All Topics

• Jury System Still Safe in Massachusetts

  Ken Margolin | April 10, 2007 2:45 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  I got a momentary scare the other day, when I read of a Supreme Judicial Court decision upholding a binding arbitration contract between a nursing home and the son of an elderly parent admitted to the home. Binding arbitration agreements require that if there is a dispute between the parties, resort to the courts and juries is waived in favor of submission to a professional arbitrator. The case...

• Staff Abuse of Clients with Developmental Disabilities

  Ken Margolin | April 06, 2007 10:55 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  It's not often discussed outside of professional settings, but the issue of sexuality and developmental disability, poses ethical dilemmas. In fact, a book on the subject, bears that exact title: Ethical Dilemmas: Sexuality and Developmental Disability, Dorothy M. Griffiths, Ph.D., et al., ed., NAAD Press, Kingston, NY 2002. Professionals who work with individuals with developmental...

• Pedestrian Accidents

  Ken Margolin | April 05, 2007 7:00 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  A few years ago, the National Safety Council ran a television ad showing a deadly car crash, with the superimposed message, "he was right - dead right." I don't know if the ad stopped any accidents, but its message was undeniably true - when on the roads, drivers have to put safety over pride. Sometimes, the best course is to give the right of way to the car, that by rights, shouldn't have it....

• Massachusetts Personal Injury Update

  Ken Margolin | April 04, 2007 7:00 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  Verdicts and settlements reported in this week's Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly newspaper, show the continued appreciation by jurors, of the terrible impact that severe injuries can have on the victim's enjoyment of life. Obstetrical negligence resulted in permanent neurological injuries to an infant, when the obstetrician failed to go to the hospital in a timely manner to deliver his patient's...

• The Power of Demonstrations

  Ken Margolin | April 03, 2007 1:45 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  Trials are interesting events. Plaintiffs' lawyers must recreate events that took place a few years ago. The key to engaging a jury is to make them forget that the events were in the past, and make them come alive for the jury. If the jury experiences the events that injured the plaintiff as if it were happening in the present, the likelihood of a successful result is greatly improved. In a...

• Dangerous Toys Update

  Ken Margolin | April 02, 2007 1:45 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  Reports on dangerous toys will be a recurring topic on this blog. Intended for harmless fun, recklessly manufactured toys continue to maim and kill children. U.S. PIRG reports that 292 children have died in the US between 1990 and 2005: a rate of between 11 and 25 per year. The majority of these deaths (57%) are due to choking or asphyxia. In late 2006 the CPSC ordered a recall of a Mattel...

• Insurers' Wrongful Refusal to Pay

  Ken Margolin | March 27, 2007 7:00 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  Today's Boston Globe, carried an article exposing a growing problem as predictable as it is disgraceful - long term care insurers refusing to pay for long term care when it is finally needed. With people living longer, and many in the baby boomer generation acknowledging that they could one day require nursing home or other long-term care, long term care insurance is a booming business....

• Don't Let your Rights Slip Away

  Ken Margolin | March 23, 2007 5:40 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  Most people have heard the term "statute of limitations," and have a vague idea that it creates some kind of time limit for legal action. Many people do not realize, however, how devastating a statute of limitations can be when it expires and extinguishes the right to pursue a valid lawsuit. Victims of a serious injury, or their family members, often suffer a type of emotional numbness when it...

• Dangers from Above

  Ken Margolin | March 21, 2007 4:10 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  I'm not a deer hunter, but I have a few friends who are. They tell me that the reason why hunting deer from a tree stand is so successful, is that deers have no natural enemies who prey on them from trees. Deers don't look up to spot potential dangers. Humans are similarly at risk from objects falling from above them. Some truly catastrophic brain injuries, crushing injuries, and deaths, have...

• Swimming Pool Accidents

  Ken Margolin | March 20, 2007 1:45 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  Swimming season is not far off, and with it will come the inevitable swimming pool tragedies. Most likely to experience pool accidents are children, usually because they fall into pools while supervising adults are not present. Persons with backyard pools who have children, or whose neighbors have children, are therefore advised to install appropriate fences, door alarms and/or pool covers to...