Premises Liability

December 29, 2014

Jockey Files Boston Injury Lawsuit Against Suffolk Downs After Sustaining Horse Racing Injuries

Andria Terrill, a jockey who sustained serious injuries when racing a horse at Suffolk Downs in 2013, is suing the East Boston track. She got hurt when the 3-year-old horse she was riding stumbled as it was heading out of the gate.

According to the Boston Globe, Terrill, then 30, fell off, losing consciousness and landing on the track. She sustained multiple fractures to her skull. According to her Massachusetts injury lawsuit, she continues to suffer balance issues, headaches, dizziness, problems with focusing and concentrating, and emotional instability. Now, she claims, that she won’t be able to race again.

Terrill is blaming Suffolk Downs contending that racing officials did not enforce Massachusetts’s safety helmet standard for jockeys. Because of this, she says that she did not wear the type of helmet that would have protected her from her injuries. She wants the racetrack to pay her $1.3 million for her Boston personal injuries, including loss of earnings.

December 23, 2014

Family Files Boston Elevator Accident Lawsuit Against Fenway Park

by Altman & Altman

The family of Elisabeth Scotland is suing Fenway Sports Group for injuries she sustained in a Boston elevator accident. The woman, 22, suffered critical injuries earlier this year when she fell into the elevator shaft at Fenway Park.

The plaintiffs, in the Massachusetts premises liability case, say that Scotland was on the fourth floor of the ballpark waiting for an elevator when she lost her balance, fell into the shaft, and went down two stories. She landed on top of the elevator car.

Scotland sustained spinal injury, traumatic brain injury, dental damage, and facial fractures. The official state report says that she bumped into the elevator door after jumping on her father, hugging him, and jumping off him. That was when she struck the elevator door and it opened.

November 21, 2014

Massachusetts is Still Behind in Elevator Inspections

by Altman & Altman

According to a report by Massachusetts auditor Suzanne Bump, the state’s Department of Public Safety is running behind on elevator inspections, which are supposed to be conducted on registered elevators every year. As of October 2012, over 14,200 of the approximately 39,000 registered elevators are running despite an expired inspection certificate. Over 1,700 have certificates that expired more than four years ago. Bump says elevators that go uninspected are a safety risk. This is especially true when there is an elevator defect or malfunction that goes unchecked and is not repaired.

Also according to the report, most elevator owners applied to have their elevators inspected on time but got stuck in the backlog. A Public Safety Department spokesperson noted that since the audit, the agency has been taking “significant’ steps to catch up with inspections and compliance is now beyond 80%. The report, however, claims that the department’s database isn’t accurate, which makes it hard to get a sense of how much progress has really been made in getting caught up on inspections.

The report comes more than ten years after another state audit reported similar issues with elevators undergoing timely inspections. Back then, elevator owners were identified as part of the problem for the delays because of their failure to apply for inspections.

November 13, 2014

$1.2 Million Massachusetts Personal Injury Lawsuit Blames Pumpkinfest for Man’s Health Issues

by Altman & Altman

Dwayne St. Marie is suing the organizer of Pumpkinfest for Massachusetts personal injury. St. Marie claims that loud music and smoke from the yearly festival in 2011 caused him to suffer a major cardiac incident. He is seeking $1.2 million in compensation.

At the time of the 2011 Pumpkinfest, St. Marie resided in an apartment overlooking the festival site in Turner Falls, MA. He says that smoke from a vendor under his home and the music playing at the event caused him to suffer a migraine headache while weakening his respiratory and cardiac systems. St. Marie blames organizer Michael Nelson or the festival volunteers for putting a food vendor with exhaust vents in a spot where there were upper-story residences.

In his response, Nelson is seeking to have the Massachusetts injury case dismissed. He claims that St. Marie’s health issues are results of the plaintiff’s own negligence, which he believes is more than any negligence on the defendant’s part. St. Marie is seeking $39,288 for medical costs, $951,913 for lost income, and $250,000 for unspecified damages.

October 30, 2014

Mechanical Failure May Have Caused Deadly Halloween Hayride Crash

by Altman & Altman

According to officials, a mechanical issue may have caused the Jeep serving as the Gauntlet Haunted Night hayride vehicle at Harvest Hill Farms to go down a hill at rapid speed, strike a tree, and overturn earlier this month in Maine. 17-year-old Cassidy Charette sustained fatal injuries in the crash. 22 others were injured.

Charette was with seven other students from her high school for their annual hayride when the tragic vehicle crash happened. Among the injured were two with critical injuries, including 16-year-old Connor Garland and David Brown, 54, who was driving the Jeep. Garland was transported to Boston Children’s Hospital. According to Fox News, Brown was hauling a flatbed trailer as part of the ride.

Following the hayride accident, State Police impounded the 1979 Jeep CJ5a. A safety probe was conducted.

September 19, 2014

Fraternity Under Investigation For Alleged “Date Rape” Drugs at Party

by Altman & Altman

Tau Kappa Epsilon, a fraternity at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is under investigation over allegations that some of its members inserted date rape drugs into the beverages of party attendees. According to police, several of the girls who attended the festivities had trouble standing or walking and experienced lapses in memory afterwards. Two of them had to go to the hospital. All of them had a red X on one of their hands, which was drawn on them while they were at the party.

Putting the drug Rohypnol, also known as a roofie, into someone ‘s drink has become a means of incapacitating someone prior to sexual assault. According to the search warrant affidavit, one of the women accused the fraternity of also trying to roofie women at another party the night before. Others said that on Friday, cups were placed below the bar while the drinks were made. Tau Kappa Epsilon’s chapter at the university has been suspended pending the investigation’s findings.

This is the same fraternity that last year was investigated over allegations involving three sexual assaults. No charges were filed in those probes.

September 2, 2014

Boston University Student’s Family Sues Apartment Landlord for Massachusetts Wrongful Death

by Altman & Altman

A year after 22-year-old Binland Lee died in an Alston, MA apartment fire, her family is suing the landlord for her Boston wrongful death. Binland, a Boston University student, got trapped in her attic bedroom.

According to her loved ones, the landlord, Anna Belokurova, had rented Lee a bedroom in illegal apartment that had a faulty alarm system and not enough exits. Also named as Alton, MA wrongful death defendants are property owner Belokurova, Gateway Real Estate Group, two real estate brokers, and a real estate agent.

A Boston Globe Spotlight investigation reconstructed that tragic incident in April 2013. It reported ongoing problems of overcrowding at the building.

August 21, 2014

Two Young Girls Rushed to Hospital After Yarmouth Swimming Accident at Cape Cod Hotel

by Altman & Altman

Two sisters, ages 9 and 12, were flown to Children’s Hospital in Boston after they were pulled from the bottom of an indoor swimming pool at the Bayside Resort in Cape Cod. Witnesses say that the girls were rescued from the Yarmouth, MA near drowning accident after family members and guests noticed they were in trouble.

An uncle was supposed to be supervising them when the swimming accident happened. There was no lifeguard on duty at the time.

The two girls, who are from New York, were in Yarmouth on vacation. As of Wednesday night, police were reporting that the sisters were in serious to life threatening condition.

August 12, 2014

Why returning to work after an injury may be a hassle, according to GENEX study

by Altman & Altman

Last year more than three million American employees experience a work-related injury. For employers this represented around $1 billion per week, in addition to the employees’ social costs. Aside from the financial loses, employees may also be face other disadvantages because of their injuries: if employees are off work for more than six months, they have less than a 50% chance of returning to the workforce. It is an imperative then to establish effective measures to aid employees return to work.

Instituting official return-to-work programs has proven a successful strategy in many private organizations. Firms with RTW programs are 1.4 times faster than those without one in returning the employee to work. That translates into about 3-4 weeks of a time difference. However, in spite of the advantages, not all firms –especially small ones –possess an established RTW program.

Even with an official RTW program in place, employers often face barriers to provide effective, immediate care. According to GEXEX Services, LLC, one of the nation’s largest providers of managed care services, these are the top five barriers return-to-work programs face:
Continue reading

August 7, 2014

Whale-watching boat breaks down; tourists forced to spend a night at sea

by Altman & Altman

A popular whale-watching boat escapade turned into a sea nightmare for many Boston tourists. On July 29th the Cetacea, an 83-foot-long whale-watching boat run by Boston Harbor Cruises, abruptly stopped about 13 miles off the Boston Long Wharf shore, when a 7-inch liquid natural gas cable wrapped around one of its propellers. Unable to be mobilized back to land, the tourists had to spend the night at sea on plain air, while diver teams detangled the cable.

Although no injuries were reported, around twenty of the 163 passengers became seasick during the 17-hour-long ordeal. They also had to endure a chilly Boston night, since the boat had only a limited number of blankets available, forcing some passengers to use trash bags as ponchos. The boat had also limited amounts of food, only chips and snacks, which the crew gave out to the passengers. It was not until hours later that the Coast Guard came to rescue with blankets and paramedics.

The Coast Guard and the boat captain determined it unsafe to transport passengers back to land on another vessel, since the ocean was too rough that night.

The limited resources on the boat and the lagging communication between the crew and the tour company made some passengers question the company’s boat safety regulations.

“I am legitimately concerned about the safety planning,” Passenger Stuart Raifman, 66, told the Boston Globe. “I don’t think there was a plan, and if there was one, I don’t think it worked very well.”
Continue reading