Recent Wins for Clients

Pre-trial settlement for man with diabetic neuropathy who sustained severe burn injuries to both of his feet when he was allowed to soak them in scalding water during a pedicure treatment at a spa in Western Massachusetts. Although he alerted the staff to the fact he had diabetes, the staff did not monitor or check the temperature of the water while they allowed the man to soak his feet for nearly 20 minutes before emptying the water, re-filling and beginning the treatment. The man’s diabetic neuropathy limited his ability to sense how hot the water was. After the treatment, his skin began to fall off his feet and ankles and he needed extensive treatment, including multiple skin grafts and surgeries.

In a labor and delivery medical malpractice case, SUGARMAN attorneys obtained a settlement for an expectant mother in labor, after she was administered four times the dosage ordered by the physician of medication to slow contractions. This preventable medication error resulted in the mother suffering from cardiac symptoms and requiring an extended hospital stay with increased monitoring for the well-being of the child.

In a premises liability case, settlement for man who slipped on large patch of ice as he was checking out of his short-term rental of a room in the Boston area. Claim was made against the rental property as well as property next door, whose leaching of water ran down the sidewalk, before freezing in front of the properties. The client suffered a severe ankle injury requiring surgery. The case was resolved through a settlement with the insurance companies for both properties.

SUGARMAN attorneys obtained a settlement for an 80 year-old pedestrian who was struck by a vehicle while crossing the street in a crosswalk in a Boston neighborhood. She suffered hip and knee injuries, and underwent a long recovery. She had been previously lively and independent in all aspects of her life, and her injuries drastically affected her lifestyle.

Settlement on behalf of a family of four seriously injured in head-on collision on a two-lane road in Western Massachusetts. The other driver admitted to having had little sleep after heavy substance use the night before, and was criminally convicted of negligent operation of a motor vehicle, among other charges. SUGARMAN attorneys were able to resolve the case through a settlement for the full insurance limits of the defendant driver as well as the limits of the family’s underinsured motorist coverage in their own insurance policy.

Pre-suit settlement for the full amount of the available insurance proceeds for a landscaper who was run over by an SUV in the driveway of the home he was working at. The home owner apparently did not see the worker as he rode on a lawnmower, struck him, and ran over his leg with the car. The worker sustained severe crush injuries to his leg requiring multiple surgeries and was permanently disabled from manual labor. SUGARMAN was also able to obtain a favorable reduction in the claimed workers’ compensation lien.

A 37-year-old union laborer was severely burned when an electric blanket imported from China and sold by the defendant distributor caught fire as she was sleeping. As with many products imported from China, the distributor did not know the name of the company that designed or manufactured it. The blanket had been given to the plaintiff as a “door prize” by a local business, who was also a defendant. After the fire, SUGARMAN’s attorneys took possession of the remnants of the blanket and secured several exemplar blankets as well as competing models of electric blankets. SUGARMAN engaged an expert engineering firm, which concluded that the subject blanket did not have the required, as-advertised overheating protection, and was therefore defective. The plaintiff sustained deep partial and full thickness burns to both feet and her right leg requiring multiple painful surgeries and grafting, and which left the plaintiff with permanent scars and associated pain and stiffness. SUGARMAN’s attorneys were able to settle the case at mediation prior to filing of a lawsuit.

Shortly after arriving at a short-term rental vacation property, the 77-year-old plaintiff was walking up the stone steps from the backyard patio to the home. On the stairs, she lost her balance and fell, landing on her back and hitting her head against the flagstone patio. The plaintiff sustained a significant traumatic brain injury. She underwent surgery to address her hemorrhages; was discharged to a rehab hospital for a month; and spent an additional month at a nursing home. Since her injury, her ability to care for herself declined rapidly, she experienced worsening medical issues, and her husband of over fifty years became her caretaker.

Suit was filed against the owners of the vacation rental property and the company that rented it. SUGARMAN’s attorneys, with support from a Building Code expert, maintained that the failure of the stone patio steps to have handrails was a violation of the Massachusetts Building Code. The case settled at mediation during discovery in the lawsuit.

Settlement of claim resulting from accident on I-495 in Chelmsford, MA. The driver of a commercial truck fell asleep at the wheel and rear-ended the plaintiff’s car on the highway. Following the crash, the plaintiff developed vertigo with numerous symptoms that impacted her daily life and her work as a registered nurse.

Pre-trial settlement for resident of apartment complex who slipped and fell on black ice while trying to make her way to her car on the South Shore of Massachusetts. The defendant property owner and the contractor it hired to perform snow and ice work at the property failed to monitor for winter weather events and failed to apply salt to the walkways despite the forecast calling for freezing rain in the hours leading up the plaintiff’s fall. The plaintiff underwent two surgeries to repair her ankle.

The plaintiff was riding his moped to work when a vehicle veered into his lane without warning or signaling, causing the plaintiff to fall off his moped and onto the roadway, resulting in a significant ankle fracture. SUGARMAN attorneys were able to resolve the case through a settlement for the full insurance policy limits of the defendant driver.

Settlement in medical malpractice case for a 72-year-old woman whose routine bloodwork showed significant abnormalities in kidney function that were not relayed to her for over a year, leading to permanent kidney damage. The defendant physicians disputed who had access to or received the test results, as they were ordered by one provider and later performed at the plaintiff’s primary care physician’s office. The defense argued that earlier intervention would not have mattered, but the plaintiff’s expert, a local nephrologist, disclosed strong opinions to the contrary. Settlement was achieved for the patient after several years of litigation.

Wrongful death claim recovery for the two children of a 48-year-old man who died from a pulmonary embolism at a Central Massachusetts hospital when a radiologist misread an ultrasound ordered to determine whether the patient had blood clots in his leg. When the ultrasound was read as negative, the patient was discharged from the hospital, only to collapse in the parking lot and tragically die soon after.  Following extensive discovery over several years, the plaintiff’s estate resolved the case against the defendant radiologist.

Recovery in medical malpractice case for adult children of a 64-year-old man who was discharged prematurely from the hospital after suffering a cardiac event. The physician placed the patient on a portable heart monitor, which the physician believed would detect any abnormalities, rather than keeping the patient in the hospital. Hours after the discharge, the heart monitor showed a treatable but life-threatening arrhythmia that the heart monitoring company did not address, leaving the man to die in his home. The case was litigated vigorously for six years including a discovery complaint and over a dozen depositions, settling only a couple of months prior to trial.

SUGARMAN’s attorneys were able to secure a settlement on behalf of a client who sustained multiple bites to her face by a friend’s dog in Western Massachusetts. The bites required surgical repair of the client’s lip and permanent scarring. The case was favorably resolved without the filing of a lawsuit.

Settlement for family of 55-year-old woman who was tragically killed when a motorist lost control of his car and crossed over the median strip of a major highway, causing a head-on collision.

Settlement of wrongful death claims for the estate of a 39 year-old live-in caretaker who died from carbon monoxide poisoning in the home of her employer, a 90 year-old woman, who also passed away at the employer’s Massachusetts home. SUGARMAN attorneys filed suit against the owner of the property, a trust that named the elderly woman’s son as trustee, for failure to have working carbon monoxide detectors. After obtaining a preliminary injunction requiring the trust to place all proceeds of the sale of the home into escrow, the plaintiff settled with the trust before pursuing claims against an HVAC company who negligently serviced and maintained the home’s furnace, which had improper ventilation. The estate settled with the HVAC defendant shortly after the claims were filed. The caretaker, a Jamaican immigrant, left behind three adult children.

Settlement for 20-year-old Boston area college student who was struck by a car as he rode his bicycle home after dark. The operator of the vehicle left the scene but witnesses and the police tracked him down and criminal charges were filed against him. The bicyclist suffered significant lacerations and puncture wounds to his legs resulting in skin grafting as well as a fractured hand. SUGARMAN attorneys facilitated a settlement with the driver’s insurance as well as with the bicyclist’s own insurer through underinsured motorist benefits on an out-of-state policy.

Settlement for construction worker who tripped and fell on a dangerous condition at a construction project in Boston. The defendant general contractor at the jobsite failed to identify, mark and/or remove a tripping hazard left behind during the demolition phase of the project. The plaintiff was working as a carpenter and was caused to trip and fall over the hazard, resulting in bilateral rotator cuff tears that required surgical repair. Due to complications from his injuries and surgeries, the plaintiff was unable to return to his job as a union carpenter. SUGARMAN attorneys were able to obtain a favorable settlement of the case after mediation and just prior to trial.

Settlement and favorable workers’ compensation lien reduction for worker who received an electrical shock and pursuant nerve injury on a construction site. The defendants failed to “de-energized” an overhead wire in the construction zone and the plaintiff’s shock occurred as he was helping to guide a fabricated roof hanging from a crane which came into contact with the wire. SUGARMAN attorneys were able to favorably settle the case for the worker prior to discovery and the expense of litigation.

Settlement for 76-year-old man who was struck from behind by a delivery truck while walking on the side of the street in Brookline, MA. The pedestrian suffered facial injuries including an orbital fracture.

Settlement a week before trial on behalf of patient and his wife for permanent spinal cord injury suffered during placement of a spinal cord stimulator at a Boston-area hospital. The defendant surgeon ignored signs that part of the stimulator was compressing the patient’s spinal cord, both during surgery and in the hours following. By the time the surgeon acted to remove the stimulator, the damage was irreversible. The patient sustained a spinal cord injury at T-12 and was left essentially wheelchair-bound. SUGARMAN’s attorneys brought the case to the eve of trial before the insurer for the surgeon settled the case.

Settlement against crane maintenance and repair companies just days before trial in Middlesex Superior Court for worker who fractured most of the left side of his body after receiving a shock from an overhead crane and falling approximately 25 feet to the ground below. The worker was in the process of repairing a railing when he engaged the remote control for an overhead crane he was using to hold the railing in place. He immediately felt a strong electric shock, lost his balance and struck the mid-section of the railing, which broke. He then fell approximately 25 feet to the ground and was emergently taken to a Boston hospital. Through discovery and depositions, SUGARMAN’s attorneys were able to learn that several of the plaintiff’s co-workers had previously received smaller electrical shocks and, in the weeks before the plaintiff’s fall, had reported them to one of the defendants who supposedly investigated, found nothing, and told the co-employees that it was safe to continue using the crane. After a failed mediation and vigorous pre-trial motion practice, the plaintiff settled against one of the defendants. The case then was fully settled several days before trial after the video trial deposition of the plaintiff’s medical expert.

Obtained recovery on behalf of an eighty-nine-year-old woman who was admitted to a southern Massachusetts hospital for cardiac evaluation. She was evaluated to be a significant fall risk, but when she was taken to radiology for an x-ray to confirm pacemaker lead placement, the radiology technician had her stand unassisted and she promptly fell. She suffered a facial laceration and an elbow fracture, which required surgery and physical therapy.

Settlement on behalf of family of a 19-year-old man who passed away by suicide after being wrongfully discharged from a mental health facility with a tentative diagnosis of schizophreniform disorder. Before discharge, the patient was sad, flat, and anxious about discharge and had been for days and his new antipsychotic medication was in flux and its effectiveness was in question. He was discharged for outpatient care and took his own life the following night. The family brought a claim for wrongful death against the facility and providers responsible for his untimely discharge.