Recent Wins for Clients

Settlement on behalf of young husband and father who was struck from behind by a fuel truck during the morning commute towards Boston. The impact of the accident was severe and the plaintiff was diagnosed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage and two compression fractures in his lumbar spine. Although he did not undergo surgery, the plaintiff was rendered totally disabled from his physical job and still suffers from his injuries. After pre-trial motions were decided, SUGARMAN attorneys were able to resolve the case just days before trial.

Pre-suit wrongful death recovery for wife of patient who died of an aortic rupture. The patient presented to a hospital north of Boston after experiencing severe chest pain and nausea. As part of his work-up, the patient underwent a chest CT scan. Although the radiologist interpreted the study as normal, the scan actually revealed a large hematoma surrounding the aorta which should have been highly suspicious for an aortic leak or tear. The patient was discharged to his home after a 3-day hospital admission. A week later, the patient died suddenly after collapsing. An autopsy revealed that the tear or leak had ruptured, resulting in the patient’s death.

In an arbitration of a car accident claim, SUGARMAN’s attorneys obtained a substantial award on behalf of a client who suffered facial scarring after he was hit from behind while stopped in his car at a red light in Brockton, MA. SUGARMAN initially recovered the full amount of the insurance policy from the driver that struck the client before making a claim against the client’s own motor vehicle insurer through the policy’s underinsured motorist coverage. After rejecting the insurer’s settlement proposal, SUGARMAN’s lawyers obtained an arbitration award over 12 times more than the insurer’s offer.

Settlement for 65-year-old nurse who was struck from behind in her car when a motorist lost control of her car on a public way in Peabody, MA. The nurse suffered from intractable headaches due to post-concussion syndrome and was unable to work for a period of over one year.

Pre-suit resolution of claim of 50 year-old woman against a national transport company and its insurer. The woman sustained permanent injuries when a shipping container fell off a tractor trailer and into her lane of travel on a road in Littleton, MA. She was unable to avoid the accident and her car collided with the container.

Settlement for 50-year-old man who brought personal injury malpractice claims after his dentist caused a 3 cm dental file to drop into his throat during a routine dental procedure, resulting in surgery to extract the file, and lengthy hospitalization and permanent scarring.

Settlement for family of 55-year-old woman who was tragically killed in a motor vehicle accident on I-95 in Essex County. The defendant driver lost control of his car, crossed over a median strip and struck the woman head-on.

Settlement for a forty-six-year-old man following orthopedic surgeon’s failure to use proper technique during shoulder surgery at a Greater Boston hospital, resulting in the bending of implanted hardware. The hardware issue could have been quickly corrected without damage to the patient’s shoulder joint, but was instead ignored by the surgeon leading to breakage and the need for a significant grafting and repair surgery. The case settled during the initial stages of discovery, which is rare for a medical malpractice case.

Pre-trial personal injury settlement for young father who suffered permanent back injuries after a driver crossed a double yellow line into oncoming traffic near the Salem-Marblehead border. At the scene, the defendant driver admitted to the police that she became distracted while reaching for her phone, but claimed at her deposition that she never made that admission and that the plaintiff had actually crossed the double yellow line into her lane of travel. SUGARMAN’s lawyers were able to disprove these claims, in part through photographs taken at the scene, and the case resolved just before trial against the driver and her insurance company.

Recovery in a medical malpractice claim for emotional distress by parents of a baby born with a genetic blood disorder. The defendant doctor, a labor and delivery physician in the Boston-area, failed to review and inform the parents of the results of a routine blood test until shortly before the baby’s birth. SUGARMAN attorneys were able to settle the case for its clients before a lawsuit was filed.

Settlement for 35-year-old man and his child following surgeon’s failure to use proper technique during thoracic spine surgery, resulting in the patient’s being paralyzed from the waist down. The surgery took place at a prominent Boston hospital. The case settled following extensive discovery, and just before the depositions of the intraoperative neuromonitoring personnel, whose notes contradicted the surgeon’s timeline of the events that led to the patient’s injuries.

Recovery for the family of a 21 year-old man who died at a Boston-area hospital when an Emergency Department physician failed to establish an airway after the patient had a severe allergic reaction resulting in anaphylactic shock. The physician and others unsuccessfully attempted intubation multiple times but delayed placing a surgical airway, which would have prevented the patient’s death. Following extensive discovery over several years, the defendant resolved the case a short time before trial.

In the largest reported plaintiff’s personal injury settlement or verdict of 2022, SUGARMAN Principals Ben Zimmermann and David McCormack obtained a recovery on the eve of trial for a 26-year-old whose vehicle was struck by a tractor-trailer that hit and tipped over a temporary barrier dividing lanes of traffic in a construction zone on a highway in Central Massachusetts. Through years of litigation in federal court, SUGARMAN was able to demonstrate that the general contractor and engineering firm for the project selected a light-weight steel barrier that did not meet the project’s specifications and that the manufacturer of the barrier withheld testing and misrepresented the barrier’s characteristics. Compounding these errors, the general contractor failed to install the barriers properly and the engineering firm failed to provide instructions regarding how much room was needed on either side of the barrier to prevent intrusion into opposing lanes of travel. SUGARMAN’s experts demonstrated that the tractor-trailer was traveling at a low rate of speed with a small angle of impact such that a properly installed steel barrier (with several feet of room on either side) or an unpinned concrete barrier would have contained and re-directed the tractor-trailer and prevented it from entering the opposing lane of travel and striking the plaintiff’s car. The plaintiff was a healthy 23-year-old college student at the time of the collision. He suffered multiple fractures and injuries to his internal organs, ultimately rendering him paraplegic with an above-the-knee amputation of the left leg.

Arbitration award in excess of defendant’s policy limits obtained for 34-year-old Ph.D. student who suffered right shoulder and elbow injuries when he was struck by a car while riding his electric bicycle in heavy traffic in Boston. Following the collision, the plaintiff’s primary complaints centered around superficial injuries to his legs and right hand, but he subsequently developed significant pain in his shoulder and right arm. He underwent right shoulder surgery nine months after the accident and elbow surgery more than a year later. The defendant made a minimal offer, disputing both liability and causation, pushing the case to arbitration.

Substantial recovery in medical malpractice for a 14-year-old girl and her parents when, following removal of a benign brain tumor as a toddler, doctors at a major Boston hospital failed for years to order any imaging studies to monitor the patient for recurrence of a brain tumor. While going without an MRI for over four years, the tumor recurred in the patient and grew undetected, resulting in permanent neurological injury requiring lifelong medical care. The case, which was one of the top 3 reported medical malpractice settlements in Massachusetts for 2022, resolved just before trial after SUGARMAN attorneys successfully limited the scope of the testimony of the defendant physicians’ medical experts at trial.

Pre-trial settlement for union ironworker foreman who suffered debilitating back injuries when the construction elevator he was riding in came to a slamming stop when an elevator mechanic attempted to override the elevator’s electronic safety system without realizing that the elevator was in operation. The foreman was working at the Lowell Justice Center construction project at the time and was rendered totally disabled as a result of his injuries.

Pre-suit settlement of claim made for a bicyclist who was chased by a dog on a bike path in Danvers, Massachusetts. The dog was not on a lease, chased after the cyclist and crashed into the cyclist bike – causing the cyclist to be thrown through the air off her bike and fracture her wrist when she hit the ground. The claim was brought against the dog’s owners under Massachusetts “dog bite” law.

Eve of trial settlement obtained for Chelmsford condo association resident who sustained an ankle fracture requiring surgery after she slipped and fell on ice at the complex. The snow and ice contractor failed to comply with its contract with the association that required the contractor to be on site every day to monitor the property and treat any snow and ice.

Recovery for a construction laborer who was injured when the ladder he was working on collapsed and landed on top of him resulting in severe personal injuries, including a catastrophic ankle fracture. In an attempt to escape liability, the defendant construction contractor denied that he employed the worker. Through discovery during the lawsuit, SUGARMAN attorneys were able to prove that the contractor owed a legal responsibility to the worker, which was confirmed through the obtainment of a Court Order.

Recovery for two New York residents who were struck by a car while riding bikes during a vacation on Cape Cod. One bicyclist suffered compression fractures in her spine and the other bicyclist suffered injuries to his back and other parts of his body. The defendant driver’s insurer resolved the case soon after SUGARMAN’s attorneys filed suit in federal court in Boston after turning down the insurer’s initial settlement offer.

Just prior to scheduled trial, SUGARMAN’s personal injury attorneys were able to obtain a substantial settlement for a patient who suffered catastrophic blood loss when the defendant surgeon pierced the patient’s aorta with a surgical instrument during a surgery to treat diverticulitis. The surgery occurred at a hospital near Worcester, Massachusetts. The patient’s blood loss led to the development of severe neurological injuries and personality changes that ended his work career and had a devastating effect on his marriage and family life.

SUGARMAN’s attorneys were able to obtain a pre-trial settlement for a 50-year-old public employee who was rendered totally disabled from work following a severe car accident. A commercial vehicle “t-boned” the employee causing him to sustain permanent back injuries requiring multiple surgeries. He was unable to return to work following the accident and surgeries.

Recovery for 30-year-old woman who lost her balance on an office stairway and was unable to catch herself because the building owner had covered the railing with a curtain, leading to her falling and suffering severe injuries. The client’s claim for personal injuries included her damages for bilateral elbow fractures that required multiple surgeries to correct.

Pre-suit settlement for vacationer who suffered a significant cut to his leg requiring surgery and an Achilles tendon tear when a piece of the stone slab broke away from the kitchen island in the beach house he had rented on Martha’s Vineyard.

SUGARMAN attorneys prevailed at arbitration on behalf of a cyclist who suffered multiple facial injuries requiring surgery. The cyclist was riding in Dedham when a vehicle driven by the defendant turned into him without warning, striking him and causing him to land on the hood of the car before falling to the ground. After a full hearing, the arbitrator found for SUGARMAN’s client and his wife, who had a loss of consortium claim, and awarded significant damages for both claims.