Boston Personal Injury Attorney Blog

April 13, 2018

Workplace Injury Results in $8.25M Jury Award

On April 12, 2018 a Massachusetts jury returned a verdict in favor of Brian Goodrich in the amount of $8.25 million. The award comes after years of litigation beginning in 2013 when Mr. Goodrich’s head was nearly crushed because the jack holding up a piece of equipment failed. He suffered horrendous injuries which included facial disfigurement, blindness and loss of cognitive function.

The jury found, after hearing 11 days of testimony, that the company which designed the equipment was a majority at fault. Mr. Goodrich was changing the oil on the equipment meant to melt asphalt and fill cracks in the road. Although Mr. Goodrich acknowledged not using the safety pin with the jack which held the machine up, the company failed to include safety warnings and failed to manufacture the machine appropriately knowing such accidents were possible.

April 13, 2018

Sexagenarian Injured by Turkey Crashing through her Windshield

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

“Turkey town” sees another car accident caused by a turkey flying through a windshield. On Friday the 13th of April, a 60-year old woman was driving on Route 25 in Wareham in the early hours of the morning when a turkey smashed through her windshield completely destroying it; her Volvo XC90 was towed from the scene. She was treated by Wareham EMS and the State Police were called.

This is the third such incident in as many weeks in this town. Wareham is known as “turkey town” because of the neighboring turkey farms.

April 13, 2018

Hit-and-Run Accident Sends Man to Hospital in Brockton

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

At noon on April 12^th, in Brockton, a vehicle attempted to make a left turn onto Nilsson Avenue from Warren Avenue and collided into a Honda Accord and another driver. The vehicle fled the scene and Brockton Police later uncovered it on Fulton Street where they learned it was reported stolen prior to the accident.

The triple car collision resulted in an injury the driver of the Honda Accord, who was ultimately hospitalized. The Honda Accord was smashed into a utility pole. There were several witnesses who gave their observations to the police.

April 13, 2018

Flatbed Truck Runs Over Man, Crashes Into Tree

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Earlier this afternoon, as two flatbed truck workers were loading a Honda Accord onto the tow truck, the truck began to roll and ran over one of the workers. He was taken away in an ambulance. The Pipo’s Towing truck ended up descending approximately 250 feet down hill. This occurred on Haviland Street in Worcester at around 1:30 p.m. There were several witnesses to the incident including the three women getting the Honda Accord towed.

The other Pipo’s Towing worker was also injured when, after attempting to jump into the tow truck to stop it from continuing to roll down hill further, he fell out of the truck onto the pavement. There were no further injuries when the truck came to rest against a tree that stopped it. The accident investigation team of the Worcester Police are investigating mechanical failure as a possible cause, among other factors.

April 12, 2018

Piece of Metal Crashed Through Window of Honda Odyssey Seriously Injuring Driver on Route 128

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Around 11:00 am, April 11, 2018, a driver travelling along Route 128 in Waltham had a piece of metal smash through their windshield, hitting them and causing serious injuries.

The Honda Odyssey was travelling down Route 128, near Exit 26, when a tractor lost a piece of equipment which crashed through the windshield. It appeared to be a tractor trailer’s metal piece which was made to hold a mud flap over the tire.

The driver has not yet been identified but was transported to Mass General Hospital for evaluation and treatment of serious injuries sustained to their face. The injuries were not life-threatening, but serious.

April 8, 2018

Evidentiary Practice in Boston Personal Injury Lawsuits

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Most Boston personal injury claims will settle prior to going to trial. Mainly, this is due to the fact the insurance company will assess the possible risk of going to trial and the cost of defending an action at trial and usually offer based upon these calculations. However, if an insurance company does not make a reasonable offer, which provides plaintiff with a full and appropriate financial recovery, it will be necessary to take the case to trial and fight for plaintiff’s rights in open court. If your attorney is going to take a case to trial, it is essential he or she has handled many cases in court before and is well versed in the rules of evidence and trial practice to increase the likelihood of a successful outcome.

The first thing to understand is Massachusetts does not have formally codified rule evidence like most other states, so it is technically improper to refer to a particular rule by number, even though it happens all the time in court. These numbers generally come from the Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE), which apply in federal courts as well as state evidence codes, which typically closely resemble the federal rules of evidence. This is not to say Massachusetts does not have any rules of evidence, they just do not come from a code book or the Massachusetts General Laws (M.G.L.). Continue reading

March 24, 2018

Report: Surgery Centers Gain Steam at Cost to Patient Well-Being

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Not long ago, a series of mistakes at an eye surgery clinic in West Springfield resulted in five patients suffering from blindness. Each had been operated on the same Tuesday morning in what was promised to be a quick, 15-minute outpatient procedure. Blindness in general is a rare complication for such a surgery which should have raised a red flag. Five occurrences in the same day at the same clinic while undergoing the same procedure seems unprecedented, and the allegations are that the doctor used a needle to inject patients with anesthesia rather than offer a less risky alternative. One of those patients later won a $1.3 million verdict, while other cases are pending.

What this case has in common with a growing number of other Massachusetts medical malpractice lawsuits is the fact that it occurred at a surgical center. A recent analysis by USA Today and Kaiser Health News revealed that as surgical centers have risen in popularity, obtaining approval for an ever-expanding range of complex procedures, despite having a lack of training and state-of-the-art life-saving equipment.

The report indicated there are more than 5,600 surgical centers across the country. These facilities first started gaining steam about five decades ago, touted as a lower cost alternative for those seeking relatively minor procedures. However, now the number of surgery centers has dwarfed the number of hospitals. Although any surgical procedure has the potential for complications, there is no question that hospitals on the whole are better equipped to handle emergencies than these surgical centers. Continue reading

March 19, 2018

Birth Injuries in Massachusetts: Medical Malpractice and the Risk of Birth Defects

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

MassLive is reporting Massachusetts is included in the Center for Disease Control’s study of birth defects related to the Zika virus.

CDC data suggests 3 of of every 1,000 babies born in 15 states, including Massachusetts, had a birth defect possibly related to the Zika virus in 2016. Primarily contracted from mosquitos, the virus can be transmitted through the placenta, leading to pregnancy complications and birth defects.

The number of birth defects in the U.S. is a startling problem. The federal government estimates a baby is born with a defect every 4.5 minutes in the United States, affecting 120,000 babies each year.

March 14, 2018

Are Sunroofs Safe? Feature Grows in Popularity, But Regulations Stagnant

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

More than a dozen years ago, a teenager was paralyzed in a single-vehicle crash after being thrown from the closed sunroof of her sport utility vehicle. She and her family filed Hankins v. Ford in a federal court in Mississippi, alleging her severe personal injuries were the result of a defective sunroof that was unreasonably dangerous and defendant car maker was negligent in failing to warn them of the risk.

The case dragged on for years, but ultimately ended with Ford prevailing under the argument that there is no government regulation that requires a sunroof (even one that is closed) to keep occupants inside a vehicle, particularly in the event of a rollover crash.

Fast-forward to today, and there are still no government regulations that require sunroofs to be safer, despite the fact that there are hundreds of ejections via sunroof every single year. Continue reading

March 3, 2018

Report: Nursing Home Neglect Higher in For-Profit Facilities

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

There are simply some fields for which non-profit ventures are generally better suited. Nursing home care appears to be one of those.

A recent report by Kaiser Health News appears to back growing anecdotal evidence of this, revealing that mission-driven non-profit organizations on the whole have better track records than the increasing number of facilities operated on a for-profit basis.

Numerous studies over the last 20 years has established that nursing home neglect and abuse is reported at higher rates at facilities that operate on a for-profit basis – particularly in those that operate as corporate chain operations. These facilities tend to skimp on staff and other necessities, which in turn results in substandard care.

In a nutshell, the latest report from Kaiser reaffirms this, examining closely the ways in which organizations that have complex corporate structures work not only to line the pockets of owners, but also to shield them from injury and wrongful death lawsuits. Continue reading