Our client, an 80-year-old pedestrian, was struck by an SUV while traveling through Miami-Dade County. The vehicle was a company car operated by an employee in the course of their employment. The impact caused fractures to the lumbar spine, knee, and humerus -- injuries that, at our client's age, carried significant risk of permanent consequence and required immediate hospitalization followed by extended home treatment and rehabilitation.
The severity of the injuries demanded aggressive pursuit of every available source of compensation. Because the at-fault driver was operating a corporate vehicle at the time of the crash, the employer was liable under the doctrine of respondeat superior -- meaning the company bore legal responsibility for its employee's negligent conduct. Corporate defendants and their insurers carry substantially higher policy limits than individual drivers, which directly enabled the recovery achieved here.
Mausner Group filed suit and built the case from the ground up, documenting the full scope of our client's medical treatment, functional limitations, and long-term care needs. The case resolved through settlement for $2,000,000 -- without a trial.
Florida negligence law required us to establish that the at-fault driver owed our client a duty of care, breached that duty, and directly caused the injuries sustained. Pedestrians in Florida have the right of way in marked crosswalks and at intersections, and a driver's failure to yield to a pedestrian constitutes a clear breach of that duty. We built the liability case with that foundation and documented every resulting harm in detail.
The corporate ownership of the vehicle was a critical factor. Under respondeat superior, an employer is vicariously liable for the negligent acts of an employee acting within the scope of their employment. This legal theory opened access to commercial insurance coverage that would not have been available had the driver been operating a personal vehicle. Mausner Group's prosecution background shapes how we approach corporate defendants -- methodically, aggressively, and with full trial readiness from day one.
