$128,519 ARBITRATION AWARD FOLLOWING $2,321 OFFER FROM DEFENDANT’S INSURER
It was a weekday, spring morning that started off like so many others. As he has done countless times over the years Mr. Jones wakes up, gets ready for work, says goodbye to his family and starts his drive to the office 30 minutes away. He drives a truck he borrowed from his boss because […]
$100,000 ARBITRATION AWARD AFTER REJECTING $3,000 FINAL OFFER FROM CLIENT’S INSURER FOR WRIST INJURY
There was never any question who was at fault for the motor vehicle accident – Jane Dose crossed over double yellow lines and crashed into the front driver’s side of a vehicle in which my client, Karla Platte, was a front seat passenger. Rather, there were disagreements as to the dollar value of Mrs. Platte’s […]
$100,000 FOR MASSACHUSETTS POLICE OFFICER INJURED IN CAR ACCIDENT BY HIT AND RUN DRIVER WHILE ON A DETAIL
What happens when a car hits a Massachusetts Police Officer on duty and drives away before anyone catches its license plate? The officer’s salary and medical bills will be covered under Chapter 41, but who pays for all the overtime and detail shifts that officer misses while out injured and the massive disruption to the […]
$250,000 FOR OFFICER INJURED ON ROAD DETAIL WHO LEARNED A VALUABLE LESSON FROM A PRIOR INJURY
Officer Palmer had the minimum allowable limits on his auto insurance the first time he was injured-on-duty. Thankfully, he changed this before he was injured a second time… CRITICAL CHANGES TO MASSACHUSETTS AUTO INSURANCE POLICY It was a fall Sunday morning and Ms. Jones got a later start than she wanted on her drive to […]
$900,000 FOR OFFICER HIT BY HOME HEALTH AID DRIVING TO PATIENT’S HOME
The home health aide industry usually avoids liability by not paying employees until they arrive at the patient’s home. Not this time The morning started out great for young Officer Williams. He was working as a special police officer on his first road detail. He’d spent the summer interning for a local department prior to […]
POLICE MUST CONSIDER THEIR OWN SAFETY ON ROAD DETAILS
As the warm weather approaches, so does the increase in road work which requires a police presence to protect the workers and traveling public. The National Safety Council reported in 2018 over 46,000 people were injured or killed in crashes within roadway work zone sites. Police officers who work details in these zones are often […]
$90,000 FOR OFFICER DRAGGED BY CARJACKER ON MUSHROOMS
Around 3:45 a.m., Gerald Stamby is high on mushrooms. He wanders a busy local road on foot, trying to get into vehicles passing by. Calls pour in to the police and Officer George Velmos responds. Officer Velmos gets out of the cruiser and calls Stamby over to talk. Stamby audaciously (or deliriously, for that matter) […]
$95,000 FOR OFFICER REAR-ENDED TWICE DURING SNOW STORM
During rush hour, Jacob Gomes takes a locally known shortcut to avoid traffic. Heading downhill and around a bend, Mr. Gomes does not account for the snowy conditions. Mr. Gomes crashes into the rear end of a police cruiser, which is stopped on the side of the road with its emergency lights on, tending to […]
$100,000 FOR INJURED OFFICER DESPITE INSURANCE DENIAL
Around 7:30 pm, wearing only his underwear, Raymond Bishop is high on mushrooms and out of control at his family home. Raymond’s parents call the police and go through the house collecting car keys; however, there is still a set of keys in his mother’s Jeep. Raymond runs outside and past the responding police officer, […]
$47,000 FOR MASSACHUSETTS OFFICER INJURED BY DRUNK DRIVER
Randall Jones spends the day drinking and gambling at the casino. Just after midnight, Mr. Jones starts his drive home on a local highway. Without warning, Mr. Jones suddenly attempts a left-hand turn directly across the path of a vehicle travelling toward him from the opposite direction with a green light. Mr. Jones crashes […]
$300,000 FOR OFFICER HIT BY ALLEGEDLY UNCONSCIOUS TRUCK DRIVER
During the morning of August 23, 2013, a gas delivery driver for Acme Propane was driving a box truck loaded with propane cylinders. It was a dry, clear day. He drove past orange safety signs alerting him that he was approaching a work zone then drove over two orange cones. He drove off the road […]
$500,000 AND FULL WAGE BENEFITS FOR SPECIAL OFFICER INJURED-ON-DUTY
Erica DiMaio suddenly veers over double yellow lines on Main Street. Three eyewitnesses watch in horror as Ms. DiMaio violently crashes head on into a police cruiser operated by Officer Avery. The Fire Department is already on scene by the time Officer Avery comes to. He wakes up to the sounds of firefighters using a […]
$1 MILLION FOR OFFICER’S FRIEND CUT OFF BY CAR
Mr. Driver travels down a road he knows very well on a clear, Fall day. He readies himself to turn left into a gas station. Sitting in the front passenger seat is his wife who sees a motorcyclist approaching from the opposite direction. She yells to watch out. Mr. Driver does not yield the right […]
DRUNK DRIVER COSTS BAR $475,000
Over the course of five hours, a bar serves one man ten to fifteen beers and three tequila shots before watching the man walk out to his car. Shortly after driving away from the bar around midnight, the man crosses over into oncoming traffic. A police officer sees headlights drift over the double yellow line […]
$123,000 FOR OFFICER INJURED IN FLEEING CAR PURSUIT
Prior to this officer’s injury on duty, he attended one of my twenty minute talks at a local meeting at his department, which proved extremely valuable. During this talk, I explained changes police officers need to make to their personal automobile insurance policies in the event of an injury on or off duty involving a motor […]