What are Personal Injury Cases in Massachusetts?
Personal injury lawsuits are filed by people hurt by the negligence or intentional misconduct of others. The purpose is to compensate them for their injuries.
These cases fall under the category of what is known as “tort law.” Tort cases are civil cases (i.e. not criminal). If the case goes to trial, it will be heard by a judge and, often, a jury. However, most personal injury cases do not go all the way to trial and are settled out of court.
How To Prove A Claim:
Most commonly, to receive compensation for an injury, you must prove that the person who caused the injury was "negligent.” This means that they failed to exercise ordinary care. You must prove that:
- there was a duty owed to you by the person who caused your injury;
- the other person failed to carry out their duty;
- this failure caused you injury; and
- that as a result, you suffered damages.
These elements will be discussed in greater detail elsewhere.
Types of Claims:
In Massachusetts, some of the most common types of personal injury lawsuits based in negligence are:
- Traffic accidents
- Bicycle and pedestrian accidents
- Medical malpractice
- Defective products (including unsafe drugs)
- Slip and fall
- Dog bites and other animal attacks
- Premises liability (being injured on another’s property)
- Nursing home negligence
- Construction injuries
- Boat accidents
- Criminal assaults due to inadequate security (the lawsuit is against the property owner, manager, tenant, etc. who negligently failed to provide adequate security)
However, there are other types of personal injury cases as well, with different rules. For example, take product liability cases. While they can sometimes be based in negligence, most often, they are brought as “strict liability” cases. That means that you do not have to show either negligent or intentionally wrongful conduct, but simply that the product was defective and that you were injured as a result of the defect. If there was a product defect, you may be able to sue the seller or distributor as well as the manufacturer.
Another type of strict liability case is a dog-bite injury. Massachusetts law states that the owner or keeper (the person in control) of a dog which causes injury or death to another person is strictly liable to the injured victim for his or her injuries. The injured person does not have to prove fault on the part of the dog’s owner or keeper, but need only show that they (the victim) did not tease, torment, or abuse the dog prior to the attack.
Work-related accidents are another category of personal injury case. When you are injured on the job, you are typically covered by worker's compensation insurance. Worker's compensation is no-fault liability coverage. This means the worker merely has to prove the injury occurred on the job and does not have to show the employer was negligent.
Additionally, there are injuries (torts) that do not involve negligence, but instead, the intentional wrongful or bad acts of another. In these intentional tort cases, damages do not need to involve physical injury, but may include damage to your reputation or emotional distress. Some examples of intentional torts are: assault and battery, defamation (libel and slander), false arrest, malicious prosecution, false imprisonment , sexual harassment, invasion of privacy, and the intentional infliction of emotional distress (where the defendant's conduct was so extreme that it ”shocks the conscience”).
Damages:
The damages recoverable in most personal injury actions include medical expenses and future medical expenses; pain and suffering, including future pain and suffering; lost wages and future lost wages; and in some cases, loss of consortium, which is a spouse’s claim for loss of his or her spouse’s companionship. Additional damages, known as “punitive damages,” can occasionally be awarded in special cases to punish the defendant for outrageous misconduct.
Massachusetts law allows a plaintiff to recover the full judgment from any single responsible defendant or from all responsible defendants. This is known as the principle of “joint and several liability.”
Also, under Massachusetts law, you do not have to be completely blameless in order to recover money. As long as you are less than 51% responsible for your injuries, the other party at fault can be held liable for their share of the blame. This is known as the doctrine of “modified comparative negligence” or the “51% Rule”.
Restrictions on Damage Awards:
There are situations that place caps (limits) on the amount of a plaintiff’s recovery:
- For a medical malpractice claim, the plaintiff may not recover more than $500,000 for pain and suffering, loss of companionship, embarrassment, and other items of general damages, unless the jury determines that there is a "a substantial or permanent loss or impairment of a bodily function or substantial disfigurement, or other special circumstances in the case which warrant a finding that imposition of such a limitation would deprive the plaintiff of just compensation for the injuries sustained."
- In any negligence claim against the state and its political subdivisions (e.g. counties and cities), the maximum recovery is limited to $100,000.
- Damages against charitable organizations are limited to $20,000, though since there is no bar against suing a responsible employee, it may be possible to recover more from the individual(s) who acted negligently or caused your injuries.
- A defendant may seek a reduction of a judgment if parts of the damages have been paid or will be paid by a “collateral source”. For example, if health insurance or disability insurance provides for the payment of medical bills and lost earnings, the defendant is usually entitled to reduce the judgment by those amounts (after subtracting the cost of the premiums). Note that the collateral source rule in medical malpractice cases does not apply to certain federal programs or workers compensation.
- There are also defenses to a personal injury claim, which may allow the defendant to avoid liability, such as—
- product misuse (you used a product in a way that it was not intended for);
- avoidance of the consequences (you cannot recover if you had the chance to avoid the consequences of another's negligence but failed to do so); or
- “assumption of the risk” (you cannot recover in a situation where you are aware of a danger and can appreciate it but still voluntarily expose yourself to the risks of the danger anyway) .
- There is also immunity for certain government conduct, as well as for some acts performed by a “Good Samaritan.”
- In addition, under the comparative negligence doctrine, there can be no recovery if the injured party was 51% or more responsible for their own injuries.
- Finally, there are time periods in which personal injury claims must be filed (called “statutes of limitations”). If these time periods are not met you (i.e., you do not bring a case until the period has already expired), you will be “barred” from recovery, which means that you will lose the right to file a lawsuit.
If you think that you may have a valid personal injury claim, you should contact a Massachusetts personal injury attorney as soon as possible. They can offer advice on your case, including any litigation or settlement that may be involved.
For more articles on personal injuries in Massachusetts, click on the following articles:
What Constitutes Negligence In The State Of Massachusetts?
How much is my personal injury case in Massachusetts worth?
How Are Personal Injury Damages Calculated In The State Of Massachusetts?
Can I File A Personal Injury Lawsuit At Any Time In The State Of Massachusetts?