Author Archives: Robert I. Feinberg
Burn Injuries
My legal practice has involved a number of different types of injuries. Two of the most troubling are burn injuries and brain injuries. Today, in this blog, I would like to talk about burn injuries because they come with a unique set of issues. The pain and suffering is exquisite, the disability is exquisite, and the mechanism of injury as to how they were sustained, thermal burns or otherwise, is exquisitely painful.
The Workers' Compensation Lienholder
You may recall in the past that I have spoken about the situation where workers who have been injured on the job have two kinds of claims. The first is a workers’ compensation claim which is lodged or brought against the employer, either an insurer or, occasionally, a self-insurer. The second is a claim for negligence against a party who is not the employer.
O.J. Simpson Trial – Predictability of the Results
You may recall that I’ve been very interested in the O.J. Simpson case, recently a ten part series known as “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.” The series has increased my curiosity and caused me to reflect on the case for the first time in a long while. In a recent blog, I spoke about the differences of that case, perhaps the biggest criminal case of the 20th century, in comparison to the civil cases that I handle.
Injured Children and the Law of Massachusetts
In a recent blog post, I spoke about children and the law of liability when children engage in youth activities. I’d like to develop that principle a little further and today talk about a very important decision of the highest court of Massachusetts. It was Sharon v. The City of Newton, 437 Mass. 99 (2002). The young woman there was a cheerleader and she got hurt in an after-school cheerleading practice.
Child Injuries
Injuries to children are of course a very painful subject. Obviously, no one could be more precious than a child. I will never forget going into a courtroom and seeing a picture of a child in a full body cast. Thank God, the child had made a good recovery by the time of trial but if the old line “a picture is worth a thousand words” were ever true, it was certainly true there.
Loss of Earning Capacity
By now you would have heard or are familiar with the fact that loss of earning capacity is an element of your damages. Specifically, it is an element of special damages as is the reasonable value of the medical services provided to you. Let’s focus today on the loss of earning capacity and the basic concept behind it.
EGGSHELL OR THIN-SKULLED PLAINTIFF
Law students in their first year of torts are sure to hear of the curious terms, thin-skulled plaintiff or eggshell plaintiff. Essentially what it means is that if a plaintiff has a particular weakness or susceptibility and is hurt, the defendant, “must take the plaintiff as he/she finds him/her”. Thus if the injured party suffers more as a result of their weakness or susceptibility, the defendant, the party that is sued, bears the full cost of that injury. That little expression of “taking the plaintiff as you find him/her” means essentially that the eggshell plaintiff or thin-skulled plaintiff is entitled to the full measure of their damages even though they had a particular susceptibility. I never found the expression of “taking the plaintiff as you find him/her” to be all that clear; nonetheless, there is no mistaking the concept.
The Relevance of the O.J. Simpson Trial to Personal Injury Law
Many of you have probably seen the series on Fox, An American Crime Story, The People v. O.J. Simpson. It is running for 10 episodes. What the relevance of the series to personal injury law brings to mind something I have spoken about before which, if I may say, bears repeating.
29,000 CIVIL CASES AND COUNTING…OR MAYBE NOT COUNTING BUT INSTEAD STAYING THE SAME
On the website of the Massachusetts Courts is a wealth of information. The statistics that I looked at recently were those that pertain to the number of cases that are active in the courts. Since my practice is primarily focused in the Superior Courts where the assessed value of cases is $25,000 or more and since I do only civil cases, I looked at those numbers very carefully.
What to Expect: The Age of Civil Cases in Massachusetts
In this blog, Robert Feinberg discusses the how long the 29,000 civil cases have been active in the Superior Courts across Massachusetts and he provides an optimistic view (at least compared to prior eras) of how long you should expect your case to take. This is the second blog that will concern the statistics of the Massachusetts court system and particularly in the Superior Court, where the bulk of my practice consists. Civil cases are brought in the Superior Court where the value is likely to exceed $25,000.