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• Home Depot's Falling Merchandise

  Ken Margolin | August 01, 2007 3:30 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  Obtaining data on the number of people injured at big box stores such as Home Depot, is difficult. The information is guarded like state secrets. Data generated in litigation, however, has revealed that the big box giant, Home Depot, has had an ongoing problem with falling merchandise killing and maiming customers. One lawsuit revealed that in the late 1990s and early 2000s, more than 2,200...

• Protecting Consumers from Binding Arbitration Clauses

  Ken Margolin | July 26, 2007 6:20 PM | 2 CommentsBoston, MA

  Big corporations love binding arbitration clauses. They are hidden in many contracts, requiring the individual to give up his or her right to a jury trial in the case of a dispute with the company. Some clauses attempt to block class actions. When large corporations are safe from class actions, they can cheat large numbers of people in small increments, knowing that paying off the few...

• A Victory Against Trucking Fatalities

  Ken Margolin | July 25, 2007 12:45 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  The federal Appeals Court of the D.C. Circuit, struck down new rules of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, that would have allowed big rig truckers to drive many more consecutive hours. The case was brought by Public Citizen, a public safety advocacy group, and other groups formed to protect the public against tired truckers. The Appeals Court held that the federal agency had not...

• Can I Sue if I Receive Workers Compensation?

  Ken Margolin | July 20, 2007 3:30 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  I have been asked this question many times over the years by clients who have received serious personal injuries at work. Workers compensation pays the injured employee regardless of whether the employer or anyone else was negligent, and even if the employee's own negligence contributed to his injuries. Worker compensation laws are essential, but they are something of a devil's bargain. The...

• Hasbro Easy Bake Oven Recall

  Ken Margolin | July 19, 2007 4:50 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  Underscoring the continued hazards to children, created by poorly designed toys, Hasbro recalled its Easy Bake Oven. Nearly a million of the toys have been manufactured. The oven is intended for young children. It is a small plastic replica of a real oven, electrically powered, that heats up internally to as hot as 400 degrees farenheit! No surprise - children have been getting burned - and...

• Failure to Communicate can be Deadly

  Ken Margolin | July 12, 2007 9:00 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  Imagine a plane crash in which the co-pilot knew of another plane on a collision course, but decided not to tell the pilot, figuring he'd get the information on his own. Imagine a firefighter knowing a roof is about to collapse, but failing to warn his colleagues because he thought his colleagues were highly skilled and the signs of impending collapse were obvious. Unthinkable? Of course. Yet,...

• This article has been moved.

  Jenny Albano | July 11, 2007 10:07 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

• Victims of Medical Malpractice Face a Hard Fight

  Ken Margolin | July 11, 2007 11:45 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  This week's Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly newspaper reported a defendant's verdict in a sad case. The plaintiff had suffered a massive stroke leaving him paralyzed on half of his body and with other terrible deficits. The allegation was that the stroke was caused due to mismanagement of lung surgery following pneumonia. The case was tried by an attorney considered to be a very fine plaintiff's...

• More Insurance Company Fraud

  Ken Margolin | July 06, 2007 11:05 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  Several days ago, I posted a blog on bad faith denial of claims by insurance companies. I don't usually write blogs on the same topic within several days of each other, but I must comment on the superb reporting on insurance company bad faith, in this month's issue of Trial magazine. Trial is the journal of the American Association for Justice, the plaintiffs' trial lawyers association. The...

• The Serious Car Accident Case

  Ken Margolin | July 05, 2007 12:45 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  For many years, small car accident cases resulting in modest injury, were the bread and butter of a portion of the Massachusetts plaintiffs' personal injury bar. Some firms had hundreds of these cases, which were prepared in cookie cutter fashion, and settled with adjustors with little or no discovery done, or even before suit was filed. Reputable lawyers handling the small car accident case,...