Boston Personal Injury Attorney Blog

January 27, 2020

Protect Yourself in the New Year with Updated Insurance Coverage

Insurance tends to be something that people think about when there’s a major change. You update your insurance policy when you buy a new car and or a new house.

Or, maybe you’ve been in a car accident or suffered some other type of loss and have needed to file an insurance claim. You might pay careful attention to your insurance policy coverage and benefits depending on the outcome of the claim.

The Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation and the Division of Insurance is encouraging consumers to think about insurance coverage more frequently. Massachusetts residents should ring in 2020 by taking steps to make sure they are properly insured and protected, the groups said in a news brief issued Dec. 24, 2019. Continue reading

January 25, 2020

Rock-and-Roll Singer Meat Loaf Sues Hyatt for Fall Injuries

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

The rock-and-roll singer Meat Loaf says hotel chain Hyatt Corp. is to blame for a fall off a raised stage at a horror convention that has left him unable to perform.

Meat Loaf, whose real name is Michael Lee Aday, claims in a lawsuit filed Jan. 13, 2020, in a Texas state court that Hyatt hung curtains from the back of the stage that hid where the stage ended and created a hazard.

Even though the lawsuit was filed in a Texas court, the case is typical of a premises liability lawsuit.

Premises liability is the term used to describe a personal injury case in which the injury was caused by an unsafe condition on someone’s property. Individuals and companies that own and rent property have a duty to maintain the property in a reasonably safe condition. Continue reading

January 24, 2020

Marijuana Use Impairs Driving Even After the High Is Gone

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

A new study from a Harvard Medical School hospital has found that recreational cannabis use impacts an individual’s driving ability, even when the individual is not high from marijuana.

The dangerous behaviors of non-intoxicated drivers documented in the study included drivers exceeding the speed limit, blowing through red lights and crossing the centerline of roads. These are driving behaviors that can cause serious and even deadly car accidents.

In addition to linking chronic, heavy, recreational cannabis use to poorer driving performance in non-intoxicated individuals, the study also found that individuals who started using marijuana at age 16 or earlier exhibited greater impairment.

A specially designed driving simulation was used to obtain the data. Continue reading

January 8, 2020

Hockey Player Can’t Sue Other Players for Injuries, Massachusetts Appeals Court Rules

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Injuries in sports are common, especially in contact sports such as football, rugby or ice hockey. But when can a player sue another player for a personal injury sustained during the course of a game?

On Dec. 2, 2019, a three-judge panel of the Massachusetts Court of Appeals ruled in a split decision that Daniel Borella, who was 17 when he was checked by another player and cut on the wrist by the player’s hockey blades, cannot sue the player, coaches, referees or rink owners and managers for his injuries.

The majority explained that checking is “a fundamental aspect of the way the game is played” and does not rise to the level of “reckless” misconduct required to trigger liability. Continue reading

July 22, 2019

Boston Uber Crash Considerations for Bicyclists, Pedestrians and Passengers

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

If you are injured in an Uber or by an Uber – or a crash involving any other rideshare service in Boston – you may be entitled to substantial compensation for your injuries.

Among the considerations a Boston personal injury attorney will make following an Uber crash:

Uber considers its drivers to be independent contractors, not employees, which allows a degree of distance between the company and a negligent driver, where otherwise vicarious liability/doctrine of respondeat superior would make rideshare companies automatically responsible to pay. All drivers are required to carry their own auto insurance, but if third-party liability doesn’t apply, Uber offers up to $100,000 in bodily injury coverage per accident ($50,000 per person) while drivers are active on the app and up to $1 million while they are en route to pick up a fare or are actively carrying a fare.
Uber, like Lyft and other providers, insist they are not “taxi” or “livery” services, but rather technology platforms. In addition to not employing drivers, they don’t own any vehicles either.
Pedestrians and bicyclists injured in a crash with an Uber driver may be entitled to third-party liability coverage too.

In practice, however, this coverage isn’t so straightforward as it might seem. Take, for instance, a case reported on recently by WCVB ABC-5 in Boston. A man in Framingham is reportedly being sued for a 2015 Massachusetts Uber accident in which he, Uber’s passenger, reportedly doored a bicyclist. Uber insists it won’t defend him (and further won’t pay the bicyclist injured).

The news station reportedly discovered that many of the insurance protections the company purports to carry for drivers and passengers, as well as injured bicyclists and pedestrians, may not be as readily available as one might be led to believe. Continue reading

June 25, 2019

Massachusetts Property Injuries: Premises Liability and Sovereign Immunity

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

An Attleboro man was seriously injured after a swing collapsed last week at a popular outdoor bar.

The man suffered a head injury after being hit by a falling pole at Lawn on D, a popular bar at the Convention Center. WHDH reported two women were on the swing at the time. The man was sitting next to the swing while visiting the bar after marching in the Pride Parade. He suffered a concussion and a serious head wound that required emergency medical care.

The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, which operates the bar, told media the incident was the result of a mechanical failure. The Authority said new safety features had been put in place and that the swing was inspected every week.

May 14, 2019

Dog-Bite Injury Liability in Boston

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

The fatal mauling of a 14-year-old Dighton boy has dog-bite safety in focus as spring gets underway in New England.

The boy, who was a freshman at Bristol-Plymouth Technical School, was mauled by four dogs while helping a dog owner who had traveled to Boston, the Herald reported. He had been dropped off by his grandmother to do chores on the property. A neighbor called 911 to report a pack of dogs attacking a human.

Responding officers found the boy on the ground of the property located off Maple Swamp Road. The dogs were Dutch shepherds and Belgian malinois. Dighton is just outside Providence, Rhode Island, about 45 minutes south of Boston. The USA Today reported there are indications that the property owner may be a professional dog breeder.

While it’s not often discussed, or often thought about, Our Boston dog bite attorneys know dog bites are a common occurrence. Dog owners have a legal responsibility to prevent their animals from injuring an innocent party. Spring is a particularly dangerous time as dog owners return to the streets and parks with their animals.

April 25, 2019

Massachusetts Birth Injuries on the Rise

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

The health care industry is coming under increasing fire for the high number of birth injuries that occur each year in the United States.

Physicians with specialities in obstetrics or pediatrics account for nearly half of all medical malpractice claims. Specialists in orthopedics, emergency medicine and family medicine are also among the most common defendants in birth injury claims.

Victims are most commonly neonate (less than 1 month old), although claims are fairly evenly split among neonates, infants in their first year, adolescents and teenagers. Contrary to popular belief, the hospital is not the most common site of alleged malpractice, except for neonate claims, 60 percent of which involved labor or delivery. Otherwise, the most common treatment location in cases where malpractice is alleged is a physician’s office or clinic.

Our Boston birth injury attorney reported last year on the high risk of maternal death during childbirth in the United States. An investigation by the USA Today Network found more than 50,000 mothers are injured and more than 700 die while giving birth in the United States each year.

March 22, 2019

Risks of Nursing Home Neglect and Abuse in Massachusetts

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

The Massachusetts Attorney General this week announced settlements with seven nursing homes over the deaths of five residents.

One nursing home operator has been banned from participating in state-run healthcare programs for a period of seven years, while others agreed to fines ranging from $30,000 to $200,000 and will undergo retraining of staff. But the settlement falls short of criminal prosecution, which safety advocates contend needs to occur to hold large for-profit nursing home operators accountable for the health and safety of residents.

The Worcester Telegram reported more nursing home closures are expected across Massachusetts. Currently more than 400 Massachusetts nursing homes operate 45,000 beds. About 20 Massachusetts nursing homes closed last year.

The aging Baby Boomer population, consolidation of the industry into a few large for-profit nursing home operators, and a lax regulatory and oversight environment have created a perfect storm in the American nursing home industry. As our nursing home abuse attorneys in Massachusetts reported last year, instance of nursing home mistreatment or neglect can be even more likely at these for-profit facilities.

February 14, 2019

Hospital Mergers, Bad Doctors, Endanger Massachusetts Patients

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Hospital mergers are in the news again, the latest warning sign when it comes to the risk of patient injury or death in the U.S. healthcare system.

The nation’s largest hospital and health-care conglomerates often tout economies of scale and improved services when announcing acquisitions or otherwise swallowing up the competition. However, The New York Times became the latest media outlet to question those assertions when it published a report this month that found a decline in level of care associated with hospital mergers.

While such mergers may offer cost-savings and other economies for providers, they result in fewer choices for patients and physicians, higher prices, and reduced quality of care, including an increase in mortality and major health setbacks as competition falls.

Our medical malpractice lawyers in Boston continue to fight for patient rights as the profit-motive erodes what few safeguards exist when it comes to protecting the American healthcare consumer from bad doctors, dangerous hospitals, deadly pharmaceuticals and defective medical products.