Any personal injury lawsuit requires some proof of negligence, that the defendant has breached a duty of care that they have to minimize unreasonable risks to others. To determine whether or not such a breach has occurred, the legal system has established a theoretical concept, called the “reasonable person standard”. This effectively states that a person is responsible for a duty of care, but only to the extent that any “reasonable person” would behave in the same fashion in the same situation.

The definition of a “reasonable person” is inherently subjective, but is necessary because a duty of care can only exist if an action would foreseeably cause injury to other people. In order to determine what constitutes a foreseeable risk, the reasonable person standard was created to help make the judgment process more objective.

A “reasonable person” will consider four factors before taking an action:
•    The risks vs. benefits of that action.
•    The extent of the risk that may occur from an action.
•    The odds that the risk would actually cause injury or harm.
•    Whether or not an alternative is a realistic option.


If a person fails to consider these factors when taking an action, or if a person takes an action that a reasonable person would not have, he or she may be held liable for any injury that results from his/her behavior.

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If you or a loved one has been injured by the negligent behavior of another, contact Jacksonville personal injury lawyer Don Guthrie at 904-493-6455

When you are attacked and feel as though you or your loved one may be in danger, it is an extremely frightening experience. Compounding the fear and anxiety are the numerous questions and confusion surrounding the legality of self defense: if you defend yourself, will you find yourself on the receiving end of a lawsuit when everything is said and done? Furthermore, will that let the attacker claim that he was acting in self defense?

The key determining factor in the use of self defense is whether or not force was reasonably necessary in order to prevent injury. The inherent problem with this definition is that it is very subjective; different judges and juries have different definitions of what is considered “reasonably necessary”, making an objective standard elusive. Typically, this criterion involves determining exactly how much force was necessary to repel the attack; it precludes people from using deadly force to repel an otherwise non-deadly attack.

However, deadly force is acceptable to use if the victim reasonably believes that the attacker will cause serious injury or death to either the victim or a victim’s loved one. Again, this is a subjective criterion and may be subject to interpretation as to what exactly constitutes a “reasonable expectation” of injury. Furthermore, in many jurisdictions, the victim is required to reasonably attempt to flee before using deadly force to repel an attack.

If you have been injured by the reckless or negligent actions of another person, contact Jacksonville personal injury lawyer Don Guthrie at 904-493-6455.

The legal doctrine of Negligence Per Se states that someone is considered legally negligent if they violate a public safety law. The logic being that, because the burden of proof is higher in a criminal court than a civil court, if a person is found criminally guilty of endangering the safety of others, it can be assumed they are civilly guilty as well. Typically, cases of negligence per se apply to traffic violations that result in accidents, but there are numerous situations that may result in negligence per se. However, four criteria must be proven for a valid claim of negligence per se.

•    A law was violated. Although other types of negligence may have occurred, negligence per se cannot be committed unless a law was violated.
•    The law was a safety law.
•    The action caused the kind of harm the law was trying to prevent. If the injury that occurred was incidental to the actual law that was broken, the defendant has not committed negligence per se, although he may have committed another type of negligence.
•    The plaintiff was a member of the group that the law was trying to protect. Typically, most safety laws are designed to protect “the general public”, so this criterion is usually easy to prove. However, in certain cases, a victim can be excluded from the group the law was trying to protect, such as in the case of many employee protection laws, if a non-employee was injured.

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If you have been injured as a result of someone else's negligence, regardless of whether or not negligence per se has occurred, contact Jacksonville personal injury lawyer Don Guthrie at 904-493-6455

Many retail pharmacies have come to resemble fast food joints moreso than they resemble a health care center. With cost-cutting and efficiency being the rule of the day, pharmacies are filling more prescriptions and at a faster rate than ever before. Although in many cases, this is necessary to accommodate the large amount of prescription medications taken in the United States, if a pharmacy is inadequately staffed, the odds of a dispensing error increases.

Types of Errors

There are numerous opportunities for a dispensing error to be made. Some of these errors can include:

•    Incorrect Medication
•    Incorrect Quantity
•    Incorrect Dose
•    Incorrect Instructions
•    Incorrect Storage

All of these errors can have life-threatening consequences, especially for conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, depression, anxiety, seizures and diabetes.

Spotting a Dispensing Error

There are numerous steps you can take to ensure that a dispensing error does not occur:

•    Examine your label immediately. Check that you received your own medication, not someone else’s, and that the instructions are consistent with what you have previously taken.
•    Examine the medicine itself. If it looks different than what you have previously received, contact your pharmacy to double check the medicine.
•    Ask your doctor for a copy of your prescription so you can compare the instructions on the prescription with the instructions on your label. If the prescription has abbreviations that you do not understand, ask your doctor to explain them in common terms.

When receiving your medications, make sure to thoroughly check the label. Ensure that you have received your medication, and not someone else's, and that the instructions on the bottle are what you have expected. Additionally, examine the medication itself. If it is different from what you usually receive, do not hesitate to call your pharmacy to ensure that you have not received an incorrect medication.

If you or a loved one have suffered injury as a result of a pharmacy dispensing error, contact Jacksonville personal injury lawyer Don Guthrie at 904-493-6455.

The Florida Highway Patrol is reporting on an accident that claimed the lives of two south Georgia residents.  A third person involved in the accident was injured, and taken to a hospital.

According to reports,  the car lost control and drifted off the road.   The car then struck a tree.  The accident occurred around 3:40 a.m. on Sunday morning.  No one involved in the accident was wearing a seatbelt. The two people who died were ages 25 and 26 years-old.  

If you or someone you know has been injured in a crash, contact the Jacksonville personal injury attorney, Donald Guthrie at 904-493-6455.  

A twin engine Cessna took off from a Florida airport shortly before noon on Friday afternoon.  Minutes after take-off,  the plane began to run into trouble.  The plane came down and crashed into the ground.  In the process of crashing,  the plane struck a house in the middle,  cutting it into two separate pieces. The pilot of the Cessna was killed in the plane crash.

The house caught fire after the crash, and the owner reports that almost everything in the home is gone.  The owner also reports that injury was barely escaped as home was emptied minutes before impact.  

If you or someone you know has been injured in an accident, contact the Jacksonville personal injury attorney, Donald Guthrie at 904-493-6455.