Boston Personal Injury Attorney Blog

July 31, 2016

Bernardoni v. City of Saginaw – Sidewalk Trip-and-Fall

Proving negligence in a sidewalk slip-and-fall case can be challenging due to a myriad of factors.

The first reason is that, more often than not, you’re dealing with a public entity, with all of the legal hurdles that entails (i.e., sovereign immunity, etc.).The second reason is that you have to prove the defendant had actual or constructive knowledge of the defect. That means the defendant was either informed of the actual flaw or that the defect existed for such a length of time the defendant, in using reasonable care, should have learned about it.

Although we don’t tend to think of trip-and-fall negligence cases as requiring an expert witness as we would for, say, a medical malpractice lawsuit, it’s something that may need to be considered. Continue reading

July 28, 2016

Nursing Home Staffers Condemn Budget Cuts

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Representing thousands of Massachusetts nursing home workers, members of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East penned a letter to state lawmakers recently, urging them to fight back on Gov. Charlie Baker’s recent veto, which will cut millions in nursing home staffer salaries and benefits.

Those cuts – some $17.2 million in all, according to the Boston Globe, are mostly going to affect low-wage workers. Originally, the state Legislature had approved $35.5 million for these workers. But then Baker, citing a substantial financial setback caused by major tax revenue declines, prompted him to cut the allocated boost in half.

The union argued that not only was the pay raise not reliant on state revenue (instead leaning on nursing home user fees), but this kind of move might ultimately jeopardize nursing home patient safety. Continue reading

July 26, 2016

WWE Brain Injury Lawsuit Seeks to Overcome Contact Sports Exception

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

There has been an increasing amount of awareness raised about the dangerous effects of repeat head injuries, suffered by athletes. It’s extremely common in what are known as “contact sports,” or those sports in which the body routinely comes in hard contact with other persons or objects.

The greater awareness about damage caused by concussions and repeat blows to the head has prompted a flurry of positive changes, including the introduction of guidelines for injury prevention, player treatment, coach training and better helmets.

Although sports teams, whether school-sponsored or professional, do owe a duty of care to players, it’s generally understood that this duty of care may be less to participants of contact sports, who understand the risk they are assuming in playing the sport. This is known as the “contact sports exception.” That means it may be tougher to prevail in a personal injury lawsuit in such instances. Continue reading

July 23, 2016

Eye Test as Means to Test for Concussion and Brain Injury

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Whenever someone receives an injury to the head, it is generally a good idea to determine whether the victim had suffered a concussion or other type to traumatic brain injury. In the old days, a person who was knocked unconscious was often shaken or administered smelling salts, and that would be all the care they received. Years of medical research has proven that this is not the safest practice.

These days, we often hear about head injury protocols being taken when someone suffers a head injury or impact. We often see if the person is oriented as to person, place, time, and date. This is known as being oriented times four to first responders and mental health professionals. It is in professional sports where we often hear that these protocols are being performed, and we have to wait see if the person suffered a concussion. Continue reading

July 21, 2016

Report: Plymouth Man Dies in Drowning Accident

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

According to a recent news feature from Boston.com, a man at Plymouth Beach died in a drowning accident while he was swimming at the beach. Authorities said he was swimming very early in the morning, as they received the initial 911 call just after 2 a.m.

After receiving the 911 call, first responders arrived on the scene and met the caller, who said they were not been able to locate their friend who went into the water. At this point, they began searching for the man and by 20 minutes after 3 a.m., first responders had located the drowning victim. When they finally found the man, he was lying prone in about eight feet of water. Continue reading

July 19, 2016

Young Girl Loses Arm and Leg in Boating Accident

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

With what seems like never ending stream of excessively hot days this summer, there is no question that a lot of people will be hitting the water after work and on the weekends. For some this will be rowing or sailing on the Charles River. For others it will be taking a boat out on the Bay or on the North or South Shores in the Greater Boston area. While hitting the water can be a lot of fun, it can also result in significant personal injury or death, and extra care must be to take to avoid a serious tragedy.

According to a recent news feature from Action News, an 8-year-old girl was seriously injured in a boating accident that occurred while she and her father were tubing. For those that are unaware, tubing involves pulling an inner tube behind a fast moving boat with one or more riders in the tube depending on the size of the tube. Basically, it is like water skiing without a requirement to know how to balance or water ski. All that a rider has to do is hold on and have fun. However, this activity can also result in serious personal injury. Continue reading

July 16, 2016

IKEA recalls 29 Million Dressers After Child Injuries, Deaths

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

In the largest furniture recall in American history, Swedish company IKEA has recalled more than 29 million chests and drawers following the third child death and dozens of child injuries in three years.

Based on data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), not only is this furniture recall the largest that has ever been issued, the second-largest furniture recall wasn’t even close. In that case, 10 million beanbag chairs sold by nine separate companies between 1971 and 1995. In that case, at least five children had died after reportedly unzipping those beanbag chairs and swallowing the small pellets inside, choking to death. Then there was the recall of some 2.1 million folding child folding chairs after the locks kept failing and little fingers were getting pinched in the hinges.

This recall was three times bigger than the beanbag recall. Part of the problem is the way Ikea furniture is designed. It’s lightweight and has low stability ratings. These dressers have reportedly killed at least six children since 1989, beginning with a 20-month-old girl who was killed when an un-anchored, four-drawer dresser tipped over and pinned her against the floor. The cases just kept adding up from there. Continue reading

July 14, 2016

$53M Verdict to Birth Injury Victim, Mother, for Medical Malpractice

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

When a soon-to-be mother went to the hospital at 2 a.m., her pregnancy full-term, she knew something wasn’t right. Her baby boy wasn’t moving as he had in the days and hours before. But when she got there, student resident doctors at The University of Chicago Medical Center didn’t take immediate action, even when a fetal heart monitor immediately showed distress. For 12 hours, no action was taken. For 12 hours, that child was slowly suffocating.

When doctors finally did initiate an emergency Cesarean section, the baby boy wasn’t breathing. He was revived and then rushed to the neonatal intensive care unit and placed on life support. There, he stayed for weeks. But the damage to his brain over the course of those hours was irreversible. He was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. He can’t walk. He can’t bathe himself. He can’t feed himself. He requires around-the-clock care, provided almost exclusively by his single mother.

Now, a jury in Cook County, Ill. has awarded $53 million to him and his mother, which will not only ensure his health care is covered for the next 65 years of his life, but will help to compensate the family for the pain and suffering they have endured and will endure for the rest of their lives. Some will look at a damage award of this size and characterize it as excessive. But one must consider that not only will his future medical bills top $30 million over the course of his life, but mother and son will never have a normal relationship. This boy will never have a normal life of his own. Continue reading

July 13, 2016

School District Pays $10.5M to Settle Student Injury in Chicken Suit Beating

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

The 17-year-old didn’t want to wear the chicken suit. It was hot. It was itchy. And he’d already gotten roughed up briefly by a couple of his fellow students before the pep rally.

The suit was rented just for the rally as a way to mock the other team’s mascot, an eagle. But he didn’t want to go through with it anymore and pleaded with the athletic director to let him off the hook. Instead, she threatened him with the $75 cost of the rental if he didn’t keep it on and head to the pep rally as intended, where he was slated to engage in a “mock fight” with the football team. He acquiesced. It didn’t go well.

When it was all over, he suffered a traumatic brain injury that he will likely grapple with the rest of his life. Now, the school district has agreed to pay $10.5 million to settle the case after jurors found the school district 100 percent liable for the former student’s injuries. The settlement offer was extended just days after the verdict was reached, but in advance of the damages portion of the trial. Continue reading

July 11, 2016

Escalator Injuries an Ongoing Threat to Children, Elderly

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Two years ago, the family of a 4-year-old boy killed in a 2011 escalator accident at the Auburn Mall Massachusetts reached a settlement with the escalator manufacturer and owner of the store where the escalator accident took place.

The child was fatally injured when a guardrail on the escalator pulled him through a gap between a plexiglass divider and the escalator and he fell 18 feet onto a display case below. He died at the hospital the next day of blunt force trauma to the head.

According to recent statistics published by the American Association for Justice, this case was indicative of so many escalator accidents that happen every year in that it:

Involved a young child;
Involved a fall.

The report indicated there are a growing number of escalator injuries in the U.S. every year, most involving children or the elderly, and a significant number involving not entrapment, but falls. Continue reading