Articles Posted in MBTA Claims

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ere is an article from Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly about how the vast majority of personal injury plaintiffs are losing at trial in Massachusetts.  Keep in mind the old adage, "the good cases settle, and the bad cases go to trial" while you read the article.  Here is the article:

Odds against tort plaintiffs in Massachusetts

Success at trial poor, especially in suburbs

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Injured As A Tourist In Boston?

According to USA Today roughly 19 million visitors pass through Boston each year. It is no surprise given all that Boston has to offer. With such a huge number of visitors, it is no wonder that many are injured. Many visitors are injured in car accidents, slip and falls, and other types of accident cases. Visitors are sometimes more prone to accidents given their lack of familiarity with Boston. However, the fact that you do not live in Massachusetts does not mean you cannot hire a Massachusetts lawyer to represent you.

My office has represented out-of-state clients injured in motor vehicle accidents, hotels, stores, trains, on escalators, etc. If you or someone you know has been injured while a visitor in Boston, feel free to call my office. We would be happy to provide a no-obligation phone consultation.

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All Massachusetts personal injury lawyers, as well as all practicing Massachusetts lawyers in general, have certain ethical requirements they must meet when representing injury victims. Whether your lawyer represents you in a motor vehicle accident, slip and fall, dog bite case, products liablity, medical malpractice, or any other type of personal injury case, your lawyer has to do certain things. Some of these things are the following:

1. All personal injury contingent fee agreements must be in writing;

2. Your lawyer must give you a copy of the written contingent fee agreement;

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If you have been injured in a slip and fall accident at a retail store, the store does not have a legal duty to provide you with a copy of the video.  The only real way to obtain the video of your fall is by suing the store for your injuries.  At that time, during discovery, the store is required to provide you, or your attorney, with a copy of the video.  Regardless of whether or not the case is in suit, my office always sends a 'spoilation letter' advising the store to preserve the video, as it is evidence that can be introduced at trial.  The failure of a store to preserve the video can result in serious sanctions and penalties by the court. 

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Whether you are a plaintiff or a defendant in a Massachusetts personal injury lawsuit, there is a good chance you will be deposed.  The American Bar Association provides 10 tips for deponents which I feel can help you if you are facing an impending deposition.  Here they are:

  1. Tell the truth.
  2. Listen to the question. Pause. Think as long as necessary before answering.
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Negligence is one of three prongs of tort law (the two others being strict liability and intentional wrongs, but more on these in future posts).  Negligence is defined by Black's Law Dictionary (Second Ed.) as "The failure to exercise the standard of care that a reasonably prudent person would have exercised in a similar situation; any conduct that falls below the legal standard established to protect others against unreasonable risk of harm."  But what does that really mean?

The word refers to conduct that is considered objectively unreasonable.  For example, if you slipped and fell on ice in front of a store, and the store-owner had notice that the gutter above his store was leaking water onto the sidewalk and that this water would freeze in the winter, then that store-owner may have acted unreasonably, or negligently, in failing to correct the problem.  It was foreseeable – on the part of the store-owner – that someone would slip and fall on the ice (or maybe he or she even knew of slips and falls in the past and did nothing to correct it). 

Or, let's take the example of an automobile accident.  If a driver is driving erratically and ends up injuring someone, that driver may have been operating his automobile negligently, because he or she could have reasonably foreseen that someone would be injured as a result of his or her unreasonable conduct.

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Through the years I have noticed there are some common questions that most clients ask at the beginning of their case.  Here are some answers to these common questions, which hopefully are of assistance to you if you have been injured by the fault of someone else:

1) Do I have a case?

This depends on a number of factors.  Were you injured?  Did someone else's fault cause you to be injured?  Is there insurance?  Has the statute of limitations passed?  Basically, this question does not have a standard response, but rather is dependent on a number of factors.

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You May Have A Case Even if You Think You Do Not

Many of my clients, at the end of their case, often tell me that they were not going to pursue their case initially.  They tell me that once they realized the insurance company did not care about them, as their medical bills soared, and their injuries just got worse, is when they decided to contact my office.

Here are a few success stories from my firm, in representing people who initially thought their case was not worth pursuing:

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Yes.   If you have been injured in a Massachusetts slip and fall accident, and you have MassHealth coverage, and MassHealth pays for your medical bills, they will have a lien against monies you obtain via settlement.  A lien means MassHealth has an enforceable legal interest in money that you recover from the person or company that injured you.

However, often MassHealth will reduce their lien prior to the time of settlement.  Your Massachusetts personal injury lawyer will know how to effectively negotiate with MassHealth in order to reduce the amount of money you have to pay them.  Of course, when negotiating any lien, it is imperative to negotiate before settlement.  If negotiation occurs after settlement, your attorney does not have any negotiation leverage.   That is because MassHealth knows that the case is settled, and they will expect to be reimbursed for the money they paid out on your behalf.

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Massachusetts Slip And Fall Lawyer

As a Massachusetts slip and fall lawyer, I have learned these cases are hard to win in Massachusetts.  These cases can lose at trial for a number of reasons.  Usually, these cases are difficult because it is assumed the person that was injured was not being careful enough about watching where he/she was going.  In order to defeat these assumptions, evidence must be presented to show that the property owner – or whomever was responsible for keeping the area safe – was in fact negligent.

Photographs showing the area of the fall can be very helpful evidence to show negligence.  Good, clear photographs that were taken at the time of, or soon after the accident happened can be very helpful in showing that a property owner was not reasonable in maintaining the property.  In fact, quality photographs can help with all types of personal injury cases.  Also, a professional photographer can oftentimes help to professionally present the accident scene, or the injuries suffered by the victim.

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