Massachusetts Workers’ Compensation Lawyer Blog

Sugarland was named in a lawsuit filed by forty four survivors of the Indiana State Fair stage collapse, and also by family members of four people who died. Lawyers have alleged breach of reasonable care to the victims.

Occupational Health & Safety Administration (OSHA) collects data and formulates statistics each year regarding workplace injuries and workplace fatalities. The data is extensive and broken down into workplace categories, but one thing is certain: thousands of workers are injured or die at work each year.

Brian Bradley and two other workers were struck by lightning while finishing concrete work on the seventh floor of an Atlantic City casino project. Bradley died from his injuries, but the other two survived with minor injuries.The fire chief, Brooks, said that Bradley had been in bad shape when the rescuers reached him and that they performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, CPR, all the way to the hospital.

Brooks also recalled the event by saying, “They were up there pouring concrete when the bucket lift they were using got hit by lightning. One guy got a glancing hit, and he sustained a minor injury. Another guy got the full brunt of it. We did CPR all the way down to him and on the way to the hospital.”

Kent Morton was a painter working on the Ambassador Bridge in Michigan when he fell to his death in January. His estate is suing the company he worked for, Seaway Painting, as well as Detroit International Bridge Co.Representatives of his estate filed suit in March claiming that the scaffolding underneath the bridge was unsafe and improperly installed. They also claim that the required safety devices were not provided, including a harness, rescue boat with driver, life jackets, and a buoy.

An official with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) stated that companies doing construction work are required to have life jackets, a buoy and lifesaving boat nearby.

Mark Fidrych was an All-Star pitcher for the Detroit Tigers for five years when his career was cut short by injuries. He was Rookie of the Year in 1976, but knee and shoulder injuries limited him to fifty eight major league games.He died from sudden asphyxia by suffocation after his clothing became entangled in the power takeoff shaft of his Mack dump truck at his Northboro home. The power takeoff shaft is usually used to transmit power from a tractor or other source to mowers, choppers and other equipment.

The family filed a wrongful death and product liability lawsuit following his death in 2009 while working on his dump truck. Mr. Fidrych’s widow filed the suit against Mack Trucks of Greensboro, N.C., Morse Mack Sales of Worcester and Ballard Mack Sales & Service of Worcester.

A Westford family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against National Grid after an accident in August 2011 when a woman was crushed to death by a backhoe that fell off a trailer and landed on the family’s van on Interstate 495.

On March 6 there was an explosion at a Valero oil refinery in Memphis, Tennessee in which a subcontractor was killed and two others were severely burned. A multimillion dollar wrongful death and injury lawsuit was filed against Valero as a result.The lawsuit alleges severe and gross negligence for failing to ensure that there were no hazardous or flammable gases in the flare line. Also, they claim that Valero did not provide timely firefighting assistance or have automatic firefighting equipment in place.

It is also claimed that this is the third fire at this Memphis refinery in less than two years.

A Houston personal injury attorney stated, “This is the worst I’ve ever seen. This is considered ‘hot work.’ Valero signs off that it is safe to work. They let these men go in an area where hydrocarbons were still flowing. They really just dropped the ball on many, many kinds of fronts.”

On August 30, 2010 at the Mets vs. Braves game at Turner Field, a six year old girl was struck by a foul ball which fractured her skull and damaged her brain. The line drive flew over the visitor’s dugout before anyone could get out of the way.The child’s father filed a lawsuit against the Braves, its owner, Liberty Media Corp., and Major League Baseball Enterprises claiming that they were negligent for failing to provide proper protection for fans.

Mike Moran, the girl’s attorney, said, “It’s a very, very dangerous situation that can be easily remedied. They can make it a safer place for the fans, in particular the children, who go to games. … The easy remedy is to put up more netting.” One of the most common complaints about adding netting around the first- and third-base lines is that it obstructs the fans’ views.

A new study from the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) says that regulations will reduce costs, but will not reduce patient access to pharmaceuticals. The California statute has become a model for many other states, so their recent amendment was the focus for the study.The study examines physician dispensing before and after a 2007 change in the California statute that governed the prices paid to physician-dispensers. Before the statute was changed, physicians would typically charge higher prices than pharmacies for the same medication. The issue was that the workers’ compensation patients who are reimbursed for medical expense could cost the insurers less by going to pharmacies, but it is more convenient to just get your prescription from your doctor.

One example is Vicodin, the most common drug, which physicians were charging $0.85 per pill and the pharmacies were only charging $0.43 per pill. After the reform, physicians were paid $0.52 per pill and pharmacies charged $0.48 per pill, so the discrepancy was not as significant.

In 2010, a Deno Electric employee, William Nichols, died in a propane gas explosion in Norfolk while working at the Village at River’s Edge condominium complex. His family filed a wrongful death suit against EnergyUSA Propane and Smolinsky Brothers Plumbing and Heating.

The lawsuit claimed that EnergyUSA negligently under-filled a new propane tank causing the chemical odorant to fade. This made the leaking propane gas odorless and undetectable by workers.The suit also claimed that Smolinsky Brothers Plumbing and Heating failed to tighten a connection to the furnace, which enabled the undetectable propane gas to leak, which in turn caused the explosion.

The family has settled the lawsuit for $7.5 million. Two other people at the site suffered serious injuries and settled earlier this month, the three settlements combined total $22.5 million.