Latest Verdicts and Settlements

SANFORD - The widow of a Sanford man who died when he was pinned by a forklift in 2003 said she’s relieved that Maine’s highest court has found that equipment companies have a duty to inform those who buy their products of hazards, even if the equipment was purchased through a third party. "I felt I had to do something," said Claire Brown, widow of Tom Brown, who died in the mishap at Prime Tanning in August 2003. "This gets the word out there that (companies) have a responsibility to say something." The Maine Supreme Judicial Court last week ruled that Crown Equipment Corp. of Ohio had a duty to inform Prime Tanning Co. that a forklift posed a hazard. Tom Brown died when he... Read More

Three days before Christmas, Parkview Hospital filed Complaints in Portland, Maine in an effort to prevent two of its former obstetricians, Dr. Melissa Streeter and Dr. Gregory Gimbel, from practicing obstetrical medicine at MidCoast Hospital, Parkview’s direct competitor. In response, Smith Elliott entered the Court on behalf of the doctors and argued that the judicial system could not stop pregnant women – including those in their third trimester of pregnancy – from delivering babies with the doctors of their choice. The Court agreed with Smith Elliott. Parkview filed Complaints against Drs. Streeter and Gimbel claiming that their move to MidCoast Hospital had severely damaged... Read More

I will never forget the first ATLA conference I attended, more than thirty years ago. Tom Lambert, a poetic and brilliant Suffolk Law School Tort Professor, presented a lecture on products liability.  A small man, Professor Lambert invoked in his audience, many of us freshly minted lawyers, a pride about our special calling as plaintiff’s lawyers.  “Better a fence at the top of a cliff,” he said, “than an ambulance below.”  Professor Lambert’s words have stuck to my ribs.  Plaintiff lawyers are not ambulance chasers, but ambulance drivers.  Most of our professional lives are spent on the hard surface below the cliff, tending to our broken clients and their broken... Read More