Personal Injury Law Firm Burns & Jain Injury Blog

We have been practicing law in Boston and throughout Massachusetts since 1985. I have represented clients in District Courts, Superior Courts, the Appeals Court, Housing Court, Probate Courts, Federal Bankruptcy Court and the Federal District Court.

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Child Safety in Massachusetts Playgrounds

Can we make Massachusetts playgrounds safer for children? 2,973 children were injured on Massachusetts playgrounds in 2009. Nationally, the number was over 70,000 per year in the years 2001-2008, and 67% was from falls or playground equipment failure. According to the National Program for Playground Safety (NPPS), there are ways to make playgrounds safer. In a case in Melrose, where we represented the parents of a two year old who fell from a playground ladder and broke his leg, the cause of the fall was determined to be poorly maintained ladder rungs – the rungs were steady until the top rung — which rotated, causing our client to fall and break his leg on the hard ground. Further, our expert witness determined that there was insufficient bark mulch, or padding, on the landing.

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Legal Malpractice Insurance For Negligence In Massachusetts

We represent victims of legal malpractice in Massachusetts. Generally, our client alleges that his or her attorney was negligent when the attorney was handling the clients’ case. When the attorney has professional negligence insurance, the insurance company, upon notice of the claim, steps in and provides counsel and, in the event of a settlement or judgment, indemnifies, or pays, on the claim. On the other hand, in a recent case when an attorney and his former firm had a fee dispute, they tried to invoke the malpractice insurance policy, saying that “an act or omission in the performance of legal services” invoked the insurance, both to pay for the defense and to indemnify, or pay, any judgment. Federal Judge Ponsor, sitting in Springfield, however, found that the dispute was a business dispute, and not a negligence issue. The Court, however, in Clermont v. Continental Casualty Co. v. Freedman, DeRosa & Rondeau LLP, found that it was a “business decision”.

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Massachusetts Parents to Protect Children’s Injuries

Massachusetts child injury lawyer notes that over 3,300 children are injured each year from falling out windows. About 8 children die each year from such injuries, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Thus, the National Safety Counsel has established this week as National Window Safety week. The experts recommend the following: install (quick release) window guards to protect children; keep furniture away from windows; double hung windows should be opened only at the top; remember that screens keep bugs out, not children in; teach children to play away from, and not near, windows.

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Massachusetts Teenager Texting While Driving Kills 55-year-old

In our personal injury law blog we normally refrain from filing articles about individual collisions, choosing to focus on studies or trends we see, and avoiding the sensational and tragic. However, as a Massachusetts wrongful death attorney and auto accident trial lawyer, we felt the need to report on a Haverhill collision which resulted in the death of a 55-year-old Danville man, with injuries to his passenger who was treated at the Massachusetts General Hospital after the crash. News reports from the Lawrence Eagle Tribune indicate that a 17-year-old was driving while texting on River Street in Haverhill last month. The district attorney’s office charged the youth with Massachusetts motor vehicle homicide and texting while driving in Massachusetts.

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Massachusetts Car Accident Lawyer Reports on Justice Scalia’s Traffic Ticket

According to news we received this morning from Washington, D.C., United State Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia was issued a traffic ticket by the U.S. Park Police for following too closely when his motor vehicle struck the vehicle in front of him on his way to work. The collision caused a “chain reaction” with four cars and the justice’s car being towed from the scene. Most importantly, no one reported personal injuries at the time.

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Red Light Cameras in Massachusetts to Aid in Safety

In 2009, 676 people in the United States were killed and 113,000 injured in collisions at red lights, according the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System. While the Massachusetts Legislature debates allowing our communities to decide whether to install cameras at traffic lights in order to catch and deter red light violators, numerous organizations have spoken out in favor of the idea. Foxboro Police Chief Ed O’Leary proposed the idea back in 2006 and was shut down in his community. Southern New England AAA spokesperson Mary Maguire said, “We feel that in urban locations where there are a substantial numbers of infractions, we see evidence that red light cameras can deter red light running.” New York, California, Florida and our neighbor, Rhode Island are among the 27 states that allow red light camera laws.

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Commercial Landlords Responsible for Injuries to Tenants Too

Historically, Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 186, Section 19, has provided residential tenants with recourse if they sustain injuries on premises caused by the landlord’s negligence. The law reads that upon notice, a landlord must “exercise reasonable care to correct the unsafe condition” that she is notified of. The law gives potential victims of injuries from landlords two ways of notice: certified mail from the tenant or notice from the board of health or other code enforcement agency.

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