Posts tagged work injuries

• Can I Sue if I Receive Workers Compensation?

  Ken Margolin | July 20, 2007 3:30 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Workplace Injuries
  

  I have been asked this question many times over the years by clients who have received serious personal injuries at work. Workers compensation pays the injured employee regardless of whether the employer or anyone else was negligent, and even if the employee's own negligence contributed to his injuries. Worker compensation laws are essential, but they are something of a devil's bargain. The...

• Slip, Trip, and Fall Traps

  Ken Margolin | April 19, 2007 1:15 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Head & Brain Injuries
  

  Very serious injuries can result from incidents of slipping, tripping, or falling down. A fall can end careers, from such injuries as broken bones, traumatic brain injury, spine injuries, and others. But winning a fall down case in Massachusetts, is quite difficult. A number of legal theories stand in the way of success for even a severely injured plaintiff. If the incident occurred on a...

• Dangers from Above

  Ken Margolin | March 21, 2007 4:10 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Head & Brain Injuries
  

  I'm not a deer hunter, but I have a few friends who are. They tell me that the reason why hunting deer from a tree stand is so successful, is that deers have no natural enemies who prey on them from trees. Deers don't look up to spot potential dangers. Humans are similarly at risk from objects falling from above them. Some truly catastrophic brain injuries, crushing injuries, and deaths, have...

• Working Teens at Risk

  Ken Margolin | March 07, 2007 7:00 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Workplace Injuries
  

  A disturbing article in Yahoo News the other day, described a serious problem with high school aged youths put in dangerous work situations. According to the piece, many teens between the ages of 14 and 18, were assigned to work with dangerous tools, with inadequate training, allowed to work excessive hours, or permitted to work with no adult supervision. Many of the violations noted were in...

• Workplace Assaults

  Ken Margolin | March 03, 2007 10:00 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Workplace Injuries
  

  The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reports that an average of 1.7 million people annually were the victims of non-lethal workplace assaults during the period 1993-1999. Leading the way for types of employment carrying the greatest risk of assault, were nursing homes and hospitals. Retail operations, such as grocery stores, also carried a surprisingly high risk...

• Falling Down Stairs

  Ken Margolin | February 15, 2007 7:00 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Head & Brain Injuries
  

  Falling down a flight of stairs or even a few steps can cause serious injuries. Broken bones, head injury, and other trauma can result. In determining whether a stair injury case should result in a lawsuit, a number of factors need to be determined in addition to the severity of the injury. Stair injury cases are a form of premises liability litigation. Stair design is one factor to be analyzed....

• Railroad Worker Injury Cases

  Ken Margolin | February 09, 2007 3:45 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Workplace Injuries
  

  A colleague called me recently with questions about the rights of a railroad employee who suffers injury or death as the result of railroad negligence. The answer lies in a special statute, known as the Federal Employers Liability Act ("FELA"). FELA covers all claims resulting from the injuries or deaths of railroad workers in the course of their employment if the railroad was engaged in...

• Big Box Store Head Injury Hazard Continues

  Ken Margolin | February 05, 2007 12:15 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Head & Brain Injuries
  

  One of the earliest blogs I wrote on InjuryBoard, entitled "Shop till you're Dropped," pointed out the hazards in big box hardware and home goods stores, from falling overhead objects. Here is a news flash - based on my one store survey this past weekend, nothing has changed. I went to this cavernous home supplies store - you would all recognized its name - to purchase some rug pads. As I...

• Failure to Warn

  Ken Margolin | January 29, 2007 2:15 PM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Head & Brain Injuries
  

  Tools and machines, simple and complex, carry risks. Manufacturers have an obligation to design their products to eliminate the most obvious risks, for example, placing effective hand guards on power tools. Obviously, though, the ways in which tools and machines may be used are many. Mechanical design safety measures have some practical limits, not the least of which is financial. One the...

• Blame it on the Trial Lawyers

  Ken Margolin | January 26, 2007 11:15 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA Category: Head & Brain Injuries
  

  I was thinking the other day about the gripes of the anti-justice forces who would reserve the courts for corporations and the wealthy and who enhance political careers by bashing trial lawyers. If they long for an America of 100 years ago, they have a good reason for their animosity. Want your segregated schools back? Sorry. Brown v. Board of Education took care of that, using trial lawyer...