Articles Posted in Wrongful Death

A year after 22-year-old Binland Lee died in an Alston, MA apartment fire, her family is suing the landlord for her Boston wrongful death. Binland, a Boston University student, got trapped in her attic bedroom.

According to her loved ones, the landlord, Anna Belokurova, had rented Lee a bedroom in illegal apartment that had a faulty alarm system and not enough exits. Also named as Alton, MA wrongful death defendants are property owner Belokurova, Gateway Real Estate Group, two real estate brokers, and a real estate agent.

A Boston Globe Spotlight investigation reconstructed that tragic incident in April 2013. It reported ongoing problems of overcrowding at the building.

The parents of baby Rylan Koopmeiners are suing Waltham, Massachusetts-based Care.com and babysitter Sarah Gumm for wrongful death. The 3-month-old baby died while under Gumm’s care at her Illinois home in 2012. The couple found her through the website.

Gumm, who is behind bars, is charged with first-degree murder in the tragic incident. She allegedly caused the fatal injury that killed Rylan. .

Reggan and Nathan Koopmeiners are accusing Care.com, a caregiver screening website based in Massachusetts, of failing to disclose that Gumm had a prior record, which included two drunk driving citations. The couple said the site was supposed to do a background check on her.

Massachusetts General Hospital doctors George Velmaho and Alasdair Conn have agreed to settle for $4.5 million the Boston medical malpractice lawsuit accusing them of negligence in the 2005 death of a 62-year-old patient. Geraldine Moran was placed under their care when she broke a number of ribs after falling off a ladder while cleaning her home.

Even after doctors at another hospital conducted a high-tech medical scan showing that one of her ribs was cracked so that a sharp portion of the bone had become positioned dangerously close to her aorta, the Massachusetts General doctors did not order chest imaging. Also, they decided to wait until the following morning to operate on her.

The morning of her surgery, Moran, who had coughing since the day before, did so in such a way that the rib went into her aorta. She went into cardiac arrest and died.

It was a normal Wednesday afternoon on the day before Thanksgiving 2013. Glendalee Alvarado was walking her daughter Brianna home from school when a young life was cut short; another permanently altered. Footage from a nearby security camera captured the horrific scene as an SUV plowed straight into Alvarado and her daughter skipping down the street, pinning them under the vehicle. Seven-year-old Brianna died at the scene while her mother sustained life-threatening injuries. “It’s something that will never go away,” Glendalee told WHDH.

The Dorchester mother recounts the very ordinary events leading up to the tragic accident, explaining, “She was in front of me. We were walking and she was always in front of me, then I don’t remember. They said I tried to hold her jacket back but I don’t remember.” Glendalee Alvarado now has to cope with the loss of her young daughter on top of her own serious injuries.

WHDH reports that “Alvarado was hurt so [badly] in the accident she was in the hospital for about a week before doctors broke the news to her that her daughter did not survive.” Even now, several months later, she is in constant pain from a surgically rebuilt leg and paralysis after four strokes. Still, she says, the most painful thing is hearing her other children asking for their sister Brianna.
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As the weather finally begins to warm up after an especially brutal winter, families are eager to get outside and enjoy the milder spring on their decks. However, home inspection experts warn that of the two million decks that are built and replaced every year, only about 40% are actually safe. Deck collapses, especially those which are high off the ground, can lead to serious injuries and death.

As with so many tragic injury cases, most deck collapses are completely preventable. Eric Kent, co-owner of Archadeck of Charlotte, a company that specializes in building decks and porches, explains that most deck accidents result from improper attachment to the house or building. Weaker decks are commonly attached using a regular bolt, which can slide easily through wood, causing the deck to collapse. Instead, Kent suggests a “thru bolt” which is a “large, galvanized bolt that literally runs through the exterior wall of a house and into the deck supports.”

In addition to the contractors installing the deck, homeowners have a huge responsibility to inspect their decks frequently. A thorough inspection starts with checking for cracks and splits around the nuts and bolts, and also includes the wood and the railings. Eric Kent warns that springiness and mold are the first signs of rot, severely weakening the strength of the structure and increasing the risk of collapse exponentially. After the long winter, deck boards can feel damp and soft, even breaking apart to the touch. Imagine loading 15 family members and friends onto a structure that could disintegrate in seconds.
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A normal day at the Auburn Mall in March of 2011 turned into a scene that will play over and over in the minds of Mark DiBona’s parents for many years. Four-year-old Mark was riding the escalator in Sears when he slipped through a space between the railing and the escalator and fell 18 feet on to the top of a displace case on a lower floor. The young boy sustained serious head injuries and passed away the next day.

The DiBona family was devastated by the loss and filed suit against Sears, Simon Property Group Inc., Schindler Elevator Corp. and Botany Bay Construction, according to CBS Boston. According to their lawyer, the family finds all four companies were negligent and were responsible for the death and suffering of their beloved little boy. The family claimed the escalator was in “dangerous and defective” condition and was in “violation of state building codes, escalator safety standards and the industry standards established by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (CBS Boston).”
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While the physical and emotional burden remains heavy, a sizeable financial weight has been lifted off the shoulders of Faye Boroughs and her son as a Florida jury awarded the family $14.8 million after an explosion in their home. Ms. Boroughs sustained severe burns on 33% of her body and remains permanently disfigured; a lifelong reminder of the explosion that claimed life of her partner. Michael Blanchard was burned on 98% of his body and suffered for three long weeks before succumbing to his injuries. The couple’s young son was in another part of the home at the time, but sustained psychological injuries.

According to the National Trial Lawyers, “evidence showed that the defendant companies violated gas safety codes and failed to adequately train their technicians.” The plaintiff’s attorneys were able to establish that the explosion was directly caused by negligent actions by Panhandle Plumbing and Andrews Cooling & Heating. Panhandle Plumbing did not seek the appropriate permits to install a gas line that was not properly labeled and lacked a safety shut-off valve-two very basic requirements. Andrews Cooling & Heating then installed a gas dryer with that faulty pipe, and ignored both the manufacturer’s instructions and minimum safety code provisions.
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Joshua Messier was just 23 years old when he passed away five years ago at Bridgewater State Hospital, where he was a mental health patient. After a long battle, the family of Joshua Messier will receive a $3 million settlement stemming from a civil rights lawsuit alleging that prison guards were responsible for his death, according to Benjamin R. Novotny, an attorney for the parents.

The Boston Globe reports that Messier suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, and was killed when was strapped to a bed as “two of the guards pressed down hard on Messier’s back while he was seated on the bed with his hands cuffed behind him, folding his chest toward his knees, a maneuver sometimes called ‘suitcasing.'” This action is forbidden by state regulations because of the high risk of suffocation.

The death of the young man spurred an investigation by the Deval Patrick administration, which later placed three of the guards on duty on paid administrative leave, formally reprimanded two top correction officials, and asking for the resignation of a third official for failure to act on the findings.
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It was a bitterly cold January night when firefighters responded to a report of an unconscious 7-year-old girl after the furnace vents in her family’s Plymouth home had been blocked by snow from a recent storm. Nicole Garofalo later died from carbon monoxide poisoning in her own home. Carbon monoxide, often referred to as the “Invisible Killer,” has claimed thousands of lives due to its odorless, colorless, and poisonous qualities. After this particularly terrible event, “Nicole’s Law” was enacted in her honor to require carbon monoxide detectors in homes and businesses in Massachusetts by March of 2006. Eight years later, residents in Massachusetts are reaching a crucial point. According to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, carbon monoxide detectors must be replaced every 5-7 years, making alarms installed as a result of the law in dire need of replacement.

According to CBS Boston, “It has been about seven years since the law went into effect, so there could be countless CO detectors that are at the end of their life. The devices are supposed to make a chirping sound to let you know they are no longer working, but there are no guarantees.” In collaboration with fire officials, the local CBS affiliate in Chicago performed an extensive test on several models of carbon monoxide alarms.
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Kristen Tavares, a 23-year-old mother of two, is now in a coma with severe swelling in her brain, according to the New York Daily News. The Hilo, Hawaii native was scheduled to have routine dental surgery to remove her wisdom teeth by Dr. John Stover when something went horribly wrong. At some point during the common procedure, Taveres went into cardiac arrest and became unresponsive. “It’s really hard especially for her family and just having our three-month-old son and to be put in this situation is really hard,” her boyfriend, Chauncey Prudencio told WAVE-TV. “It’s very strenuous and stressful for everyone.”

Kristen’s father says that CT scans show a large amount of swelling in her brain and her heart is still too weak to handle any subsequent medical procedures at this time. While Taveres’ children are staying with family for now, many are now wondering what could have gone wrong to cause her heart to stop. The New York Daily News cites Daniel Orr, a specialist in oral surgery and anesthesiology, who stated that, “it was possible a foreign body had gotten into her airway such as a piece of gauze or even a tooth…” The staff at Dr. Stover’s office used a defibrillator to shock Kristen’s heart back into rhythm, but she remained unresponsive after she was airlifted to an area hospital where she is connected to a breathing machine.
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