Boston Personal Injury Attorney Blog

December 9, 2013

Workplace Injury Trends Reveal Longer Recovery Times

personal injury lawyers in Massachusetts note there were fewer serious workplace injuries in 2012 as compared with 2011. This seems like great news, as this means that there were less people who got badly hurt on the job and who had to cope with the costs and pain of receiving treatment and struggling to recover. However, the workplace injury stats for 2012 also indicate that workers on average were staying out of work longer because of injuries last year.

The data, therefore, indicates that while there have been fewer reported serious workplace injuries overall in the last year, the ones that did happen were worse than in the year prior.
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December 7, 2013

A Concussion is a Serious Brain Injury

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Experienced brain injury attorneys know that falls and car accidents are two of the top causes of injury to the brain. Since many auto accidents and slip and falls happen because someone is negligent, it is not uncommon for personal injury lawsuits to be filed based on a brain injury occurring. The compensation for the lawsuits depends in part upon the severity of brain injury.

When most people think of serious brain injuries, they think of being in a coma, of permanent brain damage, or of traumatic brain injury. Concussions, the most common type of brain injury, are widely viewed as not being all that serious. The reality, however, is that even a simple concussion can do lasting damage.
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December 5, 2013

Atwell v. Boston Scientific Corp. Addresses Jurisdiction in Large Transvaginal Mesh Claims

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

For anyone involved in a civil lawsuit, the question of whether the case should be removed from state to federal court is an important one.

Technically, both parties should be able to expect a fair legal proceeding no matter the venue in which the case is heard. However, civil case defendants in large tort actions, such as transvaginal mesh claims, tend to view a federal court venue as a strategic advantage. They will often fight very hard to have a case removed from state court to federal court if there is an opportunity to do so.

When transvaginal mesh claims are filed as a class action or a mass action, it can improve the defendant’s odds of having the case removed to federal court, per the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005. The law expanded the criteria under which such claims must be removed to federal court.
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December 5, 2013

Bus and Train Drivers Face Added Scrutiny Amid Distracted Driving Crashes

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

The media has been reporting lots of bad news about distracted driving incidents lately, including tragic accidents where buses and trains were involved in serious or fatal collisions due to a driver who failed to pay careful attention.

Our injury lawyers in Massachusetts know that this wave of bad news has led to added scrutiny of bus and train drivers, with transit agencies taking new approaches to promote safety in order to reduce the risk to passengers and others on the roads.
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December 3, 2013

65-Car Pileup in Worcester Blamed on Icy Roads

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Icy roads are to blame, according to NBC NEWS, for a 65-car crash that injured 35 people in Worcester along Route 290. The wreck spanned nearly a half mile of roadway. Massachusetts police report that there were two trailer trucks, two six-wheel trucks and 61 passenger vehicles involved in the 7:00 a.m. accident.

Emergency response teams were delayed in getting to the crash site because the road wasn’t salted well enough yet. Officials had to bus roughly 60 people from the accident, according to Massachusetts State Police (MSP). One of the cars that was rear-ended was a state trooper’s cruiser, which had stopped at the site of one of the early crashes.

Worcester injury attorneys are frequently called to handle accidents caused by wintery road conditions. Unfortunately, this accident is a reminder of the risks as we head into the busy holiday travel season. While State Police warn residents via Twitter, “Roads are slick in central Mass, Worcester City area. If you don’t have to go out, wait” there’s nothing that can help to prevent these accidents better than safe and alert driving habits.
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November 30, 2013

CPSC Works to Prevent Child Injury this Holiday Season

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

In the last few years, officials with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) have enforced more stringent guidelines for toys, requiring testing by third party, independent laboratories around the globe. They’ve been using this system to test toys for various defects, dangers and to enforce stringent lead and phthalates limits for toys.

Over the last 5 years, officials with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and with the CPSC have stopped close to 9.8 million units and about 3,000 different toys that violated various federal safety standards. While these toys were kept from store shelves and kept out of your home, there will still many more that slipped through the cracks and into the hands of consumers.

Our child injury attorneys in Boston note the CPSC still issued more than 30 toy recalls last year. Thankfully, none of these recalls included lead issues, but there were many other dangers wrapped in products marketed to children. More than 10 children were killed in toy-related accidents in 2011. Most of these fatalities were the result of using riding toys, like non-motorized scooters and tricycles. There were four who were found in swimming pools with their tricycles and another who received a fatal head injury after his tricycle toppled. Asphyxiation and aspiration were the next most common cause of toy-related deaths.
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November 27, 2013

MBTA Injury Risks Increase with Ridership

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Big Papi isn’t only reeling fans into Fenway, where riding with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has never been more popular. According to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), ridership broke records in October. Ridership for the entire month, when the Red Sox took home the World Series, increased by close to 4 percent over the October from 2012. During the month, there were more than 36 million passenger trips.

“Our October numbers represent the highest monthly ridership recorded since the beginning of the MBTA,” said Beverly Scott, MBTA General Manager.

MBTA accidents in Boston are also unfortunately common. Average daily ridership for the month jumped by more than 4 percent over October of last year. Daily, there were more than 1.30 million passenger trips taken. While ridership of all modes of transportation has increased, the biggest jumps were on the buses and the subway. It’s the Blue, Orange and Red Lines that carry an average of close to 40,000 more riders a day than they did in October of 2012. Buses landed more than 22,000 more passenger trips than October of 2012.
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November 24, 2013

Seat Belt Requirement for Motorcoaches Improve Safety, Accident Survivability

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

The days of seat belt-free buses will soon be a thing of the past. Recently, officials with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a final rule to require lap and shoulder seat belts for each individual passenger on new motorcoaches and other similar large buses. Officials believe this will improve the safety of these vehicles by significantly reducing the risks of serious injury or death in the event of an accidents, including the risk of occupants being ejected during rollover accidents.

“Today’s rule is a significant step forward in our efforts to improve motorcoach safety,” said Anthony Foxx, U.S. Transportation Secretary.

Our bus accident attorneys in Massachusetts understand that there is, on average, about 21 people who are killed and another 8,000 injured in large bus accidents in the U.S. each year. Officials believe that by requiring seat belts, they can reduce the risks of serious injury and death by close to 45 percent. Although motorcoach travel is considered to be one of the safest forms of transportation, accidents still happen. And when these accidents happen, there is a serious risk for death and injury because of the speeds at which these vehicles travel and because of the large number of occupants on these buses.
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November 20, 2013

New Booster Seat Recommendations from the IIHS Impact Massachusetts Parents

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Officials with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) released annual ratings of child booster sea models. Less than 20 of the more than 30 new models got a top rating of “Best Bet” and only one was rated as a “Good Bet”.

According to Occupational Health & Safety (OSHA), officials also reported that some children should be in these seat until they’re as old as 12.

Our Boston child injury attorneys understand that children between the ages of 4 and 8 are about 50 percent less likely to sustain injuries in the event of an auto collision when they’re properly riding in a booster seat. If more parents were to keep their children in booster seats until they’re 12-years-old, safety officials believe that fewer children would face injuries in auto accidents. According to CBS, car accidents continue to be the number one cause of death for children under the age of 13.
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November 16, 2013

New Boston Playground Highlights Injury-Prevention Requirements

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Mayor Thomas M. Menino recently joined Liberty Mutual Insurance Chairman and CEO David H. Long for a ribbon cutting ceremony to unveil the City of Boston’s first universally accessible playground at the Charlestown Navy Yard. According to the City of Boston, this project will help to provide close to 25,000 square foot boardwalk with nearly 65 pieces of play equipment within a nearly 20,000 square foot rubber playground area.

This is going to be the first playground in the area that caters to both children and adults. Liberty Mutual stepped up with a $1 million donation.

Our Boston child injury attorneys understand that everyone in the community is going to benefit from this new city addition. Unfortunately, there are more than 200,000 children who land in an emergency room with injuries from public playgrounds in the U.S. each and every year. Most injuries happen when a child falls from the equipment onto the ground. Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), report about half of playground-related injuries are severe-fractures, internal injuries, concussions, dislocations, and amputations.
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