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Which Insurance Companies Do I Look to For My Car Accident?
In 1985, the Supreme Judicial Court decided Cardin v. Royal Insurance Co., 394 Mass. 350 (1985), an important case pertaining to auto insurance. In that case, the Court used a sentence that has stuck with me ever since reading the opinion: “Navigating the tortuous twists of automobile insurance law is at least as difficult as the uninitiated driver’s first foray into the streets of Boston.” This is an accurate statement because understanding and appreciating all of the nuances of automobile insurance law in Massachusetts is a very difficult task.
Is a Premises Liability Case Affected By the Open and Obvious Rule?
A premises liability case is one in which a person sustains an injury while on somebody else’s property, whether it be a landlord, business or other entity. These cases almost always involve an issue of management or control over the premises. The question is whether the landlord or other person in control exercised reasonable care in maintaining the area.
What Lessons Can Be Learned From the Fyffe Decision? Part 4 of 4
This will be the concluding blog in the series of discussions about the recent Massachusetts Appeals Court decision, Fyffe v. MBTA. There are a few more points worth considering. First, I have discussed the concept of speculation by a medical expert or an attorney in past blogs and the Appeals Court in Fyffe discusses the subject at some length. Specifically, the Court rejected the plaintiff’s attorney attempt to bring up the issue of quadriplegia because there was no record of evidence to support such speculation. There had been no suggestion of this issue in the pretrial documents.
What Lessons Can Be Learned From the Fyffe Decision? Part 3 of 4
This will be the third blog in our series of discussions on the recent Massachusetts Appeals Court decision of Fyffe v. MBTA. We continue our analysis of the lessons that can be learned from this case, one certain to be cited by defense lawyers. While the majority of cases do not go to trial, the way that a trial would unfold and the anticipated evidence that would be presented at such a trial influences to a very large extent the amount of recovery that might be sought from a pre-trial settlement.
What Lessons Can Be Learned From The Fyffe Decision? Part 2 of 4
This will be the second blog in a series of discussions on the recent case Fyffe v. MBTA, which was decided by the Massachusetts Appeals Court on October 6, 2014. There are several lessons to be learned from this case in the context of personal injury litigation. First, the Appeals Court pointed out that it was inappropriate for the plaintiff’s attorney to inform the jurors of the extensive media coverage that this case was receiving.
What Lessons Can Be Learned From the Fyffe Decision? Part 1 of 4
In our video blog we discuss the very recent recent decision by the Massachusetts Appeals Court in Fyffe v. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, 86 Mass. App. Ct. 457 (2014), a case that seems to be viewed by many plaintiffs attorneys as unsettling. I, on the other hand, find that the case merely sets out what must be established to prove a case. To be sure, it also sets out what must not be done.
What Does Causality Mean in a Legal Context?
Prior to law school, I doubt that I had ever heard of the term causality, at least not in a legal context. However, the term’s basic meaning—something that brings about a result or occurrence—is not too different from what the word means to a lawyer. In a legal context, the term causality generally refers to the relationship between the allegedly negligent act and the resulting injury.
What Should You Know About Scarring in a Personal Injury Case
Based on my experience representing clients with scarring, I ask clients to keep in mind two “Ps”: Pictures and Prognostication.Pictures at the time the scar was sustained and pictures of the scarring after some time has passed are very important for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, this means that the client will need to have taken pictures of the scarring within days of the accident. Pictures taken immediately, when the injury is in its “acute” stage are often graphic and should be in the plaintiff lawyer’s arsenal for effective representation.
How Can the Weather Affect a Snow-And-Ice Case?
As we have mentioned in prior blogs, following Papadopoulos v. Target Corp. 457 Mass. 368 (2010), the standard of care of a landowner for a slip and fall accident on snow and ice changed from having to show an artificial or unnatural accumulation of ice to whether the landlord acted reasonably in relation to the threat of harm posed by the snow and/or ice condition. The focus is on the conduct of the defendant who is obligated to use reasonable care in treating the condition that led to the fall.
How Can Demonstrative Evidence Be Used to Explain a Personal Injury
In representing clients I am charged with making their injuries understood by third parties, whether it be opposing counsel, insurance companies, mediators, judges or juries. Although medical records and evaluations by physicians will be used to determine the client’s damages, the best representation of the client’s injuries to a third party is often demonstrative evidence– pictures. And as the old saying goes, “pictures are worth a thousand words.”