When trucking or commercial vehicle accidents occur, there is a substantial likelihood of property damage, personal injury, and potential catastrophic harm to drivers, passengers, or pedestrians. When there is a question of fault involved, competing interests between the injured parties, the insurance carriers, and law enforcement will undoubtedly arise. Drivers and their employers may face both civil and criminal litigation contemporaneously. Therefore, the company’s driver and counsel for the trucking company must carefully consider their…

The Massachusetts Supreme Court recently issued a decision in Doull v. Foster in which it adopted the “but-for” standard for causation in negligence cases. The Court held that the but-for test is the appropriate standard for Massachusetts courts to employ in the vast majority of negligence cases involving multiple alleged causes of harm, almost completely eliminating the substantial factor test for causation. It did, however, carve out from that standard cases with multiple sufficient causes,…

The United States Supreme Court is expected to resolve a critical circuit split this term concerning a defendant’s right to appeal orders of remand based on several grounds when removal from state to federal court is triggered by federal officer or civil rights jurisdiction. To do this, the Court must examine the plain language and legislative intent of at least six different provisions contained in Title 28 of the United States Code, clarify the duties…

The United States Supreme Court’s March 25 opinion in Ford Motor Co. v. Montana Eighth Judicial District Court, et al., 592 U.S. ____ (2021), has been highly anticipated by consumers and corporate defendants alike. Ford’s argument in the companion Minnesota and Montana cases was intriguing: even where a foreign defendant admits it has “purposefully availed” itself of the privilege of conducting activities within a state, can the forum court maintain specific jurisdiction if such conduct…

Over the past weeks a majority of states in the United States have experienced severe winter weather that has impacted the lives of millions of Americans. With severe winter weather comes dangerous driving conditions and increases in deadly accidents. In response to the recent winter storm damage experienced throughout the country and the historic shut downs in Texas, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued a regional emergency declaration covering 33 states and the…

In the last several months, MG+M’s Transportation Practice Group has been retained to protect the interests of trucking companies whose drivers were involved in significant highway accidents. This is nothing new for the attorneys who comprise MG+M’s robust trucking and transportation counseling and defense practice. However, the recent actions of MG+M’s Emergency Response teams that were deployed to accident scenes have solidified the immense utility to our clients of placing litigators at a truck’s location…

In a recent August 2020 decision, the Supreme Court of Massachusetts in. (SJC-12856) determined that molestation policy exclusions do not preclude coverage arising out of alleged assault in personal injury claims. The Court found that the term “physical abuse” was ambiguous in a homeowner’s insurance policy and a personal injury claim arising out of a physical altercation was not sufficient to trigger an abuse and molestation policy exclusion for the coverage of a bodily injury…