The Blog

The plaintiff was employed by Steiner Transocean Limited, a company that provided spa services aboard a Norwegian Cruise Line ship, when a fall aboard the vessel resulted in severe and permanent injuries. According to the case, a Norwegian Cruise Line employee had mopped a floor but failed to dry it. The employee twice told Simpson that she was “done,” leading …

A four-year-old child began experiencing seizure activity during the early morning hours. Her parents, the Selvas, called 911 for emergency medical assistance, and paramedics arrived promptly to transport the child to the hospital. During the trip, however, the only oxygen administered by rescue personnel was delivered through a standard mask rather than a valve mask. According to the case, the …

A 20-foot-long tank containing argon in a super-cooled liquid form was being prepared for transport aboard a ship when a series of failures led to the deaths of three longshoremen. The tank had a rusted and broken safety wire on an important valve, indicating that the valve had been tampered with. According to the case, someone had overtightened the valve, …

A 36-year-old man was working from a bucket lift for an electric company, securing one of several overhead power lines, when a crane toppled over. The crane’s boom landed on the power lines, including the line the man was securing. The tremendous force catapulted him from the bucket lift like a human slingshot. His face struck the bucket as he …

A husband and father of two young boys was traveling north on his motorcycle as he approached an intersection. At the same time, a woman driving a car was traveling east toward the same intersection. When the woman reached the stop sign, she looked both ways and saw no vehicles that appeared to prevent her from safely crossing. What she …

She was only 31 years old. She was married to her college sweetheart, and together they had two young sons. The couple doted on each other and cherished their children, who in turn cherished both of their parents. Their lives changed forever when a commercial van ran a red light and slammed into the driver’s side of the small SUV …

Vannessa R. Lucier, a chef and stewardess aboard the M/Y Happy, suffered serious injuries to her left arm and shoulder on February 25, 2024, after she was directed to assist the vessel owner’s intoxicated girlfriend back to the yacht. According to the case, Ms. Lucier’s employers knew of prior dangerous incidents involving the same individual but nevertheless placed their crew …

A maritime worker employed as a barge captain and deckhand was seriously injured while performing his duties aboard a barge operating on navigable waters in Florida’s Intracoastal Waterway. While our client was following orders and removing chains from a piling, as he was required and directed to do, a pile-driving hammer suddenly dropped without warning onto his dominant right hand. …

A grieving widower came to BRILL & RINALDI, The Law Firm after ending his relationship with another law firm. Nearly two years into the case, he felt frustrated and unheard while seeking justice for the loss of his beloved wife, who was killed in a car crash caused by a company driver. According to the case, the company driver never …

BRILL & RINALDI, The Law Firm, working alongside The McKee Law Group, represented Floral Acres, LLC, a commercial ornamental plant nursery whose poinsettia crop allegedly suffered extensive damage following the use of V-10161 VPP Fungicide, also marketed as Adorn. The case, Floral Acres, LLC v. Valent U.S.A. LLC, Howard Fertilizer & Chemical Company, Inc., and Nufarm Americas, Inc., was a …

The plaintiff was working as a seaman aboard one of the defendant cruise line’s vessels when he became seriously ill during a three-day period while the ship was traveling in Alaska. Under maritime law, the cruise line had an obligation to provide prompt and adequate medical treatment for illnesses or injuries suffered by the seaman while aboard the vessel. According …

On Thanksgiving morning, November 28, 2013, retired 61-year-old Michigan resident Charles Eimers encountered Key West Police officers following a slow-speed police pursuit that began with a traffic stop and ended at Southernmost Beach in Key West. Mr. Eimers calmly exited his vehicle and walked several steps toward the rear, where officers instructed him to get on the ground. He immediately …

On May 18, 2013, on South Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 25-year-old Chris Moreno-Vega got behind the wheel of a car while intoxicated and negligently drove into the back of a scooter operated by 49-year-old Timothy Blaikie. Auto America, a Fort Lauderdale-based used car dealer, owned the vehicle and negligently entrusted it to Moreno-Vega. Mr. Blaikie was catapulted from …

In the fall of 2020, a 48-year-old man drowned in a rip current off a beach in Daytona, Florida, while participating in a group therapy outing organized by the mental health and addiction treatment facility responsible for his care. At the time, the man was receiving treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and drug and alcohol addictions that he had …

A young man lightly knocked on the plate glass storefront window of a restaurant in an apparent effort to get the attention of the restaurant owner’s daughter. Without warning, the glass shattered into large, thick, razor-edged pieces. One piece sliced through the young man’s left hand while another cut his neck. He fell, suffered catastrophic blood loss, and died from …