Recent Blog Posts

Child Injuries

By Robert I. Feinberg | Published April 22, 2016 | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Tags: Child Injuries | Comments Off on Child Injuries

Injuries to children are of course a very painful subject. Obviously, no one could be more precious than a child. I will never forget going into a courtroom and seeing a picture of a child in a full body cast. Thank God, the child had made a good recovery by the time of trial but if the old line “a picture is worth a thousand words” were ever true, it was certainly true there.

Loss of Earning Capacity

By Robert I. Feinberg | Published April 15, 2016 | Posted in Accidents, Personal Injury | Comments Off on Loss of Earning Capacity

By now you would have heard or are familiar with the fact that loss of earning capacity is an element of your damages. Specifically, it is an element of special damages as is the reasonable value of the medical services provided to you. Let’s focus today on the loss of earning capacity and the basic concept behind it.

EGGSHELL OR THIN-SKULLED PLAINTIFF

By Robert I. Feinberg | Published April 7, 2016 | Posted in Personal Injury | Comments Off on EGGSHELL OR THIN-SKULLED PLAINTIFF

Law students in their first year of torts are sure to hear of the curious terms, thin-skulled plaintiff or eggshell plaintiff. Essentially what it means is that if a plaintiff has a particular weakness or susceptibility and is hurt, the defendant, “must take the plaintiff as he/she finds him/her”. Thus if the injured party suffers more as a result of their weakness or susceptibility, the defendant, the party that is sued, bears the full cost of that injury. That little expression of “taking the plaintiff as you find him/her” means essentially that the eggshell plaintiff or thin-skulled plaintiff is entitled to the full measure of their damages even though they had a particular susceptibility. I never found the expression of “taking the plaintiff as you find him/her” to be all that clear; nonetheless, there is no mistaking the concept.

The Relevance of the O.J. Simpson Trial to Personal Injury Law

By Robert I. Feinberg | Published April 1, 2016 | Posted in Civil Suit | Comments Off on The Relevance of the O.J. Simpson Trial to Personal Injury Law

Many of you have probably seen the series on Fox, An American Crime Story, The People v. O.J. Simpson. It is running for 10 episodes. What the relevance of the series to personal injury law brings to mind something I have spoken about before which, if I may say, bears repeating.

29,000 CIVIL CASES AND COUNTING…OR MAYBE NOT COUNTING BUT INSTEAD STAYING THE SAME

By Robert I. Feinberg | Published March 25, 2016 | Posted in Personal Injury | Comments Off on 29,000 CIVIL CASES AND COUNTING…OR MAYBE NOT COUNTING BUT INSTEAD STAYING THE SAME

On the website of the Massachusetts Courts is a wealth of information. The statistics that I looked at recently were those that pertain to the number of cases that are active in the courts. Since my practice is primarily focused in the Superior Courts where the assessed value of cases is $25,000 or more and since I do only civil cases, I looked at those numbers very carefully.

What to Expect: The Age of Civil Cases in Massachusetts

By Robert I. Feinberg | Published March 18, 2016 | Posted in Personal Injury | Comments Off on What to Expect: The Age of Civil Cases in Massachusetts

In this blog, Robert Feinberg discusses the how long the 29,000 civil cases have been active in the Superior Courts across Massachusetts and he provides an optimistic view (at least compared to prior eras) of how long you should expect your case to take. This is the second blog that will concern the statistics of the Massachusetts court system and particularly in the Superior Court, where the bulk of my practice consists. Civil cases are brought in the Superior Court where the value is likely to exceed $25,000.

Alternative Dispute Resolution – Arbitration

By Robert I. Feinberg | Published March 11, 2016 | Posted in Alternative Dispute Resolution | Tagged Tags: ADR | Comments Off on Alternative Dispute Resolution – Arbitration

You may recall that in an earlier blog I spoke about alternative dispute resolution. In Massachusetts, the Pre-Trial Conference Memos ask if the parties are” amenable”, that is, agreeable, to alternative forms of dispute resolution. Recently, I blogged spoke about mediation and focused on the perspective that the mediator offers to you at the outset of the mediation. But what about arbitration?

Alternative Dispute Resolution – Mediation

By Robert I. Feinberg | Published February 26, 2016 | Posted in ADR Mediation, Personal Injury | Tagged Tags: ADR, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Mediation | Comments Off on Alternative Dispute Resolution – Mediation

A very noticeable change in the handling of personal injury cases over the last three decades has been the willingness of both sides to engage in alternative dispute resolution. Even the Pre-Trial Order of the Massachusetts Superior Court asks about the parties’ willingness or amenability to alternative forms of dispute resolution. Generally that means mediation or arbitration. I have blogged primarily about mediations and I will blog a little about arbitrations over the course of the next few weeks. But let’s turn our attention once again to mediation. In this blog, I will focus on what you will hear from the mediator at the outset.

The Client as the Primary Source

By Robert I. Feinberg | Published February 17, 2016 | Posted in Personal Injury | Comments Off on The Client as the Primary Source

As a personal injury attorney, it is obviously necessary for me to have a complete and accurate understanding of my client’s injuries. How have the injuries affected my client? What exactly has he/she gone through in terms of pain and suffering? What is the true measure of loss of earning capacity? The source for learning detailed answers to these questions is from the client himself/ herself.

Respondeat Superior and the Meaning of Latin Terms

By Robert I. Feinberg | Published February 11, 2016 | Posted in Personal Injury | Tagged Tags: Respondeat Superior | Comments Off on Respondeat Superior and the Meaning of Latin Terms

Latin terms are commonly used in law and while they may sound fancy, I have to say that their doctrines are pretty straight-forward and pretty clear. The doctrine that I would like to speak about today is known as Respondeat Superior. Essentially it means that the employer is responsible for the actions of its employee in the course and scope of employment of that employee. It is interesting that when I have reviewed cases that have been prepared by younger lawyers, there seems to be an overemphasis on the notion of Respondeat Superior.

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