About 1,000 people are killed in train-related accidents each year and thousands more suffer non-fatal injuries. Despite these shocking statistics, train travel is generally quite safe. But concerns over recent – and tragic – accidents involving Amtrak have authorities questioning the railroad company’s safety culture.

In 2016, an Amtrak passenger train crashed into a backhoe on the track in Chester, PA. The operator claims he tried to stop when he noticed workers on the track, but failed to do so in time. Following the accident, toxicology reports showed that each of the three employees involved in the collision tested positive for drugs, including marijuana, cocaine and opioids.

Without Change, Another Accident is Inevitable

According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the accident occurred due to Amtrak’s failure to maintain a “clear, consistent and accepted vision for safety.” The NTSB went on to warn that another accident is inevitable if Amtrak does not make some dramatic changes, and soon.

An NTSB investigation into Amtrak’s 2016 derailment revealed the following problems as the main causes of the crash:

  • The train was permitted to travel on an unprotected track – while employees were working on the track – at maximum speed.
  • The train lacked shunting devices (a feature that indicates if and where workers are present on the railroad track).
  • Amtrak’s safety policies and management are inconsistent.
  • The presence of drugs in three of the workers’ systems further indicated the railroad company’s “weak safety culture.”

Sadly, the collision above is far from the only fatal crash in Amtrak’s recent history. In 2015, more than 200 people were injured and eight were killed when a train derailed in Philadelphia. And only a few weeks ago, two employees were killed and more than 100 people were injured in South Carolina when a passenger train collided with a parked freight train. Officials say that Amtrak’s safety culture was again to blame in the South Carolina crash. A Boston injury attorney can help you determine how to proceed if you’ve been injured in a train-related accident.

Common Carrier Law

Under common carrier law, train operators, railroad workers and train companies are held to a higher standard because they are responsible for the safety of hundreds – even thousands – of people each day. In addition to implementing an effective drug-testing program, Amtrak and other common carriers (such as MBTA) should ensure that employees receive adequate training and that vehicles and equipment are properly maintained and in good, working order at all times.

Amtrak has failed to do its part to protect passengers and limit any harm that can come to them while using its transportation services. When a company like Amtrak neglects to adhere to safety standards and regulations – and injuries result – it should be held accountable for its actions. That being said, determining liability can be an overwhelmingly-complex process. In such a situation, it is essential to consult with an attorney who has extensive experience in cases involving common carriers.

The NTSB recommends that Amtrak overhauls its safety culture by implementing professional risk assessments and ensuring that workers are compliant with safety protocol. If Amtrak does not improve its safety culture, more deadly accidents are inevitable. A MA personal injury lawyer can help you recover damages if you have been injured due to another’s negligence. Continue reading

A recall affecting about 656,800 Toyota and Lexus vehicles was recently announced, involving vehicles manufactured between May 2015 and March 2016. According to Toyota, a defect in an open electrical circuit could prevent the air bag from inflating during a crash. As air bags are intended to prevent serious injuries and death in a motor vehicle collision, a non-deploying airbag could be fatal.

Toyota has announced that it will send recall letters to owners of affected models in March 2018. In the meantime, you may wish to contact Toyota if you own one of the defective models, which include:

  • Alphard
  • Corolla
  • Esquire
  • Highlander
  • Hilux
  • Levin
  • Lexus RX
  • Lexus NX SUVs
  • Noah
  • Prius
  • Probox
  • Sienta
  • Succeed
  • Vellfire
  • Voxy

As if the airbag issue wasn’t enough, one of Toyota’s most popular models, the 2018 Camry, is involved in a second recall. This time the defect involves an improper connection of fuel pipes and hoses, resulting in a potential fire hazard. Other vehicles involved in this recall are the Lexus TC-F, GS F and LC 500 vehicles manufactured in 2015 and after. A Boston defective products attorney can help you determine how to proceed if you’ve been injured due to a dangerous or defective product.

Takata Airbags

The largest auto recall of 2017 involved vehicles equipped with Takata airbags. About 34 million vehicles have been affected by the recall, and more are expected. Takata airbags have exploded during deployment, causing serious injuries to vehicle occupants. According to the NHTSA, anyone with a vehicle model equipped with a Takata airbag should avoid driving the vehicle, except directly to the manufacturer to have the dangerous defect fixed. Several Honda and Acura models are involved, as are various Toyota, Lexus and BMW models.

Types of Product Defects

Thousands of people are injured by defective or dangerous products every year. Defective product lawsuits can be quite complex as determining liability across multiple parties in a distribution chain can be a challenge. Defects can occur during the design, manufacturing, or sales process of a product, vehicles included. If a vehicle malfunctions while being used for its intended purpose, and the malfunction causes injury or property damage, who is liable?

  • Design defect – If the flaw occurred during the vehicle’s design, before it was even manufactured, the design company may be liable. In some cases, this is the same company as the manufacturer, but not always.
  • Manufacturing defect – If the design was safe but a manufacturing error caused a dangerous defect, the manufacturer may be liable.
  • Marketing defect – The design and manufacturing processes may have both concluded safely, however, missing warning labels or improper instructions could result in injury. If a car is equipped with a feature to turn off the side airbags, but there is no warning that using this feature also turns off the front airbags, any resulting injuries would likely be classified as a marketing defect.

A MA personal injury lawyer can help you recover damages if you’ve been injured by a defective product. Continue reading

A side impact collision is commonly referred to as a T-bone or broadside accident. It occurs when one vehicle hits the side of another vehicle, usually at a 90-degree angle. Unfortunately, these types of crashes often result in serious injuries or fatalities. Distracted driving and failure to yield are two of the most common causes of side-impact collisions. But who is at fault when a T-bone accident occurs?

Negligence is often a factor in side impact collisions. However, in order to obtain compensation for injuries and property damage, the plaintiff in a car accident case must be able to show that the other driver breached his duty to act with care while driving, and that the breach caused actual damages. A Boston motor vehicle accident attorney can help you determine how to proceed if you’ve been injured due to another driver’s negligence.

Tips to Follow After a Side Impact Collision

For the most part, side impact accidents should be handled like any other motor vehicle accident, with some minor exceptions.

  • Exchange information with the other driver; get their insurance information, name, address and phone number.
  • Ask any witnesses for their contact information.
  • Document any injuries and damage to your vehicle by using your cell phone’s camera to take pictures from as many angles as possible.
  • Do not speak with the other driver’s insurance company. The only people you should speak to about the accident are your attorney and your
  • When a side impact collision occurs, it may be unclear who is at fault; skid marks are often highly useful in determining fault. Photograph any skid marks, as well as the scene of the accident; snap pictures of street lights and signs, trees that may have been blocking visibility, the atmosphere (is it foggy or raining hard?), icy or wet spots on the road, and any debris.

Use Extra Caution in Intersections

Many T-bone accidents occur at intersections, and they often involve secondary crashes as the force of a broadside collision can push a vehicle into oncoming traffic. Because there is very little buffer in a side impact collision (no engine or trunk to cushion the blow), this type of motor vehicle accident is often fatal. In fact, about 8,000 people are killed in side impact crashes annually. A MA auto accident lawyer can help you recover damages if you’ve been injured due to another driver’s negligence.

Memories Fade

Determining fault in a T-bone collision may seem an easy task, but that’s not always the case. Even if the driver broadsided a vehicle at high speeds, the other driver may have driven through a red light or stop sign, causing the accident. That is why witness information and photographs are so important. Not to mention, memories fade. Without documentation obtained and recorded immediately following the accident, your memory of that day’s events will become foggier with each passing day. This is one of the reasons that car accident statutes of limitation are so short. Continue reading

If you can no longer work due to a physical or mental disability, you may be eligible for Social Security disability insurance (SSDI). SSDI payments are based on your current earnings, with the average amount being $1,197 monthly in 2018. Let’s say you are receiving SSDI benefit payments for an injury or illness and you are injured in a separate accident due to another’s negligence. You file a lawsuit and are awarded a lump sum of money for your damages. Will this settlement impact your SSDI benefits in MA?

Fortunately, the answer to the above question is a resounding “No.” SSDI is not affected by a personal injury settlement in MA. SSDI is a federal program for individuals who cannot work due to disability. To receive these benefits, the disabled individual must go through a thorough screening process.

Personal injury settlements are an entirely different animal. When negligence is acknowledged between two parties, the injured party will likely receive an agreed upon sum of money as compensation for medical expenses, pain and suffering, lost wages, and other associated costs. SSDI benefits and personal injury settlements are not in conflict with one another. Your SSDI benefits will not be reduced if you receive a personal injury award, even if it’s substantial. A Boston injury lawyer can help you determine how to proceed if you’ve been injured due to another’s negligence.

SSDI Benefits and Unearned Income

SSDI benefits are intended to help you stay afloat if a disability prevents you from working for a period of time, or indefinitely. These benefits can even extend into retirement and provide support for dependents. Unlike Supplemental Security Income (SSI) – which is the low-income version of the program – SSDI does not limit the amount of unearned income or assets you are allowed to have. There is a limit on the amount you can earn by working, but that does not apply to personal injury settlements. And just as there are no limits on funds you can receive through an injury lawsuit, there are no limits on other types of unearned income if you are on SSDI. This includes interest income, a spouse’s income, and income from investments.

How Can I Apply for SSDI?

If you are unable to work due to a disability, you may wish to apply for SSDI benefits. In addition to being able to demonstrate that you cannot perform your usual job tasks, you must also prove that you are unable to reasonably be trained for another job due to your age, physical or mental fitness, or your level of education. Further, you must have paid into Social Security at some point during the past 10 years through your previous job(s), and you must have worked a minimum amount of years during that time frame (usually five).

The process to apply for SSDI benefits can be long and complex, and most claims are denied at first. This shouldn’t discourage you; many previously-denied claims are accepted during an appeals process. As such, it is imperative that you obtain legal counsel if you wish to apply for SSDI. A MA injury lawyer can help you obtain the benefits you deserve if you are unable to work due to injury or illness. Continue reading

Transitioning to a nursing home can be emotionally and physically challenging for your loved one. He or she will need to adapt to a new living environment and the loss of certain freedoms and autonomy. The reliance on caregivers for basic daily needs – such as nutrition, bathing, hydration and medical care – places nursing home patients in increased danger of neglect and abuse. Fortunately, the majority of nursing homes have the best interests of patients in mind at all times. Exceptions do exist, however.

Nursing home staff have a responsibility to protect patients from harm. Although not every accident is preventable, staff should take precautions to ensure that patients don’t suffer injuries caused by their own limitations. One of the most common easily-preventable injuries is facial trauma. According to a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the high incidence of facial trauma in nursing homes is cause for concern. The study used data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) to track reports of facial injuries in U.S. nursing homes over a five-year period. The results showed that:

  • more than 100,000 nursing home patients received emergency treatment for facial injuries,
  • 84 was the median age of patients with this type of injury,
  • about 65 percent of the patients were female,
  • injuries involved lacerations, fractures, and injury to soft tissues, and
  • nasal and orbital fractures were the most common.

If you suspect that your loved one is being neglected or abused in a nursing home facility, it’s imperative that you take immediate action. In addition to reporting the suspected mistreatment to management, you should contact a Boston nursing home abuse attorney as soon as possible.

Fall Injuries are Not Inevitable

The loss of balance and coordination that often accompanies aging makes elderly nursing home patients more prone to falls. Brittle bones and the body’s diminishing capacity to heal itself can turn a simple fall into a debilitating or deadly injury. Patients are most at risk of facial injuries when they are being transferred to another bed or to a chair, or when they are walking without proper supervision or the assistance of a walker. All fall injuries can be life-threatening to an elderly patient, but facial injuries can also damage the patient’s ability to speak, or even breathe.  Although elderly patients have a higher risk of falling than their younger counterparts, falls are not inevitable. Don’t let nursing home staff tell you otherwise.

Was Negligence a Factor?

Nursing home staff have a duty to provide your loved one with reasonable care based on his or her unique needs. When understaffing, inadequate training or negligent hiring results in an injury, the nursing home or its employee(s) should be held accountable. To prove negligence, you must be able to show that the following situations existed:

  • The nursing home owed a duty of care to the patient.
  • The nursing home breached its duty of care.
  • The injury was a direct result of that breach.

If you believe that your loved one’s fall injury is a result of neglect, a MA nursing home abuse lawyer can help you recover damages. Continue reading

High-level falls can occur from any multi-story building, but when a building has old or broken railings on balconies or stairwells, the risk is particularly high. And high-level falls commonly result in serious injuries, including traumatic brain and spinal injuries.

Railings are generally anchored to a building to keep them in place, but railing systems can loosen over time, increasing the risk of failure. Without proper maintenance and regular inspections, old railings – which provide a false sense of security – can be deadly. A Boston personal injury lawyer can help you determine how to proceed if you’ve been injured due to another’s negligence.

Defective Design

In some cases, railings are obviously old and worn, but even a railing that appears intact may be faulty or defective. And railings don’t need to be loose to fail; when a person falls through or over a railing because of poor design, they can be just as seriously injured. A little boy fell through a space in the railings of a Virginia hotel balcony in 2013, suffering a traumatic brain injury (TBI). He was awarded $10.9 million in damages.

Generally speaking, it is the responsibility of a property owner to ensure that railings are safe if their properties are open to the public. This is also true of homeowners who invite guests onto their property. If Sara decides to have a party on her deck despite the loose, dilapidated railings, for example, she is likely to be liable if someone is injured when the railing fails. If, however, Sara just had a brand new railing installed, and someone is injured because of a design defect, the responsible party may be the designer, manufacturer or retailer.

Is the Railing Up to Code?

Landlords and business owners have an even greater responsibility to ensure that their railings are safe.They have a duty to maintain their property in a safe condition, which includes ensuring that deck, balcony, porch and stairwell railings are properly installed and compliant with local building codes. For example, railings must be a certain height to prevent adults from tripping and children from climbing over, and spaces between slats must be a certain height and width to prevent a child from trapping his or her head between them.

According to the CDC, nearly two million people are seriously injured or die from traumatic brain injuries annually, and many of these are due to falls. In fact, falls are the leading cause of TBIs, accounting for more than 35 percent of the injuries. And many fall injuries are the result of faulty railings or missing handrails in stairwells.

Sadly, the problem doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon. There are an estimated 50 million wooden decks and balconies in the U.S. alone, and the majority are more than 25 years old. A MA personal injury attorney can help you recover damages if you’ve been injured due to another’s negligence. Continue reading

If you have an elderly loved one in a nursing home, he or she may be at greater risk of elder abuse and neglect now that the new administration has relaxed nursing home accountability for these injustices. Nursing home industry reps lobbied the administration, claiming that current laws are too focused on “catching wrongdoing rather than helping nursing homes improve.”

Mark Parkinson, president of the American Health Care Association, a nursing home industry trade group, wrote a letter directly to Trump, asking him to provide nursing homes with “relief” from overly-harsh investigations and fines.

Among the most commonly reported, serious nursing home violations are: falls, neglect, mistreatment, and bedsores. During the four-year period between 2013 and 2017, approximately 40 percent of federally-regulated nursing homes nationwide were cited for at least one “serious violation.”

A Slap on the Wrist

Under the new guidelines, nursing homes that are first-time offenders may get off with a simple warning, even if the violation results in the death of a patient. Further, even repeat offenders will likely receive lower fines for their violations than previous years.

Much of the nursing home abuse in this country already goes unreported or underreported. Advocates for elder safety fear that these relaxed regulations will only exacerbate an already serious problem. A MA nursing home abuse lawyer can help you determine how to proceed if a loved one has been abused or neglected in a nursing home or long-term care facility.

Elder Abuse Statistics

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), elder abuse is “any

abuse and neglect of persons age 60 and older by a caregiver or another person in a relationship involving an expectation of trust.” Elder abuse doesn’t always occur in a nursing home facility; it also happens with in-home care, and a family member is often the one responsible for the abuse or neglect. However, nursing home abuse and neglect are most common in understaffed facilities with poorly-trained workers. The statistics below shed some light on the severity of this growing problem:

  • The actual rate of elder abuse is nearly 24 times greater than what is reported.
  • The most common type of elder abuse is psychological, which is typically more difficult to detect or prove than physical abuse.
  • In the state of New York, at least 260,000 elderly adults have reported some type of abuse.
  • The “National Elder Mistreatment Study” revealed that up to 10 percent of those surveyed had suffered some type of abuse in the 12 months leading up to the study.
  • A 2000 study conducted by the National Center on Elder Abuse found that of 2,000 nursing home residents surveyed, 44 percent had suffered abuse, and 95 had suffered neglect, or had witnessed someone else being neglected.

A Boston nursing home abuse attorney can help you recover damages if a loved one has been the victim of nursing home abuse or neglect. Continue reading

Roman Catholic priests keep making headlines, for all the wrong reasons. In 2003, Thomas O’Brien, who was bishop of the Dioceses of Phoenix at the time, admitted he had sheltered dozens of priests who had been accused of sexual abuse. Beyond just sheltering them, however, he allowed them to work with children. In 2016, O’Brien himself was accused of sexually abusing a young boy.

In the early 2000s, the Roman Catholic diocese exposed a handful of priests as abusers, two of whom fled the country and are still at large. Another 60-or-so lawsuits are currently pending against priests across the nation, some of the alleged sex crimes dating back seven decades. The most recent involves Louisiana Rev. F. David Broussard, a 51-year-old former pastor who was charged with 500 counts of possession of child pornography. Broussard remains free, on administrative leave.

Mark A. Broussard, a former priest who is not related to F. David Broussard but presided over a neighboring Louisiana parish, was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences and 50 additional years for molesting and raping altar boys in the 1980s. A Boston injury lawyer can help you determine how to proceed if you’ve been the victim of sexual abuse.

Is Justice Being Served?

Today’s Catholic Church is responding much differently to sex abuse scandals than the Catholic Church of the past. During the first half of the 20th century, priests accused of sexual abuse were often simply reassigned to different parishes. Today, the likes of Mark and F. David Broussard are turned over by Bishops who say they now follow the Catholic Church’s mandates to protect children, including requiring criminal background checks for anyone who has contact with children.

Although progress is definitely being made, you don’t have to go back to the early 1900s to see the Catholic Church turning a blind eye to sex abuse. In 1986, former priest Gilbert Gauthe was sentenced to 20 years in prison after he admitted to raping 37 children, also in Louisiana. But despite having abused more than 100 people, Gauche was released after only 10 years.

And in 2002, during the Boston archdiocese child sex abuse scandal, decades of covered-up child abuse in Wilmington, Delaware began to surface. By 2011, more than $110 million was distributed to 152 adults who had been sexually abused as children by Catholic priests in the Wilmington area. Dozens of priests were involved. A MA injury attorney can help you protect your rights if you’ve been sexually assaulted or abused.

Statute of Limitations

Most civil and criminal cases have a statute of limitations, a window of time within which a claim or lawsuit must be filed. With regard to sexual abuse cases, the statue of limitations varies from state to state. In MA, it’s 15 years. However, in light of the recent surge of sex abuse scandals involving Catholic priests, private schools, and even celebrities, some of these statutes of limitations are being lifted. In Minnesota, for example, a 2013 law temporarily lifted the statute of limitations for victims age 24 and under, giving them unlimited time to file a lawsuit. Anyone over 24 was given a new, three-year window. When that window ended in 2016, more than 800 claims had been filed against state churches and schools, and the Boy Scouts. Continue reading

Mesothelioma is a type of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos, a naturally-occurring fiber commonly used in building for decades. Before the dangers of asbestos were known, construction workers and other professionals often spent hours working with this toxic substance every day. As mesothelioma is a particularly slow-growing form of cancer, it’s not uncommon for people who were exposed more than 30 years ago to just now be diagnosed with the disease.

Mesothelioma begins as small tumors that form on the lining of the abdomen or lungs. Symptoms don’t usually become apparent until the tumors begin to press against the abdominal cavity or chest wall, which usually occurs around state III or IV.

In addition to slow growth, mesothelioma is commonly overlooked or misdiagnosed because its symptoms often mimic those of less serious conditions. Initial symptoms may include pain in the chest or abdomen, shortness of breath, dry cough, and bloating.

Most Common Mesothelioma Signs and Symptoms

If you ever worked with asbestos and have developed any of the following symptoms, it may be in your best interest to speak with your doctor as soon as possible. Of course, all of the symptoms below can be related to other, less serious conditions. But when it comes to your health, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

  • Wheezing
  • Dry cough
  • Shortness of breath
  • Chest pain
  • Abdominal pain
  • Abdominal distention
  • Bowel obstruction
  • Hernia
  • Fever
  • Night sweats
  • Fatigue
  • Muscle weakness
  • Pleural effusion (when fluid forms around the lungs)
  • Anemia
  • Weight loss
  • Difficulty swallowing

In most cases, mesothelioma is first detected by accident through a routine blood test or X-ray. Anyone who worked with asbestos for an extended period of time should inform their physician and request cancer screenings to improve the chances of an early diagnosis. If you have developed mesothelioma due to asbestos exposure, a MA work injury attorney can help you recover damages for your injuries.

Misdiagnosis

There are two main types of mesothelioma – pleural and peritoneal. Pleural affects the lining of the lungs, whereas peritoneal affects the lining of the abdomen. Both types of mesothelioma are frequently misdiagnosed. The pleural form is commonly misdiagnosed as COPD, pneumonia, or a bronchial infection, while doctors often think the peritoneal form is irritable bowel syndrome or ovarian cancer.

Is Mesothelioma a Work Injury?

In most cases, an individual’s asbestos exposure occurred at work, years ago. As such, resulting injuries are work injuries. Most work injuries are covered by workers’ compensation, but mesothelioma is typically an exception. Since symptoms of this deadly cancer often fail to show up until 20 or 30 years after exposure, few people still work at the employer responsible for their exposure. Many of these employers don’t even exist anymore. This is why it is so critical to obtain legal counsel as soon as possible. A Boston work injury lawyer can help you determine how to proceed if you’ve been diagnosed with mesothelioma due to asbestos exposure. Continue reading

According to the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.), dog-related injuries accounted for more than one-third of U.S. homeowners insurance claims in 2014. That adds up to more than $530 million. Further analysis conducted by the I.I.I. revealed that the average per-claim cost had increased by 15 percent compared with the previous year.

“The average cost per claim nationally has risen more than 67 percent from 2003 to 2014, due to increased medical costs as well as the size of settlements, judgments and jury awards given to plaintiffs, which are still on the upswing,” said III vice president, Loretta Worters.

Shockingly Common

And dog bites are more common than most people think. Each year in the United States, about 800,000 dog bite injuries are serious enough to require medical attention. These attacks range from minor flesh wounds to life-threatening injuries, and even fatalities.

In Massachusetts, there are a number of laws relating to dog bite injuries, and the state’s dog owners and keepers are “strictly liable” for damages caused by dog attacks. If you suffer injuries caused by a dog bite or attack, you may be entitled to compensation.

Statute of limitations in MA

Statutes of limitation are laws that set time limits for filing civil lawsuits. In Massachusetts, most liability claims have to be filed within three years of the date of injury, including cases involving dog bites.

With statutes of limitations, it is important to know when the clock starts ticking, as well as when the time runs out. If you don’t file your claim before the deadline, you will likely be barred from bringing your case to court. The statute of limitations timeline on dog bites begins at the time of injury. A Boston personal injury lawyer can help you determine how to proceed if you’ve been injured in a dog attack.

Massachusetts Dog Bite Statute

When it comes to dog attacks, Massachusetts is a strict liability state. This means that the injured victim is not required to prove negligence to collect damages. As long as the victim can show that the injury was caused by the dog, and the injury meets other state requirements, he or she may be eligible to obtain compensation. Further, the injury itself does not necessarily have to have been caused by the actual bite. The victim may file a claim even if the injuries were caused by tripping and falling over the dog, for example, or if the dog ran into the road, causing a bicycle or motor vehicle accident.

Compensation for Injuries

If you are attacked or bitten by a dog, the first thing to do is get medical treatment and make sure that the dog’s shots are up-to-date. As is the case with any personal injury claim, the value of dog bite or dog injury claims depend on multiple factors, including:

  • the severity of the physical injury,
  • the duration of your symptoms,
  • and any potential damages caused by the injury (lost wages, pain and suffering, medical expenses, etc.).

In Massachusetts, dog bite and attack injuries are usually covered by homeowner’s insurance, which should compensate the victim for bodily injury and damages. If the owner/keeper has no insurance coverage, the victim may have to seek direct reimbursement for any damages. A MA personal injury lawyer can help you recover damages if you’ve been injured by another’s dog. Continue reading

Contact Information