Personal Injury Case History

1.  Case Name Withheld, Middlesex Superior Court - $1 million Settlement

On December 3, 2002, plaintiff's decedent, a 66 year old man who was crossing Centre Street in Malden, Massachusetts with his wife, was killed when an SUV, which had stopped to permit him to cross the street, was struck in the rear by a truck owned by a Fortune 500 corporation and operated by one of its employees.  The impact pushed the SUV into, and then over, the decedent.  Because his wife witnessed the accident, a claim was made for her emotional distress.

At the time of his death, the decedent, who was survived by three adult sons, as well as his widow, was preparing to retire and travel with his wife.

The parties agreed to mediation after one deposition, that of an eyewitness to the accident.

At mediation, defendants argued (a) that any award a jury might make would would be reduced because the decedent and his wife were not proceeding within the marked crosswalk, which they could have done by crossing a short distance further down the street, and (b) that given the decedent's age and limited earnings expectations, a jury might well award a modest amount of damages under Massachusetts' compensatory wrongful death statute.  To support that position, defendants supplied several examples of low six figure jury verdicts in what they claimed were similar cases, as well as examples of emotional distress awards in the same dollar range, again in what they claimed were similar circumstances.

Plaintiffs were prepared to prove at trial - -  and demonstrated at the mediation - - that the decedent and his family, which included seven grandchildren, were extremely close, and that the entire family suffered a profound loss.

The case was settled for $1 million after a full day of mediation.

2.  Case Name Withheld, Norfolk Superior Court - $900,000 Settlement

This case, involving a construction site accident in which a construction worker suffered a broken leg and other injuries, and various theories of liability against a number of defendants involved in the construction, resulted in a $900,000 settlement after a full day of mediation.  Confidentiality agreements prohibit further disclosure of the specifics of this settlement.

3.  Farrah, Administrator v. Preferred Development, et al, Rockingham County Superior Court C.A. #01-C-0862

This case was a wrongful death action resulting from an automobile accident in Londonderry, New Hampshire on February 18, 2000.  The decedent, an unmarried, 22 year old woman, was a passenger in an automobile being operated by the father of their five year old son.  She was killed when that motor vehicle was involved in a collision with a leased tractor-trailer.  Her five year old son was her only survivor.

The Londonderry Police Department cited the driver of the car in which the decedent was a passenger for speeding, a charge to which he admitted liability before the New Hampshire Department of Motor Vehicles, and as the result of which, lost the right to operate a motor vehicle for a period of time.

The accident was almost did not happen.  Plaintiff's expert admitted that, had the driver reached the accident scene a scant one second later, the accident would not have occurred.  Thus, throughout the case, a real danger existed that a jury could conclude that the accident was caused solely by the automobile driver's speeding, and award the plaintiff nothing.

The case was also complicated by the fact that two of the three defendants originally named declared bankruptcy, either prior to the filing of the action or during its pendency.  Consequently, the defendant Preferred remained as the plaintiff's sole source of recovery.  Preferred initially took the position it was not responsible for any damages because the tractor driver was not its employee, but actually an employee of the owner of the tractor involved in the accident.

To counter the claim that speeding caused the accident, and because of the serious factual issues concerning legal liability for the accident, Mr. Farrah developed an alternative theory to shift liability onto Preferred.  Discovery in the action, which was extensive, disclosed that the operator of the tractor was arguably violating certain Federal regulations concerning safe trucking, principally, 49 CFR 395.3A1 (operating a commercial vehicle after driving more than 10 hours without 8 consecutive hours off duty) and 49 CFR 395.3A2 (operating a commercial motor vehicle after being on duty more than 15 hours without 8 consecutive hours off duty).  Discovery also showed, and the tractor driver admitted, that he had sought to hide the violations of the ten hour rule and the fifteen hour rule by creating false logs, itself a violation of Federal trucking regulations.

The case settled upon confidential terms one week prior to trial.

4.  Kassis v. Lease and Rental Management Corp., Essex Superior Court C.A. #04-607B