The news has recently revealed that the Broward County Medical Examiner has tentatively identified the remains found inside a van found in the Florida Everglades of an unfortunate family that has been missing for nearly 12 years. Dr. Joshua Perper, the medical examiner, commented that their deaths were an accident. And officials said that June 2, 1999 “…the day they went missing, was stormy and when the Caravan was pulled from the murky water the windshield wipers were still on.”
Tragically, for the decedent’s ex-husband, his hope of seeing his girls came to a tragic end. The question will inevitably arise whether there is any civil liability for this accident occurring and if someone driving another vehicle may have been responsible for these tragic losses, or if in fact there was an actionable claim against a Florida governmental agency that could be held liable. These thoughts must be considered in light of Chapter 95 of the Florida Statutes (a four year statute of limitation for bringing wrongful death claims arising from tortious behavior – and if it is against an entity of the State, or County, there is a three (3) year notification period under the Florida sovereign immunity act.
The more complex analysis has to do with those cases that are only recently discovered but occurred longer ago than the 3 and 4 year time frames.
For more information regarding this topic please feel free to contact the Fort Lauderdale Injury Lawyer at Schulman Law Group. We also serve the cities of Weston, Davie, Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Sunrise, Plantation, and related South Florida Cities.
