Assaults

Assaults are the cause of great physical and psychological trauma, and we will use all the skills and experience at our disposal to fight for those clients who have suffered assaults.

​Case Summaries

Client wins case after fight outside rock concert 
Our client, his wife, and three other couples, all middle-aged, attended a rock concert in the Boston area. They had enjoyed the show and were leaving the venue when they met with a crowd of young people who were running through the area and knocking people over. Our client asked the young people to be more careful, which resulted in the group encircling our clients and beating him and his friends. One of the youths picked up an outdoor cement ashtray and slammed it into our client’s face, breaking bones and causing extensive injuries. The operators of the venue first argued that our client must have taken part in the general hooliganism. We pointed out that he was a respected executive and that his wife was pregnant. The operators then argued that they had no responsibility for what happened outside their building. Courts have ruled, however, that commercial establishments have a duty to protect people in the vicinity when attacks are foreseeable. We obtained records showing that security was vastly inadequate outside the building. There had been plenty of security inside the building during the show, but there was nobody outside. We also obtained documents showing that a large number of people had been ejected from the venue for fighting, for being drunk and disorderly and for using illegal drugs, which demonstrated that the operators of the venue should have known there was a potentially dangerous situation outside. The case settled favorably at mediation without going to court for a trial.

Police officer shot, wins insurance policy maximum 
Our client, a police officer, had responded to a call from two young women who reported being harassed by a man with whom they had been drinking. Upon arriving at the premises our client approached the man’s truck when he was ambushed and shot in the abdomen by a .44 Magnum handgun. The shooter then approached the cruiser, possibly with the intent of finishing off the officer, when our client returned fire and brought the shooter down. The shooter was eventually convicted of attempted murder. The shooter’s weapon belonged to his father, whom we claimed should have kept the gun locked up as the law required.

​Our client sustained extensive internal abdominal injuries, underwent several surgeries and was in ICU for sixteen days. During his treatment, he was placed in a medically-induced coma for five days. He was forced to retire on disability. We went after the father’s insurance company on the grounds that a significant contributing cause of the shooting was his failure to secure the weapon as required by state law. After protracted negotiations, the insurance company finally agreed to pay its policy limit, which helped compensate the officer for the devastating injury he suffered.