Connecticut Injury Attorney Blog

Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice cases are not only about benefiting the injured parties, obtaining answers for them and appropriate financial compensation,but also about achieving social justice which benefits us all. To quote Connecticut Supreme Court Justice Peter Zarella:

"The profession of law is not just a business. It transcends a mere occupation. It is a lifelong communal pursuit of justice."

Just like government must be accountable to have a free and fair society and its mistakes laid bare the same is true in our society's private endeavors. Errors committed by Connecticut area hospitals, physicians, construction companies, manufacturers , Insurance companies as well as Companies who employ Connecticut workers must be held accountable where their actions cause harm and suffering. The natural inclination to deny any mistake or wrongdoing and defend is most often the predictable iniital response. Occasionally, active concealment and coverup is as well. Neither instinct when allowed by these Entities to become an ongoing legal strategy serves to assure justice to those injured or the rest of us. That behavior is injurious to our familes in the larger community and must not be tolerated. You may find below a number of active claims and cases which implicate some of these concerns and my firm has direct involvement in them. Some of the details and identities of those involved are intentionally left out due to privacy concerns as well as the fact that they are active matters. Some of these will no doubt end up being decided by a Connecticut Jury and fundamental considerations of fairness require discretion at this point. If you have a serious matter which may help improve safety for others in our community we would welcome your immediate contact.

Connecticut Hospital allows Surgeon who operates on Woman's breast at the wrong site to re dictate operative note weeks later

Patient is over sedated following routine surgery, goes into respiratory distress and dies

A Woman driving a Toyota traveling on the Meritt Parkway loses control of her vehicle and crashes due to a brake pedal malfunction

Company involved in Middletown gas plant explosion is sued for the reckless conduct of one of its supervisor on the Highway

State of Connecticut Department of Transportation Truck amputates the leg of a maintenance worker

A disturbed young man whose family member calls the police on to prevent a threatened suicide is evaluated an released by a local Connecticut Hopsital deemed not to be at risk in apparent violation of the applicable assessment criteria and kills himself within 24 hours

Thirty minutes after a gang related incident invovling a shooting at a night club after hours, a young man who was a chef just off duty getting a bite to eat at a local restaurant is fatally shot . The local municipality involved failed to order a curfew and crowd dispersion when twenty minutes before gang related shooting occured and a large noisy crowd had filled that local restaurant and police officers were standing outside and actually commenting to eachother that the place was overcrowded. When trouble started inside nobody could get out when trouble started beginning with verbal altercations and chairs being thrown.

Elderly Nursing/Rehabilitation home resident requiring a two person assist is moved by only one nurses aide ,who lies about what happened in written note about the incident, fractures hip, has surgery and ultimately dies due to related complications. Family misses him terribly and is devastated.

Insurance Company decides to deny claim and offer nuisance value settlement after the Decdent dies due to surgery related complications. Implicit theory of defense appears to be that since the Woman is no longer hear to testify what happened in the motor vehicle accident in the first place they may win the case outright.

In this age of diminishing expectations from our professional community , high profile reputational crashes and the like it is easy to forget the good that comes out of serious and dedicated efforts in the much maligned personal injury practice field. Any serious reflection upon the advances in industrial and consumer product safety, hospital and medical procedures will recognize the direct benefits brought about by shining the light of financial accountability on those involved. Personal injury Lawyers may not always have such noble thoughts in mind since they are caught up in pursuing their client's individual cases while trying to make a living for their own respective families in the process. However, the contribution which such efforts have made to fostering continued safety improvements and increased efforts to provide safe work and consumer environments are undeniable.

Construction site injuries occur with regularity and predictable levels of morbidity. Both the federal government via the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Agency and the State of Connecticut( Conn-Osha) track and release the grim statistics. In fact compilations are periodically released detailing how many construction workers die,suffer amputation, major back and extremity injuries etc. Beyond that the manner in which these unfortunate workers become injured are detailed in statistical format. It is striking that from year to year one can see the patterns repeat themselves. For example, X number of workers will fall from roofs, scaffolds and ladders and X numbers will sustain machine related injuries or have objects fall upon them. In Connecticut, as in many other jurisdictions,both workers compensation claims and general contractor negligence claims may be appropriate and necessary to initiate in order to enable an adequate financial recovery. The individual's employer is generally immune from tort liability absent extenuating circumstances but those entities in Control of the worksite or whom have a right to control the methods or manner of work may be held directly responsible to the injured worker.

The determination of which contractors might be liable and whether the circumstances of the worker's injury suggest negligence on their part requires a thorough and sometimes complicated factual investigation and analysis. My Firm regularly evaluates such matters and has successfuly litigated these cases in Connecticut Courts obtaining a significant financial recoveries in varied circumstances. Recent Appellate law has created additional challenges in the determination of whether the prime or general contractor may be held legally liable. From a public policy standpoint holding those entities which gain the benefit of the sub contracted labor makes a lot of sense since the direct employers of the individuals harmed may not have sufficient financial incentive to take the necessary steps to protect their own workers given the immunity which they are shielded with and the financial pressures of their industry.