Important New Developments in Massachusetts Premises Liability Law
On May 15, 2013, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued a decision further refining (and limiting) the scope of the open and obvious doctrine in premises liability cases in Massachusetts. In Dos Santos v. Coleta, 465 Mass. 148 (2013), the Court held that while the open and obvious doctrine may relieve a landowner of its duty to warn, a landowner nonetheless may be held negligent with respect to injuries resulting from an open and obvious danger where the landowner has created and maintained that danger with the knowledge that lawful entrants would choose to encounter it despite the obvious risk of doing so.
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After Dos Santos, the new rule is succinctly summarized as follows: “while the open and obvious doctrine may relieve the defendant of its duty to warn, the doctrine does not mean that the defendant can maintain its property in an unreasonably unsafe condition, even if the unsafe condition is open and obvious.” In other words, . . . the open and obvious rule no longer provides the defense bar with the proverbial easy out on ultimate liability as it once did.
Upset Families Sue Crematory
Paul Anzalone of Mansfield, Massachusetts, and 35 other plaintiffs from that state, filed a class-action suit in Essex County Superior Court Thursday, seeking monetary damages for negligent and intentional emotional distress for the unauthorized and unapproved disposition of the bodies of their deceased relatives and loved ones at the Bayview Crematory in Seabrook, New Hampshire. . . . The plaintiffs are represented by Charlip Law Group, LC located in Hollywood, Fla., and Lisa DeBrosse Johnson of Boston.
“The suit was filed to address the substantial concerns and severe emotional distress of the plaintiffs/putative class representatives and class members over the improper handling of their loved ones at the Bayview Crematory,” said Anzalone’s attorney. “We are seeking to redress this outrageous and reckless conduct . . . .”
Plane But Not So Simple–For a Prominent Team of Local Lawyers Who Took On A Complex Airline-Crash Case
. . . . In the days that followed the tragedy. . . .a star-studded team of Boston attorneys emerged to represent the families of those who were aboard the plane: James A. Brett, Lisa DeBrosse Johnson, Barry C. Reed, Camille F. Sarrouf and Anthony R. Tarricone.
It was a behemoth of a litigation that became bogged down by mind-numbing jurisdictional questions, invigorated by a startling discovery of signature fraud and then almost gutted by an insurance company on the brink of bankruptcy but the case recently came to an end, with the lawyers putting the finishing touches on a settlement that came in at approximately $10 million.
