Personal Injury

June 16, 2017

Bangor Nursing Home Abuse Investigations Falter

When nursing home abuse and neglect is suspected in Maine facilities – including those that provide care for vulnerable and disabled adults – it is expected that reports made to the Office of Aging and Disability Services will trigger an independent investigation by the state’s office of Adult Protective Services. However, it appears in a number of cases, that is not happening.

The Bangor Daily News reports that five separate health care providers in a four-county area came forward and shared their referral numbers with the paper. Collectively, there were more than 550 allegations of suspected nursing home abuse, neglect, and exploitation over a four-year span ending in 2015. However, APS had final reports for just 40 of those.

It’s not clear whether the state is simply choosing not to investigate accidents or if the internal standards have changed. What health care providers are telling journalists, however, is that while they continue to file their referrals as suspected cases of abuse arise, they rarely anymore receive reports back from the state about the outcome or even existence of an investigation.

January 9, 2017

Pit Bulls in Maine Dog Attack to Be Euthanized, Victim Mulling Civil Injury Lawsuit

by Peter Thompson & Associates

A judge in Central Maine ordered two pit bull dogs euthanized after an August attack in Augusta resulted in the death of a much smaller dog and serious injuries to the deceased animal’s owner.

The owner of the two pit bulls, who also owns a dog grooming business, had advocated in the Capital Judicial Center to spare the dogs’ lives. During a two-day non-jury trial, the owner had been accused of two civil violations for keeping a dangerous dog. Title 7, Part 9, Chapter 727 of Maine Revised Statutes holds that a person who owns or keeps a dangerous dog commits a civil violation, for which the court must impose a fine of between $250 and $1,000 – none of which can be suspended. If someone is injured as a result of an attack by a dangerous dog, the court can order the identification and confinement of the dogs, as well as restitution paid by the dangerous dog’s owner. If a dog owner or keeper refuses or neglects to comply with a previous court order, and the dog wounds a person or domestic animal, the owner or keeper has to pay the injured person treble damages and costs that are recovered in a civil action.

Chapter 729 of the state’s revised statutes goes over injuries and damages caused by animals, holding in part that when an animal damages a person or property due to the negligence of the dog’s owner or keeper, the owner or keeper is liable in a civil action to the injured person for the amount of the damages caused, as long as the harm wasn’t occasioned by the fault of the injured person. The only time damages would not be owed to a person injured in a dog attack would be if the court finds the injured person’s fault exceeded that of the dog’s keeper or owner.

September 1, 2016

Maine Woman Sues New Hampshire Company for Food Poisoning That Sickened Child

by Peter Thompson & Associates

A woman from York County, Maine is suing a beef manufacturer headquartered in New Hampshire following an outbreak of E. coli that made her 9-year-old son so sick he had to be hospitalized.

According to a report from SeaCoastOnline.com, plaintiff purchased the meat at a store in Kittery, and she prepared it for her son one day in June. Within five days, the boy began to experience a severe reaction that included vomiting, fever and diarrhea. These are typical symptoms of the food poisoning caused by an E. coli infection. The boy was rushed to a local hospital in York before being transferred for more intensive treatment at the Boston Children’s Hospital in Massachusetts.

The boy was one of more than a dozen people sickened by the outbreak tied to this particular farm, with other cases cropping up across Maine, as well as in Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire. It was ultimately the U.S.D.A.’s Food Safety Inspection Service, alongside the Department of Health in New Hampshire, that traced the outbreak not just to this one farm but to a specific slaughter date. This prompted the farm to recall some 8,800 pounds of raw beef products that were deemed potentially contaminated. Continue reading

November 26, 2015

Estate of Gagnon v. Anthony – Comparative Fault in Maine Personal Injury Lawsuit

by Peter Thompson & Associates

The issue of comparative fault in Maine personal injury lawsuits is a significant one because, depending on the degree of it, an injured person’s right to collect damages may be significantly reduced or eliminated entirely.

Maine Revised Statute Titel 14 Part 1 Chapter 7 Section 156 covers “comparative negligence.” The law states that when a person suffers death or damages that are party the result of that person’s own fault, the claim isn’t barred entirely, but the amount of damages recoverable are to be reduced to such an extent the jury believes equitable, accounting for claimant’s share of responsibility. So if a plaintiff wins $100,000 in damages but is deemed to be 25 percent comparatively negligent, he or she will only collect $75,000 from defendant.

If a plaintiff is determined to be equally or more at-fault for his or her injuries, plaintiff cannot recovery any damages. Continue reading

November 19, 2015

Wood v. Wood – Maine Supreme Judicial Court Hears Husband-Wife Injury Lawsuit

by Peter Thompson & Associates

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has remanded for further consideration a case in which a wife sued her husband for damages caused by his negligent operation of a motorcycle on which she was a passenger.

Although it often seems unthinkable outside of family court that spouses might sue one another, this case shows how most of the time, these claims are not personal. In the vast majority of situations in which relatives or friends are on opposites sides in civil litigation, it’s not the individual from whom they are trying to collect. Rather, it is the insurance company.

Here, plaintiff sought payment of medical bills and other expenses from the motorcycle insurance policy carried by her husband. But here in Maine, it is not possible to sue the insurance company for liability in an accident (except for when the insurer acts in bad faith). Instead, one must file a lawsuit against the insured. Continue reading

October 30, 2015

Hill-Spotswood v. Mayhew et al. – Injured Worker Seeks State Liability for Attack by Patient

by Peter Thompson & Associates

An 18-weeks pregnant woman who worked in a Maine psychiatric center was violently attacked with a pen by a mentally ill patient with a history of violence.

Worker suffered severe pain and disfigurement, was forced to undergo surgery to remove part of the pen from her right hand and now suffers chronic post-traumatic stress disorder.

Typically, injuries like these are covered under the state’s workers’ compensation laws. Workers’ compensation is a form of no-fault benefits provided to injured workers (or families of those killed) when that injury or death occurred in the course and scope of employment. Workers’ compensation benefits come with a provision of exclusive remedy, meaning injured workers don’t have the right to sue their employer, but their medical expenses and a portion of lost wages are available. Compensation for pain and suffering, emotional distress and punitive damages are not paid by workers’ compensation. So what this plaintiff wants to do is make the state – not the private psychiatric center – liable for the injuries she suffered at work. Continue reading

January 31, 2015

Report: Maine Nursing Homes Improve Medication Track Record, Still Lag

by Peter Thompson & Associates

A new report by the Maine Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program indicates the state is the No. 1 most-improved when it comes to slashing the number of potentially fatal antipsychotic medications doled out to elderly in nursing homes.

That’s certainly good news. But there’s more to it.

The state still ranks 26th in the U.S. in terms of the total number of nursing home residents prescribed these dangerous drugs.

January 20, 2014

Bangor Injury Claims: Establishing Causation Per the Daubert Standard

by Peter Thompson & Associates

In Bangor personal injury lawsuits, solid, reliable expert testimony is a critical part of success. It’s the necessary link to proving that you suffered damage directly as a result of the other party’s negligence.

If the defense can establish doubt for the jury by insinuating your injuries were caused in some other way, your case could be in jeopardy.

In order to ensure that the testimony provided by your expert witness is admissible in court, the judge will apply the Daubert standard. This much-used criteria was first established in the case of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals in 1993, which allows for the standard of flexible reliability.

November 17, 2013

Hit-And-Run Accidents on the Rise in Portland

by Peter Thompson & Associates

Four people, including two young children, were involved in a late-night accident as their vehicle was run off the road by another vehicle. The driver in question left the scene of the accident, according to the Portland Press Herald.Maine State Troopers report that the victims’ vehicle flipped over in the accident along Interstate 295 in Cumberland. Luckily, officers were able to track down the dangerous driver later at her home in Portland. She has been arrested and charged with failing to report an accident and leaving the scene.

Our personal injury attorneys in Portland understand that this accident was caused by the careless passing driver. She was attempting pass cars on the right while heading southbound when she swerved back into her lane and slammed into the victim’s car. Upon impact, the victims’ vehicle went into the median and flipped over onto its side. The driver, a passenger and an 8- and 12-year-old child were taken to Mercy Hospital.

November 11, 2013

Local Man Killed in Portland Railroad Crossing Accident

by Peter Thompson & Associates

Officers recently responded to the scene of a fatal accident involving a Pan Am Railways freight train and a pedestrian. According to Bangor Daily News, the accident happened just before 8:00 p.m. Officers were forced to shut down a section of Forest Avenue — the part that runs from Walton Street to Woodford’s Corner.Officers received a report that a pedestrian was struck by a freight train at that crossing. They haven’t identified the pedestrian.

Our Portland injury lawyers understand that there were close to 2,000 railroad accidents at public and private crossings in the U. . in 2012. Of these accidents, there were close to 300 people killed, according to Operation Lifesaver. In addition, there were another 950 people injured in these accidents. Did you know that there are more than 210,000 railroad crossings, approximately 129,644 intersect with public roads in the United States?sAbout every 90 minutes, there is a train derailment or a train collision. Currently, railroads are self-regulated and fall under the scrutiny of the federal government.