Articles Tagged with Boston drunk driving injury

An allegedly drunken bus driver in St. Louis reportedly left an entire college basketball team stranded – and risked the safety of countless other motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists. The driver was reportedly stopped eventually, several hours after the team lost the game some 40 miles away in St. Bonaventure, New York. bus

The Washington Post reported the players snapped Instagram and Twitter photographs of themselves and teammates, napping, playing cards and talking on their cell phones as they lamented their “missing bus.” Troopers eventually located the driver via a GPS signal from an iPad left by the head coach on the bus. The driver at the time reportedly had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.22 – which is nearly three times the limit for all drivers and more than five times the limit for commercial drivers.

Drivers of commercial vehicles are not permitted to have a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.04 or higher. Her employer told the Post the 56-year-old had since been terminated from her job and that the company was “extremely disappointed and troubled” by her alleged actions.  Continue reading

The maker of a smartphone breathalyzer violated federal advertising rules when it promised that its products offered “government lab-grade testing” to measure consumers’ blood-alcohol concentration.drinks

The CEO of the company agreed to settle with the Federal Trade Commission, which alleged the firm didn’t have the proper scientific evidence to back up the claims made in its advertising.

Startup funds for the technology venture were generated as a result of the CEO’s appearance on the reality show Shark Tank, a show on ABC that seeks funding from venture capital “sharks.” The CEO drummed up $2 million in funds plus a large group of executives as part of the show. The products in question are pocket-sized devices that connect to users’ phones via the headphone jack. The promise of the products is that they will give users an indication of their blood-alcohol level – presumably before they get behind the wheel of a car or engage in some other activity. Continue reading

Addiction can have a powerful hold on people, and it’s also often a driving force behind so many of the repeat DUI offenses that occur across the country. According to the National Department of Transportation, about one-third of all drivers arrested or convicted of drunk driving are repeat offenders. handcuffs2

Beyond harsher penalties within the criminal justice system, repeat DUI defendants in civil litigation are more likely to face punitive damages. There is a strong case to be made for punitive damages when a driver is accused of repeatedly violating state laws and jeopardizing the safety of innocent people. Punitive damages provide further compensation to the victim but are intended to punish the offender.

In Massachusetts, punitive damages generally aren’t available in personal injury cases, no matter how negligent the conduct or how bad the injuries. However, punitive injuries may be available if an individual or corporation engages in gross negligence or willful or wanton conduct that results in a death. This is because the Massachusetts Wrongful Death Act, M.G.L. c. 229, creates an exception to common law on the punitive damages issue.
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As you drive through the City of Boston and other large metropolises like New York and Washington, DC, you are likely to see picketers marching with large signs and chanting outside a large downtown office building.  These picketers have decided they are being oppressed or taken advantage of by their employer, and they need to speak out.  They are taking a big risk, because, depending on their level of skill as worker and the relative strength of the local union, they might end out losing their jobs.  At the very least, they are having to suffer the consequences of going without pay for a potentially substantial about of time.

barsignIn addition to the many economic threats, it seems there are other types of risks from spending hours alongside a crowded city street.  According to a recent news feature from the Boston Globe, a Verizon worker was picketing outside a wireless store location when an alleged drunk driver crashed into him so violently that he was flipped onto the car and then was thrown onto the roof of the vehicle. This occurred a few minutes before nine in the morning. Continue reading

Many likely remember the case of a teen driver who was found guilty on four counts of drunk driving manslaughter, reckless driving, and other alcohol-related driving infractions and criminal charges, and then argued that he should not serve time in prison because he suffered a condition they were calling affluenza.

1316049_untitledEssentially, defendant, through his counsel, argued that he came from an extremely wealthy family, and his parents taught him that if you have money, you can get anything and do anything you want, because wealth buys privilege. They then went on to argue that as result of this mental health condition, he could not appreciate the wrongness of his actions that night he decided to drive drunk and that decision proved fatal.   Continue reading

According to a recent news article from The Boston Globe, supermodel Stephanie Seymour was recently arrested in Connecticut on charges of suspected drunk driving. Authorities say Seymour was driving her SUV when she backed it into another car on an exit ramp off Interstate 95. There was no report of injuries as a result of this alleged drunk driving crash.

nu4Yar0State troopers have said, when they responded to the scene of the car accident, they observed Seymour to be having trouble standing. They also noticed that her eyes were bloodshot, and they observed the smell of alcohol on her breath. Troopers attempted to administer field sobriety tests, but she allegedly refused to comply with officers. Continue reading

According to a recent news feature from CBS Boston, a man in Framingham, Massachusetts was just killed in a fatal car accident involving an alleged drunk driver.

n5Pvi6OAuthorities have said defendant, who is currently 33 years old, is facing criminal charges after he allegedly hit and killed a pedestrian while driving under the influence of alcohol. As prosecutors have alleged, this was defendant’s second operating a motor vehicle under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs (OUI) and a man was killed, and he is being charged with OUI second and motor vehicle homicide by reckless negligent operation. Continue reading

According to a recent news feature from the News-Press, a 50-year-old woman in Naples, Florida was arrested last April on charges of suspected drunk driving. In that incident, police were called to the scene of serious car accident when the driver allegedly crashed her BMW into a Ford Mustang that was stopped at a red traffic signal. There was so much damage to her car that it was a total loss. Fortunately, nobody was injured in that serious drunk driving accident.

DUI checkpointWhen police went to question the driver, they saw that woman was wearing a bikini and appeared to be heavily intoxicated. Police administered a series of standardized field sobriety tests (SFTS), and she allegedly failed all of the tests. She said that she was not drunk and could not stand on one foot “even on a good day.” Following the administration of field sobriety tests and general questioning, they asked her to take a roadside breath test (RBT), and she allegedly refused to provide a sample. Continue reading

Drunk driving car accidents result in serious personal injury or even death on a regular basis. Any accident involving child victims are particularly devastating. According to a recent report from Mass Live, a 59-year-old man in Hampden County has just been convicted for being involved in a drunk driving accident in which he hit three children, causing serious personal injury, some of which is considered to be permanent injury.

mHF4UJ4The defendant decided not to have trial before a jury and instead had a bench trial. In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a defendant is entitled to a jury as long as the potential penalties include at least one day in prison. In most cases, we would expect a defendant to always choose a trail before a jury when possible, however in some cases, where the alleged offenses involve emotionally charged issues such as child victims, it might be reasonable to choose a bench trial where a judge makes all legal rulings and also renders a verdict as to guilt or innocence. Continue reading

In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the legal limit a driver’s blood alcohol content (BAC) when getting behind the wheel of motor vehicle is 0.08 grams of alcohol per hundred milliliters of blood. This is the legal limit across the United States due to the lobbying efforts of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and others in support of cutting down on drunk driving fatalities in the nation.

beersTechnically, the United States federal government does not have authority to create a mandatory blood alcohol limit in each of the several states because of the 10th Amendment states rights provision. However, Congress does have a enumerated plenary power to tax and spend for the general welfare of the American people. It is the spending clause that allows for a national drinking age and a national blood alcohol limit. Congress can give highway-funding grants to the states as its members see fit. If they wish to tie receipt of federal highway funding grants to the state’s choice to institute a specific law, they have the right to do so without violating the 10th Amendment. This is how Congress was able to a pass a national BAC limit in an attempt to curb drunk driving accidents, including drunk driving fatal accidents, in the United States. Continue reading

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