Recent Wins for Clients

Wrongful death settlement following the death of 54-year-old intensive care patient when the medical providers at a Boston-area hospital failed to properly intubate the patient.

Settlement obtained for the family of a 26 year-old man who was killed when a tire detached from a truck on the highway, striking the man’s windshield and causing fatal head injuries. The defendant truck driver was a student a trade school where the tire and wheel assembly had been improperly secured to the truck by the defendant truck driver and a fellow student due to the negligence and gross negligence of the school in failing to provide proper supervision and inspection of the work performed.

Settlement of wrongful death and personal injury cases arising out of drunk driving incident in which the front seat passenger was killed and the back seat passenger was severely injured. Settlement obtained against drunk driver and the tavern which overserved him in the two hours prior to the incident.

Settlement on behalf of a family who lost a child as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning. SUGARMAN attorneys brought product liability and general negligence claims alleging improper installation of a residential boiler, and a defect in the boiler which allowed it to create and introduce high concentrations of carbon monoxide into the home during foreseeable weather events, such as heavy snow storms.

Settlement against site owner, operator and outside contractors for the mother and father of a 20-year-old man who died from severe burns as a result of an industrial steam explosion in Salem, Massachusetts.

Settlement from OB/GYN doctor in medical malpractice case for brain-injured child. The lawsuit alleges that the doctor failed to timely perform a C-section at a Boston hospital even after it became clear that the baby was in distress. The child suffered lifelong personal injuries as a result of the doctor’s delay.

SUGARMAN partner David McCormack obtained a jury verdict for a client who sustained a severe femur fracture after slipping on ice at the corporate defendant’s property. For several days following a snowstorm, the defendant and its employees failed to inspect the property, a busy gas station and convenience store in Lowell, and failed to find and treat the ice that caused the plaintiff to slip and fall. The jury, sitting for Middlesex Superior Court in Lowell, returned a verdict in favor of SUGARMAN’s client after just 3 hours of deliberations and awarded damages in excess of ten times the insurer’s final pre-trial offer.

Settlement for family of man who died after undergoing major abdominal surgery for appendiceal cancer. Post-operatively, the surgeon ordered Venodyne boots be applied to the patient’s lower extremities in order to mitigate the risk of the patient developing pulmonary emboli. A nurse caring for the patient, however, failed to apply the boots during a 12 hour shift. Soon after, the patient collapsed and died from bilateral pulmonary emboli.

A week before trial was scheduled to begin, SUGARMAN principals David McCormack and Benjamin Zimmermann reached a significant settlement for their client and her husband in a case involving negligent hospice care over the course of many years. SUGARMAN’s client was an at-home hospice patient of the defendants for over 5 years and had been prescribed excessive and increasing amounts of narcotic pain medications to the point where she was unable to perform basic tasks. After not receiving answers to their concerns about the client’s deteriorating condition, her family brought her to a local hospital, where medical providers immediately began weaning her off all the medications. The client’s condition improved almost immediately. Through discovery and motion practice, SUGARMAN uncovered the hospice company’s employee bonus program which incentivized employees to keep patients in hospice care and to avoid patients from being seen at hospitals or by outside providers. During the case, SUGARMAN also defeated the defendants’ motion seeking to dismiss the case on various legal grounds — a Superior Court judge found that all of the client’s claims were legally and factually supported. The settlement was the second largest personal injury settlement reported in Massachusetts for 2021.

Pre-trial settlement for man who developed severe Levaquin-induced tendonitis with resulting complications after his local pharmacy dispensed Levaquin to him instead of a sleep aid. The error went undetected for two months.

Settlement for family of man who died from colorectal cancer as a result of his primary care physician’s failure to perform a sigmoidoscopy, colonoscopy or any of the accepted methods for screening and detecting colorectal cancer. By the time the patient’s colorectal cancer was diagnosed, it had metastasized to his liver and lungs.

Settlement against a primary care physician following the death of a father of two children who died from myocardial infarction as a result of the defendant’s failure to appreciate the severity and cause of the patient’s complaints and failure to properly interpret the patient’s EKG readings.

Settlement of wrongful death lawsuit against a primary care physician following the death of a father of two children who suffered a heart attack. The defendant doctor failed to appreciate the severity and cause of the patient’s complaints and failed to properly interpret the patient’s EKG readings.

Settlement of medical malpractice case on behalf of 70-year-old patient who was over-prescribed NSAIDS (Indomethacin) by physician and nurse practitioner in Quincy, MA, to treat gout for more than two years. The medication caused irreversible kidney failure, forcing the patient into dialysis for several years.

Settlement in product liability suit for a Logan Airport airline worker who sustained crush injuries to his pelvis and hip when the safety rails on a cargo loader failed to activate, allowing a 1,500 lb. pallet to fall on top of the worker.

Pre-trial settlement on behalf of family of a woman killed in a drunk driving accident as well as on behalf of two others who suffered serious injuries in the same crash. The drunk driver became intoxicated at a Boston bar and was attempting to drop off her passengers when she crossed a double yellow line on the Jamaicaway and struck another vehicle head on. The drunk driver’s blood alcohol level was later found to be almost three times the legal limit.

Settlement against primary care physician for family of patient with multiple high risk factors who died from myocardial infarction.

Settlement for 48-year-old patient when spinal surgeon damaged a nerve root during surgery. The patient sustained lifelong personal injuries as a result.

Following a two-week trial in Suffolk County Superior Court in Boston, SUGARMAN Principals Benjamin Zimmermann and David McCormack obtained a $30.55 million jury verdict on behalf of a child who suffered permanent and catastrophic brain injuries during his mother’s labor and delivery at a Boston hospital. The jury agreed that the nurse responsible for monitoring the baby’s heart rate and well-being during labor had failed to ensure that the baby was responding appropriately and that the nurse’s failure to comply with the standard of care resulted in the baby’s severe oxygen deprivation going undetected. The jury awarded damages for both the young boy and his parents.

Settlement against physicians who failed to follow up on x-ray report of mass in lung in 76-year-old patient who subsequently died from lung cancer.

An Essex County jury sitting in Newburyport rendered a verdict in favor of a 42-year-old woman who suffered significant neck injuries at a hospital in Lynn, MA, after being positioned on an operating room table for routine surgery. After she was anesthetized and medically paralyzed, her unsecured head fell off the table resulting in permanent nerve damage to her neck.

Settlement of medical malpractice lawsuit for widow and family of middle-aged man who became brain damaged and ultimately died as a result of a ruptured spleen suffered during a colonoscopy. While the complication is rare, it is known to occur. The medical negligence case/wrongful death case was brought for failure to recognize signs of splenic rupture and bleeding in the hours following the procedure.

Settlement against doctors who failed to perform a C-section in time, leading to oxygen deprivation and Cerebral Palsy in infant.

A Middlesex County jury returned a 7-figure verdict on behalf of worker injured after falling more than 20 feet through an unguarded opening on a construction project at the Natick Mall. The defendant general contractor had claimed that the opening had been guarded and that the plaintiff had somehow gained access through it without the general contractor’s knowledge. Through painstaking investigation and work immediately following the accident, Sugarman’s attorneys were able to prove to the jury at trial that the general contractor had made up the story and had added guarding after the accident. The case was one of 10 largest jury verdicts reported in Massachusetts in 2011.

Product liability claim was brought against the manufacturer and distributor of the truck for failing to design the truck with a safety mechanism to prevent uncontrolled movement in the event of a shift into gear while pumping.