Author: Andrew Myers
Damages – Compensatory & Punitive Damages in Products Liability Case
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has upheld a $20 million verdict awarded after a 29 year old woman died as a result of sliding down a defective swimming pool slide which collapsed, causing her to strike the concrete deck of a swimming pool fracturing two vertebrae. Toys R Us, […]
Spoliation of Evidence: Penalties Available in Civil Law
Spoliation of evidence occurs when a relevant document or physical evidence is destroyed, altered or intentionally withheld. Courts can impose punitive sanctions against those who damage or destroy evidence. The legal theory holds that a party’s destruction of evidence shows consciousness of wrongdoing or motive to avoid evidence. Spoliation of […]
Comparative Fault: Contributory Negligence & Apportioning Liability
Comparative fault law allows apportionment of negligence among multiple parties who may share liability for one injury. Suppose a pedestrian runs across the street. A car runs a red light, striking a second car which, while going through a green light, is speeding. The impact pushes the speeder into the pedestrian, who is pushed into a […]
Parking Tickets and Bankruptcy – Discharged?
Parking tickets – one of the nightmares of having a car in the city. People filing chapter 7 bankruptcies find tickets can be like a bad movie, they just won’t go away. Here’s the problem: The U.S. Congress enacted the bankruptcy code, so we can’t be surprised that the law […]
Seat Belt Use Admissibility in Injury Claims
Seat belt use reduces injuries and saves lives in motor vehicle accidents. Statistics prove it. But should the use or failure to buckle up be admissible in a personal injury claim where one is injured by the negligence of another driver? This poses an entirely different question. Seat Belt Use […]
OPTIMIZING PERSONAL INJURY CLAIM VALUE. Stepping it Up
Life is a learning experience. But sometimes, making mistakes along the way hoping to learn isn’t the best approach. Instead, if you’re serious about something, you hire a professional. Would you get on a jetliner knowing the person in the cockpit had no training and wanted to learn to fly […]
Supplemental Needs Trust & Personal Injury
Supplemental needs trusts, if established properly, can protect certain benefits when there is a personal injury settlement. Before the settlement is finalized, an attorney drafts this trust to hold and disburse settlement proceeds and potentially other property for the benefit of the person receiving the settlement. Certain benefits are needs-based, […]
Adverse Possession Law – Boundary Disputes
Adverse possession laws allow a person whose name is not on the deed to property to actually acquire legal title by meeting certain conditions. Adverse Possession Requirements The adverse possessor must openly, continuously, exclusively, adversely and notoriously use the land for a period of time which varies from state to […]
Confidentiality Agreements in Personal Injury
Confidentiality agreements in personal injury settlements are often proposed by those who have been sued. Such agreements can be enforced, even if it is a bad idea. Confidentiality provisions require non-disclosure of the terms of the agreement, or sometimes even to the fact of settlement itself, by the parties. Such […]
DRAM SHOP LAW – Injuries & Negligent Service of Liquor
Dram shop law seeks to hold a bar or other business liable when they over serve a drinker who later causes injury to themself or to someone else due to intoxication. The term dram shop came from old England, where a dram shop was a tavern serving spirits in small […]
