Sometimes an injury that is actionable in civil court can include an aspect of criminal law. Many states will consider a statutory violation by a defendant in a negligence case to benefit the plaintiff’s case by making the burden of proof easier to carry, by holding that the proof of such a violation establishes a rebuttable presumption that the defendant was negligent. This use of statutes is known as “negligence per se”.
Any time that a person dies as the result of the negligent, reckless or intentional act of another there are two classes of victims: the deceased person, and his or her loved ones. The Massachusetts wrongful death statute acts to preserve any cause of action that the deceased person may have had against the person or entity that caused his or her fatal injury, but this brings up the question of how, if the decedent is not available personally to file the lawsuit and cannot personally recover any damages from a jury award, a case is to be brought forward.
The general rule of premises liability in the state of Massachusetts is that a property owner or occupier owes a duty to others on the property to keep the property in a reasonably safe condition, which includes a duty to warn of any unreasonable dangers that the owner or occupier knows of. This duty of care does not, however, completely absolve visitors on the property from exercising their own duty of care when it comes to exercising reasonable discretion in recognizing and avoiding dangerous conditions on the property that would be obvious to a reasonable person.
No one leaves their home expecting to get into a serious car accident. You don’t approach an intersection anticipating being in a head-on collision with a drunk driver or with a distracted driver whose texting and driving caused his or her vehicle to drift into your lane of travel.
Sometimes, the cause of a car accident can be a combination of the conduct of a negligent driver and the conditions existing at the time at the location where it occurred. An accident investigation of a recent car collision raises questions about the role work done by a contractor for the state may have played in contributing to the accident.
According to a recent report, officials at colleges in Massachusetts are not being informed of sexual assaults taking place on their campuses. The state legislature is considering a law that would require local police departments to work in cooperation with universities and colleges to make it easier for the victim of sexual assault to file report of the incident.
Wrongful death is the cause of action that many people think of first when they lose a loved one because of the negligent, reckless or intentional act of someone else. But there is another kind of lawsuit that can arise from circumstances that involve the death of a family member. This is known as a survival action.
Automobile Accident, Motorcycle Accident, Bicycle Accident
Bicycle Accidents
Pedestrian Accidents
Be Safe RulesMotorcycle Accident
Boating Accidents
Slip and Fall Accidents
Sports & School Injuries
Work-Related Injuries
Dog Bites
Sexual Abuse
Nursing Home Injuries
Insurance Disputes
Products Liability
Traumatic Brain Injures
Wrongful Death
Burn Injuries
Complex Pain Syndrome (RSD)