Case Summaries
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Slip and Fall Cases We have represented many clients who have been injured as a result of dangerous activities or conditions in commercial or residential buildings. The following is a small sample of cases. Our client, a fifty-four year old man, was walking into a mall from his car, when he fell on the sidewalk, injuring his shoulder. Investigation revealed that the mall management had installed an anchor for a sign post, but had not attached the sign, leaving the anchor as a tripping hazard in a public space. The mall owner argued that our client should have seen the anchor protruding from the sidewalk. As a result of his injury, our client required surgery and lost time from work. A lawsuit was brought against the owner of the mall. A fair settlement was negotiated on the client's behalf, which compensated him for his lost income, medical bills, and pain and suffering. In another case, our client, a grandmother of six who lived in an apartment building in Lawrence with her husband and her special needs daughter was taking out the trash, when she tripped at the back door, fell down the stairs, and fractured both legs. The stairs had been in a dangerous condition, and the landlord had been ordered by the city to make repairs, because there was a small lip on the top step, caused by the sinking floor, which caused a tripping hazard. However, the landlord had ignored the city's orders and the tenant's complaints. The client required surgery on one of her legs, and was confined to her bed for several months. During this time, she suffered extreme hardship, because of her inability to take care of her daughter, and also her husband, who had previously lost a leg to diabetes. A lawsuit was filed against the landlord. A successful settlement was achieved at mediation. The money settlement provided the client with the ability to take care of her daughter and husband, and to move to a better house. We represented a young mother of five who was shopping at a grocery store on the North Shore and attempted to open the freezer case to buy some ice cream, when a number of heavy jars filled with Smuckers Hot Fudge fell and hit her. The store manager had allowed the jars to be stacked loose on top of the case, without any sort of wrapping to secure them. In practice, stores usually keep jars in the cardboard boxes under these circumstances. As a result of the store's violation of that practice, our client suffered severe bruising on her back, and an injury to her low back resulting from her twisting in an attempt to avoid being hit by the jars. The grocery store denied it was at fault, and we filed a lawsuit on the client's behalf. The case was assigned for trial in Salem District Court, and was settled through the court conciliation program. We represented a young man who was injured while leaving Fenway Park after a baseball game, by a runaway beer cart, which was loaded with ice, and which rolled down the stairs when it was left unattended by the vendor. Our client, who was a firefighter by profession, jumped in front of the cart to prevent it from hitting a woman, and was knocked down and injured. We successfully negotiated a fair settlement on the client's behalf of a claim against the beer vendor. Over the past twenty-four years, we have represented many people who have been injured a result of using defective consumer products. Following are some examples: A two-year old boy was severely burned when he pulled on the power cord of an electric fry pot which his mother was using to make french-fries. The pot was filled with hot oil, which spilled onto the boy's head, face and shoulders. He spent many months in the burn unit of a major hospital, where he came close to death. He suffered extensive, permanent scarring. The evidence showed that the manufacturer of the fry pot had failed to anticipate this type of "pull-over" accident, despite the fact that there have been many such accidents over the years causing serious injury and death, primarily to young children. Significantly, the evidence showed that for less than a dollar per unit the manufacturer could have installed a "breakaway" cord that would separate from the fry pot when pulled, and would have prevented the accident, but that the manufacturer had simply not bothered to consider this option. A substantial settlement that was reached during the Superior Court trial was structured into annuity payouts that will provide funds for the boy's education, take care of his future surgeries, and provide income at various points throughout his lifetime. We represented several nurses at a local hospital, who were injured when laboratory stools collapsed when they sat down on them. One nurse suffered a fractured wrist, and the other suffered a back injury. The stools were of a common design, with a screw-threaded shaft to allow height adjustment, but investigation revealed that the manufacturer of the stools had not installed a "stop" on the bottom of the shaft. As a result, a person raising the level of the stool could not anticipate that at a certain height the shaft would detach from the base, and the stool would fall over. This occurred on several occasions, resulting in serious. However, the manufacturer denied that it was responsible for any defect in the design or manufacture of the stools. Eventually, all of the stools, several hundred in number, were recalled by the manufacturer, and a stop was welded in place at the bottom of each shaft. The claims for personal injury were brought to court and resolved successfully on behalf of each of our clients. Our client, a seventy-year old man, went to the hospital for a knee replacement. The surgery went well, but unfortunately the client developed extreme pain in his knee in the months after the operation. A series of tests revealed that the prosthetic knee device, made of titanium with plastic lining, was defective. The plastic lining in the socket of joint had come loose, causing the joint to bind. Replacement surgery was necessary. On examination it was determined by our consulting engineer that the design of the prosthetic knee was inadequate, because the plastic lining had not been sufficiently attached to the interior of the joint. As a result of this foreseeable defect, our client suffered extreme pain and disability until the replacement surgery was done, and he had to undergo an addition, unnecessary surgery. We were successful at obtaining monetary compensation for these elements of his losses. Construction and Worksite Accidents Our office has extensive experience in both prosecuting and defending cases arising out of accidents at construction sites. We have represented many injured workers over the years, many of whom were seriously hurt on construction projects. The following is a small sampling: Our client, a young man who worked as a mason's helper, was involved in the construction of a drug store which was part of a major national chain. The construction management company was responsible for planning the phases of construction, and instructed the masons and their helpers to lay concrete block for the walls of the store. The back wall of the store was completed, with rows of concrete block laid ten blocks high, but the wall was not tied down to the foundation. The wall was finished on a very windy day, and just as the masons were finishing work for that day a gust of wind blew the wall over on our client, a block striking his head and causing a traumatic brain injury. Although the client made a good medical recovery, he was left with a permanent disability which was caused by his brain injury and which prevented him from earning a living. A lawsuit was brought against the management company, and a settlement was agreed upon, providing the client with up-front cash and a structured annuity pay-out to pay him yearly amounts for living expenses. We represented a construction carpenter who fell from over fifteen feet when his ladder tipped while he was working on the construction of a hotel. The client fell between unguarded rebar, and narrowly escaped being impaled, but he severely fractured his wrist when he hit the ground. There was evidence that the general contractor had not left the ground in hard-packed condition after the utility lines had been buried, and that as a result the feet of the ladder did not have a stable surface. We assisted the client in a successful claim for worker's compensation benefits, although the insurance company argued that he was able to work minimum-wage capacity. A lawsuit was also brought against the general contactor, and that company argued that the client and his own employer, the carpentry subcontractor, were responsible for the accident. The case was settled at mediation. We represented a young man who was working in a textile factory when a large roll of fabric fell from a pallet while it was being hoisted, and the client's hand was caught in the lines of the hoist. He suffered an injury to his thumb which included nerve damage. We obtained evidence that the factory was routinely using pallets that were broken. We brought a lawsuit against the factory, and successfully obtained compensation for the client which allowed him the financial means to go into non-physical work and to increase his income level. We have also defended construction companies in lawsuits brought by individuals in a wide variety of circumstances. For example, we successfully defended a company which manufactures building materials, in a claim brought by a forklift operator who was injured while he was unloading our client's products from a truck. Our experience on both sides of the issues is brought to the benefit of our new clients. Over the years, we have obtained favorable results for hundreds of individuals injured in motor vehicle accidents. The following is a small representative description of a few of the cases. Our clients, a couple in their seventies, were driving on the highway on their way home from a family party, when an orange construction barrel became struck underneath their car. They pulled over to the shoulder and exited the car. The husband reached under the car to pull out the barrel, when suddenly a tractor-trailer truck sped toward them on the shoulder. The truck driver later claimed that he was forced onto the shoulder by a car, but there was evidence that he was illegally passing another vehicle. Instinctively, the husband turned and ran down the embankment, while the wife froze in fear. The truck turned down the embankment and ran over the husband in front of the wife's eyes. We brought a lawsuit against the trucking company and the truck driver, to recover for the death of the husband and for the severe emotional injuries suffered by the wife as a result of witnessing her husband's violent death. A settlement was reached with the trucking company, and the case went to court against the company's insurance agent which had failed to obtain sufficient insurance coverage for the trucking company. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the insurance agent could be liable for damages to the wife for failure to obtain sufficient coverage even though she had settled her case against the trucking company. While driving from a job site, our client, a self-employed landscaper, was hit head-on when an elderly woman drove her car across his travel lane, apparently trying to enter the driveway of her apartment complex. Our client suffered a compound fracture of his foot, and when he got out of his car a bone was protruding through the skin. He was airlifted to the hospital, where he underwent several operations. His leg was immobilized in an external frame for months after the accident. Because he ran his own business, which required him to work on his feet for many hours of the day, his income dropped, and his family suffered from extreme financial hardship. A lawsuit was filed, and we were successful in negotiating a resolution which helped the client and his family get through their difficult times, paying off debt which had accumulated during the client's period of disability, and getting his business activities back on track. Over the years, we have successfully helped a great many clients who have suffered losses because of car accidents, including, for example, the following:
We have also defended many companies and individuals who have been sued as a result of car accidents. Our experience on both sides of these kinds of cases gives us an advantage over firms that only represent one side in a case. |
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