Memorable Verdicts and Settlements

Esdaile, Barrett & Esdaile is dedicated to achieving the best possible results for its clients, whether by jury verdict, settlement, arbitrator’s award or mediation.   At the appellate level, our attorneys have successfully fought for the extension of plaintiffs’ rights in relation to insurance and medical malpractice litigation.  In the trial courts, we have obtained some of the largest verdicts in the Commonwealth, and successfully worked to obtain pre-trial solutions for our clients.

Important policy cases include:

• DiMarzo v. American Mutual Insurance Company, 389 Mass. 85 (1983). Esdaile, Barrett and Esdaile represented a plaintiff whose insurance company had attempted to reduce the amount owed under its policy limits by $2,200.00. The insurer was found to have acted in bad faith and in violation of the Massachusetts Consumer Protection law. Rather than pay the $20,000.00 policy limits, the insurer was forced to pay more than $500,000.00.

• Franklin v. Albert, 381 Mass. 611 (1980). This case changed the law in Massachusetts by extending the time limitations for filing lawsuits in medical malpractice cases. Esdaile, Barrett and Esdaile represented a young man whose cancer was not properly diagnosed. The law at that time prevented him from filing suit against the doctors who negligently failed to diagnose his cancer because it was more than 3 years after the date of their negligent conduct. This case expanded the rights of victims of medical malpractice to allow them to file suit within 3 years from the date that they reasonably should discover that malpractice had occurred. 

• Sahin v. Sahin, 435 Mass. 396, 758 N.E. 2d 132 (2001).  This case clarified the standard for relief under Rule 60(b)(6) in the context of a material change to the value of assets in a divorce proceeding, as well as addressing alleged fraud and requests for equitable relief.

Other representative cases include:

• $15 million settlement on behalf of the estate of a young doctor who was killed instantly when a large elevating scaffolding collapsed and fell 140’ to the street below, crushing the car as he sat in traffic.

• $15 million settlement for the families of four Massachusetts school children killed in a bus crash.

• $10 million judgment after a jury’s verdict for a man who was severely injured as a result of negligently designed pressurized equipment.

• $9 million settlement for a young woman who was horribly burned over 90% of her body in an electrical explosion that occurred during the course of her employment as a substation worker for a large, internationally known, power company. 

• $5.5 million settlement for a bank executive struck by an MBTA bus.

• $5 million judgment after a jury’s verdict for a man who suffered a degloving hand injury. 

• $3.73 million settlement on behalf of a thirteen year-old girl who sustained a below-the-knee left leg amputation and multiple fractures to her right leg when a van driven by the employee of a nationally recognized home service company ran a red light, was hit by a third vehicle, lost control, and drove up onto the sidewalk, striking the young girl as she stood waiting for her school bus.

• $3.7 million settlement on behalf of the estate of a police officer who was killed while working on a road detail when a large dump truck was backing up -- without a back-up alarm, struck the officer, knocking him to the ground and crushing his lower torso.

• $2.75 million verdict for a 52 year-old woman who was rendered paraplegic during spinal surgery.

• $2.76 million arbitrator’s award for a 50 year-old woman who sustained permanent incomplete paraplegia as a result of elective spine surgery. 

• $2.25 million settlement for a 27 year-old woman whose doctors failed to diagnose and treat an evolving carotid artery dissection.

• $2 million settlement for a young woman whose doctor negligently failed to monitor kidney function while she was on prescription medication.

• $1.75 million settlement for the family of a 75 year-old woman who died as a result of improper placement of drains during surgery.

• $973,000 judgment after a jury’s verdict against the MBTA as a result of a bus accident that caused a crush injury to the client’s ankle, impairing his ability to earn a living as an independent contractor.

• $850,000 judgment after verdict for an elderly woman who slipped on an unnatural accumulation of rain water inside a supermarket and fell, breaking her hip. 

• Divorce case involving assets of more than $1Billion of client’s holdings in multiple nationally recognized business interests.

• Divorce case lasting more than 25 days in the Probate & Family Court that included, among other matters, the valuation of stockholdings in a bank.

• Undisclosed seven-figure settlement for public servants injured during a rehearsal landing of the Presidential Marine One Chinook-47D helicopters on a football and baseball field.

• Undisclosed seven-figure settlement for a 25 year-old woman who suffered from kidney failure as a result of lithium toxicity.  

• Undisclosed seven-figure settlement for a construction worker who suffered a traumatic brain injury in a slip and fall on ice while entering a job site.