Usually, most of the legal stories giving rise to posts on this blog originate in or have to do with cases and legal issues in Massachusetts. However, a tragic incident at Yale University earlier this week, illustrates the importance of product liability law, and the impact it can have on…
The Kickham Comment - Boston Accident Lawyer Blog
Corporate Negligence Yields Rewards: Transocean Awards Executives Bonuses for “Exemplary Safety Record.” Death & Destruction Irrelevant
Yes, you read the title of this post correctly: Transocean Ltd., the company that owned the Deepwater Horizon Gulf Oil Rig that blew up last year and proceeded to spew at least 200 millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, is actually awarding financial bonuses to its…
Zicam Product Liability Suits Move Forward
While this post is about product liability law, it’s also about the age-old story of corporate greed and deception. Ever hear of on over-the-counter cold remedy called Zicam? Most people have. – Matrixx Initiatives Inc. and Zicam L.L.C., were jointly the developers, manufacturers and distributor of this product. Zicam was…
Tort Reform Claims Are Unsupported By The Facts
Too often within the escalating debate over “tort reform“, the facts take a distant back seat to ever more shrill demagoguery. It seems that all we ever hear from proponents of tort reform, and their Republican lapdogs in Congress and in State Houses across the country, are noxiously recycled claims…
NU Student’s Death Due To Fall At Bar: Judge Awards Family $6.7m
A Suffolk Superior Court judge has awarded more than $6.7 million to the family of a Northeastern University student who died after falling down a set of stairs at a Boston bar in 2007, following a night of drinking. What’s surprising about the award in this Massachusetts premises liability case…
Medical Malpractice “Reform”: A Bad Idea Then, And Now: Part Two of Two
In my previous post on this subject, I noted how President Barack Obama had raised the subject of “medical malpractice reform” in his State of The Union speech last week, and of how a Massachusetts medical malpractice case that just settled this week, illustrates how severe and unjust typical “tort…
Tufts Settles Medical Malpractice Suit Over 4 Year-Old’s Death; Psychiatrist Prescribed Numerous Medications To Child. Part One of Two
President Barack Obama, in his State of The Union speech Monday evening, made another reference to the supposed need for tort reform; to ‘control the rise in health care costs.’ I bristle at these kinds of mentions, for two reasons: 1) They demonstrate how successful liability insurers have been in…
New Massachusetts Snow Removal Liability For Property Owners – Part Two
In my previous post on this subject, I wrote of how the law governing liability for injuries suffered on someone else’s property due to slipping or falling on snow or ice, has recently undergone some major changes. The changes come not from the Massachusetts Legislature, but the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial…
New Massachusetts Snow Removal Liability For Property Owners – Part One
In the wake of last week’s major snowstorm, you won’t read a more timely or important post than this one – at least on the subject of Massachusetts personal injury law. The reason is that very recently, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC,) issued a landmark, critical decision in the…
Massachusetts Jury Awards $152 Million for Lung Cancer Death Due to Smoking; Judge Orders Tobacco Co. To Reserve $270 Million To Pay Final Award
I love to report and comment on stories like this: A Massachusetts personal injury case that results in solid justice to the plaintiff. Readers of a certain age and above will remember that back in the late 1970’s and early ’80’s, tobacco companies would literally give away samples of their…