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Filing Suit After Sober Home Negligence

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During the past handful of years, Florida has become a bit of a mecca for those trying to recover from addiction and dependency issues, with many ‘sober homes’ and treatment facilities appearing, especially in the southern half of the state. Many do good work – but the industry has been historically rife with fraud and mistreatment of patients who are in need of help. If you have been the victim of fraud or ill treatment, you may be able to file suit against the center for the harm you have suffered.

How Can A Sober Home Be Negligent?

Sober homes in Florida previously benefited from very little regulation, but in 2017, significant changes were made to existing laws to give more oversight of sober homes and help eliminate some of the most problematic practices, such as patient brokering (paying for referrals to a specific sober home or treatment facility, which often led to patients winding up in facilities that could not help them). Under these augmented powers, unethical sober homes can face suits under ordinary negligence law, or in extreme cases, even under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act.

For the average individual, the biggest potential danger in a sober home is being harmed by the negligence or recklessness of the staff. For example, if a staff member fails to administer Narcan or other medication to stave off an overdose or severe withdrawal, the sober home may wind up liable if the patient dies in their care. Other common causes of action are being the victim of a crime that could have been prevented by the home, or being defrauded of money or other assets.

Time To File Is Short

The criteria that must be shown in order to prove that the sober home acted negligently are fairly straightforward. Sober homes have a duty of care toward their patients, meaning that they must act in the way that a reasonable entity in the same situation would act. If you can show that this duty was breached, and that the breach of duty was the direct cause of the harm you suffered, you may be able to recover for that harm – if all the criteria are established, the court will generally conclude that if the sober home had not breached their duty, no harm would have occurred.

Be advised that the statute of limitations in which one can bring a negligence suit against a Florida sober home is quite brief – usually 2 years from the date of the incident, which goes by much more quickly than the average person thinks it will. Failure to bring suit within this time period means that the chance to do so is lost forever, so the sooner one is able to act, the better.

Call A Tampa Sober Home Negligence Attorney

Most people seek out a sober home because they are in need of help in battling addiction. If you have tried to get help and been subjected to unlawful or unethical treatment, you have the right to pursue remedies for the harm you have suffered. The Tampa personal injury attorneys at the Rinaldo Law Firm are ready to try and assist you with your case, and to offer dedicated and compassionate representation while they guide you through the legal process. Contact our offices today for a free consultation.

 

Resource:

leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0800-0899/0817/Sections/0817.505.html

https://www.tampainjuryaccidentlaw.com/boating-accidents-in-florida-2/

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