Boston Injury Lawyer Blog

Our Boston Injury Lawyer Blog occasionally covers accidents and lawsuits that occurred outside the state of Massachusetts. In this post, we bring the latest on a tragic accident that made national headlines two years ago:

Daniel Schuler, the husband of Diane Schuler, is suing the state of New York and his brother-in-law for wrongful death. Diane, 36, and seven others, including their 2-year-old daughter Erin and her three nieces, were killed in 2009 after she drove her minivan the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway and collided in a head-on crash with another vehicle on July 26, 2009. Now, Daniel is seeking compensation for Erin and her brother Bryan, 5, who survived the collision with serious, permanent, serious injuries.

Toxicologists later said that Diane was drunk and high that day. Test results indicate that she had marijuana and the equivalent of 10 shots of vodka in her system. Daniel, however, believes the findings are a mistake. In his wrongful death complaint against NY State, he says that the highway is inadequately designed and had poor signage.

Daniel is also suing his brother-in-law Warren Hance, who owned the minivan that Schuler was driving, on the grounds of vicarious liability. Hance is the father of Emma, 8, Alyson, 7, and Kate, 5, who were in the minivan with Diane that day. Meantime, Hance’s wife, Jackie, is suing Diane Schuler’s estate for her daughters' wrongful deaths.

Also killed in the 2009 wrong-way driving accident were the three people in the vehicle that the minivan collided with: Michael Bastardi, 81, his son Guy Bastardi, 49, and Daniel Long, 74. The Bastardi family is suing Schuler’s estate. They are also suing Hance because he is owner of the vehicle that Diane was driving.

Car Accident Cases
As evidenced by the details above, obtaining personal injury recovery for injuries sustained in a car crash can be tough—especially when there are multiple parties involved with conflicting claims. This is just one of the many reasons why, in Massachusetts, that you need to be represented by a Boston injury lawyer that can fight for your right to recovery.

Husband of Wrong-Way Taconic Driver Sues State, In-Law, NBC, July 26, 2011

Wrong-way driver's husband sues state, others over crash, USA Today, July 27, 2011

Wrong-way family feud, NY Post, July 26, 2011

Another Claim in Wrong-Way Deaths of 8, Courthouse News, July 29, 2011

Related Web Resource:
Diane Schuler, NY Daily News

HBO: There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane


More Blog Posts:
Boston Wrong-Way Accident on Mass Pike Kills One Man and Seriously Injures His Friend, Boston Injury Lawyer, December 29, 2009

Drunk Driver Causes Fatal Accident on Interstate 95, Boston Car Accident Lawyer, May 16, 2011

Breathalyzer Test Records Not Considered Testimony In Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court for Convicted Drunk Drivers, Boston Car Accident Lawyer, May 25, 2011

Aaditya Basrur, who was critically hurt after almost drowning in a Shrewsbury, Massachusetts swimming pool accident, has died from his injuries. Basrur, who was rushed from St. John’s High School to the hospital on July 14, was attending the Camp Saint John summer day camp for kids. He died a few days after the incident.

At the time of the Shrewsbury near drowning accident, Basrur was taking part in an “open swim” with about 40 kids in the outdoor pool. Administrators say that there were lifeguards on duty.

School superintendent Joseph Sawyer later issued a press release about Basrur’s death. The young boy had just finished first grade at Paton Elementary School.

Massachusetts Swimming Pool Accidents
With drowning accidents a leading cause of death for young children, it is important that swimming pool owners and those charged with supervising swimmers exercise the necessary precautions to prevent drownings and near drowning accidents from happening. Even if someone is lucky enough to survive a Boston drowning accident, he/she may have been deprived of oxygen for long enough to be left with a traumatic brain injury.

Young kids can drown in swimming pools, hot tubs, inflatable pools, and on the beach, which is why it is important that they are not allowed in the water without proper supervision. Private pool owners should make sure that their pools are properly fenced in or covered when not in use so that no one can get in without their consent. Public pool owners should also make sure that access to the pool is restricted during off hours. In addition to lifeguards, easy access to an emergency phone, and making sure there is adequate rescue and safety equipment nearby, swimming pool owners should make sure that the pool is free of debris so that if someone does drown that he/she is easily visible. Just recently, the body of a woman who drowned in a Fall River public pool went undetected in the water for two days. No one saw her through the “cloudy” water.

Mass. boy critical after near drowning at day camp, Boston.com, July 15, 2011

Schools react to the loss of Aaditya Basrur, counseling to be available to students, The Daily Shrewsbury, July 19, 2011

Related Web Resources:
Unintentional Drowning: Fact Sheet, CDC

Camp Saint John, Saint John's High School

More Blog Posts:
Massachusetts Swimming Pool Accident: Drowned Woman’s Body Was Concealed by “Cloudy” Water for Two Days, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, June 30, 2011

Truro Man’s Family to Sue Provincetown for Man’s 2008 Massachusetts Drowning Death, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, August 14, 2010

Continue reading "Boy Dies Following Shrewsbury Drowning Accident at Summer Camp " »

According to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a $600,000 Massachusetts personal injury and wrongful death settlement has been reached between manufacturer Kahr Arms and the families of Danny Guzman and Armando Maisonet. Both men were shot by a 9mm handgun outside a nightclub on December 24, 1999. The weapon was stolen from the gun-maker’s factory and later was illegally sold to the assailant in exchange for drugs. Guzman died from his injuries. Maisonet injured his shoulder.

In the families’ Worcester, MA injury lawsuit, the plaintiffs accused the gun manufacturer of negligence, including inadequate security at its manufacturing plant, lack of sufficient inventory controls, and failure to screen employees for a criminal history or drug addiction. They claim that Kahr Arms hired Mark Cronin, who took the gun, even though he had a history of alcohol abuse and drug addiction. Their complaint also said that Cronin had said that guns that didn’t have their serial numbers on them yet were easy to remove from the factory.

He sold the gun to Robert Jachimczyk for cocaine, who in turn sold the gun to Edwin Novas for heroine. Novas is the man charged in the shooting. Cronin pleaded guilty to gun theft, while Novas has yet to be caught. Following the shooting, the Kahr Arms gun was found behind an apartment building close to where the shooting happened. A 4-year-old child discovered the loaded weapon.

Under the Massachusetts injury settlement, 70% will go to Guzman’s family, while 30% will go to Maisonet. The gun manufacturer had sought to have the lawsuit dismissed on the grounds that it should be shielded under the "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act."

As the outcome of this Worcester wrongful death case shows, sometimes, liable parties are individuals and entities that may not have directly caused a Massachusetts injury or death but whose negligence contributed to it happening.

Gun-maker to pay Brady Center $600,000, UPI, July 26, 2011

Mass. gun-maker to pay $600K in gun-death lawsuit, ABC12, July 26, 2011

Continue reading "Massachusetts Wrongful Death and Personal Injury : Gun Manufacturer Settles for $600,000" »

According to Bloomberg.com, Robert Rogers is suing his mother’s hospice provider for wrongful death and elder abuse. His 91-year-old mom Thelma Covington died of sepsis infection triggered by poor circulation and gangrene in September 2008. Just 5 days before her death, 11 maggots had to be removed from an open wound in her toe. When Rogers asked the hospice provider to move his mom to a hospital, he was told that it wasn’t their job to “prepare them to live.”

Vitas Healthcare, which is a unit of Chemed Corp. (CHE), is the largest hospice care company in a now $14 billion industry that has come under fire following a number of civil complaints and whistleblower lawsuits alleging fraud, including Medicare fraud and placing profit before patient care. In one whistleblower complaint, a former social worker for Gentiva Health Services Inc. (GTIV) hospices said that it was her job to make patients think that they were dying even though they weren't. (The accusations are related to alleged incidents that took place before Gentiva took over the chain.) Thinking they no longer had use for medical care and rehabilitative care, these patients would likely have surrendered their right to receive “curative” measures.

Another whistleblower lawsuit that accused another hospice of fraudulently enrolling patients that didn't need to be there was settled with SouthernCare for $24.7 million. Meantime, the federal government is currently investigating Vitas because of accusations that it has been involved in an “extensive scheme” to defraud Medicaid and Medicare of hundreds of millions of dollars through the doctoring of hospice certifications, falsifying of records, and billing for services that were never rendered.

If you are a hospice worker who would like to report fraud in the industry contact our Massachusetts whistleblower law firm today. Should you choose to turn whistleblower and file a complaint on the government's behalf, you could end up receiving part of whatever amount is recovered.

Preparing Americans for Death Lets Hospices Neglect End of Life, Bloomberg, July 21, 2011

Concerns About Costs Rise With Hospices’ Use, NY Times, June 27, 2011

Related Web Resources:
Hospice Association of America

Hospice Medicare Fraud, Fraud Guide

Related Web Resources:
Whistleblowers Expose Medicare Fraud in the Hospice Industry, Boston Injury Lawyer, June 28, 2011

Pharmaceutical Fraud May Be Grounds for Filing a Massachusetts Whistleblower Lawsuit, Boston Injury Lawyer, July 23, 2011

LabCorp Settles for $49.5M Medicaid Fraud Lawsuit Filed by Whistleblower Hunter Laboratories, Boston Injury Lawyer, July 23, 2011

Continue reading "Massachusetts Whistleblower Lawsuits, Hospice Neglect, and Medicare Fraud" »

Did you know that pharmaceutical fraud is one of the most common reasons for False Claims Act recoveries? Not only that, but this type of fraud is costing taxpayers millions annually. If you are an employee working in the pharmaceutical industry and you have information about fraud being committed by your employer, you may want to consider filing a Massachusetts pharmaceutical fraud whistleblower lawsuit and file a case on behalf of the federal government.

Some examples of Pharmaceutical Fraud that may be reason for filing a Massachusetts whistleblower lawsuit:

*Pharmaceutical kickbacks - To get doctors to prescribe/push their products, kickbacks may take the form of:

• Financial compensation for clinical studies, speaker fees, “grants,” or “teaching sessions”
• Free drug samples
• Lavish accommodations, meals, and entertainment during advisory board meetings and “investigator meetings”
• Data fees to insurance companies for information about their members, discounts, joint business ventures, and rebates
• Financial incentives to Group Purchasing Organizations and insurers in exchange for designating a medication as their preferred drug formulary.

*Clinical Trial Fraud – Involves a pharmaceutical company fraudulently manipulating clinical trial data so that a drug is approved by the FDA

*Off-label marketing of drugs for purposes not approved by the Food and Drug Administration

*GMP Fraud- Violations of the Good Manufacturing Practices

*Best Price Fraud

Pharmaceutical companies have had to pay over $4 billion for pharmaceutical fraud cases. As a whistleblower, your qui-tam actions may entitle you to part of the compensation. Contact our Boston Whistleblower Attorneys today.

Related Web Resources:
The False Claims Act legal Center

Fraud and the pharmaceutical industry

More Blog Posts:
LabCorp Settles for $49.5M Medicaid Fraud Lawsuit Filed by Whistleblower Hunter Laboratories, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, July 22, 2011

Whistleblowers Expose Medicare Fraud in the Hospice Industry, Boston Injury Lawyers Blog, June 28, 2011

Continue reading "Pharmaceutical Fraud May Be Grounds for Filing a Massachusetts Whistleblower Lawsuit" »

Six years after Hunter Laboratories acted as a whistleblower to file a Medicaid Fraud Lawsuit against eight medical testing lab companies for allegedly overcharging California’s Medicaid programs and giving medical kickbacks to doctors in exchange for patient referrals, defendant LabCorp will settle the case for $49.5 million. In California ex rel. Hunter Laboratories v. Quest Diagnostics, et al, the plaintiff claims that the companies made Medi-Cal pay up to six times more for testing services than it should have so that they could subsidize the discounts that were offered to the hospitals, clinics and physicians for referrals. Other defendants named in this whistleblower lawsuit: Seacliff Diagnostics Medical Group, Specialty Laboratories Inc., Taurus West Inc., Physicians Immunodiagnostic Laboratory, Inc., Whitefield Medical Laboratory, Inc., and Unilab Corp.

In its whistleblower complaint, Hunter Laboratories claims that as a result it could not compete against these lower rates—especially as the discount prices that the larger labs offered were significantly below costs. The California testing lab contends that the by using the Medi-Cal program, which is publicly funded, to subsidize their discounts, the defendants were able to gain ownership of the bulk of the market.

Under California law, providers must bill Medi-Cal the lowest rates, while bribes, kickbacks, and rebates for referral services that Medi-Cal pays for is not allowed. According to the California Attorney General’s office, which investigated the Hunter Laboratories’ whistleblower claims, some of the defendants had engaged in Medicaid fraud for over 15 years.

Recently, defendant Quest settled the Medicaid fraud allegations against it for $241 million. To date, this is the largest recovery made under California's False Claims Act.

Whistleblower Lawsuits
If you believe that you have grounds for filing a Whistleblower lawsuit on behalf of the federal government for fraud committed against it, you should speak with an experienced Massachusetts whistleblower law firm right away. Not only could you end up eliminating fraud committed at taxpayers’ expense, but also you may be able to receive a percentage of the recovery.

LabCorp to pay $49.5M to settle Medicaid fraud suit, Medcity News, July 21, 2011

Read the complaint (PDF)

Quest Diagnostics settles Medi-Cal whistle-blower suit, Los Angeles Times, May 20, 2011

Related Web Resources:
Medi-Cal

Hunter Laboratories

LabCorp

Continue reading "LabCorp Settles for $49.5M Medicaid Fraud Lawsuit Filed by Whistleblower Hunter Laboratories " »

Joshua Thibodeau, 12, died yesterday after he collapsed during soccer camp at Wachusett Regional High School. He was from Holden.

The official cause of Thibodeau's death is still not known at this time. At the time of his collapse, he was taking part in a “low-speed drill” at the Zalgiris Soccer Camp. Authorities are saying that he didn’t have any known medical conditions.

It is important for those supervising/running athletic activities to make sure that participants are not overworked or become dehydrated or fall ill. In the event that an athlete was to experience problems breathing, injure/sprain a muscle, or start to feel unwell while training or playing a game, it is up to trainers, the coach, and/or medical staff to provide attention and, if necessary, pull him out of practice or the competition so that he/she doesn’t suffer further illness or injury.

Kids, who are prone to listening to authority and may not know when they have hit their physical limits, can be especially susceptible to injury or illness unless they are properly supervised. Even adult athletes can get sick or die if pushed too far and too hard.

Recently, a jury awarded the family of college football player Erick Plancher $10 million for his wrongful death. Coaches allegedly insisted that Plancher “keep going” even after he collapsed the first time during conditioning workouts. Plancher had sickle-cell anemia.

If your son or daughter suffered serious injuries or fell ill while taking part in an athletic or recreational activity that was under someone else’s supervision, you may have reason to pursue a civil claim. An experienced Boston injury lawyer can help you explore your legal options.

DA: Boy Who Died At Soccer Camp Had No Known Medical Condition, CBS Boston, July 19, 2011

Boy, 12, dies after collapsing during soccer camp in Holden, Boston, July 19, 2011

Jury finds UCF negligent in player’s death, Courier-Journal, July 1, 2011

Related Web Resource:
Zalgiris Soccer Camp

More Blog Posts:
Worcester County Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed By Family of Dudley Boy Killed in Massachusetts Escalator Accident, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, June 10, 2011

$7M Massachusetts Medical Malpractice Settlement Awarded to Parents Whose Child Was Born with a Genetic Defect, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, May 6, 2011

Taylor Meyer's Family Settles Norfolk Wrongful Death Lawsuit with Two of the Defendants, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, April 6, 2011

The Food and Drug Administration has issued an urgent public notice warning health care providers and patients against using transvaginal mesh. This medical device is surgically implanted in women suffering from Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI) and Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP). Now, however, following reports of 3 deaths and 3800 injuries linked to the surgical mesh in the last five years, the FDA is encouraging the use of other treatments and alternatives.

Our Boston injury lawyers represent victims with Massachusetts defective medical device claims against manufacturers whose products proved defective or dangerous enough to cause serious injury or death. Patients rely on medical devices to do their job, whether it is support sagging organs, keep one’s heart rate at the right pace, or relieve obstructions in the body. When a device fails, serious health complications and even death can result.

Transvaginal Mesh
Last year, about 75,000 women were implanted with the vaginal mesh to repair their POP. However, according to recent studies, approximately 10% of woman inserted with transvaginal mesh experience the device’s erosion within a year of the surgery. More than 50% of women who experience this complication had to undergo another surgery to take the mesh out. In rare occurrences, the mesh has gotten so enmeshed with scar tissue that it couldn't be taken out. Other possible side effects may include discomfort, painful sexual intercourse, urinary problems, and bleeding.

The FDA will be putting a team together to determine whether the mesh should be banned.

In a recent out of state vaginal mesh lawsuit, one woman is suing American Medical Systems and other manufacturers for products liability. Laura Jones says not only did she experience serious pain and urinary issues after the vaginal sling was inserted in her, but she had to undergo several surgeries before the mesh could be removed. She is alleging breach of warranty, strict liability, fraud, and negligence.

FDA Safety Communication: UPDATE on Serious Complications Associated with Transvaginal Placement of Surgical Mesh for Pelvic Organ Prolapse, US Food and Drug Administration, July 13, 2011

FDA warns against surgical mesh to repair pelvic problems, Boston.com, July 13, 2011

More Blog Posts:
Boston Products Liability: Defective Zimmer NexGen CR-Flex Knee Replacement Devices Can Cause Painful Injuries, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, June 9, 2011

Boston Products Liability Lawsuits Filed Over DePuy ASR Hip Devices, Boston Injury Lawyer, January 4, 2011

Boston Medical Malpractice?: CT Brain Perfusion Scans Can Cause Radiation Overdose, Boston Injury Lawyer, July 31 2010

Continue reading "Defective Medical Device?: Transvaginal Mesh to Treat Pelvic Organ Prolapse May Cause Health Complications, Warns FDA " »

Earlier this year, we published a post on our Boston Injury Lawyer Blog letting you know that patients whose medical records have been lost by a hospital have a right to file a Massachusetts breach of privacy complaint seeking damages. Having unauthorized persons obtain access to this information is no laughing matter. Not only do you not want anyone to know about your medical history, but also, there may be other confidential information, such as your social security number and other private data that you wouldn’t want to end up in the wrong hands.

Today, The Boston Globe reported on a Massachusetts hospital negligence complaint accusing Tufts Medical Center and a primary care physician there of breach of privacy. The plaintiff, 44-year-old Middleborough resident Kimberly White, is claiming that the defendants faxed her medical history and other documents without her permission to her workplace.

White says that the mistake happened after she asked Dr. Kimberly Schelling to send a form for her disability claim to her employer. Instead, the hospital sent over four pages of White’s medical records to a shared fax machine at her place of work. She calls the information “extremely embarrassing” and said that coworkers ended up seeing her medical records. White says that this mistake has impacted her career and exacerbated her medical condition. She also says that she is too embarrassed to go back to her work now that there are people there who know this information.

White is seeking punitive damages. Meantime, the hospital maintains that it did nothing wrong and merely complied with White’s request to provide the information.

Breach of Privacy
Sometimes, an administrative error or inadequate procedures allows this type of breach of privacy to happen. In other instances, the mistake might be human. For instance, Massachusetts General Hospital settled for $1 million a federal breach of privacy case over an employee who left the records of 192 infectious deceased patients on the Red Line.

Lawsuit alleges Tufts faxed patient records to workplace without permission, Boston.com, July 14, 2011

MGH Settles For $1M Over Lost HIV/AIDS Records, WBUR, February 25, 2011

Related Web Resources:
Attorney General Martha Coakley, Mass.gov

http://www.tuftsmedicalcenter.org/default">Tufts Medical Center

More Blog Posts:
Did You Know That If A Massachusetts Hospital Loses Your Medical Records You Have the Right to Sue?, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, March 8, 2011

$2.6M Worcester, Massachusetts Medical Malpractice Verdict Awarded to Man Who Ended Up with Surgical Tack Inside His Small Bowel, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, June 23, 2011

Boston Personal Injury?: Use of Psychotropic Drugs Can Prove Fatal for Some Elderly Patients, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, March 30, 2011

Continue reading "Middleborough Woman Sues Tufts Medical Center for Breach of Privacy and Seeks Punitive Damages " »

Massachusetts drunk driving charges have been filed in a Quincy motor vehicle accident that killed one man and seriously injured two other people early Sunday. The head-on car collision took place at around 12:30am.

According to police, Plymouth resident Anthony Deicicchi was headed south on Quincy Shore Drive when his car swerved into oncoming traffic and struck a 1995 Ford Explorer. The driver of the SUV, a 50-year-old Jamaica Plain man, was later pronounced dead at Boston Medical Center. A 22-year-old man who was riding with him and the 27-year-old Hull man riding with Deicicchi were also transported to the hospital.

Police troopers say that Deicicchi was intoxicated when the Quincy auto accident happened. He faces numerous criminal charges.

There is a good possibility that the family of the man who died in the traffic crash might end up filing a Quincy wrongful death case against Deicicchi and any other parties who may have been responsible for the deadly collision happening. Drunk driving continues to be a leading cause of injuries and deaths on the road and a common reason why someone injured as a result of intoxicated operation of a motor vehicle might decide to sue an inebriated motorist for damages.

A new study by University of California, San Diego researchers reports that although legally a driver who has consumed alcohol is not breaking the law unless his/her BAC is .08% or greater while operating a motor vehicle, having just enough alcohol in the body so that the motorist has a “buzz” can up the chances that he/she will end up in a serious injury accident. For some, this would be a BAC of just point .01% (for many grownups, that's less than half a beer).

The study examined almost 1.5 million accidents that took place in the US between 1994 and 2008. Buzzed” motorists were found to be among those more likely to speed, not use a seat belt, or hit another auto. The researchers believe that the legal limit for alcohol consumption while driving, which is currently a BAC of .08%, should be reduced.

Man killed, 2 hurt in Quincy crash, Boston.com, July 11, 2011

Drunk Driving: Even a Trace of Alcohol Is Dangerous on the Road, Says Study, ABC News, June 22, 2011

Related Web Resources:
Mothers Against Drunk Driving

More Blog Posts:

Continue reading "Quincy Car Crash Kills One Person, Leaves Two Others With Serious Injuries" »

According to a study published in the journal HealthAffairs, plaintiffs abandon the majority of medical malpractice lawsuits before they are resolved in court or with a settlement. The main reasons for this are costs and finding out that a case is not as solid as initially thought. The findings in this report support why it is so important that from the start you are represented by a Boston medical malpractice law firm that understands the nature of what happened and how to prove liability.

The study examined the conclusions of 3,695 Massachusetts medical malpractice claims filed against medical providers between 2006 and 2010:

• 59% of the medical malpractice claims were dropped
• 26% percent were settled
• 15% were adjudicated

Cases were usually dropped at around the 3-year mark, when the stress of a claim starts to take its emotional toll.

Losing someone you love because of medical negligence is a serious matter and proving liability is tough and time consuming. You want to make sure that you are working with a Boston injury lawyer that understand the complexity of your case and can accurately determine early on whether you should pursue your claim. Granted, sometimes certain evidence or facts don’t present themselves until later one after a lawsuit is well underway, but the right legal experience and resources can decrease the chances of such problems later,

There is a lot of evidence that your Boston injury law firm will need to gather and examined to prove physician error, anesthesia mistakes, surgical malpractice, hospital negligence, nursing negligence, prescription mix-ups, hospital-caused infections, wrong diagnosis, delayed diagnosis, birthing malpractice, and other medical mistakes.

Dropped malpractice lawsuits cost legal system time and money, Boston.com, July 7, 2011

Golann: Time to Change Tack on Malpractice Claims, July 7, 2011

Related Web Resources:
HealthAffairs

Medical Malpractice, Nolo

More Blog Posts:
$2.6M Worcester, Massachusetts Medical Malpractice Verdict Awarded to Man Who Ended Up with Surgical Tack Inside His Small Bowel, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, June 23, 2011

Massachusetts Dental Malpractice Can Cause Serious Injuries, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, May 30, 2011

$7M Massachusetts Medical Malpractice Settlement Awarded to Parents Whose Child Was Born with a Genetic Defect, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, May 6, 2011

The Massachusetts Port Authority is asking that it be dropped from the wrongful death case filed by Bavis family. Mark Bavis was on United Airlines Flight 175 when terrorists flew it into one of the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001.

In their wrongful death case, the Bavis family is claiming that the hijackers were to board the plane undetected negligent security because the screeners at Logan International Airport in Boston were poorly trained and unqualified. Massport has responded with its own filing and claims that it played no part in screening passengers and that it had no “causal connection” to the attacks. The agency says that even if better security could have prevented the planes from being hijacked, passenger screening is the job of the airlines and that they are the ones who subcontract the security companies.

Massport has been dismissed from other 9/11-related wrongful death lawsuits that have named it as a defendant and so far has not had to contribute to any of the settlements paid to families. Lawyers for the Bavis family, however, have continued to argue that the airport does play a part in screening and that Federal Aviation Regulations and United States Federal Aviation Administration had charged Massport with overall security at the Boston international airport.

Also, just last week, the Boston Herald reported that new court documents in the case allege that state troopers assigned to protect Logan International Airport prior to September 11, 2001 failed to act on tips that Middle Eastern men had been seen shooting footage of security checkpoints at the airport. The Bavis family’s lawyers say that one of the men casing the areas was a man later identified as Mohammed Atta, the Al-Qaeda 9/11 leader.

Massachusetts Inadequate Security
Generally, if a premise lacked adequate security and this caused a violent crime to occur and someone to get injured as a result, the property owner and the entity tasked with providing that security could be held liable for Boston premises liability. Obviously, the Bavis family’s wrongful death case is not your typical inadequate security lawsuit. It is, however, a prime example of how important that the proper security measures be implemented at an airport—especially in this post-9/11 era when the threat of terrorism is more real than ever.

Massport seeks to head off 9/11 suit, Boston.com, July 7, 2011

Say Logan tips ignored by cops, Boston Herald, July 2, 2011

Related Web Resources:
MassPort

United States Federal Aviation Administration

September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001

Boston Logan International Airport

More Blog Posts:
Wrongful Death: Family of 9/11 Victim Claims Security Screeners at Logan International Airport Did Poor Job, Boston Injury Lawyer, June 21, 2011

Sterling Man Sues Strip Club for Worcester Personal Injury Over Alleged Beating By Club Employee, Boston Injury Lawyer, March 18, 2011

Roxbury Man Killed, Teen Injured on MBTA Bus; Riders Call for Better Security, Boston Injury Lawyer, November 5, 2010