Blog | Boston Personal Injury Lawyers Blog

More Pedestrian Car Accidents in Boston Last Night

January 26, 2017

There were two more pedestrian car accidents last night. According to the Boston Herald on Thursday January 26th.

Two pedestrians were struck and injured by cars last night in separate, unrelated accidents, and became the latest pedestrians to become victims of car accidents in Boston.

Last night a walker was hit about 7:55 p.m. near Dana and Hyde Park avenues. The Boston police responded, and the driver remained at the scene.

The second pedestrian accident was near State Street and Surface Road about 9:15 p.m. A young woman was hit by a dark-colored SUV. The SUV remained at the scene. The woman transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Read more about the pedestrian car accident trends in the Herald Article.

Find Out If You Have A Pedestrian Car Accident Case

If you have suffered an injury and need a boston pedestrian car accident lawyer, contact us for a free confidential case review and receive a response within hours, or call (617) 886-0500. Read more about pedestrian car accident settlements.

Increase in Boston Pedestrian Accidents

January 25, 2017

According to the Boston Herald on Wednesday January 25th, there has been a rise in pedestrian car accidents.

If fact there were a total of 9 pedestrian accidents on Tuesday January 17th (One pedestrian was even in a wheelchair.)

This marked an 18-month high in America’s Walking City that has some fearing Boston is losing the effort to keep the city’s streets safe for pedestrains.

In 2016, 904 pedestrians were injured in car accidents, according to city data this is a 15 percent jump from the 789 pedestrians hurt car accidents in 2015.

Read more about the pedestrian car accident trends in the Herald Article.

Find Out If You Have A Pedestrian Car Accident Case

Introducing the Dean’s Cabinet at Suffolk University Law School

January 11, 2017

In June, Dean Andrew Perlman established the Dean’s Cabinet, described as a “distinguished community of loyal benefactors” who each commit $50,000 to the school and meet with Perlman to offer advice, enhance Suffolk’s profile, and encourage law school friends and colleagues to advance Suffolk’s mission. The cabinet currently has 12 alumni members. Members must pledge at least $50,000 and agree to five-year terms on the cabinet.

Boston Personal Injury Lawyer, Eric J. Parker JD’86, co-founder of Parker Scheer LLP, donated to the Accelerator-to-Practice Program, a three-year course of study that includes cross-training in law firm management and legal technology. “It’s one of the most innovative and essential programs Suffolk has adopted,” he said.

As Parker put it, “The legal market is radically different than it was when I came up; we need to work together to help our school and our graduates adapt to the new normal.”

Read The Full Article in Suffolk University Law School Magazine.

Tragedy Hits When Concentration Can’t Withstand Digital Distractions

January 11, 2017

Amid reports of a startling increase in traffic fatalities and the role of electronic devices in distracted driving accidents, a family who lost their daughter are suing Apple for encouraging distracted driving with its FaceTime app.

The Modisettes were driving with their daughters Isabella and Moriah on interstate I-35 just north of Dallas when the car was hit by another car after it slowed down to anticipate traffic caused by an accident. Their daughter Moriah, who was just 5 years old, was extracted from the wreck and eventually died from the injuries she suffered. Officers who stepped in at the scene found that the driver who hit the family was on FaceTime at the time of the crash.

According to Insurance companies, via the New York Times, electronic devices are increasingly implicated in distracted driving deaths. The New York Times also reports that the increase in highway fatalities is the biggest in 50 years. There is confusion about how much distraction drivers can take on the road, with some suggesting that even the warnings and prompts from some newer vehicles can cause distraction, and that hands-free technology only takes some of the risk out of distracted driving.

However effective their efforts, technology and auto companies have begun to endeavor to combat these digital distractions by reducing distraction as much as possible, but the Modisettes’ argument was that Apple hadn’t even made their best efforts to do that. The case revealed that Apple had the patent for a safer version of its “FaceTime” app, which would prevent people using the app from while driving, but had failed to implement it.

The Modisettes argued that Apple had the technology to shut down the app while a user was driving since at least the end of 2008, and more specifically, the company possessed the capability to use GPS tracking to measure the speed of a vehicle in which a user was traveling. Given that the app goes beyond audio to engage the user in visual activity, the family argued that the distraction was a particularly dangerous one.

With traffic fatalities on the rise and insurance companies placing the blame on digital technology, auto and technology companies need to respond to the potential for harm by designing their products with drivers in mind.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a distracted driving accident involving digital technology such as SnapChat or FaceTime, please contact the boston car accident lawyers at Parker Scheer for a free, confidential consultation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/business/tech-distractions-blamed-for-rise-in-traffic-fatalities.html?ref=automobiles&mtrref=www.nytimes.com&gwh=168E9073745B3A460AA83A3B6687570C&gwt=pay

http://courthousenews.com/family-sues-apple-over-wreck-caused-by-facetime/

Wilmington Nursing Home Sued Over Accidental Death

January 6, 2017

According to an article in the Boston Globe, A recent lawsuit was filed against Woodbriar Health Center, and its owners Synergy Health Centers. Synergy Health Centers is based in New Jersey. The firm owns ten more nursing homes in Massachusetts.

The lawsuit alleges, that the nursing home was not adequately staffed. 83-year-old Mary Meuse, died from internal injuries sustained after being dropped on Christmas day. Meuse suffered broken legs and was on blood thinning medication and then later died from internal bleeding.

A spokeswoman for Synergy Health Centers, wanted to “reiterate what we said at the time [of the accident.] We are saddened by the passing of one of our residents and our condolences go out to her family. We continue to work with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to ensure that we are doing all we can to keep our residents safe.”

Unfortunately nursing home accidents like these are common in the Boston area and throughout the Massachusetts. If you need an attorney to file a claim against a nursing home, please contact Susan Bourque, who leads the Nursing Home Injury Practice at Parker Scheer LLP 617 886-0500.

Do Electric Cars Endanger Pedestrian Safety?

December 22, 2016

As distracted driving continues to assert itself as a factor in more and more traffic deaths, one safety issue with newer cars has the opposite effect and goes under the radar. Designers spend a lot of time getting the audio signals right for various driver assistance features and even speaker systems to reduce distracted driving, helping drivers in bigger vehicles talk to passengers in the back without turning around.

But while drivers may be protected, pedestrians may be increasingly vulnerable to accidents involving hybrid or electric cars that don’t make noise. At low speeds these vehicles are virtually inaudible.
The NHTSA has several times delayed putting a rule on pedestrian safety sounds into effect that could protect vulnerable pedestrians — despite being urged by the Department of Transportation.

Some cars, like the Nissan Leaf have systems like the Approaching Vehicle Sound for alerting pedestrians, but others, like the Tesla Model S, do not have them. As yet, there is no industry standard for electric vehicle warnings. Designers have encountered problems with designing sounds that not only alert pedestrians to the approach of a vehicle, but also from where it is approaching. Lower frequency sounds don’t do this as well. Higher frequency sounds do better but require more volume, which could cause distraction to a driver. Currently pedestrians may be at risk from electric cars that don’t have alert sounds, and as yet there are no rules to ensure these standards are in place.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a pedestrian accident involving an electric car, please contact the expert Boston Pedestrian Accident Lawyers at Parker | Scheer LLP today for a free, confidential consultation. (617) 886-0500

For more on this topic, please consult the following article: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/automobiles/autoreviews/a-vehicles-sound-system-can-be-a-matter-of-life-and-death.html?_r=0

Edibles Could Be a Significant Issue in Pot Product Liability

December 20, 2016

Cannabis’ danger to mental health isn’t something that has been fully clarified, despite recent moves to legalize in Massachusetts and elsewhere. Studies to determine whether or not it is responsible for psychosis have been inconclusive. Unfortunately, for the family of Richard Kirk, the debate is irrelevant to their personal loss. A lawsuit against a company that sold Mr. Kirk a bite-size marijuana edible alleges that the store failed to warn Mr. Kirk against the potency of the product he was purchasing at a licensed dispensary in Colarado. Mr. Kirk’s criminal defense attorney claims that the paranoia and hallucinations he suffered as a result of eating the pot candy caused him to shoot and kill his wife. Mr. Kirk’s three children have brought a civil lawsuit against the dispensary and the manufacturer of the product.

When Massachusetts makes it legal to sell recreational marijuana (it is currently only legal to use), the state’s ability to use the information out there on THC and marijuana intoxication will be tested when labeling and packaging according to state and industry requirements.

Other product liability issues with marijuana include vaporizing using small batteries that boil the THC and CBD. These vape pens heat cannabinoids, and there are concerns about safety, including whether propylene glycol, the fluid often mixed with cannabinoids in vape pen cartridges, is safe to inhale. In addition to concerns about the effect of burning propylene glycol, it seems that some vape pens are tested to a higher standard than others, so there may also be a risk of burn injuries.

Parker Scheer are top-rated personal injury attorneys who can assist with any product liability query you may have. Please contact us for a free and confidential consultation today.

For more information, please consult the following articles:

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc1413069
http://www.natlawreview.com/article/cannabis-industry-burning-batteries-tasty-treats-and-budding-product-liability

“Everyday” Drugs like Tylenol Responsible for Nearly Half of Acute Liver Failure Cases

December 10, 2016

Acetaminophen is a common over the counter drug that many rely on to treat everyday aches and pains. Just because it’s widely available however, doesn’t mean it’s safe.

A report published in the medical journal Advanced Critical Care warns that the chief among a number of drug classes linked to drug-induced liver injuries is acetaminophen. Acetaminophen drugs account for 46% of all cases of acute liver failure in the U.S. As it is an over the counter drug, it’s easy for consumers to exceed the recommended therapeutic dose. However a crucial point is that there is quite a narrow margin between recommended doses and overdoses that may cause serious liver failure. Sometimes consumers slip up by combining multiple different acetaminophen-based medications.

The many lawsuits now pending nationwide allege that Johnson & Johnson overstated the safety and reliability of Tylenol and failed to warn consumers about the risks of taking acetaminophen for long periods of time. Through withholding important safety information about the risk of liver damage they failed to protect individuals from the risk of death or severe liver damage.

Find Out If You Have A Product Liability / Defective Medication Case

If you or a loved one has been affected by liver damage caused by an acetaminophen-based drug, please contact a Defective Medication Lawyer for a free confidential case review and receive a response within hours, or call (617) 886-0500.

Do Nursing Home Chains Sacrifice Safety for Profitability?

December 10, 2016

The bigger a nursing home chain gets, the more profit may be placed above care, or so it seems when we take a look at the case of Pennsylvania company Genesis Nursing Homes. Genesis was until recently a trusted care facilitator in Massachusetts and elsewhere, but its growth and its standard of care have been markedly at odds in recent years. Having doubled in size in the past four years to become the largest owner of nursing homes in Massachusetts and nationwide, since 2010 almost half of the nursing homes that Genesis owns have seen their ratings by federal regulators decline. An attorney quoted by the Boston Globe says the problems families are reporting, such as pressure sores and broken bones from falls, are typically seen when nursing homes do not have enough staff to monitor and care for residents.

Inspectors described stark conditions in the Twin Oaks nursing home in Danvers: grimy floors and bed linen smelling of urine. Administrators at the Maplewood Center in Amesbury admitted to inspectors that they were so short-staffed that an activities director and an admissions executive fed patients. A resident with a high fever died from an untreated urinary tract infection at a facility in Meadow View Center in North Reading. The administrators agreed to pay a a $56,000 federal fine after the incident.
Confidential nursing home agreements mean that it is not even possible to discuss the cases brought against Genesis and other big nursing homes by residents and their families. With frail and elderly clients, mistakes like feeding someone the wrong food can cost lives.

Nursing homes across the country are being bought and sold at a rapid rate, according to the Boston Globe report, as companies compete to own facilities with higher profit margins or higher-paying patients. Harvard medical school policy experts have found a direct link between standard of nursing homes as reported by inspectors and the amount of time a nursing home was sold within a ten year span. It’s not clear whether this link means that nursing homes that were already below standard and/or have low running costs are more rapidly bought and sold. Either way the Harvard policy experts have urged federal regulators to pay closer attention and have more information available to consumers. At the very least consumers deserve to have reliable sources of information when choosing nursing homes to care for their family members. Family members and residents of nursing homes should expect care to focus on patients’ needs and not the bottom line.

If you or a loved one has been affected by a poor standard of care at a nursing home, please contact the attorneys at Parker Scheer for a free, confidential consultation.

For more information please consult the following article: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/12/10/nursing-home-giant-stumbles-amid-expansion/C94JGnaByi1fdN4DbCDc1L/story.html

Eric Parker Contributes Expertise to BBA’s Practice Launch Workshop

November 25, 2016

The Boston Bar Association’s small practice launch workshop was both a vital refresher course and fresh-start for attorneys getting a handle on law practice management. Whether starting out or needing to acquire new tools, the hands-on program was designed as a crash course for attorneys focused on running a successful solo or small practice. From technology to marketing and financial management, the course covered the hands-on expertise that small practitioners and firm owners must acquire in order to stay on top of the demands of running a small firm. Exercises for participants included how to create a business plan, practice-based hypotheticals, and networking opportunities. As one of Massachusetts’ highest rated small practices Parker Scheer is honored to have the opportunity to share our expertise and experience in such a well-designed learning environment.