Premises Liability

May 20, 2013

3 Serious Dog Attacks in Bridgewater, MA, But No Help from Animal Control

The town of Bridgewater, MA is facing a serious issue following the resignation of the town’s animal control officer and three serious dog attacks since mid-February.

Police say they are without backup when it comes to animal-related emergency calls since Eric Badger, Bridgewater’s Health Agent and part-time animal control officer, resigned from his positions back in February of this year.

“Right now, there’s nowhere to turn,” Police Lieutenant Tom Schlatz said. Without an Animal Control officer in town, “there’s a certain follow-up that’s not being done.”

According to the town’s officials, Bridgewater police has responded to three separate dog attacks over the last six weeks.

On April 9, a woman was attacked while walking her own dog when a 4-year old boxer, lunged at the woman’s dog. The boxer bit the woman in the leg, leaving puncture wounds on her calf. One week after that incident, on April 16, an 11-year old was bitten by a dog at a residence and taken to the hospital for injuries on her arms and wrists. On May 12, a Shaw Road resident called police after his 6-year old daughter was bitten by an American bull dog while playing with her friends.

In all three cases, police stated that they left messages with Badger, who later said he would not respond to the messages because he had already resigned from his post as animal control officer. Badger said that the animal control officer would step in in these incidents only if the dogs had not been vaccinated. All three of the dogs in these cases had been vaccinated, and will remain in their homes.

Badger, who received only a $100 stipend each week for responding to animal-related calls on an on-call basis, said he didn’t have a real budget to work with. He stated that he did not even have a crate to keep animals quarantined and in one instance, had to call upon the help of a neighboring town’s animal control unit for assistance.
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May 15, 2013

Supreme Judicial Court Orders new Massachusetts Premises Liability Trial in Framingham Injury Lawsuit by Man Paralyzed with SCI from Trampoline Jump Into Wading Pool

by Altman & Altman

Massachusett’s highest court is mandating that there be a new trial in the Framingham premises liability lawsuit filed by Cleber Dos Santos against two property owners. Dos Santos became paralyzed from the chest down after he flipped off a trampoline into an inflatable wading pool in 2005. The defendants, Jose Coleta and Maria Coleta, are his in-laws.

At the time, the plaintiff was a 29-year-old construction worker. He contends that Jose placed the trampoline next to the pool. After accumulating hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical expenses, Dos Santos, his wife, and son (the latter two witnessed the incident) would go on to sue the Coletas for Framingham, MA personal injury.

In 2008, a Middlesex Superior Court jury ruled for the defendants. Dos Santos then appealed, but the Appeals Court upheld the jury’s decision, which took into consideration that landowners are not responsible for making warnings in circumstances where the peril is obvious to anyone with reasonable perception and average intelligence.

April 30, 2013

Owner Cited in Aftermath of Fatal Allston, MA Fire

by Altman & Altman

The property owner of a two-and-a-half story Allston apartment has been cited after a deadly fire this weekend.

Anna Belokurova, the owner of the residence at 87 Linden Street, was cited for illegal occupancy in the basement and overcrowding of the house. According to officials, 18 people had been living in the home at the time of the fire. The house had also not been inspected since 1992.

The fire, which is still under investigation, broke out around 6:30 on Sunday morning, and claimed the life of Boston University student, Binland Lee.

Three residents were rescued by firefighters using ladders, while one resident jumped from an upper story to escape the fire Deputy Chief Stephen Dunbar said. According Dunbar, firefighters had tried to reach Lee who was in the attic at the time, but were unable to reach her.

Six firefighters and nine of the building’s occupants sustained non-life threatening injuries during the fire.
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April 29, 2013

Boston Playground Accidents Can Cause Serious Massachusetts Child Injuries

by Altman & Altman

Every year, over 200,000 kids are injured in playground accidents in the United States. Sometimes, the injuries are a result of what can sometimes happen when children are busy running around and playing with each other. In other instances, a Boston playground accident could have been avoided were it not for the negligence of others.

Common causes of Massachusetts playground accidents that might be grounds for a Boston injury lawsuit:

Inadequate supervision: adults should properly supervise Kids in playgrounds. When failure to supervise, such as at a school or an event at the playground, allows for injuries to happen, the person or entity tasked with providing the supervision can be held liable. Inadequate supervision also can up the risk of child abductions and sex abuse happening.

April 27, 2013

With Older Adults More Prone to Massachusetts Fall Accidents, Boston Nursing Homes Should Exercise the Needed Care to Protect Patients

by Altman & Altman

According to the CDC, every year, out of every three adults in the 65 and older age group, one of them will be involved in a fall accident-and less than 50% of those that fell will tell their healthcare provider. Considering that fall accidents are the leading cause of injury deaths among seniors who belong to the 65 and older age group, these figures are very disturbing.

At Altman & Altman, LLP, our Boston nursing home neglect and abuse lawyers represent families whose loved ones suffered serious injuries, health complications, or died in a Massachusetts fall accident at a long-term care facility. Nursing home providers know that fall accidents are common for the major demographic that they treat and it is their job to exercise the necessary preventive measures so that residents don’t become a fall accident danger to themselves, such as:

• Removing any spilt liquids, fluids, or foods from the floor • Installing handrails in hallways and in shower stalls • Providing nursing assistance to patients that cannot walk or move properly without help • Installing bed rails • Following proper procedures when using a lift to raise, lower, or transfer a patient from a bed to another bed, wheelchair, gurney, or surgical table • Properly training and educating staff about Massachusetts nursing home falls.

April 26, 2013

Boston Slip and Fall Cases Give Victims A Chance at Financial Recovery

by Altman & Altman

A Massachusetts slip accident on a banana peel, a wet floor, or an icy patch on the sidewalk that causes a fall accident might not seem like a big deal in theory, but, in truth, it can cause serious injuries to the person involved. Back injuries, broken hips, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, and even death all have been known to happen in Boston slip and fall accidents, and unless you get legal help, you may find yourself in a deep financial hole with seeming no way out even as you cope with all the other painful ramifications of being involved in this type of incident.

At Altman & Altman, LLP, our Boston premises liability lawyers have more than half a century’s experience assisting Massachusetts slip and fall accident victims get the financial compensation that they are owed. We also have Masachusetts workers’ compensation attorneys that can help employees make sure that they receive all the work injury benefits they are entitled to for their slip/step/stump/trip and fall accident that occurred on the job.

Slip and fall claims are usually based on incidents that occurred on someone else’s property. The premise may be a private one, like someone’s home, a public one, such as a city park or a sidewalk, or a property that is owned by and entity and frequented by members of the public, such as a stadium, a shopping mall, or a supermarket.

February 14, 2013

Five Sent to Hospital, One Dead in Separate Massachusetts Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Incidents

by Altman & Altman

In a Brockton, MA carbon monoxide poisoning incident, three adults and two kids were treated at a local hospital when they fell ill after trying to heat an apartment using a gas stove. In an unrelated Boston carbon monoxide poisoning accident, a 14-year-old boy died after he warmed himself up in a running car while his dad shoveled snow. Snow had fallen on the exhaust pipe, which kept the CO fumes from leaving the car.

Following the tragic Massachusetts CO poisoning death, Boston mayor Thomas Menino put out a warning about the dangers related to the large Northeast blizzard., which left behind up to three feet of snow over the weekend. Menino cautioned for people to make sure that the snow around exhaust pipes is wiped off before starting their engines. He also warned against using generators.

CO Poisoning

January 7, 2013

Holyoke, Winchendon, and Chelmsford, MA Fires Claim Lives

by Altman & Altman

A woman was killed in a Holyoke fire at her home on Saturday. Investigators believe that the blaze may have started close to a wood-burning stove. Firefighters that rushed to the scene were able to extricate another woman and her dog from the roof of the bungalow’s front porch. Following the fire, the whereabouts of two other dogs were in question.

Also on Saturday, an elderly couple was killed in a three-alarm Chelmsford blaze that caused a significant portion of a 24-unit condo complex to collapse. A seven-year-old boy who sustained third-degree burns is reportedly fighting to survive. The cause of this fire is also under investigation.

And in yet another fire, this one in Winchendon on Friday, a 70-year-old man died in a two-alarm blaze that destroyed his residence. Icy conditions and strong winds impeded firefighter efforts.

December 30, 2012

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

by Altman & Altman

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 26, 2012

$6.7M Massachusetts Wrongful Death Award Over Northeastern University’s 2007 Boston Fall Accident in Bar Goes to State’s Supreme Judicial Court

by Altman & Altman

On January 7, oral arguments are scheduled to begin in the appeal of Our House East bar and its owners over a $6.7M Boston stairwell accident death award granted to the family of Northeastern University student Jacob Freeman. The 21-year-old died in 2007 two days after he fell down the stairs leading to the basement of the popular pub and restaurant and sustained a serious head injury. The case is before Massachusetts’s Supreme Judicial Court.

Although the jury found the defendants not liable in Freeman’s fatal Boston fall accident, Judge Elizabeth Fahey ordered the bar and its owners to pay $6.7M in damages. She said that the pub’s failure to get the necessary permit for the stairs was a violation of Massachusett’s consumer protection laws and that there had been a lack of compliance with state building code.

The defendants, however, are appealing the award. They contend that seeing as jury did not find them liable for Freeman’s fatal fall, Fahey’s decision to impose damages was a mistake. They also maintain that customers were not allowed on the stairs. Meantime, the Massachusetts premises liability lawyers of Freeman’s family remain adamant that the judge’s decision to issue the award was a well-thought-out ruling.