What Happens When you get Hurt on Vacation?

Imagine this scenario: you are on the Caribbean vacation of your dreams and are aboard a cruise ship for a week. You hear about parasailing being offered on the cruise line’s private island. After watching dozens of people fly in the sky you figure it’s safe and that you’d like to try. While in the air a gust of wind snaps the line of the parasail and you go flying into the side of a building. This is precisely what happened to Amber May in Pompano Beach.

Leighton Panoff Law specializes in personal injury law. Any injury that occurs while on the property of a vacation resort, amusement park, or cruise ship (a longer list appears later in this post) is referred to as a Resort Tort. Leighton Panoff Law has the knowledge to represent tourists, business travelers, and locals that are exposed to any sort of risk while traveling, vacationing, or engaging in any type of excursions or activities.

What locations are considered grounds for a Resort Tort case?

• Hotels
• Motels
• Cruise Ships
• Pleasure Boating/Jet Skis
• Amusement/ Theme Parks
• Casinos
• Aviation (commercial and general)
• Rental Cars
• moped rentals
• buses or guided tours

Residents of Florida  are well aware of the state’s “we live where you vacation” mantra.  Applying this to personal injury law gives it an entirely different point of view. Florida, being a resort and vacation destination, has a high frequency of resort tort cases. As a local business owner, you should know your rights and understand how to properly deal with an emergency incident on your property.

It’s common for the law to assume that tourists are unfamiliar with the activity in which they are participating (example: parasailing) and leave the responsibility of communicating dangers to the proprietors. Whether you’re a traveler or a business owner, we can help make sure you are treated fairly and justly in any type of case.

Each year Florida welcomes 82 million visitors to 1,200 miles of beaches and over 8,000 lakes. It should come to no surprise that a few incidents are bound to occur with such a large influx of people visiting. One of those incidents, as mentioned earlier, left Amber May White, a 15-year-old in Pompano Beach, dead. John Leighton represented the White family and helped expose a range of mistakes that the parasailing and resort operators had made that led to the death of this young girl.

John Leighton, founder of Leighton Panoff Law, P.A., helped the family fight for a new law that would require parasailing operators to have insurance to cover accidents, hold a valid coast guard license, and only use safety rated towlines. This added effort is an example of the commitment Leighton Panoff Law has to its clients and the causes to which we have committed our professional careers.  We love to assist visitors that have chosen Florida as their vacation destination, especially when things have gone poorly on their trip.

If you have experienced an injury while on vacation contact the Leighton Panoff Law lawyers and our investigators and professionals. Our team of personal injury lawyers are ready to handle any type of case. Regardless of the act being negligent or criminal, you have rights!