Pit Bull Bites 10-Year-Old Orange County Boy; Deputy Shoots Dog

An Orange County homeowner could face fines or a premises liability claim and has lost his dog after a dog bite incident this weekend. 10-year-old Daniel Oliff was bitten by the dog as he was playing in the yard of the home where the dog lived, according to police. The boy’s injuries were serious enough that there was blood visible from the bite and he had to be hospitalized. He is expected to be OK.

Daniel was playing at a house on Stonefield Drive in east Orange County around 7 p.m. on Sunday when he was bitten by the dog, a pit bull named Buddha. Kevin Whittington, who helped Daniel, said he found the boy after the incident had taken place.

“I walked down and saw he had blood coming from his leg, so I asked him what happened. He said he had been bitten by a dog,” Whittington told WKMG-TV Local 6. “He seemed to be more scared (than hurt), but you could tell he was in pain.”
Shortly afterward, Orange County sheriff’s deputies arrived. While they were waiting for animal control officers, the dog became aggressive, lunging at a deputy. One of the deputies then fired two shots at the dog, killing it.

Owners Could Face Premises Liability and Fines; Claim Dog Had No History of Aggression
Fabio Pagani, one of the dog’s owners, claimed that Buddha had never been aggressive in the six months he had owned him. He doesn’t know how the dog got into the yard to bite Daniel.
“We don’t know how he got out. Every door was closed, and I figure someone came here and let him out and forgot about him,” he said.

As we previously reported in our blog, it is difficult to assess how dangerous a dog may be based on a single bite. It is unclear whether Daniel was bitten once or multiple times, or if there was any tearing or slash wounds that indicate a more serious biter. However, a dog bite that draws blood is more serious and demonstrates more aggression than one without an actual puncture.

Injuries to children Link to /Practice-Areas/Children-s-Injuries.shtml from dog bites are more common than injuries to adults, because kids don’t always recognize signs of fear or aggression exhibited by dogs.

While this pit bull may in fact have shown no obvious signs of aggression while Mr. Pagani owned him, the owner may not have been told of a prior history of biting. In any case, under Florida premises liability law, it does not matter whether a dog is “vicious” or if the dog’s owners knew that. Owners of dogs that bite are responsible for the damage they cause to anyone legally on their property.

Related Resources:
• “Pit Bull Attacks Boy; Deputy Kills Dog” (WKMG-TV Orlando, June 28, 2010)
• Florida Statutes Annotated §767.04, Dog owner’s liability for damages to persons bitten

 

Evaluating FMCSA’s Truck Accident Prevention Proposals: Part II

In our earlier post “Evaluating FMCSA’s Truck Accident Prevention Proposals: Part I,” we reported on reaction within the trucking industry to new federal trucking regulations being proposed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).

The FMCSA’s new initiative, which is called “CSA 2010” (for “comprehensive safety analysis”), is intended to prevent truck accidents by fairly identifying the most unsafe industry actors, implementing strategies to change those actors’ behavior, and getting the most egregious actors off the road.

In hearings before the U.S. House’s Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, industry group the American Trucking Associations (ATA) testified that it supported CSA 2010 overall but had concerns about how it would be implemented.

ATA spokesperson Keith Klein identified several very positive aspects of the proposal (discussed in the previous post). At the same time, he said there were two important reasons why ATA felt it had to bring its concerns to the attention of Congress.
“The first is a matter of safety, to ensure that unsafe carriers are selected for interventions, and the second is a matter of equity, to ensure that relatively safe carriers are not selected for interventions.”

American Trucking Associations: Changes to Promote Fairness Are Necessary or the Program Will Not Be Effective
Because ATA argues that the program as currently proposed does not ensure that all carriers will be treated equitably, it recommended these changes to the program:

• A final determination of fault should be made before a truck accident is entered into the company’s record, so drivers and carriers are only held responsible for the crashes they cause.
• To fairly compare the number of truck accidents attributed to each company — called the company’s “exposure measure” — the agency should use accidents per vehicle miles traveled, rather than the number of trucks or power units the company owns.
• The agency should only include final, adjudicated traffic tickets in the driver’s and company’s record — not unadjudicated “warnings” issued by law enforcement officers or tickets that are dismissed by the court.

Choosing the Proper Comparison Group, Inclusion of Only Concrete Evidence Are Most Important for Fairness
Generally, ATA would like to make sure that whatever is included in driver’s or company’s record is objective, reasonable and fairly reflective of the true situation.
For example, ATA argues, if a carrier terminates a driver, violations committed by that driver should be removed from the company’s safety record. Enforcement needs to be uniform from state to state. Long-term sore points, such as what ATA describes as “inequitable measurement” of open deck or flatbed trucks, need to be corrected.

Finally, ATA argued that the new initiative should not be made an official part of federal trucking regulations until the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute pilot program is complete. An evaluation study of the pilot is currently underway, and ATA recommends waiting until that study is complete before passing the proposed new regulations into law.

Most important to fairness is making sure the right comparison group is chosen, so drivers and companies have a fair shake at measuring up.

“A system that is based on inconsistent data and a flawed scoring methodology will not achieve its objectives. Instead, it will create inequities for some safe carriers and inappropriately allow some unsafe carriers to avoid scrutiny and consequences,” concluded Klein.

Related Resource:
“CSA 2010 Needs Additional Improvements, ATA Tells Congress” (Truckline, Jun 23, 2010)

6 Safety Tips to Prevent Pool Accidents and Premises Liability

No one wants to see anyone injured in their swimming pool — especially a child. With the tragedy of an 11-month-old boy’s fatal swimming pool accident fresh in our minds, now is the time for pool owners to take active steps to reduce the possibility of drowning or injuries to children in their pools.
If you own a pool, you know how popular they are with kids. In the law of premises liability, swimming pools are considered an “attractive nuisance,” which means that the law recognizes that kids love pools and often use them uninvited. If you own a pool, you could be held liable for negligence if a guest is injured in your pool — or for injuries to childrenyou didn’t even know were there.

To prevent tragedy and premises liability claims, follow these six good pool safety tips from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission:

1. Install a fence between the water and the living area of your home. It’s not enough to put a fence around your back yard — you need to keep unsupervised kids from entering the pool from inside your home. Climb-resistant fences are available that are and have self-closing, self-latching gates with the latch out of a child’s reach.
2. Keep kids and pets from falling into the swimming pool:
• When it’s not in use, keep your pool covered with a pool safety net or a permanent pool cover. Choose your pool cover carefully — kids are often tempted to walk on them and can be trapped beneath if the cover should collapse.
• Install an audible splash alarm as a backup, but not primary, safety feature.
• Don’t leave toys in a swimming pool. Kids often fall into pools when trying to reach for toys.
• Remove the ladder to an above-ground pool during winter.
3. Make sure you have good safety equipment close at hand. At the very least, you need a rescue-grade floatation device and a fully stocked first aid kit. Post the address of the pool near the pool for reference if someone needs to call 911. If you don’t have an outdoor phone, always bring your cell phone with you to the pool.
4. Bring your pool drains up to date on safety. Kids can be trapped by drain suction, so be sure to install anti-entrapment drain covers. Even safer are safety vacuum release systems, which shut off the pump if blockage is detected.
5. Remember that swallowing pool water can make you and your kids sick.According to the Centers for Disease Control, gastrointestinal illness from swallowing pool water has been rising dramatically in recent years. Some types of parasites can live in chlorinated water for days.
6. Keep a sharp eye out, and learn CPR. 77 percent of submersion injuries to children occur in five minutes or less. Unfortunately, drowning also takes mere minutes and can be completely silent. Even if your kids know how to swim or are using floatation devices, don’t just assume they’re safe — a swimming pool is not a good place for unsupervised kids.

Related Resources:
• “Summer Vacation: 6 Keys to Pool Safety” (Mainstreet.com, June 18, 2009)
• “Toddler drowns in home pool in Orange County” (Orlando Sentinel, July 11, 2010)

New Smyrna Beach Truck Accident, Child’s Death May Spur Changes

The July 18 truck accident on New Smyrna Beach that ended in the death of a four year-old may bring about changes to Volusia County’s beach driving rules. Aiden Patrick was hit by a pickup truck while running across the beach traffic lanes.
His is the second fatal accident involving a child that was caused by beach driving this year in Volusia County. In March, four-year-old Ellie Bland was struck by a car and killed on Daytona Beach.

Including these tragic, wrongful deaths of two children, there have been more than 40 car and truck accidents involving beach driving in the past five years, according to county records. At least 20 of those accidents involved serious injuries.
Some county officials are now calling for changes in the rules for beach driving in Volusia County.

“How many children have to be killed before we do something?” said Volusia County councilman Carl Persis in a recent story in the Orlando Sentinel. “We’re embarking on a reputation of having the world’s most dangerous beach.”

Should These Beach Driving Accidents Change a 100-Year Tradition?

In defending the practice of allowing cars and trucks to drive on beaches, Volusia County Chairman Frank Bruno points out that Volusia County’s charter requires it to provide beach access for the public. The county doesn’t have enough off-beach parking, so it has allowed beach driving for more than 100 years.
Councilman Persis has called for changes in the past but says his proposals have been soundly rejected by other county officials. His proposals have included making the beach driving lanes one way, limiting driving to certain areas and providing more off-beach parking.

One reason such proposals haven’t passed may be that the county believes that it is immune from lawsuits caused by beach driving accidents. According to deputy county attorney Jamie Seaman, the policy is covered under the sovereign immunity doctrine, which immunizes governments from lawsuits for certain policy judgments.

However, that immunity isn’t absolute. In the 1980s, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Daytona Beach was liable for a beach driving accident. The Court said that beach driving creates a “lethal mixture” of cars and people, and that risk was known by the City of Daytona Beach. Therefore, the city had a duty to warn beachgoers of the danger.

Volusia County’s policy was created after that decision, however, and county officials believe their policy will successfully protect them from any liability for accidents resulting in injuries to children and adults.

One attorney interviewed by the Sentinel disagrees that Volusia County is completely immune from lawsuits.

“It’s an inherent danger allowing cars on the beach, and what it would take is a case with the right set of facts,” said the attorney. “For example, a child under the age of 6 cannot be negligent for his or her actions. You cannot blame a child for the accident, and that could be an important distinction.”
The Florida Highway Patrol is still investigating the truck accident leading to Aiden’s death. According to its preliminary findings, however, the driver who struck Aiden was not speeding and was not under the influence of alcohol.

Related Resources:
• “Second child killed in beach driving accident raises liability questions” (Orlando Sentinel, July 20, 2010)
• “4-year-old hit, killed on beach in New Smyrna” (Orlando Sentinel, July 18 2010)

NTSB Probes Rollover Tanker Truck Accident for Prevention Clues

An Indianapolis tanker truck accident has prompted both an investigation and policy review by the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB is considering whether commercial trucks generally, but particularly tanker trucks that carry liquid hazardous materials, should be required to have electronic stability control systems to prevent rollover accidents.
The truck accident that prompted a two-day hearing on the subject occurred on October 22 of last year. An International truck tractor hauling a 11,600- gallon cargo tank semi-trailer carrying liquefied petroleum gas (propane) along I-69 in Indianapolis struck a bridge guardrail, rolled over, and slid into the bridge abutment and pillar of an intersecting overpass on I-465.

The trailer, filled with propane, pulled free of the tractor part of the truck, rolled on its side and caught fire. A breach in the trailer allowed the liquefied petroleum gas to escape, vaporize and ignite, resulting in a fireball that could be seen for miles. Eight other vehicles caught fire — one at such a high temperature that its fenders were melted off the car.
The tanker’s driver and four others were injured in the catastrophic truck accident. I-465 was closed for more than a day.

NTSB Considers How to Reduce Rollover Truck Accidents
The two-day public hearing was held on August 3rd and 4th in Washington, D.C. with the goal of considering a range of safety issues and strategies that could help reduce the incidence of commercial truck accidents generally and of cargo tanker rollovers in particular.

Nationwide, there is an average of 1,265 tanker truck rollovers. According to the NTSB, driver error is accounts for 78 percent of those accidents, but semi-trucks’ high centers of gravity and their lack of electronic stability systems may be significant causes as well.

One of the issues the NTSB considered during the meeting is whether electronic stability control systems similar to those required for all new cars could prevent tanker rollover accidents. In an electronic stability control system, sensors tell the vehicle’s computer when the vehicle’s or cargo’s weight is shifting. The computer then automatically applies brakes to one or more wheels to compensate.

Federal law requires all new cars to have the systems, but federal trucking regulations have not required them on semi trucks. Rollover prevention technology is more expensive to implement on commercial trucks than on passenger cars, and it is generally considered impractical to retrofit all existing tractor-trailers with the technology.

“This technology is somewhat more expensive,” admits Henry Jasny, general counsel for the nonprofit Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, “but that it wouldn’t be required for trucks when they are so over-represented in crashes doesn’t make sense to us.”

In addition to the question of mandating rollover prevention systems, the group of truck accident investigators, highway safety engineers and trucking industry representatives discussed:
• Crashworthiness standards for cargo tanks transporting high-risk hazardous materials
• Vehicle design changes to lower their centers of gravity
• Improving driver training and testing
• Roadway factors, such as shoulder grade, that contribute to vehicle instability
• Initiatives to protect highway bridge piers from vehicle impacts

Related Resources:
• “NTSB releases new information in advance of public hearing on the rollover and fire of a cargo tank vehicle in Indianapolis, Indiana” (NTSB Press Advisory, July 30, 2010)
• “NTSB probes rollovers by hazmat tanker trucks” (Associated Press, August 3, 2010)

Product Liability Concerns Spur Request for Dietary Supplement Regulation

According to a recent exposé by Consumer Reports, many popular dietary supplements such as ginseng and Echinacea are much more dangerous than they may seem. Consumers often think natural or herbal supplements can do no harm, but there is significant evidence to the contrary. In addition to their inherent risks, many of the supplements are contaminated, the report says.

The potential danger from dietary supplements, which are virtually unregulated in the U.S., prompts product liability concerns about the effects of their active ingredients, the effects of contaminants, and the risk that consumers will replace scientifically tested medications with supplements.

“[C]onsumers are easily lulled into believing that supplements can do no harm because they’re ‘natural’,” said Nancy Metcalf, Consumer Reports senior program editor, in a statement.
“However, some natural ingredients can be hazardous, and on top of that the FDA has repeatedly found hazardous ingredients, including synthetic prescription drugs, in supplements.”

Herbal and Dietary Supplements Can Have Serious Health Repercussions
Many widely used supplements contain ingredients associated with:
• Cancer
• Stroke and high blood pressure
• Heart disease, arrhythmia and heart rhythm disorders
• Liver damage
• Kidney damage
A May report by the Government Accountability Office also found that some sellers of ginseng, Echinacea and other supplements have told consumers that their products can cure cancer, or that they can be used to replace prescription medicines. Making such claims is illegal.

The FDA has limited power to regulate these supplements — much less than it has to regulate prescription drugs. Its authority over alternative medicine is based on the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, which Consumer Reports describes as industry-friendly.
The influential group is critical of how the FDA uses what little power it has.

So far, the FDA has only banned one ingredient from dietary supplements: ephedrine alkaloids, which is also known as ma huang. Non-alkaloid Ephedra-containing dietary supplements such as bitter orange remain legal, although they have been associated with similar adverse effects.

Consumer Reports also points out that, despite setting up field offices in China in 2008, the FDA has never inspected a single dietary supplement factory there — which it routine does for factories abroad that produce medical or food products for the U.S.

Consumer Groups Call for FDA Authority to Regulate Dietary Supplements

“Of the more than 54,000 dietary supplement products in the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, only about a third have some level of safety and effectiveness that is supported by scientific evidence,” reads the Consumer Reports article.
Despite that, Americans flock to use them. The magazine cites a report in the Nutrition Business Journal saying that $26.7 billion in nutritional supplements were sold in the U.S. in 2009 alone.

The Consumer Reports piece calls on Congress to give the FDA more authority to regulate dietary supplements as well as to increase the agency’s clout overall. The call echoes appeals made earlier this year by experts at the Institute of Medicine and the Government Accountability Office.

Until dangerous dietary supplements are regulated, however, the only recourse an injured consumer may have is a product liability lawsuit — and it can be difficult to prove that a nutritional supplement caused an illness or injury.
Safety Tip: 12 Supplement Ingredients That Can Make You Seriously Ill

Along with some other organizations, Consumer Reports is calling attention to twelve ingredients in particular that are known to have adverse health effects. If you must take dietary supplements, write these down and make sure none of them is on the ingredient list:
• Aconite
• Bitter orange
• Chaparral
• Colloidal silver
• Coltsfoot
• Comfrey • Country mallow
• Germanium
• Greater celandine
• Kava
• Lobelia
• Yohimbe
Related Resources:
• “U.S. dietary supplements often contaminated report” (Reuters, August 3, 2010)
• “Ephedra” (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Avoid Car Accidents and Fines: School Zone Enforcement Starting Up

Kids are headed back to class today in Volusia and Seminole Counties, so it’s time to refresh our memories about how to keep everyone safe on the roads. Traffic laws related to school buses, speed limits in school zones and crossing guards are all meant to help us avoid car accidents and injuries to children.
School zones in Volusia and Seminole are in effect now, and the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office at least will be cracking down on speeders. Class starts next Monday, August 23, in Orange, Lake and Osceola counties.

Speeding in a school zone will cost you a minimum fine of $148. If you are caught speeding 15 to 30 mph over the school zone speed limit, which is 15 mph, you could face a fine of up to $400 — and be arrested.

School Year Safety Tips to Prevent Car Accidents and Injuries
Local police are encouraging commuters to be patient. “Your Monday morning commute may take a little longer, so plan accordingly,” says Seminole County sheriff’s spokeswoman Kim Cannaday.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:
• Crossing guards will be back at their posts both morning and afternoon, so keep an eye out for children crossing the street.
• School buses make frequent stops, but don’t try to go around them. It’s against the law to pass school buses while they are picking up or dropping off students. Don’t wait until the bus’s stop sign is extended — stop as soon as you see the bus’s safety lights begin flashing.
• If you are dropping off or picking kids up from school, be mindful of no-parking areas, particularly in neighborhoods surrounding schools.
“A little planning and some patience will go a long way to ensure the 2010 school years get off to a safe start,” Cannaday says.

Related Resource:
“Drivers cautioned as school begins Monday in Seminole and Volusia” (The Orlando Sentinel, August 13, 2010)

Orlando Area Sees Two Fatal Truck Accidents in Only Eight Days

A fatal truck accident this morning in Apopka is the second in only eight days in the area surrounding Orlando. A woman was killed this morning in a tractor-trailer accident just before 11 a.m. On August 15, an 18-year-old man was killed in a double-rollover accident with an SUV.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, a woman was making a turn on Orange Blossom Trail at Boy Scout Boulevard in Apopka this morning. She turned in front of a semi tractor-trailer, causing an accident in the northbound lane of Orange Blossom Trail.

When troopers responded to the truck accident, they initially believed that two people had been inside the car, according to FHP spokesperson Sergeant Kim Montes. It now appears the woman was driving alone.

The FHP has not yet released the woman’s name. She was transported to Florida Hospital Apopka, where she died of her injuries. The accident is still under investigation.
This tragedy follows closely after the fatal August 15 car-SUV accident in I-95 near Daytona Beach that killed an Ormond Beach teenager.

The FHP reports that 18-year-old Alex Simpkins Crouch was traveling at a high rate of speed northbound on I-95 when he clipped the right-rear of another vehicle traveling northbound. The SUV-car accident occurred at 10:51 p.m. on Sunday, August 15, about a mile north of LPGA Boulevard.
When Couch hit the other vehicle, a 2006 Mazda SUV, the Mazda was forced into the center median and rolled over, coming to rest on its top. The two women inside had to be extricated by firefighters.

Driver Jessica Parodi, 41, of Daytona Beach, and her passenger, 43-year-old Maria Colon-Morales of Miami were transported to Halifax Health Medical Center. Luckily, both suffered only minor injuries.

Crouch wasn’t lucky. His 2004 Honda rolled several times after the collision, and he was ejected from the vehicle as it was rolling. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
As we have noted in a previous post, I-95 in Florida is the most dangerous stretch of road in the United States. Be careful out there.

Related Resources:
• “Fatal crash closes northbound Orange Blossom Trail at Boy Scout Boulevard” (Orlando Sentinel, August 23, 2010)
• “One dead, two hurt in I-95 crash in Volusia” (Orlando Sentinel, August 17, 2010)

Repeated Concussions May Cause ALS or Permanent Brain Injuries

Many scientists have long theorized that people who experience multiple concussions over time may be at risk for permanent brain injuries and nerve-degenerative diseases such as ALS/Lou Gehrig’s Disease. A recent study published in the Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology lends some support to those theories and suggests some possible reasons.

The study involved autopsies of the brains and spinal cords of 12 professional athletes, who had donated their bodies to science for this purpose. They included professional football players, boxers and a hockey player.

All of the men were known to have suffered repeated concussions during their sports careers. All of them had been diagnosed before their deaths with a neurological disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE, a form of dementia that appears years after the victim sustains the brain injury that causes it.

Three of the athletes had also been diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), which is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. ALS is a member of a group of diseases called “motor neuron diseases,” which cause progressive paralysis. ALS is debilitating and ultimately fatal.
The pathologists performing the autopsies found evidence that, even though none of the men had suffered a single, major brain injury, the milder head trauma they repeatedly experienced during their sports careers may have played a role in causing their CTE or ALS.

“This is the first pathological evidence that repetitive head trauma experienced in collision sports might be associated with the development of a motor neuron disease,” says the report, which was published by scientists at Boston University School of Medicine and the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at the Bedford, Massachusetts, VA hospital.
Brain Injury Experts Say the Study Could Lead to New Prevention and Treatment

The study of these athletes was by necessity quite small, and ALS is quite a rare disease, so more research will need to be done. However, experts in brain injury have said that the study succeeds in pointing out promising areas of research.

The report also acts as a clarion call for greater observation and treatment of those who experience repeated concussions, which includes those serving in the military in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many Iraq and Afghanistan vets have experienced repeated brain traumafrom exploding IEDs and other blows to the head during combat. Some studies have shown that Iraq war vets have a greater-than-average rate of ALS.

Among civilians, sports injuries are the most common cause of repeated head trauma and concussions, and both professional and intramural sports organizations are already focusing more attention on preventing repeated blows to the head.
The study’s specific findings were that a protein called TDP-43 was present in the brains and spinal cords of all the professional athletes autopsied. Scientists already knew that damaging one nerve sometimes sets off a cascade of other nerves dying, but they don’t know why. However, some have hypothesized that TDP-43 may be involved, which is why its presence was significant.

“If you could somehow give a person a drug, you could potentially prevent an illness like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,” said Dr. Jeffrey Bazarian of the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York in an interview with Reuters.

Several drugs are already being studied to see if they can prevent progressive nerve destruction after brain injuries and strokes. This study may suggest more avenues for research, including drugs that may affect the levels of the TDP-43 protein in affected patients.

Related Resource:
“Bad bumps to head could kill years later: U.S. study” (Reuters, August 17, 2010)

UPS Truck Crashes Into Ford Edge on I-4

Trucks haul freight all over the United States. Drivers travelling alongside those trucks can be seriously injured when drivers lose control. On Friday, August 27, one such driver was lucky to walk away with minor injuries after a UPS truck driver crashed into his Ford Edge on Florida Interstate 4.

Truck accidents can cause significant damage to the other vehicles involved. At around 2 o’clock in the morning last Friday, Michael Shaver was driving his car on I-4 when a UPS driver lost control of his truck and crashed into Shaver.
The UPS driver, Craig Roy, said that a mechanical failure was the cause of the truck accident. He lost control of the semi-truck, crashed into the median and collided with Shaver’s car. Shaver described that the semi-truck “dragged [his Ford Edge] along the wall until [both vehicles] came to a stop.”

Two people including Shaver suffered minor injuries in the crash, although a doctor who stopped to help said that he was “surprised” that Shaver “had only minor scratches” because “the vehicle was almost demolished.”

In addition to destroying Shaver’s car, the truck accident also spilled 75 gallons of diesel fuel and spread pieces of the truck across I-4. It took crews hours to clean up the highway and reopen it to traffic.

In addition to the damage to Shaver’s car and the medical bills of those involved, UPS also needs to be concerned with the packages the truck was carrying. A UPS spokesperson said that the company will offer up to $100 for damaged packages, and shippers who believe their packages warrant higher compensation will be considered individually.

Source:
“UPS truck crash spills fuel, packages on I-4” (WDBO Local News, August 27, 2010)