By Robert I. Feinberg | Published April 13, 2012 | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Having considered the kind of behavior that creates personal jurisdiction in Massachusetts, how does one go about serving such a person/entity with the complaint? What is the method of service outside of the Commonwealth? By far the easiest and probably most often used method is by relying upon (3) of Massachusetts General Laws 223A S.6: Read More
Read MoreA local racetrack has been advertising quite a bit on the Boston stations. When I hear their ad I am reminded of a case I had against them more than 20 years ago when a horse kicked a client and fractured the client’s patella. We sued the racetrack and naturally the owner of the horse. Read More
Read MoreIn a recent blog, I wrote of the inability to use the federal courts to gain jurisdiction over a defendant who does not have sufficient minimum contacts with the forum state. That blog was in response to the misperception of many that all a litigant needs to do is to sue in federal court to Read More
Read MoreIf you think of major cases in tort law, which includes personal injury law, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in the 1970s provided a wealth of evolving law. Their decisions were as epic in this field as the decisions of the United States Supreme Court in the 1960s when that court issued a whole Read More
Read MoreLawyers, including defense lawyers in civil cases, have a duty of loyalty to a client. That loyalty is described by the Supreme Judicial Court in its commentary to the Ethical Rules as “an essential element.” Given that the liability insurer pays the defense lawyer and indeed hires him/her, a reasonable question arises as to whether Read More
Read MoreThe great philosopher Yogi Berra once said about his profession, “Baseball is 90% mental, and the other half is physical.” As you will note, this adds up to more than 100%. A well known teacher of evidence who has served as a judge for three decades once told me that between facts and law, facts Read More
Read MoreA number of lawyers have mentioned to me over the years that federal court is an option where the defendant cannot be sued in Massachusetts. Frankly, this is a misperception of civil procedure law. The federal court can exercise no greater in personam jurisdiction than the state court. There are constitutional considerations, specifically the due Read More
Read MoreIn a personal injury claim brought as a result of a fall on property, such as in a parking lot, the courts will consider whether the defendant had failed to delineate the blocks [the plaintiff having fallen over an automobile bumper block] from the surface of the lot by use of contrasting color or other Read More
Read MoreIn the chess match that can take place in the course of litigating personal injury cases, one topic has especially fascinated me. It involves the situation where you sue two defendants but settle prior to the trial with one of them. The Supreme Judicial Court has clarified an ambiguity which carried into the 1990s. That Read More
Read MoreThe ethical rules permit an attorney who is hired on a contingent fee basis to advance costs in the pursuit of the case. Such costs would not include bills for medical treatment, but do include the costs of litigation, such as expert witness fees (including medical evaluations), court filing fees, depositions, investigations, etc. Our firm Read More
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