Personal Injury & Wrongful Death

Motor Vehicle Accidents

We handle Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire Motor Vehicle Accident Cases.

Massachusetts Motor Vehicle Accidents: Massachusetts is a modified no-fault jurisdiction. This means that there are certain restrictions on when an injured party may file a lawsuit to recover for damages. Most importantly, the victim’s medical expenses related to the accident must be at least $2,000. In Massachusetts, the injured party’s own motor vehicle insurance is responsible to cover this first $2,000 in medical bills and up to $8,000 if the victim has no medical insurance. This is called PIP or (personal injury protection coverage). PIP coverage is also available to reimburse the injured party for lost wages sustained as a result of the accident. After the PIP coverage is exhausted, your own motor vehicle insurance or health insurance may be responsible for your bills depending on the type of coverage that you have selected.

Connecticut and New Hampshire Motor Vehicle Accidents: In Connecticut and New Hampshire, the insurance company for the at-fault party is responsible for 100 % of the injured party’s accident-related medical bills up to the limits of their coverage. However, the medical bills will not be paid as they accrue. Typically, the insurance company for the at-fault driver will only reimburse the injured party for medical bills as part of a complete settlement of the personal injury claim.

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Claims

If you have been injured because of the wrongful conduct of a an uninsured driver or a driver who does not carry adequate insurance, you may be entitled to seek compensation from your own motor vehicle insurance company. In certain situations you may even be entitled to make such a claim if you have been injured as the result of the wrongful conduct of an unidentified driver. These types of cases are called uninsured or underinsured motorist claims. They are claims against your own insurance company for insurance coverage that you have paid for to protect you and your family. Our personal injury lawyers handle uninsured/underinsured motorist claims in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. This type of coverage is so important that under Connecticut Law, your insurance company must offer you the opportunity to carry twice as much coverage for uninsured/underinsured claims as you carry for liability. To protect yourself and your family, you should always carry as much uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage as you can afford.

Truck Accidents

Our personal injury lawyers handle truck accident cases in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. Truck accidents can have many causes from driver carelessness, to improper loading to the negligent hiring of an unqualified driver to driver fatigue. Often times extensive investigation including accident reconstruction is necessary to determine the cause of a trucking accident. The trucking industry is subject to many regulations which are intended to reduce the risk of accidents, but these regulations are not always followed. If you have been injured in a truck accident it is essential that you contact an attorney immediately in order that an investigation can be initiated and your rights protected.

Pedestrian & Bicycle Accidents

We handle pedestrian and bicycle accidents in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. Pedestrian and bicycle accidents often result in catastrophic injuries or wrongful death claims. Most of these accidents occur outside of a crosswalk or designated bicycle lane. Under these circumstances, insurance companies will often try to blame the injured party. Generally speaking pedestrians are entitled to the right of way, and the same is true of bicyclists as long as they follow the rules of the road.

Dog Bites & Dog Attacks

We handle dog bite and dog attack cases in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. In all three states, the owner or keeper of a dog who injures another person is strictly liable for the victim’s damages and losses. This means that if you have been injured by a dog, you do not need to prove that the dog owner was at fault. As long as you were not teasing, tormenting or abusing the dog, the owner or keeper of that dog is responsible to compensate you for your injuries. Some of these cases, therefore, turn on whether you can prove that the responsible party was indeed the owner or keeper of the dog under the applicable law. Other times a dispute arises as to whether the owner or keeper’s insurance company is responsible to pay for these losses under the applicable insurance policy, which sometimes exclude damages caused by certain breeds. The main issue in most dog bite and dog attack cases, however, is the value of the damages suffered. Commonly these damages include permanent scarring and emotional distress.

Premises Liability: Slip/Trip & Fall Injuries

We handle premises liability cases in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, including slip and fall and trip and fall injuries. Contrary to popular misconception, the owner of a premises is not liable for injuries that a visitor sustained while on his premises solely by virtue of the fact that he is the owner. In order to prevail in a premises liability case, the injured party must prove that the defendant violated a duty owed to the injured party, breached that duty and that breach caused the victim’s damages. Generally speaking, a landowner has a duty to keep the premises in a reasonably safe condition and breaches that duty when he has failed to repair or warn about a defect that he knows or should have known about. However, the scope of the duty that a landowner owes to an injured party depends on what the victim was doing on the land at the time of the fall. For example, a landowner owes a higher duty to keep the premises safe for a customer than for someone who just has permission to use the land. In addition, premises liability cases are often defended on the theory of comparative negligence. This means that the defense attorney and insurance company may argue that even if the landowner was negligent, the victim was more negligent than the owner because he didn’t look where he was going.

Product Liability Claims

As personal injury lawyers we also handle product liability cases in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. A company cannot design, manufacture or distribute a product that is defective or unreasonably dangerous. If they do and the product causes harm, the company is required to compensate the injured party for his harms and losses.

Wrongful Death Claims

We handle wrongful death cases in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire. Wrongful death claims may arise from any type of personal injury or medical malpractice case. Although no amount of money can ever make up for the death of a loved one, grieving families are entitled to fair compensation when a wrongful death has occurred. The types of compensation that is available in a wrongful death case varies from state to state, as does the persons who are entitled to the damages.

Massachusetts has a wrongful death law which provides that the decedent’s next of kin may recover damages including: funeral and burial expenses, the net income of the decedent which the next of kin could have reasonably been expected to enjoy as well as the loss of the services, protection, care assistance, society, companionship, comfort and guidance of the decedent. Punitive damages are also available in certain cases.

In Connecticut and New Hampshire, the wrongful death action belongs to the decedent’s estate, and the law provides that the estate may receive compensation for the funeral and burial expenses, medical bills, income that the decedent could have reasonably been expected to earn over the course of his or her life as well as the most important losses—the joys of life, such as the love and affection of family and friends.

Only the legal representative of the estate may pursue a wrongful death claim. If you suspect that you have lost a loved one as the result of a wrongful death and there was no will, you will need to be appointed as the legal representative of the estate. If our wrongful death attorneys accept your case, we can also assist you in handling this petition.

Traumatic Brain Injuries

We handle traumatic brain injury cases in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. Brain injuries can result from any type of trauma to the head. A person can sustain a brain injury from a motor vehicle or motorcycle accident, slip and fall or trip and fall or medical malpractice. Sometimes brain injuries are easy to diagnose, such as when there has been a puncture to the skull. In the case of a closed head injury, however, diagnosis is much more complicated. In these situations, the victim may exhibit personality changes, emotional disturbances, inability to concentrate, confusion and irritability. These symptoms can worsen over time. These symptoms can be permanent and they can dramatically change the victim’s life. The problem with traumatic brain injury cases is that sometimes these symptoms can be subtle and difficult to detect. In fact, sometimes the symptoms may be invisible to all but the victim’s immediate family and close friends. If you or a family member has suffered a traumatic brain injury as the result of wrongful conduct it is important that you work with a qualified team of medical providers, including a neuropsychologist, in order to diagnose the true extent of the damage and identify what therapies will be necessary to minimize the effects on the injury. It is equally important that you work with an attorney who is committed to ensuring that you receive full and fair compensation for the damages and losses—no matter how hard they are to detect.