Boston Injury Lawyer Blog

July 30, 2014

More Than 600 Crash Victims Sue GM

Over 600 victims involved in crashes with recalled General Motors cars have gone to federal court to seek compensation from the automaker, CNN reports.

According to CNN, the majority of the victims of this case, including 29 people who died, are not eligible to receive compensation from the fund that GM had established back in May, because their cars were not part of GM’s recalls.

GM has recalled more than 26 million other cars and trucks so far this year for a variety of problems, and most of those involve other problems with ignition switches.

Victims and their lawyers have raised concerns over whether the formula calculated by GM’s fund administrator Kenneth Feinberg is accurate or fair.

“This makes absolutely no sense that the fund is restricted to the first 2.6 million vehicles initially recalled for ignition switch issues,” said Robert Hilliard, a Corpus Christi, Texas personal injury attorney who has been one of the leading attorneys pressing GM on the recall crisis. “GM needs to step up and acknowledge the blood on its hands from all of these recalled cars.”

Starting tomorrow, victims may file a claim for compensation and still proceed with the lawsuit. If they decide to accept the final amount offered to them by the fund, they will have to drop out of the suit at that time. GM estimates that it will pay at least $400 million through the compensation fund, although there is no cap on amount it will pay.
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July 29, 2014

Lawrence, MA Man Hospitalized Following Near Drowning in Pool

by Altman & Altman

Gregorio “Junior” Ortega, a 20-year-old from Lawrence, Massachusetts is in a coma after he almost drowned in a wave pool at a New England water park. According to relative, the near drowning happened while Ortega was attending his 13-year-old’s brother’s birthday.

The swimming accident occurred around noon while Ortega was in the wave pool at Water Country park. His cousin, Nicole Villafane, says that that he struggled in the water for some time before he was rescued.

She believes that the wave pool was too crowded that day and there should have been more than four lifeguards on duty. The lifeguards and park staff performed CPR on Ortega until firefighters and paramedics arrived. According to Portsmouth, N.H. Fire Chief Steven Achilles, it is not uncommon for the fire department to get calls at least once or twice a week during the summer about injuries that occurred at the park.

July 27, 2014

A Reminder for Safer Summer Biking

by Altman & Altman

With the summer in full force and more bicyclists on the roads than ever in Massachusetts, Altman & Altman would like to send out some friendly tips to both cyclists and drivers to stay safe on the roadsthis season.

According to the NHTSA‘s July edition of Safety in Numbers, in 2012 most bicyclist fatalities occurred between 4 p.m. and midnight (48%) and in urban areas (69%). One in four bicyclists (24%) who died in crashes had blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) of .08 grams per deciliter (g/dL) or higher, the illegal alcohol level in all states.

To prevent deaths and injuries, the NHTSA offers up the following tips for both bikers and drivers:

BICYCLISTS SHOULD ALWAYS:

– Wear a properly-fitted helmet that meets Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) standards.
– Ride focused and alert: don’t use electronic devices, and never ride impaired by alcohol or drugs.
– Be visible: wear bright colors, and use reflective materials and lights on your bicycle at night.
– Check your bike before heading out: check all equipment and parts for proper fit and function, including tires, brakes, handlebars and seats.
– Ride as a vehicle on the road; always travel in the same direction as traffic. Drivers do not expect bicyclists to come from the opposite direction.
– Obey traffic signs, signals and lane markings; signal all turns; and follow local laws.
– Be predictable by riding in a straight line, check over your shoulder for traffic when changing lanes, and always signal every lane change or turn when in traffic. Look ahead for traffic and obstacles.

DRIVERS SHOULD ALWAYS:

– Be predictable and signal your intentions to others.
– Obey the speed limit, drive defensively, watch for others, including bicyclists, and be prepared to stop.
– Turn off cell phones.
– Allow enough room when passing bicyclists, as you would when passing another vehicle.
– Yield to bicyclists as though they were a motorist.
– Stop completely before making a right turn on red and in addition to looking left-right-left, look behind to check for bicyclists approaching from the rear.
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July 24, 2014

General Motors Recalls Another 800,000 Cars, Cites More Deaths Related to Faulty Ignition Switches

by Altman & Altman

Automaker General Motors is recalling yet another 822,000 cars in six new recalls, upping its total number of recalls this year to 60 recalls. The new recalls means that already this year, GM has recalled 29 million million autos globally.

The latest recall involves numerous safety issues, including those affecting air bags, car seats, turn signals, power steering, and other faulty parts. A number of the autos included in this recall were part of some of the earlier recalls involving other safety concerns.

GM is also recalling around 475,000 autos over a defect that may cause the front and passenger seats to lift and lower due to a loose bolt. Different models of the Cadillac SRX, the Chevrolet Equinox and Camaro, the Buck Regal and LaCrosse, and the GMC Terraine are affected. Already, one crash and three injuries have been reported.

July 21, 2014

Massachusetts Hot Air Balloon Crashes, Explodes Into Power Lines & Injures Five

by Altman & Altman

The Federal Aviation Administration is looking into what caused the Massachusetts hot air balloon accident that left five people injured. The accident happened Saturday when the balloon “Raspberry Ripple” struck power lines as its operator tried to land in Clinton, Worcester County. The operator of the hot air balloon is Damn Yankee Balloons, which is based in Maine.

The impact with the lines caused a couple of explosions, resulting severe burns to two of the passengers. There is a possibility that the hot air balloon wasn’t flying high enough during the birthday celebration ride. The balloon crash-landed on private property.

The Clinton, MA hot air balloon accident took place just two months after another hot air balloon also struck power lines, exploding into flames in Virginia. Three people died in that incident.

July 16, 2014

Actor Tracy Morgan Sues Wal-Mart Over Catastrophic Truck Accident

by Altman & Altman

Actor Tracy Morgan has filed a truck accident lawsuit against Wal-Mart. The former 30 Rock star and Saturday Night Live alum almost died in a limo bus-truck crash on the New Jersey Turnpike last month. Now, Morgan is suing the retail giant for negligence.

Morgan’s personal assistant Jeffrey Millea, comedian Ardley Fuqua, and Millea’s spouse Krista are also plaintiffs in this case. Millea and Fuqua were injured in the collision. Comedian James McNair, who was also a passenger on the limo bus but is not one of the plaintiffs, died from his injuries. His family will likely file a wrongful death case.

The catastrophic collision happened when a Wal-Mart truck rear-ended Morgan’s limo bus. Truck driver Kevin Roper is accused of operating the large truck at 20 mph above the speed limit, driving close to his limit time, and not sleeping in the 24 hours leading up to the accident. Under federal rules, truck drivers are allowed to work no more than 14 hours a day and no more than 11 hours behind the wheel.

July 11, 2014

Lack of Sprinklers, Alarms Investigated in Deadly Lowell Fire

by Altman & Altman

It was a chaotic scene Thursday morning as residents of a Lowell apartment building rushed outside their smoke-filled homes in the pre-dawn hours. The sun had not yet risen at 4:00 am but the sky was illuminated with the bright orange flames billowing out of the roof of the building on 73-81 Branch Street. Some residents ran down to the fire station only 100 yards away and frantically begged for help while a police officer on his regular patrol spotted the blaze and also called it in.

The fire spread quickly through the old, wooden building originally built in 1890. Records indicate the building housed 48 individuals, many of whom were forced to use extreme measures to get themselves and their children out of the fully-engulfed 3-story structure. WBZ-Radio correspondent Carl Stevens recalled seeing residents “jumping out of windows to escape the fire in Lowell.” In addition, many witnesses reported seeing a mother desperately dangling her baby out of an upper floor window for someone to catch on the ground. The baby was safety caught by a bystander carefully positioned below, but others were not as lucky.
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July 10, 2014

Cyclist Suffers Serious Injuries in Mass. Ave Crash

by Altman & Altman

Bicycles are becoming increasingly common in Boston as it evolves into a world-class walkable city. Cars and bikes are still learning to share the road, a task more easily said than done in the tight city streets winding up hills and around cobblestone sidewalks. As all Boston drivers know, traffic comes to a standstill during rush hour, with deadlock turning scenic bridges across the Charles into lines of steady red brake lights. Tempers flare and drivers and bicyclists do not always out for one another.

Bike accidents involving motor vehicles have become a serious concern for everyone on the road. Bike ridership has increased steadily in Boston in the past few years, and with that, problems have arisen with the notoriously treacherous Back Bay roads that were made for trolleys and horse-drawn carriages, not cars and bicycles. So many accidents have occurred in recent years that a Boston-area bike crash map has been created by researchers to map out danger spots for riders.
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July 8, 2014

Jury Awards $19.8 Million in Gas Explosion Case

by Altman & Altman

Hopefully, this sends a message loud and clear to the Southern California Gas Company that the safety of their customers should be of utmost priority. The company, which sometimes goes by the nickname, “SoCalGas” was found to be responsible for a horrific accident that seriously injured a man in his San Gabriel, California home on January 19, 2011. Pengxuan Diao, 24, sustained severe second and third degree burns on over 20 percent of his body from a gas explosion caused by a leak on his property.

Court documents allege a Southern California Gas Company employee came to the property on which Pengxuan Diao lives on January 19, 2011 to work on gas lines in the area when he made a careless mistake. The worker disobeyed company safety guidelines and opened a gas valve leading to Mr. Diao’s house. The nearly-fatal mistake occurred when the employee left the property without properly checking the line for leaks and damage, per company policy. That mistake would prove costly, both in human life and in monetary losses for SoCalGas.
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July 8, 2014

Very Hot Weather Can Be a Danger to Elderly Boston Nursing Home Residents

by Altman & Altman

There have been a lot of stories lately about how leaving a young child in a car in hot weather can prove fatal. At our Boston nursing home negligence lawyers, we’d like to remind our readers that high temperatures can also prove high risk for another demographic: the very elderly.

Many older seniors are just not as able to adjust their body temperature as well as younger people. Use of prescription medications may also modify the way the body would normally respond to heat.

Persons suffering from diabetes, cardiovascular conditions, obesity, and respiratory conditions are also more susceptible to the serious effects of heat. This is why it is very important that Massachusetts long-term care facilities take the necessary precautions to protect their residents from hot weather.