and veered off the travel lane and struck the man working on the VW.

Occurring near Mile Marker 351, about 1.25 miles north of the State Road 200 exit ramp, the impact knocked the VW from the shoulder into the right and center lanes of the roadway.

The pickup driver, who was wearing his seat belt at the time of the accident, was taken to Munroe Regional Medical Center with minor injuries. He is listed in stable condition, FHP troopers said.

The Volkswagon driver was pronounced dead at the scene by Marion County Fire Rescue officials. The death was the fourth traffic fatality in Marion County since Saturday and the ninth this year.

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The Florida auto accident lawyersat Steinger, Iscoe & Greene send their condolences to the man’s family.

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