SOUTH SHORE PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER
Car, Motorcycle and Slip and Fall Accidents
No Fee Unless Successful
Home and Hospital Visits
Remote Representation and Video Conferencing Available
Massachusetts Personal Injury Law permits a person injured as a result of the negligence of another to bring a claim for damages. As an attorney with more than 35 years of experience, I handle all types of personal injury cases.
Negligence:
Negligence is defined as the failure to use reasonable care which results in harm to another.
Car accidents:
Negligent acts can be proved by violations of the traffic code. These include speeding, failure to yield, tailgating, operating with defective equipment, failure to stay in marked lanes and failure to obey traffic lights and signs.
Slip and fall cases:
Violations of the state building code and architectural standards are relevant to proving negligence.
Preponderance of evidence. A claimant must prove that the other party was 50% or more at fault. If you are more than 50% at fault, there can be no recovery.
Expert Witness:
In order to prove the other party to be at fault, it may be necessary to employ the services of an accident reconstruction expert.
Comparative Negligence:
Massachusetts Personal Injury Law also recognizes that a damage award will be reduced by the amount of your comparative negligence, if any. Thus, if you are 25% at fault for the accident, then the award will be reduced by that same percentage.
No Fault:
Massachusetts Personal Injury Law requires that insurance companies offer a no-fault provision called Personal Injury Protection (PIP). This means that if you are in a car accident, you are afforded certain rights no matter who was at fault for the accident.
PIP requires the auto insurance company to pay the first $2,000.00 of your medical bills. If you do not have medical insurance, the coverage amount increases to $8,000.00.
PIP also covers a percentage of lost wages. The total amount available for lost wages is $6,000.00.
There is no PIP available for motorcycle accidents.
PIP does not cover pain and suffering. If you wish to make a claim for bodily injuries, then you need to make a negligence claim.
Strict Liability:
Strict liability is defined as being at fault without any showing of negligence.
Dog biting cases. The dog owner is strictly liable for the injuries caused by his/her dog. You only need to prove that the other party was the owner of the dog and that you did nothing to aggravate the animal.
Building code violations in commercial establishments. If a person is injured as a result of a building code violation, then the claimant only needs to prove the existence of that violation (i.e. defective stair treads, handrails, lighting).
Damages:
A damage claim includes, but is not limited to, present and future pain and suffering, present and future medical expenses, present and future lost wages, interference with family relationships, loss of enjoyment of life and emotional distress.
Expert Witness. Testimony from a doctor concerning the nature and extent of the injuries may be advisable. Testimony from a vocational expert as to future wage loss is also helpful.
Punitive damages. These damages are not allowed except in wrongful death cases. You need to be aware that insurance policies do not provide for punitive damages.
If you have been in an accident and would like to know about your rights, please feel free to call me at 781.331.1500 or send me an e-mail at peterdempsey@yahoo.com to schedule a no obligation consultation. With offices in Marshfield, Hingham and Quincy, I handle cases throughout the entire south shore.