Articles Posted in Wrongful Death

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According to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a $600,000 Massachusetts personal injury and wrongful death settlement has been reached between manufacturer Kahr Arms and the families of Danny Guzman and Armando Maisonet. Both men were shot by a 9mm handgun outside a nightclub on December 24, 1999. The weapon was stolen from the gun-maker’s factory and later was illegally sold to the assailant in exchange for drugs. Guzman died from his injuries. Maisonet injured his shoulder.

In the families’ Worcester, MA injury lawsuit, the plaintiffs accused the gun manufacturer of negligence, including inadequate security at its manufacturing plant, lack of sufficient inventory controls, and failure to screen employees for a criminal history or drug addiction. They claim that Kahr Arms hired Mark Cronin, who took the gun, even though he had a history of alcohol abuse and drug addiction. Their complaint also said that Cronin had said that guns that didn’t have their serial numbers on them yet were easy to remove from the factory.

He sold the gun to Robert Jachimczyk for cocaine, who in turn sold the gun to Edwin Novas for heroine. Novas is the man charged in the shooting. Cronin pleaded guilty to gun theft, while Novas has yet to be caught. Following the shooting, the Kahr Arms gun was found behind an apartment building close to where the shooting happened. A 4-year-old child discovered the loaded weapon.

Under the Massachusetts injury settlement, 70% will go to Guzman’s family, while 30% will go to Maisonet. The gun manufacturer had sought to have the lawsuit dismissed on the grounds that it should be shielded under the “Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.”

As the outcome of this Worcester wrongful death case shows, sometimes, liable parties are individuals and entities that may not have directly caused a Massachusetts injury or death but whose negligence contributed to it happening.

Gun-maker to pay Brady Center $600,000, UPI, July 26, 2011
Mass. gun-maker to pay $600K in gun-death lawsuit, ABC12, July 26, 2011 Continue reading

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The Massachusetts Port Authority is asking that it be dropped from the wrongful death case filed by Bavis family. Mark Bavis was on United Airlines Flight 175 when terrorists flew it into one of the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001.

In their wrongful death case, the Bavis family is claiming that the hijackers were to board the plane undetected negligent security because the screeners at Logan International Airport in Boston were poorly trained and unqualified. Massport has responded with its own filing and claims that it played no part in screening passengers and that it had no “causal connection” to the attacks. The agency says that even if better security could have prevented the planes from being hijacked, passenger screening is the job of the airlines and that they are the ones who subcontract the security companies.

Massport has been dismissed from other 9/11-related wrongful death lawsuits that have named it as a defendant and so far has not had to contribute to any of the settlements paid to families. Lawyers for the Bavis family, however, have continued to argue that the airport does play a part in screening and that Federal Aviation Regulations and United States Federal Aviation Administration had charged Massport with overall security at the Boston international airport.

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A jury has awarded a $2.6 million Worcester medical malpractice verdict to Jorge Rosado. Rosado underwent eight operations over a five-month period after a surgical tack ended up in his small bowel. The Massachusetts medical mistake occurred in connection with a laparoscopic hernia surgery on July 24, 2004 when Rosado was just 21.

Because of his injury, Rosado, who was a mechanic, ended up in the ICU and had to use a breathing tube. He also had to undergo an ileostomy and live with an open abdominal wound for over a month. Other complications as a result of the Worcester, Massachusetts surgical mistake, included severe stomach scarring, another bowel obstruction, a dangerous infection, and other life-threatening complications. Rosado is also reportedly at risk of more bowel obstructions from adhesions in the future. He had to miss work for several months.

The titanium surgical tack, which is used to seal off surgical wounds, was supposed to stay in the lining of his stomach. The defense noted that it is a known risk for the tack to come loose over time and that during a post-operative visit about 10 days after the original surgery, it was not in Rosado’s bowel yet. However, one medical expert said that the doctor who conducted the post-operative checkup should have checked to see where the tacks were embedded while making sure that none were located in the small bowel wall or near there. He also said that if the tack had been correctly sutured to the lining, it wouldn’t have been able to end up in the small bowel wall.

Having a foreign object in your body can be very dangerous-especially when its location impacts an important organ. Medical professionals need to make sure that they don’t leave any surgical tools inside patients when performing a procedure. They also need to ensure that anything purposely inserted inside a patient is done so correctly so that no health complications can result.

Some other examples of medical malpractice:
• Dental Malpractice • Anesthesia errors • Nursing negligence • Failure to obtain informed consent • Failure to provide a certain level of care • Poor post-operative care • Failure to monitor a patient’s vitals • Medication mistakes
$2.6M awarded in malpractice case, Telegram.com, June 16, 2011

Related Web Resources:
Medical Malpractice, Nolo
Medpage Today

More Blog Posts:
Boston Medical Malpractice?: Three Wrong-Site Surgeries Performed at Beth Israel, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, January 11, 2011
Couple Settle Boston Medical Malpractice Case Over Kidney Transplant for $1.25 Million, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, August 27, 2010
Massachusetts Hospitals Racked Up Over 300 Medical Mistakes, Including Fall Accidents, Medication Errors, and Surgical Malpractice In 2008, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, April 9, 2009 Continue reading

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A hearing over the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of United Airlines Flight 175 passenger Mark Bavis is scheduled for this week in federal court. The Bavis family’s complaint is the last unresolved wrongful death case over the 911 terrorist attacks.

Bavis was one of the passengers aboard the United flight when terrorists flew the plane into one of the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001. According to court documents that have just been released and were obtained by the Boston Herald, Bavis’ loved ones are claiming that the security screeners at the Boston international airport didn’t even know how to identify Mace and that some of them had such a hard time speaking English that they couldn’t do a proper job of screening passengers.

The plaintiffs want to know how 10 terrorists were able to get through Logan to hijack United 175 and American Airlines Flight 11 . Also, they are claiming that the general manager for the security company that was manning the gate was not aware that a federal alert had been put out warning that Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network were targeting US passenger jets.

The majority of the nearly 3,000 people who were killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks have either settled out of court through a congressional fund established for loved ones that has paid over $7 billion or with the resolution of their wrongful death complaints, which have resulted in about $500 million in settlement compensation.

The Bavis family have refused to settle their wrongful death case outside of court. They want to prove that United and other defendants were grossly negligent in letting the hijackers get on the plane. Boeing and the security company that ran the checkpoint at Logan International Airport on September 11, 2001 are two of the other defendants.

Massachusetts Premises Liability
If inadequate security or other acts of negligence caused you or a loved one to get hurt at an airport, you may have reason to file a Boston premises liability case. If you believe that someone working for or affiliated with the airport could have prevented an accident that took place in the air from happening, you may have grounds for a Boston injury case.

Suit: 9/11 Logan screeners ‘unaware’, Boston Herald, June 21, 2011
Among 9/11 Families, a Last Holdout Remains, New York Times, September 10, 2010
September 11 Victim’s Family Files Wrongful Death Suit, WCVB TV Boston, June 21, 2011

More Blog Posts:
Union Doesn’t Want Two Inspectors Linked to Auburn Escalator Accident Death Fired, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, June 13, 2011
Salem Premises Liability: 93-Year-Od-Woman Seeks Damages for Burn Injuries from Scalding Bathwater, Boston Injury Lawyer, May 25, 2011 Continue reading

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In March, our Boston injury lawyers published a blog post on the tragic Worcester County escalator accident at the Auburn Mall that claimed the life of 4-year-old Mark DiBona. Now, his family has filed an Auburn, Massachusetts wrongful death lawsuit against Sears Roebuck and Co., the Simon Property Group, the Mall at Auburn LL, Schindler Elevator Corp., Botany Bay Construction Co., and Mayflower Auburn LP. seeking unspecified damages for gross negligence and negligence.

The little boy died after he fell two stories through a 6-inch space of an escalator located in the Sears store at the Auburn Mall. The gap was bigger than the 4-inch maximum allowed under state building codes.

Following the Massachusetts escalator accident, the two inspectors who certified the escalator as being in compliance with the safety code were suspended. The state has also started taking steps to get them terminated from their jobs.

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A woman whose father died at the Suffolk County House of Correction is suing the jail and its infirmary for Boston wrongful death. Pedro Tavarez, a 49-year-old immigration detainee, died in October 2009. He was in custody after he was ordered deported. Other defendants of the Massachusetts wrongful death lawsuit are Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea J. Cabral, Prison Health Services (now called PHS Correctional Healthcare), jail superintendent Gerard Horgan, and jail physician Colleen Collins.

In her complaint, which was filed as a federal case, Judith Tavarez is accusing the plaintiffs of gross negligence. She says that her dad died from a heart attack that was brought about by a major sepsis infection that the “defendants failed to properly treat.” She is also claiming civil rights violations and Boston medical malpractice.

Per a federal report from last year, because Suffolk officials did not take Tavarez to the hospital sooner his infection spread. Tavarez’s Boston attorney is calling the government’s failure to provide the detainee with “decent medical care” a “moral outrage.” Also, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Professional Responsibility reports that in the case of Tavarez, there were language barriers, incomplete medical records, and the failure to complete basic tasks, including not checking his vitals regularly. Tavarez stayed at the jail infirmary for two days before he was transported to the first of three hospitals.

Even if you or your loved one has been arrested or detained, you are still entitled to a certain level of care and treatment. If failure to provide either causes serious injuries, or death, you may be entitled to recover Boston personal injury compensation. According to restorefairness.org, a 2009 inspector general report from the Department of Homeland Security noted that a lot of work still needs to be done to make sure that detention centers provide medial examinations. American Bar Association lawyers that interviewed detainees at Suffolk and a number of other county jails discovered that immigrants who had been detained were often forced to wait a long time to see a doctor.

Lawsuit filed in death, Boston Globe, May 16, 2011
Death of Pedro Tavarez raises questions around immigration detention reform, Restore Fairness, November 2009

Related Web Resources:
Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Tracking and Transfers of Detainees, US Department of Homeland Security, March 2009
Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea J. Cabral

PHS Correctional Healthcare

More Blog Posts:
Family to File Plymouth County Wrongful Death Lawsuit in Psychiatric Patient’s Homicide, Boston Injury Lawyer, March 11, 2010
Could Long Waits to Visit Boston Doctors Lead to Delayed Diagnosis?, Boston Injury Lawyer, May 15, 2009
Massachusetts Medical Malpractice Lawsuit To Be Filed By Family of Worcester Man Made to Walk Down Stairs by Paramedics, Boston Injury Lawyer, April 27, 2009 Continue reading

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The family of Brian Hicks is suing the designers and builders of the Big Dig tunnels for his Boston wrongful death. The 39-year-old Salem man died last March when his pickup truck crashed in the Sumner Tunnel.

Hicks’ family contends that he could have survived the Boston motor vehicle crash were it not for the fact that when he was ejected from the pickup he struck a one of the handrails in the tunnel. Hicks is the eight person to have died after getting into an accident in the Big Dig tunnel and then hitting one of the sharp-edged rails that line the walkways that are there for maintenance workers to use. One person who did survived hitting a tunnel handrail lost an arm.

Last month, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation released a report calling for the removal of thousands of feet of railings. Chain-link mesh will be placed on railings that aren’t removed but are located at curves and other areas in the tunnel where a car crash has a higher risk of occurring. Because speed has been a factor in many of these collisions, current speed limits in the tunnel are being reassessed.

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In a tragic police shooting that’s made national headlines, Danroy Sr. and Angella Henry are suing New York police officer Aaron Hess and the village of Pleasantville where he works for their son’s wrongful death. Hess shot and killed Danroy DJ” Henry last October outside a bar at a shopping center in New York last year.

The Henry family is from Easton, Massachusetts. If you’ll recall, our Boston injury lawyers reported on this case earlier this year. At the time, Henry’s parents had filed a wrongful death claim saying that they intended to file a $120 million lawsuit. They said their son was murdered.

The shooting happened October 17, 2010 when a police officer encountered unruly patrons outside Finnegan’s Grill. He called for backup and about 50 cops arrived at the scene.

According to police, an auto driven by Henry accelerated and struck a cop with its mirror. The officer, who ended up on the hood of the vehicle, then shot at the driver. When the vehicle kept moving, another cop shot at the car.

Some witnesses, however-including those who were riding in Henry’s car at the time-say that the reason he was driving away was because one of the police officers ordered him to leave the fire lane. They say that the officer on the hood started shooting at Henry before he could slow down the car.

Earlier this year, a grand jury refused to indict Hess in Henry’s death. Hess recently was given an award by the Pleasantville Police Benevolent Association over his handling of what the union described as “this ordeal.”‘

Danroy Henry Sr. told CNN that he believed the grand jury was presented faulty evidence. In the Henrys’ wrongful death lawsuit, they claim that Hess exhibited a “reckless disregard for human life.” They also contend that their son’s civil rights were violated. The Henry’s are seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

If the jury finds that Hess used excessive force when apprehending the 20-year-old Pace University football player, they would then award a wrongful death verdict to his parents. The outcome of this case is unrelated to whether or not criminal charges were filed against Hess.

Family of slain student files lawsuit, Boston, April 21, 2011
Parents of gunned-down student file wrongful death suit, CNN, April 20, 2011

Related Web Resources:
Wrongful Death Claims, Nolo
Wrongful Death, Justia

More Blog Posts:
Massachusetts Student’s Family to File $120M Wrongful Death Lawsuit Over Fatal Police Shooting, Boston Injury Lawyers Blog, January 17, 2011
Massachusetts Man Files Lawsuit Alleging Springfield Police Brutality, Boston Injury Lawyers Blog, January 3, 2011
Boston Personal Injury Lawsuit Accuses Police Motorcyclist of Assault and Battery in ’07 Marathon Pedestrian Accident, Boston Injury Lawyers Blog, February 15, 2011 Continue reading

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The parents of the mental health counselor who was allegedly murdered by a patient at the North Suffolk Mental Health Center is suing the clinic and others for her Revere wrongful death. Stephanie Moulton, a 24-year-old Peabody woman, died on January 20. Now, Robert Moulton and Kimberly Flynn are seeking punitive damages from the group home.

According to authorities, Flynn was allegedly killed by Deshawn Chappell, who was her patient, during a counseling session in her office at the Revere facility. He is accused of then dumping her body behind a Lynn church before stealing her car and driving off. Last month, a Suffolk County Superior Court found that the 27-year-old Chelsea resident was not competent to stand trial. He was, however, arraigned for first-degree murder.

In their Revere, Massachusetts wrongful death complaint, Flynn’s parents are claiming that the staff neglected to check Chappell’s history for violence and criminal record. They also contend that the facility did not train staff on how to deal with violent situations and does not let workers conduct criminal background checks to determine whether a patient should be allowed to live in the group home. They also allege that even when staff workers were aware that Chappell was off his meds they were not allowed to take action to fix the problem. Moulton’s parents are also suing Chappell, Dr. Nancy McDonnell, Dr. Donald Goff, the group home ‘s board of directors, and others for her Massachusetts wrongful death.

Group homes, nursing homes, and other long-term care facilities can be held liable for violent crimes that occur on their premise that result in serious personal injuries or deaths. It is their responsibility to make sure residents aren’t too dangerous to house in a group setting and that employees don’t have a history of criminal or sexual violence.

Family of Slain Peabody Social Worker Files Wrongful Death Suit, Peabody Patch, April 21, 2011
Parents of slain Revere counselor file lawsuit, MyFoxBoston, April 21, 2011

Related Web Resource:
North Suffolk Mental Health Center

More Blog Posts:
Danvers, Massachusetts Nursing Home Abuse: Lynn Woman Convicted of Assault and Battery on an Elderly Person, Boston Injury Lawyer, February 4, 2011
Family of 100-Year-Old Woman Files Massachusetts Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Dartmouth Nursing Home and Roommate Charged with Her Murder, Boston Injury Lawyer, May 31, 2010
Massachusetts Nursing Home Negligence?: Level 3 Sex Offenders are Working and Living in Assisted Living Facility, Boston Injury Lawyer, February 25, 2010 Continue reading

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A Plum Island construction accident lawsuit seeking Newburyport wrongful death and injury damages has made it way to the state’s Supreme Judicial Court. At issue is whether the plaintiffs, who have already received Massachusetts workers’ compensation benefits, should also be able to collect civil damages.

Timothy Wentworth and his son Ezekiel Wentworth were involved in a serious Newburyport construction accident on August 2005 when, while spraying waterproofing material in a home, a pilot light went off, causing the water heater to burst into flames. The two men sustained serious burn injuries with Timothy, 51, dying and Ezekiel suffering disfigurement so serious that he has had to undergo several surgeries.

The Wentworths, who were a subcontractor on that construction job, did not carry workers’ compensation insurance. Following the Plum Island injury accident, Cheryl Wentworth filed a Massachusetts workers’ compensation claim with builder Henry C. Becker, who had hired the father and son. She also sued Becker for Plum Island wrongful death and her son’s personal injuries.

Under Massachusetts law, employers must make sure that its employees, and, in most instances, their subcontractors have workers’ compensation coverage. In her claim, Cheryl said that Becker let an insured subcontractor work. A settlement was reached between the two parties.

Becker contended that injured subcontractors cannot collect both Massachusetts injury damages and workers’ compensation benefits, and a Superior Court judge sided with him. An appeals court panel agreed with the Wentworths, whose lawyers said that the case Superior Court Judge Thomas R. Murtagh based his ruling on was flawed. The Wentworths say that since the father and son weren’t Becker’s employees, they don’t have to only receive either Massachusetts injury compensation or workers’ compensation benefits.

High Court to hear case of deadly PI accident, Newburyport News, April 5, 2011
Wentworth v. Henry C. Becker Custom Building Ltd., Masscases.com

Related Web Resources:
Workers’ Compensation, Mass.gov
Massachusetts Wrongful Death

More Blog Posts:
Department of Transportation Worker Falls Into Shaft in Ted Williams Tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts Workers’ Compensation Lawyer Blog, April 10, 2011
Massachusetts Contractor Fined for Safety Hazards at Hultman Aqueduct Project, Massachusetts Workers’ Compensation Lawyer Blog, April 10, 2011
Salem Construction Accident at Massachusetts Courthouse Last Summer Caused by Wrong Screw, Boston Injury Lawyer, January 19, 2011 Continue reading

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