Regulation Of Florida Water Parks Are You At Risk For Injury? By William Henry, PhD Florida is the home of a large number of water parks. Given its name– the entity that regulates water parks may seem surprising to you. How does the regulation of Florida recreational theme parks that feature water oriented rides impact safety or lack thereof and –ultimately personal injury? The Florida Legislature has recognized in Section 616.242 of the Florida Statutes the necessity of regulating amusement rides within the State. Exempt from the statute for inspection purposes are: Permanent facilities that employ at least 1,000 full-time […]
Slip or Trip and Fall Cases Can Yield Multi Million Dollar Settlements By William Henry, PhD It may come as a surprise to many that a slight defect in a sidewalk could result in a multi million dollar settlement by your local government to the injured party. Yet a recent accident on a public sidewalk outside of a New York City Hospital yielded the victim a settlement of 2.25 million dollars. The City preferred to settle this claim rather than risk exposure to a larger award by a jury who could empathize with the victim’s plight. Since we at RGA […]
Does Title Insurance Really Protect a Property Owner from Zoning Issues? By William Henry, PhD Title Insurance is a policy to protect and/or indemnify against loss or damage resulting from defects in the title and deed to the property. What does Title insurance cover? The basic title insurance policy that is not “overly endorsed” includes the following: 1) Representation as to the actual owners of the property, 2) Representation that the property is free of encumbrances, i.e. other mortgage liens, mechanics liens, and potential claims that have not been recorded, and 3) Representation that there is access to the property […]
Do The Rays Employ Wall Street Techniques To Over Achieve? By William Henry, PhD Three decades ago after graduating from the University of Florida, I decided to return to grad school and study business administration. I had become enthralled with the career of my mentor John Portman, an architect/real estate developer in Atlanta who combined design ability with business acumen. This combination of innovative design coupled with market acceptance resulted in changed city skylines. It is a potent combination. If the art of design excellence can be instilled with the “The Art of the Business Deal” as Donald Trump might […]
The Conflict: New Urbanistic Vs. ‘Pseudo Urbanistic’ By William Henry, PhD The Conflict Between ‘The New Urbanistic Approach Embraced By Government Urban Planners Vs. The ‘Pseudo Urbanistic’–Market Rate Approach Implemented By The Private Sector Consumers and casual observers will note that the various urban plans currently being fostered by government officials and private commercial developer/builders vary greatly in both the substance and style of the plans. The differences are significant! As may be expected, government seems of late to be enamored with the creation of a ‘new urbanism’ with mixed zoning uses all clustered together creating ‘mixed use urban centers’. […]
Interview With Developer Tom Mannausa The Jewel Rising By Ed Bertha Tom, you opened The Jewel’s sales office in November, 2012. In December, 2013 you began converting deposits into binding purchase agreements. During the same timeframe you had to deal with permits and other legal hurdles. Construction began in April, 2014. The Jewel’s residents are slated to move in early August, 2015. What a ride, and the most satisfying part is only beginning. Let’s reflect.
Thinking Of Remodeling Your Condo? By Jay Anderson It is the time of year when our Florida weather spawns spring cleaning and remodeling projects. Large condominium projects typically occur when a resale purchase is made, while smaller projects, like a kitchen or bath, can occur any time. In a single-family home you are usually inconveniencing one person or a single family, but in a condo, you could be impacting hundreds. Sometimes, though, structural elements or utilities prevent a contractor from being able to redesign the interior as much as you would like. If you live in a condo here are […]
Designer Liability From A Forensic Architects Point of View? By William Henry, PhD “Your Architect Cannot Deliver Perfection” As a forensic architect and court certified expert witness, I am often engaged by both plaintiff and defense counsel to opine on whether an architect has committed errors and omissions that would lead to liability exposure. What actions by architects constitute errors and omissions (E&O) that could lead to damages incurred by property owners, clients, and/or victims of construction site injuries? A Take On Errors And Omissions Prior to attempting to offer up yet another definition of E&O, we need to establish […]
Determining Cause…Who Is To Blame? By William Henry, PhD Overview As design forensic experts we are often tasked with investigating sites where injuries and/or fatalities arise from unsafe building conditions. Often times, no photographic or other visual record exists of the actual incident. In these cases, the expert must rely on third party accounts from eyewitnesses who provide testimony as to their recollection of what occurred. Documentation of onsite condition There are some instances where actual videos record the incident from security cameras, or a passerby may have photographs immediately following the incident derived from sources such as cell phone […]
Premises Liability From A Design Expert’s Standpoint By William Henry, PhD Avoiding the pitfalls and detecting the guide posts for success in personal injury claims As an experienced court certified forensic expert, I am often retained by personal injury and construction litigation attorneys. As an architect, they seek my opinion regarding potential design errors and omissions, code violations, as well as any and all construction defects that may have contributed to a premises liability claim. These claims are filed in order to seek recovery for slip and fall victims, injuries sustained by construction workers, and other injuries or wrongful deaths […]
What are DreamScapes? By William Henry, PhD Over the last 30 years or so I, like many Florida residents, enjoy taking my family to Disney World as well as other theme parks in Central Florida. I hope to take my grandchildren there someday. My favorite has always been the MGM theme park attraction at Disney World. I am also impressed with Downtown Disney and Pleasure Island. There seems to be an aura of “Magic” present as well as at the other Disney venues. Though my background entails practicing both as a designer and researcher, I had not bothered to tap […]
Shopping Center Industry Coins “Med-Tail” By William Henry PhD A New Acronym For Medical Clinics Locating In Retail Centers Recent Moves to Retrofit Existing Commercial and Retail Space Spurs Demand for “DESIGN DUE DILIGENCE’ Diversion of retail sales from traditional ‘sticks and bricks’ retail centers to internet sales leads to ‘Med-Tail’. At the annual Florida Conference of the International Council of Shopping Centers ‘ICSC’ a new acronym was coined from the presentations to describe the migration of many walk in clinics, medical diagnostic centers and outpatient treatment areas into vacant spaces once housing retail uses. The term to describe it […]
Is Your Commercial Property “Grandfathered” To Offer Relief From Some ADA Requirements? By William Henry PhD How Does the Term “Readily Achievable” Apply to this “Grandfathering” Provision? When addressing the challenges posed by American Disability Act legislation, business and commercial property owners often ask, “Is my property ‘grandfathered’ so as to alleviate the need for compliance?” Compliance hinges on the date of occupancy of the inhabitable space. The operative date is January 1, 1991. Was the property inhabited prior to 1991? If so, then compliance may not be required if the cures to the design and construction are deemed to […]
Larger Awards In Slip And Fall Cases By William Henry PhD Improving your chances for a larger financial recovery if you or your loved ones slip and fall in a public place Success in slip and fall cases often depends on CSI type exhaustive research both at the incident location and of applicable local building and Federal codes. What may seem to be a harmless site condition, in reality can pose serious threats to health, safety, and welfare to site occupants both indoor and outdoor. Secondly there are multiple codes that often have jurisdiction over the improvements. Some of them […]
Dilapidated or Damaged Structures – Rehab vs. Rebuild? By William Henry PhD As architects we are often asked by clients “should we fix up this old and/or damaged structure or just tear it down and build anew?” Since according to some prognosticators over 80% of the building projects in the next twenty years are slated to be renovations of existing structures this question is arising more often. This is particularly true when the building in question is near the so called ‘tipping point’. This term is akin to an automobile that is either so old or so damaged that it […]
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Tuesday, May 26, 2015
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