Boston Personal Injury Lawyer - Miscellaneous

Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Hannaford for Data Breach

Chrissie Cole — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 19:18:31 GMT

A class action lawsuit was recently filed against Hannaford Bros. on behalf of the consumers whose credit card and debit card numbers were stolen when the company's computers were hacked.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday, in the U.S. District Court in Portland and claims the supermarket chain was negligent in providing adequate computer data security.

The class action lawsuit follows a security breach that compromised 4.2 million credit card and debit cards leading to over 1,800 fraud cases.

Hannaford discovered the breach on February 27, upon further investigating they found the data breach began on December 7 and wasn't contained until March 10.

All 165 Hannaford stores located in New England and New York were affected, as well as 106 Sweetbay stores in Florida.

While this security breach is ranked as one of the largest in U.S. history, it is smaller than the 45.7 million credit and debit cards that were exposed at TJX Cos., in 2005.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chrissie Cole

Pool Drain Lawsuit Filed Because of Drowning

Jenny Albano — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:31:29 GMT

Parents of a boy who drowned filed a lawsuit Monday, January 28 against the town of Greenwich, Shoreline Pools, and others. The 6 year-old drowned when his arm became caught in a powerful swimming pool drain. The lawsuit, by Brian and Karen Cohn, alleges that the pool safety violates safety requirements that were instated after many similar tragedies.

The lawsuit, which seeks damages of more than $15,000, alleges Shoreline had a history of violating building code requirements and accuses the town of failing to conduct a proper inspection before issuing a permit.

Zachary, the 6 year-old boy, became trapped after his arm became stuck in the intake valve on the wall at the deep end of the pool. When the water enters the intake valve there is a great amount of suction. When he became trapped on July 26, 2007, the father and another adult jumped in to try and save him, but unfortunately the suction from the intake valve was to strong.

The boy's parents could not find a mechanism to turn off the suction pump, so Karen Cohn ran and shut off power to the house, including the pool's drain pump. Brian Cohn was then able to free his son and perform CPR, but it was too late.

According to the lawsuit, there have been more than 150 reported drain entrapments since 1985 and over 48 deaths. There have also been other serious injuries such as disembowelment. In 2004, Connecticut made new safety requirements for pool circulation systems.

The lawsuit states that the swimming pool the boy drowned in did not live up to the minimum safety standards and that there are seven code violations that could cause entrapment.

For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Wrongful Death.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jenny Albano

Settling Cases

Ken Margolin — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 12:15:00 GMT

Fifteen years ago, the idea of formal mediation of a serious personal injury case in Massachusetts, was cutting edge stuff. Settlement of most cases took place the old-fashioned way, via phone calls or meetings between counsel and at times, insurance adjusters. Today, by way of contrast, a look at the advertisements in the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, shows more than 30 ads for alternative dispute resolution. Many of the ads are by ADR companies that maintain substantial lists of professional arbitrators and mediators. Many a lawyer, especially those who have practiced for many years, and a significant number of retired judges, lend their experience to the alternative dispute resolution movement. In addition to commercial ADR firms and individuals, are numerous court-operated ADR services.

Some old timers - fewer and fewer in number - long for the good old days when "real" trial lawyers would prefer the jury verdict to settlement. The fact is that juries are inherently unpredictable. Even in cases of wrongful death or catastrophic personal injury, some compromise in a sure settlement is usually preferable to the vagaries of a jury trial. Still, the plaintiff's lawyer must be prepared to take the case to the jury if the insurance company misjudges and offers too little to settle. And as is true for trials, obtaining a good settlement at mediation requires thorough preparation and skilled presentation, so the message is clear that the case is trial-ready should settlement efforts fail.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ken Margolin

Virginia Tech Faulted in Student Deaths

Ken Margolin — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 10:30:00 GMT

An eight-person panel, appointed by Virginia Tech. President, Timothy M. Kaine, issued its report yesterday, on the April 16th multiple murder at the school. The panel said that lives could have been saved if the school administration had issued a timely warning that two students had been murdered. The two were killed approximately two hours before the killer proceeded to another building and murdered 31 more people. The report did conclude that more than the initial two students would likely have been killed, even if the school had acted promptly. The panel also faulted the school for not sufficiently responding to the mental problems of the murderer - student, Seung-Hui Cho. It's depressing to think that an unhinged mass murderer afoot on a college campus, has to be "reasonably foreseeable" in the language of tort law. Given Columbine, the college murder in Montreal, and other mass murders on school properties, that may be the reality in the early 21st century.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ken Margolin

The Expert Witness Industry

Ken Margolin — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 14:45:00 GMT

Many serious personal injury cases, and pretty much all products liability and medical malpractice actions, require expert witnesses. The experts testify on topics including the mechanism of injury, industry standards or medical standard of care, the plaintiff's medical condition, economic loss, and others. Local experts may not want to testify against a professional or company in their own state, for fear of being ostracized.

The problem of the reluctant expert is particularly acute in the medical malpractice arena. In response to this problem, a sizeable industry has grown, providing expert witnesses for attorneys on every conceivable topic. The pages of lawyer professional publications are filled with ads for companies promising to procure top flight experts; the internet is all the more overflowing with these companies. While expert search and procurement companies are invaluable resources for plaintiff's lawyers, they do not replace the attorneys need to be very careful when selecting an expert.

The experts who list with the placement companies range from superbly qualified and good testifiers, to hacks, long-retired experts out of date on their subject matter, and experts well-qualified on paper who could not speak plainly and simply to a jury if their life depended on it. It's always best for the plaintiff's lawyer if he can find the right expert through personal knowledge or recommendation. If he has to go to an expert placement company, he needs to be dogged in finding an expert who knows his stuff and who will perform well at trial.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ken Margolin

Protecting Consumers from Binding Arbitration Clauses

Ken Margolin — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:20:00 GMT

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 individuals who take the time to pursue justice, will be an acceptable cost of doing business.

Two Democratic congressmen, Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Representative Hank Johnson (D-GA), propose to protect Americans from many binding arbitration clauses. They have introduced the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007. The Act would declare pre-dispute binding arbitration clauses in the context of employment, consumer, franchise, and civil rights disputes, to be invalid and unenforceable. People Over Profits, sponsored by the American Association for Justice, backs the bill. The People Over Profits web site explains the bill, and makes it easy to let your senators and representatives know that you want the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007, enacted into law.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ken Margolin

This article has been moved.

Jenny Albano — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 22:07:57 GMT

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jenny Albano

Back to Business

Ken Margolin — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 14:45:00 GMT

District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Judith Bartnoff, ruled in favor of the defendant dry cleaning shop owners in the $67 million dollar pants case (media now describe it as the $54 million dollar pants lawsuit, but why quibble). Life gets back to normal for the American civil justice system, but some damage has been done. Opponents of access to justice by ordinary people, and trial lawyer bashers, have been provided with years of material by Administrative Law Judge, Roy Pearson, who started the sad affair with his lawsuit. Trial lawyers have to do consistently better with their story telling. The pants story may have amused some readers, but shouldn't have the emotional impact or staying power of the stories of victims of corporate greed or medical negligence, who triumphed through the courts.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ken Margolin

Caution - Made in China

Ken Margolin — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 17:55:00 GMT

China's much-reported industrial rise will have many impacts in this country, many positive, but some troublesome. By now, most of us are aware of the tainted pet food ingredients, originating in China, and responsible for the deaths of a number of pets in this country. Recently, a warning was given to avoid toothpastes made in China. Now, toys made in China are under the gun. The New York Times reports that all 24 toys that the U.S. government has recalled this year for safety reasons, have been made in China. Twenty-four out of twenty-four recalled dangerous toys, made in one country, tells us something is seriously wrong.

Child deaths and injuries from defective toys devastate families every year. China's problems shouldn't surprise us. We need only recall our own industrial revolution in the 1800s, when safety always gave way to growth, innovation, and profits. Concern and legal rights for workers harmed in dangerous workplaces and consumers injured by dangerous products, is a relatively modern American phenomenon. China may one day come around as well. For now, giant retailers who sell in this country, need to be held to the fire to put in place the safety measures that do not exist in China, so that Americans are protected.

For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Defective and Dangerous Products.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ken Margolin

Blog with Care

Ken Margolin — Thu, 31 May 2007 01:00:00 GMT

A great front page article in today's Boston Globe, told of a doctor on trial for medical malpractice, who used his blog site to comment on the ongoing trial. The doctor's blog name was "flea." The case against him was serious, alleging that his negligent failure to diagnose diabetes, resulted in the death of a 12 year old girl, from diabetic shock. The free-blogging doctor had been commenting harshly on the plaintiff's attorney, claiming that some jurors occasionally dozed during testimony, and regaling the blogosphere with the excellence of the consultant who trained him on how to answer questions to win over the jury. Somehow, the plaintiff's lawyer discovered the blog site, and at the end of the day, asked the defendant, on cross-examination, "are you `flea?'" After the doctor acknowledged his blogging identity, the day ended. The case settled before any more testimony was taken. Apparently, the defense didn't want to risk testing how much of the defendant's blog writings could be used on further cross-examination. To paraphrase the words of the Dierks Bently country and western song, "I know what he was feeling, but what was he thinking?"

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ken Margolin