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According to a recent news article from the Worcester Telegram, a 63-year-old truck driver was sentenced to probation in connection with a fatal truck accident involving a semi tractor-trailer and two pedestrians. The fatal truck accident occurred in Worcester in 2015.

police lineProsecutors have said defendant was driving an 18-wheeler when he noticed a fire truck behind him with its emergency equipment activated. Defendant immediately pulled over to the right side of the road, as he was legally required to do. However, when the fire truck passed, and he attempted to pull forward, things went horrible wrong, according to court records. Continue reading

While most car accidents involve a vehicle crashing into other vehicles or even pedestrians, there are numerous cases in Boston each year around the Commonwealth wherein a vehicle crashes into a business or residence. These can be among the most damaging types of crashes, since there are often people in these structures that have no idea a car or truck is about to come smashing through the wall. In addition to the personal injury possibility, there is often a great deal of property damage that results as well.

car crashAccording to a recent report from NECN, one local woman crashed her car into the storefront of a local business in Natick, Massachusetts, just outside the city of Boston. The driver was seriously injured in the crash and was rushed was to a local Boston trauma center. The exact cause of the crash was not known in the days following the accident, and the condition of this driver was unknown as well.First responders were called to the scene of this serious car accident around noon to discover, after speaking with witnesses and examining the damage, that she first crashed into a fire hydrant and then crashed into the building, which was actually shared by two separate businesses. As most people would assume, crashing into a fire hydrant will cause serious damage to a vehicle, unlike what is often portrayed in the movies and on television. While it can result in a geyser of water being shot into the air, in places like Boston, it likely will not, because the valve is well below ground level to prevent this from happening. Continue reading

According to a recent news article from the Salem Patch, a 51-year-old man died as a result of injuries he sustained during a serious car accident. However, first responders were actually on the scene for another fatal accident when they discovered the second fatal accident.  These accidents are not believed to be related.

car accidentLocal police and Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) personnel were called to the scene of a crash of a 57-year-old man.  This first accident scene was on an on-ramp to a highway, and this was about 7:30 a.m. While these officers were investigating the first wreck, they observed a pickup truck that had managed to crash through a metal guardrail and was upside down in a ditch behind the guardrail.When they went down into the embankment, they found the truck empty, but located the driver near the heavily damaged vehicle.  He was not responsive when first responders arrived.  Paramedics did what they could to stabilize this victim and rushed him to a local level-one trauma center, where he was rushed into surgery.  Unfortunately, his injuries proved too severe, and doctors pronounced him dead a few hours after he arrived.   It appears that there was initially some confusion as to the order of these two fatal car crashes, but it is suspected that both accidents were unrelated single vehicle crashes. Continue reading

According to a recent news article from the Miami Herald, and entire family was killed in a single car accident.  While every car accident, even fatal ones, do not generally make headlines in a large city as they happen far too often, accidents like this are almost too horrific to truly comprehend.

police lineAuthorities have said the accident occurred when a family of five where riding in new Chrysler 200 on their way back from a trip to Georgia.  They were traveling on Interstate 75 when they veered out of their travel lane and slammed into a large tractor-trailer that was stopped in the breakdown lane of the highway.   Continue reading

Everybody tries to find the best car insurance rate. That is why it is common for people to shop around for the best quote.  This is why we see so many commercials for car insurance companies.  Some people have a lot of assets to protect and want to purchase a policy that will cover the full extent of any damages they do if they cause a serious or even fatal car accident.  Others may have a bad driving history and want to only get the minimum coverage as required by law.

phoneRegardless of which type of policy you may be interested in purchasing, the cost of that policy is likely to go up, according to a recent news article from the Boston Globe.  The reason for that impending rate hike has to do with an increase in distracted driving, if the car insurance companies are to be believed.  However, it should be noted that car insurance companies are for-profit businesses and are often far more concerned with their respective bottom lines than they are about people paying affordable rates and accident victims getting the financial compensation they rightfully deserve.

While distracted driving could be caused by any number of distractions, these days, as our Boston car accident lawyers have seen in far too many cases, we are often dealing with a driver using a smartphone while traveling down the road. Even taking your eyes off the road for a fraction of second can be enough to cause an accident. Continue reading

The doctrine of respondeat superior (Latin for “let the master answer”) holds that an employer can be vicariously liable for the actions of an employee who is acting in the course and scope of employment.motorcycle

That sounds fairly simple, but there is actually a lot to unpack in that statement. For example, vicarious liability means the company can be liable even if it didn’t directly do anything wrong. There is also the distinction between, say, an independent contractor, and an actual employee. Questions might also be raised about whether a worker was acting in the course and scope of employment, even if he or she wasn’t technically on-the-clock.

This brings us to a recent case out of California, considered by the California Court of Appeals for the Second Appellate District, Division Five. The car accident injury lawsuit involved a motorcyclist who was struck by a man driving a taxi. The taxi driver turned left into the path of the man on the motorcycle, who was ejected from his bike. The motorcyclist suffered serious injuries as a result and filed a lawsuit against not just the driver, but the the company whose insignia and branding was emblazoned on the vehicle.  Continue reading

It is possible to pursue a Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding and a personal injury lawsuit simultaneously. But it has to be approached with caution. After all, we don’t choose to be a victim of negligence, and sometimes, it doesn’t happen at the most opportune financial point in our lives. It is to your advantage in this situation to hire an injury lawyer with full understanding of the complexity of both bankruptcy and injury law, and the ways in which these proceedings – one in state court and one in the federal system – can impact one another. piggybank

In a recent case before the Virginia Supreme Court, a plaintiff was ultimately denied the opportunity to pursue her injury lawsuit because she improperly failed to exempt her negligence claim in her bankruptcy filing.

According to court records, plaintiff was involved in a motor vehicle accident in February 2012. Soon thereafter, she saw her primary care physician and complained of back and neck pain radiating into her head, causing her to suffer a severe headache. An MRI indicated she was suffering from disc protrusion. Doctors treated her with steroid injections, and she was also assigned to physical therapy and sessions with a chiropractor. These treatments weren’t effective, however, and she ultimately underwent surgery.  Continue reading

Massachusetts courts do recognize that when a driver suffers a sudden medical emergency immediately prior to a car accident, he or she cannot be found liable for the crash. Applicability of the sudden medical emergency doctrine continues to be weighed by courts in the Commonwealth, as the defense always raises questions as to whether the medical emergency was foreseeable (i.e., was it sudden seizure or someone who knew they had epilepsy? etc.), and also whether strict liability may apply anyway.bus driver

Some states have considered sudden medical emergency to be an absolute defense against liability in a traffic accident (see the Ohio Supreme Court’s 2003 decision in Roman v. Estate of Gobbo).

Recently, the Utah Supreme Court considered this issue, finding that strict liability can still be imposed on a driver who suffers sudden incapacity. The case involves a motor coach driver who suffered a sudden and unforeseeable loss of consciousness.  Continue reading

Many people drive as part of their daily work routine. Some do so specifically to further the business of their employer. In cases where an at-fault driver was acting in the course and scope of employment, the employer may be found vicariously liable for its employee’s negligence – even if the employer wasn’t in any way directly negligent (i.e., negligent hiring, negligent supervision, failure to properly maintain vehicle, etc.). van

However, when someone has permission to use a company-owned vehicle both for work and personal reasons, questions of liability can get complicated.

This was the matter at hand in a recent case weighed by a California appellate court, where the question was whether the at-fault driver’s personal insurer should be liable to pay a $500,000 arbitration award for a crash that happened while the driver was operating a company vehicle, but not in the course and scope of employment.  Continue reading

As the season for spring break fast approaches, a community in Illinois is marking 10 years since a fatal car accident claimed the lives of five teenagers, all friends at a local high school. Several other youths were seriously injured, and one woman was sent to prison for drunk driving.teen

The Chicago Tribune reports the losses were deep not only for the families of those left behind, but for the entire community who mourned the 14-to-17-year-old’s who would never graduate high school, head off to college or start families of their own.

The incident occurred in 2007, when a young woman went to pick up her younger sister from a private residence where several teens had been drinking until a parent arrived and broke up the gathering. She offered one of the intoxicated teens a ride home, but soon ended up with a car full of kids. However, the 23-year-old, herself a young mother, was drunk too. She crashed her vehicle into a utility pole. The crash killed two 14-year-old’s, a 15-year-old, a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old. Three others were seriously injured. All attended the same high school. Continue reading

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