W. Thomas Smith and Marianne LeBlanc, Principals of Sugarman and Sugarman, P.C., were guest speakers at the 5th Annual Thomas F. Lambert, Jr. Conference: “New Theories of Tort Recovery.”
The conference brought together top legal practitioners, judges and academics to reflect on how the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is restating tort law in a trilogy of negligence cases involving: Social Host Liability, Premises Liability and Medical Liability. Speakers focused on the implications of new torts decisions in the trial of cases. The conference provided the best available guidance on discovery, trial tactics, and practice pointers in the three complex negligence areas.
The topic of Tom’s lecture was, “Where do we go after Coombes and Leavitt? The Plaintiff’s Perspective.” In his lecture, Tom discussed Coombes v. Florio and the follow-up decision in Leavitt v. Brockton Hospital, Inc. - both involving a physician’s liability to a non-patient. As a result of the Court’s reasoning in both cases, Tom sees a substantial decline in the rights of injured victims and a weakening of the duty owed to non-patients by the medical profession.
The focus of Marianne’s lecture, “The New Test for Liability in Premises Liability,” was to shed light on the newly shaped guidelines for premises liability. In her lecture, she cited two cases that may dramatically reduce the number of cases dismissed on summary judgment: Sheehan v. Roche Bros. Supermarkets, Inc. and Papadopoulos v. Target Corp.