Boston Injury Lawyer Blog

October 18, 2014

$15.6M Auto Defects Case Against Toyota Dealership is Upheld

A three-judge panel has upheld a jury’s verdict awarding $15.6 million to a driver and passengers of a Toyota minivan. They sustained injuries when the auto malfunctioned and went into a ravine.

The defendant of this auto defects case is Center City Toyota in Pennsylvania, which had serviced the auto. Early on during the civil trial, it tried to settle with the plaintiffs for $1.7 million.

The plaintiffs also had sued Toyota Motor Corp., several Toyota affiliates, and PhillyCarShare, which had rented the vehicle to the plaintiffs, for auto products liability. These defendants were later dismissed from the lawsuit.

October 14, 2014

Nursing Home Chain Settles Medicare Fraud, Whistleblower Claims for $38M

by Altman & Altman

Extendicare Health Services Inc., a nursing and rehabilitation facilitation chain, has agreed to pay $38 million to settle Medicaid and Medicare fraud claims that were originally brought in a whistleblower lawsuit. The chain is accused of billing for substandard care and submitting claim for therapy services that were medically unnecessary. Extendicare is one of the largest nursing home chains in the United States.

The primary whistleblower in this Medicaid fraud case is Tracy Lovvorn, a physical therapist who was retained as a rehabilitation director by an Extendicare subsidiary. Lovvorn is entitled to $1.8 million of the government’s settlement. Another relator, Donald Gallic, also filed a qui tam case against the nursing and rehab chain. He is entitled to a nearly $260,000 award.

The allegations against Extendicare include the failure to adequately staff its 146 facilities in 11 states, inadequate catheter care, failure to follow protocols for pressure ulcers and falls, and improper administration of medications. According to officials, the nursing and rehab care was so unsatisfactory at certain Extendicare facilities that staff failed to prevent head injuries, fall accidents, and bedsores. Certain patients developed infections or became dehydrated or malnourished. Some individuals needed hospital care because of the negligent nursing care provided to them. These residents and their families could be entitled to nursing home neglect compensation.

October 11, 2014

CPSC Votes to Make Mandatory Standards for Window Covering Cords

by Altman & Altman

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has voted to start a rulemaking process that would protect kids from the strangulation hazard that comes with window coverings with exposed or dangling cords. October is Window Covering Safety Month.

A child’s neck can get caught and tangled up cord, resulting in strangulation or suffocation. Some children that are lucky enough to survive such an incident are left with permanent brain injuries.

According to the CPSC, between ’96 and ’12 approximately 184 young children and babies died from window cord strangulation. There were over 100 non-fatal strangulation accidents involving the cords of window shades and blinds during that time period, with 1,590 kids needing medical care because of incidents involving these products.

October 7, 2014

Over 1,800 Massachusetts State Police Car Crashes in the Last Five Years, Reports The Boston Globe

by Altman & Altman

According to The Boston Globe, in the last five years, there have been over 1,800 Massachusetts car crashes involving State Police vehicles-that’s nearly one collision a day. Law enforcement authorities say that hundreds of these accidents occurred because troopers were speeding, disregarding traffic signs, or breaking other safety rules.

Records indicate that approximately 100 people annually are hurt in Massachusetts State Police car crashes. In 2013 alone, there were over 400 collisions, including 306 Boston auto collisions.

Also, in the last ten years the department has paid over $3 million in collision settlements. The amount could have been more if there wasn’t a $100,000 statutory limit on negligence claims brought against government agencies in the state. At least four of the Massachusetts police traffic crashes involved fatalities.

October 6, 2014

Families of Two Victims Involving GM Ignition Defect Accept Compensation Fund’s Wrongful Death Settlement Offers

by Altman & Altman

The families of Amy Rademaker, 15, and Natasha Weigel, 18, have agreed to take the wrongful death settlement offers made to them by General Motors from its victim compensation fund. Weigel and Rademaker were killed following a 2006 car crash involving a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt that appears to have been caused by an ignition defect. The air bags did not deploy. Megan Ungars-Kerns, who was 17 at the time and the one driving the vehicle, sustained serious brain damage.

GM established its victim compensation fund for the injury victims and the families of people killed in motor vehicle crashes caused by its faulty ignition switches. Some 2.6 million autos have been recalled because of the safety issue.

How much GM will decide to offer to each party will depend on the victim’s age, earning potential, family duties, and medical costs. According to The Washington Post, one 10-year-old who became a paraplegic in a GM car crash involving ignition problems was offered $7.8 million.

September 30, 2014

Elder Advocates Worry About Massachusetts Assisted Living Residents

by Altman & Altman

According to elder advocates, the state’s Executive Office of Elder Affairs, which oversees some 224 facilities, is not properly equipped to protect Massachusetts assisted living residents, who are too often at risk of getting hurt. The Boston Globe reports that assisted living residences in the state are not as tightly regulated as nursing homes. However, many elderly persons-about 13,700 people-are choosing this housing alternative because it is less expensive than the cost of living in a nursing home.

Typically assisted living residents are elderly adults who need help cooking, bathing, or with other daily tasks but can otherwise live independently. Yet because of not enough supervision and inadequate staffing, this type of living situation ultimately could prove more hurtful than helpful.

The Globe says that about 100 incidents in assisted living facilities, including those involving elder abuse and deadly falls, are reported to the Elder Affairs office every week. Some recent incidents include a Stoughton fall accident involving a dementia patient who wandered into a room and fell out of a window on the second floor, a Framingham elder abuse case involving two staffers that allegedly assaulted two Alzheimer patients and filmed a third resident that wasn’t full clothed, and a Revere trip and fall accident involving a man who fell in the bathroom and bled to death before help finally arrived.

September 30, 2014

Ford Recalls 850,000 Vehicles For Air-Bag Issue

by Altman & Altman

Ford Motor Co. recalled nearly 850,000 vehicles, including two of its most popular models, last week over concerns that an electrical glitch could cause the vehicle’s air bags to malfunction during an accident.

According to reports by the Wall Street Journal, the Michigan automaker recalled 2013 and 2014 model year Ford sedans, Escape crossovers, C-Max hybrids and the Lincoln MKZ luxury cards sold in North America, Canada and Mexico. The reasoning behind the recall was that the vehicle’s restraint control module has the potential to disable both front and side curtain airbags during a crash, which ultimately would increase the risk for injury for passengers. The shortage would illuminate the vehicle’s air bag warning light. The company stated that at the present time, it is unaware of any accidents that have been caused by the suspected malfunction.
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September 30, 2014

Two Killed In Cape Cod Skydiving Accident

by Altman & Altman

Two men were tragically killed on Sunday afternoon while doing a tandem skydive at a Cape Cod Airfield in Marstons Mills.

The maneuver, which is generally considered very safe, involves an experienced skydiving instructor strapped behind a novice skydiving student. Together the pair will jump from an aircraft and descend under a large parachute.

On Sunday, around 5 p.m., this routine jump turned horribly wrong when the men performing the maneuver missed their landing spot on the airfield and crashed into a shed in the backyard of a residence across the street. The student, a 29-year-old from Nantucket, and the instructor, 48, of West Lynnwood, Washington, suffered fatal injuries during the fall.

The cause of the accident has been attributed to complications with the parachute. According to reports by the Boston Globe, the student’s friend, who had also jumped, said witnesses told her that the pair’s parachute had in fact opened, but had become tangled. Officials believe the pair eventually lost control before hitting the shed. The woman also reported that while up to altitude, “both instructors were complaining how this was their 16th jump of the day, and both of them were saying they were tired but had two more to go,” according to The Boston Globe.

Investigators are hoping that some footage shot from the sports camera of one of the men will provide some evidence as to exactly what happened. D.A. for the Cape & Islands Michael O’Keefe said he believes that this was just a tragic accident. The FAA is currently in the process of leading the investigation to determine how the jumpers veered off course and crashed.
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September 26, 2014

Framingham, MA Wrongful Death Case Seeks Damage Over Inmate’s Fatal Drug Overdose

by Altman & Altman

The estate of Monique Miller is suing the Middlesex County Sheriff’s Department, unnamed deputies, and a corrections officer for her Framingham, MA wrongful death. Miller, a 42-year-old woman with five children, died of a drug overdose while at the MCI-Framingham correctional facility. She was imprisoned over drug and shoplifting charges.

According to her family, Miller snorted heroin while in custody. She was then allowed to remain facedown on the floor of her cell for hours even though she obviously needed medical help. The plaintiffs are accusing corrections officer Nancy Padvaiskas and the other defendants of “deliberate indifference” and violating the prohibition related to unusual and cruel punishment. Their Massachusetts wrongful death case also accuses the sheriff’s deputies of not supervising the prisoners under their care, failing to stop drug use by inmates, and not noticing that there were inmates under the influence of drugs.

During transport for a court appearance last year, Miller and other prisoners snorted heroin while in Cambridge. The drug came from another prisoner, who was also concealing the sedative Seroquel.

September 22, 2014

SEC Pays Over $30M Whistleblower Award in Securities Fraud Case to Informant Living Abroad

by Altman & Altman

The Securities and Exchange Commission said it expects to pay over $30 million to a whistleblower. This is the largest SEC whistleblower award issued under the whistleblower program, which was established under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. The agency is keeping the specifics of the case under wraps. However, the regulator acknowledged that the recipient is someone who lives outside the United States.

Under the program, the SEC may give the whistleblower 10 – 30% of the award collected if the information provided was original and substantial enough that it led to the enforcement action and resulted in sanctions of over $1 million.

To date the SEC has issued awards to approximately 15 informations. This informant is the fourth one located overseas.