Children's Injuries

December 30, 2012

First Sandy Hook Lawsuit Seeks $100M for 6-Year-Old Survivor

The personal injury attorney for a 6-year-old girl is asking to sue the state of Connecticut for the psychological and emotional injuries she sustained from the deadly shooting that killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The injuries to a minor case seeks $100 million in damages. Generally, permission by this state must be sought before a party can proceed with a civil lawsuit against it.

The plaintiff’s legal team is claiming that her injuries occurred because she was at the school during the shooting and from hearing the screaming, gunfire, and conversations that took place over the intercom as the tragedy unfolded. They believe that the Connecticut Department of Education, the State Board of Education, and the State Commissioner of Education neglected to protect the girl from “foreseeable” harm when it failed to provide her with a safe school setting and had not mandated that the Newton Board of Education and Sandy Hook school have an emergency response plan in place.

The Sandy Hook shooting is considered one of the deadliest mass shootings in our nation’s history. It happened on December 14 when Adam Lanza, 20, went to the school and shot at six adults and 20 kids, ages 6 and 7. He then proceeded to shoot himself. Prior to coming to the school he also killed his mother.

December 27, 2012

Four Major Retailers Recall Over 15,000 Nap Nanny Baby Products Following More Baby Deaths and CPSC Lawsuit

by Altman & Altman

Four large retailers are conducting their own recall 150,000 Nap Nanny baby recliners following. The manufacturer, Baby Matters, LLC is not involved in this latest recall. The sellers include Amazon.com, Diapers.com, Babies R Us/Toys R Us, and Buy Buy Baby.

The move comes just weeks after the CPSC sued Baby matters via an administrative complaint after five infant fatalities involving the Nap Nanny product. In Massachusetts, please contact our Boston child products liability law firm if your son or daughter was injured or killed because of a consumer item.

This latest recall involves the Chill model, the Nap Nanny Generation One, and Nap Nanny Generation Two. It comes two years after the CPSC and Baby Matters jointly recalled about 30,000 Nap Nanny products in 2010. During that recall, available reports had noted one baby death and 22 incidents involving kids falling out of or hanging from a Nap Nanny’s side despite using a harness. Since then, and even after improved instructions and warnings were added, there have been at least four other infant fatalities and another 70 incidents.

December 14, 2012

Sandy Hook Elementary School Massacre Leaves At Least 27 Dead

by Altman & Altman

A tragic shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut has claimed the lives of at least 20 kids between the ages of 5 and 10, and seven adults, including shooter Adam Lanza, 20. One other victim was hurt. According to the media, Lanza shot at his victims in two rooms before firing on himself. He had multiple fire arms with him.

Lanza’s mother is among the deceased. Her body was found at the home she shared with him. At Altman & Altman, LLP the thoughts of our Boston injury lawyers are with the with the victims, their families, and the rest of the community there at this time during what is being called the second deadliest school shootings in our nation’s history. The campus shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007 had 32 fatalities. 15 were killed, including the two shooters, at the The Columbine High School shooting.

Massachusetts School Accidents and Crimes

November 17, 2012

Family of Teen Who Fell from US Airways Jet in a Boston Suburb Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against US Airways

by Altman & Altman

Two years after Delvonte Tisdale fell out of a flying Boeing 737 and landed in a Boston suburb, his family is suing US Airways, Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, and the city of Charlotte, NC for his wrongful death. The tragic accident involving the 16-year-old in November 2010 made national headlines after Tisdale stowed onto the plane.

The teen had run away from home and was able to get onto the airport tarmac and then later into the wheel well of the jet, which was destined for Boston, undetected. Following Tisdale’s death, a security review determined that the airport’s police force was not adequate enough to provide proper monitoring of the property. Since then, certain security recommendations have been implemented there.

The wheel well of a plane is not pressurized and there is usually not enough oxygen there. Temperatures can become very cold, even going down to way under 0 degrees. A shattered plastic card was found on Tisdale’s body. The condition of the card likely was a result of freezing temperatures in the wheel well during the flight.

October 31, 2012

Buckyballs Toy Magnets Discontinued in the Wake of CPSC Lawsuit and ‘Dangerous to Children’ Allegations

by Altman & Altman

Maxfield and Oberton, the manufacturer of Buckycubes and Buckyballs, says that it is discontinuing the popular magnet desk toy. The decision to stop selling this product comes in the wake of pressure from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which filed a lawsuit contending that the product is a danger to children.

The magnetic pieces are easy to separate from each other and small enough to easily swallow. The pieces can be hard to find once separated from the toy’s larger whole. Blood poisoning and fatalities can also result. Unfortunately, there continue to be other products in the marketplace that include small magnet pieces that pose the same problem as Buckyballs and Buckycubes. If your son or daughter sustained injuries from swallowing a small magnet, you may have grounds for filing a Boston child injury lawsuit.

Already a number of kids have ingested Buckyball magnets in the past few years, with some of them having to undergo extensive hospital stays and multiple surgeries. The magnets are so powerful that if a child were swallow more than one, they can be drawn toward each other in the body, potentially creating holes in the intestine. Doctors have compared a magnet-related ingestion injury injury to a “gunshot wound to the gut,” said Dr. Mark Gilger who is quoted on CNN. Even older kids have ended up swallowing Buckyball magnets, as some of them have pretended that the small pieces were fake tongue piercings.

October 30, 2012

Teens Currently The Most At Risk for Massachusetts Child Pedestrian Injuries

by Altman & Altman

According to “Walking Safely, A Report to the Nation,” teenagers are now the most at risk group for becoming involved in a pedestrian accident. The study, from FedEx and Safe Kids Worldwide, looks at the trends in US child pedestrian fatalities and injuries over the last 15 years.

Per the report, while child pedestrian safety has improved overall-child pedestrian deaths have declined 53% and injuries by 44% since 1995-over 61 kids are still injured seriously enough in pedestrian accidents daily to warrant medical help. More than 500 child pedestrian deaths continue to happen each year. Also, while in 1995, the kids belonging to the the ages 5-9 group were the ones most likely to sustain pedestrian injuries, in 2012, it is teenagers, with the fatality rate among older teen pedestrians now double that of their younger counterparts. However, kids of all age continue to be at risk of serious injuries and death in a pedestrian accident. In Massachusetts, contact the Boston injury law firm of Altman & Altman, LLP today if your child was injured in any type of Massachusetts traffic crash.

Teen Pedestrian Accidents

October 29, 2012

Massachusetts Head Injuries Sustained by Almost 3,000 Students Involved in School Sports Last Year

by Altman & Altman

According to a recent survey, almost 3,000 students sustained some type of Massachusetts head injury while playing sports last year. 164 schools participated in providing such information. About 525 Massachusetts schools did not make the reporting deadline for the survey.

The survey comes following a new state law regarding statewide standards to prevent head injuries that public high and middle schools and schools that have to adhere to Massachusetts Interscholastic Athlete Association rules must now follow. The law also requires training on the issue and provides rules about when players can go back to the field. Marching band, cheerleading, and ultimate Frisbee are also covered under the new law.

In the last few years, there has been growing concern about the head injuries sustained not just by professional athletes, but also by college players and student athletes during sports. Numerous former-NFL football players have even filed brain injury lawsuits against the National Football Legal and helmet maker Riddell. Per the plaintiffs, the league knew that concussions and other head injuries that are sustained while playing sports could later result in permanent brain damage but failed to warn about such serious ramifications, while the sporting gear manufacturer is accused of making products that didn’t provide sufficient protection.

October 2, 2012

Boston Personal Injury Claims in Red Sox Sex Abuse Cases Reach $100M

by Altman & Altman

Another plaintiff has stepped forward claiming that he too was sexually abused by the Donald J. Fitzpatrick, the ex-clubhouse manager for the Boston Red Sox. The plaintiff, Gerald Armstrong, is a former Kansas City clubhouse attendant. He is just one of numerous men suing the baseball team for Massachusetts injury damages related to the molestation they allegedly suffered at the hands of Fitzpatrick beginning the late 1960’s through 1991.

According to the Boston Globe, the numerous Boston sex abuse lawsuits are collectively seeking $100M. Fitzpatrick left his job with the team in 1991 after a boy exhibited a sign before a game accusing the clubhouse manager of sexually assaulting him. He passed away in 2005 while serving a suspended sentence for numerous counts of attempted sexual battery against a number of young boys in Florida (Investigators in this case said there were several other alleged victims but criminal charges could not be pursued due to the statute of limitations. However, a number of the victims went on to sue and settle for civil damages.)

Many of Fitzpatrick’s alleged victims claim that he abused them at Fenway Park. Others said that he victimized them in his Randolph condo, his vehicle, or while traveling with the team. For some, the statute of limitations for filing a civil claim has already passed. However, that doesn’t mean that the Red Sox can’t be persuaded to settle.

September 20, 2012

Massachusetts Child Abuse?: More Allegations Accuse Lexington Public Schools of Harsh Disciplinary Tactics

by Altman & Altman

Another family is alleging Massachusetts child abuse involving the Lexington public schools. 17-year-old Robert Ernst, who is now a senior at Lexington high school, said that when he was a third grader at Estabrook, teachers and aides would physically restrain him. Ernst, who has Asperger’s, claims that teachers would hold his hands and keep him in a chair or on the floor. His mom is said to have received 19 reports of such restraint incidents occurring September 9 and October 15, 2003.

Earlier this month, The New York Times published an opinion piece from journalist Bill Lichtenstein, who recounted how his daughter, who attended a Lexington school when she was a kindergartener, was disciplined multiple times by being kept alone in a room. Although some of the details of his account have since come under dispute-including the condition that he and his then-wife found her and the location and type of room she was contained in-his claims have raised questions about the disciplinary methods employed by Lexington school staff. (Lichtenstein’s family would go on to sue the school system for Massachusetts injuries to a minor and settle their case. He says his daughter continues to be traumatized by what happened.)

Ernst is not the only person to come forward since Lichtenstein’s article was published. At a school committing meeting on September 11, Barbara Visovatti said her son too had been moved to a “quiet room” at least three times in 2008. She said this caused him emotional trauma and he began confining himself in their hall closet while lying in fetal position.

September 19, 2012

Teenager breaks neck in football game

by Altman & Altman

Last Friday on September 14, 2012, a Fitchburg teenager suffered a broken neck during a high school football game. Initially, nobody was aware of any kind of injury happening. During the first quarter of the Nashoba/Fitchburg football game, the teenager, while playing cornerback and wearing the number 30, took an unintended hit from a teammate while making a tackle. He then rose and walked to the sideline where he ultimately realized that something was wrong. The 17-year-old Fitchburg High senior was then taken to Umass Memorial Hospital where it was discovered that he had broken his C-1 vertebrae. Fortunately, he wouldn’t need surgery for the injury. But he would have to wear a halo for a time.

Through Twitter, the teenager confirmed his injury and thanked his classmates for the outpouring of love and support. Fitchburg’s high school coach, Dan Walker, was quoted as saying, “We are fortunate that [he] is going to be all right. He is a tough kid with a big heart. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.”

This was another story that hit me personally because I played high school football and endured a fair share of battle wounds, from strained tendons to broken bones. But personal injury and high school sports, specifically football, has become more of a hot button issue during the last ten years. Injuries happen in all fields of athletics but there have even been questions about whether some sports can survive America’s current discussion of the risks children undertake while playing sports, especially concussions.
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