Articles Posted in Wrongful Death

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The widow of Marquis Barker has filed a $4 million Boston wrongful death lawsuit against the city over his fatal shooting by police officers. In her civil complaint, Kim Sanders Barker contends that cops should have called in a mental-health professional rather than using a gun to apprehend her husband. She is alleging Massachusetts excessive use of police force and civil rights violations.

Barker died on November 21, 2007 in a Walgreens parking lot. Police who approached him in the police cruiser he had stolen thought that he was carrying a semi-automatic gun when, in fact he was holding a non-lethal pellet gun.

Kim Barker says that after her husband left their house with the gun, she contacted 911 and told the dispatcher that not only was he carrying the gun, but also that he had suffered a breakdown and was diabetic. She contends that although there were cops who knew that her husband was mentally impaired, they failed to notify the officers who arrived at the scene. She also notes that even without any notice, her husband’s diminished physical and mental capacity should have been obvious. She says that police at the scene should have asked for a crisis negotiator or sought medical or psychiatric help for her husband rather than shooting him.

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Three years after Brian and Beverly Mauck were murdered, their families and the couple’s respective estates are suing 15 employees or supervisors of the Massachusetts Department of Correction, the Masachusetts Commonwealth Fusion Center, and Worcester County District Attorney’s Office for their wrongful deaths. The Maucks were fatally shot in their home by Daniel Tavares, Jr. on November 17, 2007. Now, their family is seeking over $20 million in damages.

Tavares, who was the couple’s neighbor, had been released from a Massachusetts prison just five months prior to their murders. He had just finished serving 16 years for murdering his mother.

Tavares later admitted that he killed the Maucks because he thought that Brian owed him $50 for a tattoo. He has since pleaded guilty to the Maucks’ slayings.

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The family of Marie Evans is suing is Lorillard Tobacco Co. for her Massachusetts wrongful death. Evans died of lung cancer in 2002. She was 54 and had been smoking for more than 40 years. The Boston wrongful death trial opened in Suffolk Superior Court today.

The family blames the tobacco company for Evans’ addiction to tobacco. They contend that the cigarette company got her hooked on smoking when she was a young girl by giving her and other black children free samples of Newport cigarettes. They claim that white trucks transported the cigarettes to urban neighborhoods and that Lorillard Tobacco purposely enticed Evans with the giveaways. Three other companies that gave out the Newport cigarettes in the Boston area are also named in the Suffolk County wrongful death lawsuit.

According to her family, Evans received her first free cigarettes when she was 7 or 8, started smoking when she was 13, and ended up smoking a pack and a half of Newport cigarettes a day. She reportedly tried quitting some 50 times during her life but was unable to because she was addicted to cigarettes. Evans continued smoking after she suffered a heart attack in 1985 and doctors told her she should stop.

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Nearly two years after Lieutenant Kevin M. Kelly died from injuries he sustained when Boston Fire Department Ladder 26 sped down Parker Hill Avenue in Mission Hill before crashed through a brick wall and into a building, his family is suing six companies for Suffolk County wrongful death. The defendants of the case are Woodward’s Auto Spring Shop Inc. of Brockton, Damian Diesel Inc. of Avon, Broadway Brake Corp. of Somerville, Boston Freightliner Inc. of Everett, Bay State Auto Spring Manufacturing Co. of Roxbury, and Suspension Specialists Inc. of Allston. The city had contracted the companies to maintain or inspect the fire truck’s braking systems.

In their Boston wrongful death lawsuit, the plaintiffs, Kelly’s widow Gloria and daughter Susan, are accusing the defendants of gross negligence, installing the wrong parts, faulty brake work, and failing through proper inspection to notice the errors that had been made. The 52-year-old firefighter had been riding in the front passenger seat on January 9, 2009 when the brakes on Ladder 26 failed. Kelly died from the massive head trauma he sustained during the Boston truck crash. The other firefighters who were on the firetruck with him sustained injuries, as did four of the children who were in the computer learning center of the building that the truck had struck. Kelley’s family is seeking unspecified damages from the defendants.

Defective or Faulty Brakes
A driver cannot afford to have the brakes of his/her vehicle malfunction. The inability to slow down or stop a vehicle can result in tragic consequences.

Depending on the circumstances surrounding your brake malfunction, there may be more than one party who should be held liable for the defective brakes, such as the manufacturer of the car or the brakes or the company in charge of repairing, maintaining, and/or inspecting the them.

Family files lawsuit over firefighter’s death, Boston.com, November 2, 2010
Boston firefighter killed when ladder truck crashes into building, AP/FireRescue, January 9, 2009
Deadly Boston Fire Truck Accident May Have Been Caused By Brake Failure, Says Survivors, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, January 11, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Boston Car Accident Lawyer Blog

Boston Fire Department
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In Boston, jury selection is scheduled to begin today in the Massachusetts wrongful death lawsuit over a catastrophic 2007 Brockton bus crash that claimed the life of a disabled pedestrian. The defendants are bus driver Tracy A. Lopes and bus company First Student Inc. Lopes, a Raynham resident, had been charged with motor vehicle homicide by negligent operation after the deadly collision, but the charge was dropped in 2008.

The pedestrian that died was Lisa Herlihy, a 46-year-old Brockton resident who had been suffering from osteoporosis and Parkinson’s disease. She was using her walker to cross the street when she was struck by the bus that Lopes was driving.

Last year, Kim Berggren, a Randolph resident and Herlihy’s sister, filed her Brockton wrongful death lawsuit against Lopes and the bus company that had employed her at the time of the deadly Massachusetts pedestrian accident. Berggren is seeking “unspecified damages” and accusing both defendants of gross negligence.

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According to The Tech, Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s oldest newspaper, the parents of Robert M. Wells have filed a Boston wrongful death lawsuit against MIT and the Delta Upsilon fraternity. Wells, a 22-year-old MIT student, died in 2008 after falling five stories from the DU fraternity and sustaining skull fractures, blunt impact to his head, brain contusions, lacerations, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and other injuries.

Michael and Laura Wells are alleging 26 counts of Suffolk County, Massachusetts wrongful death. They claim that the defendants did not remedy or warn about the condition of Wells’ living quarters, which had a heating system that was hard to control and had just one “unreliable thermostat.” As a result, the DU brothers would open the windows during the winter to regulate the temperature in their bedrooms.

However, per the lawsuit, all of the windows on the upper floor of the fraternity lacked bars, screens, locks, or other safety devices. Wells, a DU brother, fell after opening the window next to his bed.

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A 25-year-old man was killed in a bar fight early in the morning on August 14th across the street from Fenway Park. The altercation occurred on Lansdowne Street at approximately 12:10 a.m.

The suspect whose actions played a role in the death of the young man has been identified as a 25-year-old resident of Boston. The victim was killed when a glass was thrown during the altercation and a shard lacerated the man’s neck.

In addition to killing the one man, the shards of glass also injured two others, a 22-year old man and a 23-year-old woman, that were in the area at the time of the bar fight.
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An emergency room doctor was killed this past Friday when the motor scooter he was operating collided with a truck. The accident occurred at approximately 10 a.m. on Beacon Street in Brighton.

The doctor was an attending physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an instructor at Harvard Medical School. The chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital stated that the doctor was killed after his motor scooter collided with a truck.

The doctor was rushed to St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. At this time, no citations have been issues and the cause of the collision is under investigation.

The victim was married with three children.
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The Massachusetts wrongful death trial against a Lawrence cop and two State Police troopers over Alfonso Santana’s 2005 unexpected passing is scheduled to begin today. At issue, reports The Boston Globe, is whether Santana, 39, died from a police choke hold, cocaine intoxication, or another cause.

Santana was apprehended on October 19, 2005 by the three defendants, (former) Lawrence cop Mark Rivet, and Troopers Stephen R. Gondella and Mark F. Blanchard. The three men, who were watching a suspected drug house on Forest Street in Lawrence, had approached Santana, who had just parked his car, and asked for his ID. The officers say that they restrained Santana when they saw him put a white object in his mouth.

Court records report that police pepper-sprayed Santana and hit his face during a struggle that lasted for several minutes. For most of the altercation, Gondella’s arm was “around Santana’s neck.” Police were eventually able to retrieve what proved to be “a small amount of cocaine.”

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The widow of Robert J. Martin Sr. a 73-year-old Truro selectman intends to sue the town of Provincetown and the Old Colony Tap bar for his Massachusetts drowning death. Martin’s body was found close to Fisherman’s Wharf on the evening of September 28, 2008.

While the amounts that she plans to seek from the town and the bar have not been determined, Margo Martin did send a demand letter to the town of Provincetown last year seeking $900,000 for its negligence. Margo contends that town workers contributed to her late husband’s Provincetown, Massachusetts wrongful death because they did not try to rescue or revive him when he still could have been saved. According to a police report, choppy seas, high tides, heavy wind, seaweed buildup, poor lighting on the beach, blocked vehicle access, and storm drain construction caused delays in retrieving Martin’s body.

Margo is also accusing the town of inadequate maintenance of its drains, culverts, beachfront, and ditches, which created a safety hazard that also contributed to Martin’s Massachusetts wrongful death. Because the town did not resolve her claim within the six months, she can now file her Massachusetts wrongful death lawsuit in court.

As for the Old Colony Tap bar, it reportedly served Martin alcohol on the night that he died. This, even though a family member had previously asked the bar not to serve Martin alcohol because he had started drinking again after years of being sober.

Also, Margo’s Boston wrongful death lawyer says that the bar improperly served Martin two other times. He ended up with a DUI criminal charge after one occasion. After the other time, he fell on his face and got hurt.

Massachusetts Drowning Accident
There are drowning accidents that could have been prevented were it not for other parties’ negligence. In addition to drownings in natural bodies of water, swimming pools, and hot tubs, drowning deaths can also happen during boating accidents, as well as when someone is injured or falls unconscious in a bathtub. Children are at high risk of bathtub drownings.

Report details night of Provincetown drowning, DailyMe, August 5, 2010
Drowning victim’s wife to sue Provincetown, Cape Cod Times, August 10, 2010
Family seeks $900K in Provincetown drowning, Boston Herald, August 4, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Provincetown.com
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