Practice Areas

Construction, Workplace and Industrial Accidents:

Construction and industrial sites are dangerous, and Florida is among the riskiest places in America.

For more than 30 years, Rossman Baumberger Reboso Spier & Connolly has represented injured workers or the families of dead workers in nearly every conceivable kind of construction case, including some of South Florida's most significant accidents.

The firm has fought on behalf of workers who were injured or killed from collapsed scaffolding, unguarded floors, balconies, boxes and girders, electrocutions, vehicle accidents, nail gun mishaps and other cases. The firm represents a family of a worker killed in the recent Bal Harbour condominium construction accident, which buried three workers in quick-drying cement.

These accidents are avoidable results of negligence. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

• 422 were killed on the job in Florida in 2004, a 22.6 percent increase from the year before, second only to Texas. Nationally, workplace deaths were up just over 2 percent;
• Florida led all states in deaths from falls (75) and transportation equipment (198);
• Florida ranked a close second in exposure to harmful substances or environments (35), fires and explosions (12) and assaults (58);
• Florida ranked fourth in deaths from objects and equipment (44).

Although workplaces grow more dangerous, the Florida Legislature restricted workers' compensation and many negligence suits in 2003

While this has curtailed workers' comp claims, legal remedies still remain available in many catastrophic cases.

Rossman Baumberger Reboso Spier & Connolly values its collaborative relationship with workers' compensation lawyers and other co-counsel, investigates cases thoroughly, and fights to protect safety in the workplace and hold wrongdoers accountable.

Construction and industrial accidents

Rossman Baumberger Reboso Spier & Connolly has been involved in major construction cases since 1974. Construction injuries are often catastrophic or fatal. The following cases are among those we have brought to successful conclusions:

• One construction worker was killed and another catastrophically injured when a forklift delivering kitchen cabinets flipped a plywood box containing cabinets and the two workers, sending them plunging from the sixth floor.
• A steelworker fell 18 feet onto a concrete slab while directing placement of a mansard beam. While focusing on the beam, he fell through an unguarded floor opening, suffering brain damage.
• A carpenter fell through a floor opening left unguarded in violation of OSHA regulations.
• A worker fell off the fifth floor due to the lack of guardrails on the construction site, resulting in spinal cord injuries.
• A construction worker was seriously injured when the work platform collapsed due to the removal of supporting scaffolding.
• A worker was fatally electrocuted and fell off a building's roof of due to the close proximity of power lines, in violation of the National Electric Safety Code.
• A plasterer was killed when a mobile scaffold contacted a power line on the construction site.
• A worker suffered serious burns while standing next to a crane contacting an electrical transmission line.
• A back hoe operator was shot in the head with a nail gun, resulting in vision problems.
• A carpenter was shot in the knee when the nail gun malfunctioned, requiring surgery.
• A construction worker's legs were crushed when caught between concrete formwork and a cement truck.
• A dump truck ran over a worker in reverse due to an inadequate backup alarm.

Transportation

In a world that never slows down, the opportunities for travel and transportation grow more diverse by the day. While this freedom delivers more choices for fun and adventure, it can also lead to the emergence of companies who play "fast and loose" with the rules, often jeopardizing your safety.

This is especially true in the state of Florida, a major hub and destination, where many travel industry companies are headquartered and/or conduct business. Rossman Baumberger Reboso Spier & Connolly's work in the areas of automobile accidents, cruise ship passenger injuries, seaman's injuries, small boat and jet ski accidents, railroad cases, aviation disasters, and small airplane crashes has produced significant results for clients, including a $5.5 million verdict in an admiralty wrongful death case, a $6.5 million recovery and $3.4 million verdict in separate automobile accident cases, a $2.5 million verdict for the loss of a railroad worker's limb, and a $2.75 million settlement against a major national car rental company.

The pace of the world will probably never change, but those who profit from our enjoyment of travel should (and will) be held accountable when their negligence leads to injury.

• Automobile Accidents
• Cruise Ship Passenger Injuries
• Seaman's Injuries
• Small Boat & Jet ski Accidents
• Railroad Cases
• Aviation Disasters
• Small Plane Crashes

Medical Negligence

We are fortunate to live in an enlightened era, where technology and health care can improve our lives significantly. We are equally fortunate to live in a nation where laws enable us to vigorously pursue our rights and defend ourselves when accused. However, there are those in the health care industry who neglect the very patients most in need of healing.

At Rossman Baumberger Reboso Spier & Connolly, we regularly represent those persons injured by poorly trained and negligent physicians, uncaring and disorganized hospitals, callous HMOs, and inattentive nursing homes. Our leadership and experience in these areas have produced an $8 million recovery for a patient who was administered wrong medication, a $2.5 million recovery for a victim who suffered a stroke as a result of medical malpractice, and $750,000 for a psychiatric patient who suffered adverse consequences from medication, plus many other positive outcomes for our clients.

The benefits of technology and laws are rendered meaningless when placed in the hands of uncaring, unskilled, and unsympathetic people. Victims of these "professionals" and organizations deserve the representation of attorneys with broad experience in these areas to protect their rights.

• Medical Malpractice
• Hospital Liability
• HMO Negligence
• Nursing Home & ACLF Liability

Premises Liability

Whether working at your office or job site, shopping in a store or enjoying a sporting event, you deserve to feel confident that all of the safety measures possible have been installed and proper procedures followed to assure your safety. It is an owner's responsibility to ensure the safety and security of all persons visiting or using their premises to avoid injury or death from hazardous conditions on the property.

Over the course of our firm's history, we have represented numerous victims of aquatic spinal cord injuries and drowning, construction site negligence, negligent security, resort liability, defective premises, and electrical injuries. Our record includes a $2.5 verdict for the loss of a railroad worker's leg, a $1.7 million recovery for the death of a muffler shop employee who was killed when a negligently constructed and maintained building exploded, a $1.6 million settlement against a national auto repair chain, a $1.5 negligent security case for a police officer killed in the line of duty, and a $500,000 recovery for a construction worker injured by a nail gun.

Most of these cases could have been avoided with some simple and careful due diligence on the part of the property owner.

• Aquatic Spinal Cord Injuries
• Drowning Cases
• Construction Site Negligence
• Negligent Security
• Resort Liability
• Defective Premises
• Electrical Injuries

Product Liability

Trust is the very backbone of consumerism. As a consumer, you trust that a product or service you purchase will work as advertised, and (of course) will not threaten your safety. When that trust is violated due to design defects, safety errors, or failure of a manufacturer to warn of risks of using the product, you would hope that the manufacturer or distributor of the product would accept responsibility.

Unfortunately, this is rarely the case, and the hiring of an attorney becomes necessary. Our firm has represented many clients who have suffered injuries or worse through design and manufacturing defects, unsafe consumer products, defective motor vehicles, dangerous drug and medical devices, aircraft defects, firearms, and off-road vehicles. We have successfully secured a $3 million settlement for an air cargo employee who lost his arm because of a defect in an airplane, as well as a $1.5 million settlement for a laborer injured by a defectively designed automobile.

• Design & Manufacturing Defects
• Unsafe Consumer Products
• Defective Motor Vehicles
• Dangerous Drug & Medical Devices
• Aircraft Defects
• Firearms
• Off-Road Vehicles