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Any number of factors could affect the outcome of a personal injury case, from the amount of evidence available to the presiding judge. In most personal injury cases, however, two key factors are clear from the beginning: the identities of the plaintiff and defendant and the physical location of the accident in question. In the particular case of the Kogan & DiSalvo client with a fractured ankle, there were two parties. It was the plaintiff against the single defendant, which was a company called Kas Grove LLC., a Florida Limited Liability Company.
In-State Claims
A major factor that could change the outcome of a case is whether or not both parties are residents of the state of Florida. In this particular case, both the plaintiff and defendant were in-state—the plaintiff a Florida resident, and the defendant a Florida Limited Liability Company. Had that not been the case, the case may have been very different. Since the plaintiff was seeking more than $75,000 in damages, the defendant would have been able to remove the case from the state court, which was the preferred forum, to federal court under diversity jurisdiction.
Filing a Claim Against an LLC
The defendant was an LLC, which protects the individual members of the company from personal liability, similarly to a typical corporation. An LLC shields the individual members of the LLC from personal exposure for anything that results from the LLC’s negligence. As a result, the particular claim, in this case, was filed strictly against the company, and not any of its members, investors, or employees.
Location of the Accident
The location of the particular incident was relevant because this was a premises liability case, based upon the negligent design of a set of stairs. A staircase is made up of treads and risers. The treads are the part of the stairs that people step on and which are horizontal. The risers are the vertical parts that connect the stair’s treads. In this particular case, the treads and the risers were different sizes and dimensions, which caused my client to fall. There was also another dangerous condition, which was that the handrail was too large so the plaintiff could not properly grip the handrail to stop from falling. The location was relevant to the cause of action because the stairs were the negligent condition that gave grounds for the lawsuit.
Specific Florida regulations and rules applied to the client’s case due to the incident location. Because it happened in Palm Beach County, Florida, the South Florida building code applied. That code provides specific regulations regarding the appropriate dimension of the treads and the risers. Attorneys at Kogan & DiSalvo used the building code in the prosecution of this claim to show that the stairs did not comply with the applicable code.
No two cases are alike. Had this particular case taken place in North Florida as opposed to South Florida, had the plaintiff been a resident of Georgia instead of Florida, had the defendant been an individual instead of an LLC, this case would likely have been very different. An experienced attorney could help you determine the key factors affecting a particular personal injury claim and place you in the best possible position to recover compensation.
