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Straight answers on Massachusetts injury law
In-depth answers to the questions Massachusetts injury clients ask most, each grounded in the controlling statute and written to be read the day something goes wrong. General legal information, not legal advice. For your specific situation, telephone the firm.
- 01 Product Liability
Can I Sue for a Defective Product in Massachusetts?
Yes, and the route is stranger than in almost any other state. Massachusetts never adopted strict product liability. The Supreme Judicial Court declined it outright in 1978 and has left it declined ever since, which means there is no free-standing tort claim here for selling a dangerous product. What Massachusetts has instead is a sales-contract promise, the implied warranty of merchantability in M.G.L. c. 106, sec. 2-314, which the Legislature rebuilt until it does the same work under a different name. That detour matters for a practical reason most people never hear: because the claim is a warranty claim rather than a negligence claim, the comparative negligence statute that trims most Massachusetts injury recoveries does not reduce it at all. To talk through a specific situation, the Jim Glaser Law line at (617) JIM-WINS is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is offered without charge.
Read the full answer → - 02 Local Crash Data
How Dangerous Are Suffolk County Roads? Three Years of Massachusetts Crash Data
Across the four cities and towns of Suffolk County, Massachusetts recorded 23,143 crashes from 2022 through 2024, including 78 fatal crashes, 6,051 crashes involving injury, 347 involving a bicycle, and 702 involving a pedestrian. That is 5.7 percent of every crash in the Commonwealth but 11.7 percent of every crash that struck someone on foot. Measured as pedestrian crashes per 1,000 crashes, the county runs at 30.33 against a statewide 14.76, which is 2.05 times the state figure and the highest this series has measured. The obvious explanation is Boston, and the obvious explanation is wrong. Boston holds 75.2 percent of the county's crashes and is first in Massachusetts for pedestrian crashes outright at 491, yet Boston's pedestrian ratio is 28.21 and the other three communities together run 36.79. Chelsea alone runs 44.52, which is fourth among all 189 Massachusetts communities with at least 500 crashes on record. Severity runs the opposite way: the county's fatal ratio of 3.37 per 1,000 is essentially Boston's, and Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop together sit at 2.27, below the statewide 2.68. Every figure below comes from MassDOT crash records for 2022 through 2024 and can be checked against the town pages in the [Massachusetts crash report](/crash-report). To talk through a crash anywhere in Boston, Chelsea, Revere or Winthrop, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the line is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 03 Motorcycle Accidents
Where Do Most Motorcycle Accidents Happen in Massachusetts?
Most Massachusetts motorcycle crashes happen on ordinary city streets in daylight on dry pavement, not on highways, at night, or in bad weather. MassDOT crash records for 2022 through 2024 carry 5,623 crashes involving a motorcycle, of which 175 were fatal and 4,003 involved an injury. Just over half of them, 52.5 percent, happened at no junction at all, meaning mid-block rather than at an intersection. Another 38.5 percent happened at an intersection of some kind, most often a T-intersection rather than a four-way. Daylight accounted for 72.5 percent and dry pavement for 92.4 percent. Two thirds of them, 65.0 percent, happened where the posted speed limit was 25, 30 or 35 miles an hour. By municipality, Boston recorded the most at 261 over the three years, followed by Springfield at 204 and Worcester at 199, but Springfield recorded the most deaths, 12 against Boston's 8. The number that gives all of this weight is the severity gap: motorcycles were in 1.4 percent of Massachusetts crashes and 16.1 percent of the fatal ones, which works out to 31.1 fatal crashes per 1,000 motorcycle crashes against 2.68 per 1,000 for crashes generally. Every figure here comes from a MassDOT query run on 2026-08-13 and can be checked against the town pages in the [Massachusetts crash report](/crash-report). To talk through a specific crash, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the line is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 04 Insurance Coverage
What Are the Minimum Car Insurance Requirements in Massachusetts?
Massachusetts requires every registered vehicle to carry four compulsory coverages, and as of July 1, 2025 the required minimums are $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury to others, $8,000 in personal injury protection, $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury caused by an uninsured auto, and $30,000 for damage to someone else's property. Those are the current figures under M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 34A and sec. 34O as amended by St. 2024, c. 275. If you have seen 20/40/5 printed somewhere, that was the law until June 30, 2025, and it is now out of date. The more important point, and the one that catches people, is what a minimum policy does not do. Under the Division of Insurance's own description, the compulsory bodily injury coverage pays only when the crash happens in Massachusetts, and it does not cover injuries to the passengers in your own car. Both of those gaps are closed by an optional coverage that most Massachusetts drivers have never had explained to them. If you are dealing with a crash and trying to work out which policy pays for what, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS. The line is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 05 Medical Malpractice
Can My Family Sue a Massachusetts Nursing Home for Neglect?
Yes, and the part most families get wrong is which door to walk through. Four separate bodies of Massachusetts law reach a licensed nursing home, and three of them move faster than a lawsuit while paying the resident's family nothing at all. The state reporting system under M.G.L. c. 111, secs. 72F to 72L puts an investigator in the building within days and can put the Attorney General on the facility, but the penalties it collects go to the Commonwealth. The residents' rights statute, M.G.L. c. 111, sec. 70E, creates real enforceable rights and then routes the private lawsuit straight into the medical malpractice procedure chapter, which means a screening tribunal and a bond rather than a quick consumer claim. A negligence or wrongful death case is where compensation actually lives, and it carries a procedural step most people have never heard of. The fourth track, the one almost nobody writes about, is the Attorney General's own consumer protection regulation written specifically for long term care facilities. To talk through a specific situation, the Jim Glaser Law line at (617) JIM-WINS is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is offered without charge.
Read the full answer → - 06 Local Crash Data
How Dangerous Are Plymouth County Roads? Three Years of Massachusetts Crash Data
Across the twenty-seven cities and towns of Plymouth County, Massachusetts recorded 32,099 crashes from 2022 through 2024, including 117 fatal crashes, 8,574 crashes involving injury, 240 involving a bicycle, and 337 involving a pedestrian. That is 7.9 percent of every crash in the Commonwealth but 10.8 percent of every fatal one. Measured as fatal crashes per 1,000 crashes, the county runs at 3.64 against a statewide 2.68, which is 36 percent higher and ties Hampden County for the worst figure this series has measured. What makes Plymouth County different from Hampden is where the severity sits. Brockton is the seventh busiest crash location in Massachusetts and fifth in the state for fatal crashes outright, and yet Brockton's fatal ratio is 2.71, below its own county and essentially level with the state. Remove Brockton and the other twenty-six communities run at 3.92. The dangerous driving in this county is happening south and east of the city, in the coastal towns and the cranberry country, on two-lane roads that carry far fewer crashes and kill far more often. Every figure below comes from MassDOT crash records for 2022 through 2024 and can be checked against the town pages in the [Massachusetts crash report](/crash-report). To talk through a crash anywhere on the South Shore, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the line is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 07 Local Crash Data
How Dangerous Are Hampden County Roads? Three Years of Massachusetts Crash Data
Across the twenty-three cities and towns of Hampden County, Massachusetts recorded 34,623 crashes from 2022 through 2024, including 126 fatal crashes, 9,091 crashes involving injury, 321 involving a bicycle, and 471 involving a pedestrian. That is 8.5 percent of every crash in the Commonwealth and 11.6 percent of every fatal one. Measured as fatal crashes per 1,000 crashes, the county comes out at 3.64 against a statewide 2.68, which is 36 percent higher, and unlike every other county this series has examined, the excess is not coming from the rural edges. Springfield alone runs at 3.96 fatal crashes per 1,000, which is a higher ratio than Boston's 3.73, and Chicopee runs at 4.20. Springfield is second in Massachusetts for fatal crashes and Chicopee is fourth, on a fraction of the crash volume of the cities they are ranked against. Every figure below comes from MassDOT crash records for 2022 through 2024 and can be checked against the town pages in the [Massachusetts crash report](/crash-report). To talk through a crash anywhere in the county, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the line is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 08 Evidence and Discovery
Is Massachusetts a One-Party or Two-Party Consent State for Recording?
Massachusetts is neither, and the question is built on a premise the statute does not share. The Massachusetts wiretap act, M.G.L. c. 272, section 99, does not ask how many people consented to a recording. It asks whether the recording was made secretly. Under section 99(B)(4), an unlawful interception is made when a person acts "to secretly hear, secretly record, or aid another to secretly hear or secretly record the contents of any wire or oral communication through the use of any intercepting device." The Supreme Judicial Court has held that a recording is secret when the person being recorded lacks actual knowledge of it. So the practical rule in Massachusetts is short: you may record a conversation you are part of, as long as everyone in it knows the recording is happening. Nobody has to say yes. Everybody has to know. Recording secretly is a crime carrying a fine of up to $10,000 and up to five years in state prison, and it also exposes the recorder to a civil suit by the person recorded. If a recording matters to your Massachusetts injury claim, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS before you make it; the line is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 09 Family Claims
Can I Sue for the Trauma of Watching Someone I Love Get Hurt in Massachusetts?
Sometimes, and Massachusetts is stricter about it than most people expect. The claim is called negligent infliction of emotional distress, and since Dziokonski v. Babineau, 375 Mass. 555 (1978) it has not required that you were hit, touched, or even in danger yourself. What it does require is a genuine injury you can corroborate with something more than grief, and, if you are claiming as a bystander to someone else's accident, three limits that decide most of these cases before anyone argues about damages: you have to be closely related to the person who was hurt, you have to have witnessed the accident or come upon the scene soon after, and you have to have been there rather than hearing about it. A stranger who stops and performs CPR has no claim in Massachusetts. A mother who was telephoned seven hours later had none either. A mother who reached the scene and saw her daughter lying in the road did. To talk through a specific situation, the Jim Glaser Law line at (617) JIM-WINS is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is offered without charge.
Read the full answer → - 10 Family Claims
Can My Family Bring Their Own Claim After I Am Injured in Massachusetts?
Sometimes, and when they can, it is their claim rather than yours. Massachusetts calls it loss of consortium, and it compensates a family member for what the injury did to the relationship itself, not for medical bills or lost wages. The answer depends on which relationship you are asking about. A husband or wife has had this claim since Diaz v. Eli Lilly & Co., 364 Mass. 153 (1973). A dependent minor child of an injured parent has had one since Ferriter v. Daniel O'Connell's Sons, Inc., 381 Mass. 507 (1980). Parents of an injured child have one only because the Legislature wrote it into M.G.L. c. 231, sec. 85X after the Supreme Judicial Court declined to create it. Three rules then decide whether the claim is worth anything: it is legally independent, so the injured person's own share of fault does not reduce it; it is not immune, because an adverse ruling in the injured person's case can bind the family member; and if the injury happened at work, M.G.L. c. 152, sec. 24 has already taken the claim against the employer away. To talk through a specific situation, the Jim Glaser Law line at (617) JIM-WINS is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is offered without charge.
Read the full answer → - 11 Local Crash Data
How Dangerous Are Norfolk County Roads? Three Years of Massachusetts Crash Data
Across the twenty-eight cities and towns of Norfolk County, Massachusetts recorded 41,894 crashes from 2022 through 2024, including 114 fatal crashes, 9,636 crashes involving injury, 363 involving a bicycle, and 573 involving a pedestrian. That is 10.3 percent of every crash in the Commonwealth. Measured by fatal crashes per 1,000 crashes, the county comes out at 2.72 against a statewide 2.68, which is to say it is average, and that average is the least useful number in this article. Divide the county along the boundaries that actually matter, the seven District Court catchments that decide where a case is heard, and the ratio runs from 1.88 in the Quincy district to 4.18 in the Wrentham district. The same county, the same three years, the same dataset, and a difference of more than a factor of two depending on which side of it you were driving on. Every figure below comes from MassDOT crash records for 2022 through 2024 and can be checked against the town pages in the [Massachusetts crash report](/crash-report). To talk through a crash anywhere in the county, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the line is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 12 Case Value
What Is a Massachusetts Spinal Cord Injury Case Worth?
There is no average, and any figure quoted to you before the facts are known is guesswork dressed up as information. What a Massachusetts spinal cord injury case is worth is set by four things working together: the categories of damages Massachusetts law allows you to recover, the total insurance and assets that can actually be reached, the share of fault assigned to you under M.G.L. c. 231, sec. 85, and whether the defendant is one of the few kinds of defendant whose liability Massachusetts caps by statute. In catastrophic injury cases the binding constraint is very often not the severity of the injury at all. It is the amount of coverage sitting on the other side. This article explains each of those four inputs, quotes the statutory figures that are actually written into Massachusetts law, and is candid about what cannot be predicted. If you want the mechanics of how the claim itself proceeds, that is covered separately in [the Massachusetts spinal cord injury claim guide](/library/spinal-cord-injury-claim-massachusetts). To talk through a specific injury, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the line is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 13 Drunk Driving
Who Can Be Held Responsible After a Drunk Driving Crash in Massachusetts?
Usually more than one party, and the rules are different for each. The claim against the drunk driver is an ordinary negligence claim, and the criminal case running alongside it under M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 24 does not pay you anything. A licensed bar or restaurant can be liable in its own right, because M.G.L. c. 138, sec. 69 provides that "No alcoholic beverage shall be sold or delivered on any premises licensed under this chapter to an intoxicated person", and a violation of a criminal statute is evidence of negligence. A private host can be liable too, but only inside a narrow rule: Massachusetts requires that the host either served the alcohol or controlled the supply. And the claim against a bar or a host is filed under M.G.L. c. 231, sec. 60J, which sends it to the Superior Court and requires a sworn affidavit within ninety days. To talk through who is on the hook in a specific crash, the Jim Glaser Law line at (617) JIM-WINS is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is offered without charge.
Read the full answer → - 14 Brain Injury
How Does a Traumatic Brain Injury Claim Work in Massachusetts?
A traumatic brain injury claim in Massachusetts runs on the same legal machinery as any other injury claim, with three differences that decide most of these cases. The first is proof: a brain injury often leaves no broken bone and no abnormal scan, so the evidence has to be built out of records, testing and testimony rather than an image. The second is the motor vehicle threshold in M.G.L. c. 231, sec. 6D, which lets a plaintiff recover for pain and suffering after a crash only if reasonable and necessary medical expenses exceed two thousand dollars or the injury fits one of five listed exceptions, none of which a concussion automatically satisfies. The third is capacity: when the injured person cannot make decisions, Massachusetts law changes both who signs and, under M.G.L. c. 260, sec. 7, when the clock runs. The ordinary deadline is three years from the date the cause of action accrues. If you are trying to work out where a head injury stands, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS. The line is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 15 Local Crash Data
How Dangerous Are Worcester County Roads? Three Years of Massachusetts Crash Data
Across the sixty cities and towns of Worcester County, Massachusetts recorded 59,452 crashes from 2022 through 2024, including 158 fatal crashes, 12,143 crashes involving injury, 325 involving a bicycle, and 625 involving a pedestrian. That is 14.7 percent of every crash in the Commonwealth. By the measure that matters most, the county sits almost exactly on the state average: 2.66 fatal crashes per 1,000 crashes against a statewide 2.68. That average hides the county's real pattern completely. Strip out the city of Worcester and the remaining fifty-nine communities run at 2.94 fatal crashes per 1,000, while the city itself runs at 1.86. The danger in Worcester County is not concentrated where the traffic is. It is spread across the rural two-lane roads in the north and the south of the county, and the gap between the safest and the deadliest parts of one county is larger than the gap between most counties. Every figure below comes from MassDOT crash records for 2022 through 2024 and can be checked against the town pages in the [Massachusetts crash report](/crash-report). To talk through a crash anywhere in the county, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the line is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 16 Local Crash Data
Which Massachusetts Communities Have the Most Crashes on Route 128?
Sixteen Massachusetts cities and towns recorded a segment of Route 128 among their highest-crash roads in 2024, and those segments produced 461 crashes in that single year, according to MassDOT crash records. Lexington leads at 68, followed by Burlington at 64, Milton at 44, Gloucester at 36, and Canton at 33. The road does not appear in the data under the name most drivers use for it. Its legal name is the Yankee Division Highway, and along its length it carries three different route numbers, which is why a crash on Route 128 in Gloucester, a crash on Route 128 in Lexington, and a crash on Route 128 in Milton are recorded as three different highways. Across three years, those sixteen communities recorded 31,568 crashes, 69 of them fatal. Every figure here comes from MassDOT crash records for 2022 through 2024 and can be checked against the town pages in the [Massachusetts crash report](/crash-report). To talk through a crash anywhere on the corridor, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS. The line is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 17 Evidence and Discovery
Can the Insurance Company See My Social Media in a Massachusetts Injury Claim?
Yes, and the reach extends well past the public profile. Anything posted publicly can be read by an adjuster or an investigator on the first day, with no subpoena and no court order, because nothing is being compelled. Once a lawsuit is filed the reach grows: Massachusetts Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1) opens discovery to "any matter, not privileged, which is relevant to the subject matter involved in the pending action", and Rule 34(a)(1)(A) reaches "any designated documents or electronically stored information" in your possession, custody, or control, expressly including photographs and images. The request usually arrives at your door rather than at the platform's, because 18 U.S.C. 2702(a)(1) bars a provider from divulging the contents of a communication and none of the statute's exceptions is a civil subpoena. The single response that reliably makes a claim worse is deleting. If an insurer has started asking about your accounts, Jim Glaser Law can talk it through at (617) JIM-WINS. The line is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 18 Spinal Cord Injury
How Do Spinal Cord Injury Claims Work in Massachusetts?
A Massachusetts spinal cord injury claim works like any other negligence claim in its structure and unlike almost any other in its stakes. You must prove that someone else's carelessness caused the injury, you generally have three years from the date of injury to file suit under M.G.L. c. 260, sec. 2A, and your recovery is reduced by your own share of fault and barred entirely if that share is greater than the combined fault of everyone you are suing, under M.G.L. c. 231, sec. 85. What makes these cases different is everything downstream of liability. The damages are not a finite pile of past medical bills; they are a lifetime of them. The medical evidence has to establish not only what happened but what the next forty years look like. And the money that pays for that lifetime is claimed against by hospitals, health insurers, MassHealth, and workers compensation insurers, each with its own statutory hook into the recovery. To talk through a spinal cord injury anywhere in Massachusetts, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS. The line is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 19 Dealing with Insurers
Should You Let the At-Fault Driver Pay Out of Pocket After a Massachusetts Car Accident?
In most cases the answer is no, and in some cases the choice is not yours to make, because Massachusetts law imposes reporting duties that a private handshake does not switch off. If anyone was injured or killed, or if the damage to any one vehicle or other property exceeds $1,000, M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 26 requires every operator involved to file a written report with the registrar within five days and to send a copy to the police department with jurisdiction over the road where the crash happened. That duty attaches to the crash, not to whether a claim is filed. Separately, the medical benefits that pay your first bills in Massachusetts do not come from the other driver at all. Personal injury protection is first-party coverage under your own policy, payable regardless of fault, so agreeing to keep the other driver's insurer out of it does nothing to your right to PIP and everything to your ability to prove what happened later. If you are weighing an offer like this, Jim Glaser Law can talk it through at (617) JIM-WINS. The line is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 20 Liens and Reimbursement
Who Gets Paid Out of My Massachusetts Injury Settlement?
The settlement figure and the amount that reaches you are two different numbers, and in Massachusetts most of the difference is set by statute rather than by negotiation. Three separate regimes can reach into an injury recovery, and each one has its own trigger. A hospital, a health maintenance organization, or a hospital, medical or dental service corporation gets a lien under M.G.L. c. 111, sec. 70A, but that lien reaches only "the net amount payable to such injured person", applies only to an accident "not covered by chapter 152", ranks behind the attorney's lien, and under M.G.L. c. 111, sec. 70B takes effect only if written notice was mailed by certified mail, return receipt requested, before the settlement. MassHealth is stronger. M.G.L. c. 118E, sec. 22 makes repayment a duty, subrogates the Commonwealth to "a claimant's entire cause of action", obliges the claimant or the attorney to give written notice within 10 calendar days of starting recovery activity, and provides that a settlement which does not say what portion is for medical expenses is presumed to pay those expenses first. Meanwhile the layer that pays the first bills is close to lien proof, because M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 34A bars the entity that paid those expenses from holding any lien against personal injury protection benefits, "Notwithstanding the provisions of section seventy A of chapter one hundred and eleven of the General Laws". If the injury happened at work, none of that applies and M.G.L. c. 152, sec. 15 governs instead. This is general information about Massachusetts law and not legal advice. To talk through a specific recovery with a Massachusetts attorney, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 21 Local Crash Data
How Dangerous Are Middlesex County Roads? Three Years of Massachusetts Crash Data
Across the fifty-four cities and towns of Middlesex County, Massachusetts recorded 83,203 crashes from 2022 through 2024, including 168 fatal crashes, 17,733 crashes involving injury, 1,459 involving a bicycle, and 1,397 involving a pedestrian. That is 20.5 percent of every crash in the Commonwealth, which is roughly what you would expect from the state's largest county by number of municipalities. One number is not what you would expect. Middlesex County accounts for 33.5 percent of every bicycle crash in Massachusetts, a share half again as large as its share of crashes overall, and it contains four of the state's ten highest bicycle-crash communities. Cambridge alone recorded 384 bicycle crashes, more than Boston's 273, and ranks first among all 349 Massachusetts communities. At the same time the county is, by the measure that matters most, safer than the state as a whole: 2.02 fatal crashes per 1,000 crashes against a statewide 2.68. Every figure below comes from MassDOT crash records for 2022 through 2024 and can be checked against the town pages in the [Massachusetts crash report](/crash-report). To talk through a crash anywhere in the county, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the line is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 22 Government Claims
Can You Sue the State or a City in Massachusetts?
Yes, in most negligence cases, but only if you follow a claims procedure that has no equivalent in an ordinary injury case, and the first deadline in it is shorter than the deadline to file suit. The Massachusetts Tort Claims Act, M.G.L. c. 258, makes public employers liable for injuries caused by the negligence of their employees acting within the scope of employment, in the same words the statute uses, "in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual under like circumstances." But M.G.L. c. 258, sec. 4 bars any civil action unless the claimant first presented the claim in writing to the right executive officer within two years after the cause of action arose, and M.G.L. c. 258, sec. 2 caps damages against a public employer at $100,000 with no punitive damages and no interest before judgment. A separate and much shorter clock, thirty days, applies when the injury came from a defect in a road or sidewalk. Miss the presentment window and the claim is over regardless of how strong it was. If a city, a town, a school district, a transit authority, or the Commonwealth may have had a hand in your injury, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the line is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 23 Local Crash Data
Is Interstate 495 the Deadliest Highway in Massachusetts?
By the measure that matters most, yes. In 2024, the most recent complete year in the MassDOT crash records, the northbound Interstate 495 segment recorded 9 fatal crashes, the highest fatal count of any road entry in Massachusetts and three times the next-worst highway. Northbound I-93, the westbound Massachusetts Turnpike, and southbound Route 3 tied for second at 3 apiece. Southbound I-495 added 2 more, bringing the corridor to 11 fatal crashes in a single year. What makes that finding striking is what it does not match: on total crashes, I-495 northbound recorded 232 in 2024, seventeenth statewide and roughly half of I-93 northbound's 444. So the Massachusetts highway with the most collisions and the Massachusetts highway that kills the most people are not the same road. Twelve communities across four counties carry an I-495 segment among their highest-crash roads, together accounting for 280 crashes on the highway in 2024. Every figure here comes from MassDOT crash records and can be checked town by town at the [Massachusetts crash report](/crash-report). To talk through a crash on I-495 or anywhere else in Massachusetts, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the line is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 24 Scooter Law
Are Electric Scooters Legal in Massachusetts?
Yes, electric scooters are legal to ride in Massachusetts, but the statute that governs them, M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 1E, imposes conditions that almost no rider in the Commonwealth actually meets. You need a valid driver's license or learner's permit. You may not exceed 20 miles per hour. You must wear a helmet regardless of your age. You may not carry a passenger. The scooter must be equipped with working stop and turn signals. And you may not ride at all after sunset or before sunrise. Riding legally is possible; riding legally on a stock consumer scooter, at night, without a license, is not. The fines are small, capped at $25 for a first violation, but the fines are not the real exposure. The real exposure is that a violation of sec. 1E can be raised as evidence of negligence in a civil claim, and unlike the bicycle helmet law and the child restraint law, the motorized scooter statute contains no provision protecting a rider from having that used against them. This article walks through every requirement in the statute, the sidewalk question the statute does not answer, and what happens to an injury claim when a scooter rider is hit by a car.
Read the full answer → - 25 Local Crash Data
Which Massachusetts Communities Have the Most Crashes on Interstate 93?
Boston does, by a wide margin, and it is not close. In 2024, the most recent complete year in the MassDOT crash records, the southbound Interstate 93 segment through Boston recorded 219 crashes and the northbound segment recorded 198, a combined 417. Those two segments are the number one and number two highest-crash roads in the entire city, ahead of Storrow Drive at 95 and both directions of the Massachusetts Turnpike. Statewide, the northbound I-93 segment recorded 444 crashes in 2024, the fourth-highest count of any road segment in the Commonwealth, and the southbound segment recorded 359, the eighth-highest. Fourteen Massachusetts communities have an I-93 segment among their highest-crash roads, and across those fourteen town records the highway accounts for 887 crashes in a single year. In two of them, Stoneham and Methuen, I-93 is the worst road in town, outranking every local street. Every number in this piece comes from MassDOT crash records and can be checked against the town pages in the [Massachusetts crash report](/crash-report). To talk through a crash on I-93 or anywhere else in Massachusetts, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 26 Truck Accidents
What Makes a Massachusetts Truck Accident Claim Different?
A collision with a commercial truck in Massachusetts is not simply a larger car accident. It runs on a second rulebook. The Registry of Motor Vehicles wrote the federal motor carrier rules into Massachusetts law at 540 CMR 14.03, which incorporates them "in both intrastate and interstate commerce", so they reach a truck that never leaves the Commonwealth. That rulebook changes three things an ordinary car case does not have. The insurance floor is a different order of magnitude: Massachusetts compulsory bodily injury coverage is "not less than $25,000" per person under M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 34A as amended for policies issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2025, while 49 C.F.R. 387.9 sets $750,000 as the minimum for an interstate for-hire carrier hauling ordinary freight in a vehicle rated 10,001 pounds or more. The carrier is already required to keep the records that often decide the case, listed in 540 CMR 14.04(3). And the retention clock on the most important of those records is six months under 49 C.F.R. 395.8(k)(1), not the three years you have to file suit under M.G.L. c. 260, sec. 2A. This is general information about Massachusetts law and not legal advice. To talk through a truck collision with a Massachusetts attorney, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 27 Local Crash Data
How Dangerous Are Bristol County Roads? Three Years of Massachusetts Crash Data
Across the twenty cities and towns of Bristol County, Massachusetts recorded 49,507 crashes from 2022 through 2024, including 107 fatal crashes, 11,329 crashes involving injury, 349 involving a bicycle, and 601 involving a pedestrian. That is 12.2 percent of every crash in the Commonwealth over those three years, and it comes overwhelmingly from two cities: New Bedford recorded 11,070 crashes and Fall River 9,045, placing them fourth and fifth among all 349 Massachusetts communities. New Bedford sits 39 crashes behind Springfield for third place in the entire state. Yet the county is not, by the measure that matters most, an unusually deadly place to drive. Bristol County produced 2.16 fatal crashes per 1,000 crashes against a statewide figure of 2.68, and the towns with the worst ratios are not the cities at all. Dighton recorded 175 crashes and 3 of them were fatal, a rate of 17.14 per 1,000, roughly fourteen times Fall River's. Every figure below comes from MassDOT crash records for 2022 through 2024 and can be checked against the town pages in the [Massachusetts crash report](/crash-report). To talk through a crash anywhere in the county, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the line is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 28 Insurance Coverage
What Happens If You Are in a Massachusetts Car Accident With No Insurance and It Was Not Your Fault?
If you were driving without insurance in Massachusetts and someone else caused the crash, you lose your no-fault benefits but you do not lose your injury claim. Personal Injury Protection, the first $8,000 of medical bills and lost wages under M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 34A, comes from the policy covering the car you were in, so an uninsured car means no PIP. What survives is the right to pursue the at-fault driver for your injuries, because Massachusetts negligence law asks who caused the crash, not who was insured. Two things then work against you and one works for you. Against you: driving uninsured is its own offense under M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 34J, carrying a fine of "not less than five hundred nor more than five thousand dollars", possible imprisonment, and a 60-day license suspension, and you will pay your own medical bills while the claim runs. For you: because the at-fault driver's tort exemption under sec. 34M applies only "to the extent that the injured party is... entitled to recover" PIP, the medical expenses PIP would normally have absorbed stay on the table against that driver. If this is your situation, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the line is answered 24 hours a day, and the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 29 Insurance Coverage
Who Pays After an Uber or Lyft Crash in Massachusetts?
After an Uber or Lyft crash in Massachusetts, which insurance policy pays turns on what the driver's app was doing at the instant of impact. The dollar figures are not in the rideshare chapter most people cite. M.G.L. c. 159A1/2, sec. 5 requires "adequate insurance, as required by this chapter and section 228 of chapter 175", and it is M.G.L. c. 175, sec. 228 that sets the numbers: a driver logged on but not yet dispatched carries "at least $50,000 of coverage per individual for bodily injury, $100,000 of total coverage for bodily injury, $30,000 of coverage for property damage", while a driver on a pre-arranged ride carries "at least $1,000,000 in per occurrence, per vehicle coverage for death, bodily injury and property damage". A pre-arranged ride starts the moment the driver accepts the request, not at pickup. Section 228 also does something no other Massachusetts auto statute does: subsection (h) lets a personal auto insurer exclude personal injury protection, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage during the trip, and says those exclusions apply "notwithstanding any requirement of said section 34A of said chapter 90 and section 113L". To talk through a rideshare crash with a Massachusetts attorney, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 30 Motorcycle Accidents
Is Lane Splitting Legal in Massachusetts?
No. Lane splitting is illegal in Massachusetts. The controlling statute is M.G.L. c. 89, sec. 4A, which says that operators of motorcycles "shall not ride abreast of more than one other motorcycle, shall ride single file when passing, and shall not pass any other motor vehicle within the same lane, except another motorcycle." That last clause is the whole answer. A rider may pass another motorcycle inside a shared lane; a rider may not pass a car, a truck, a van, or a bus inside a lane that car, truck, van, or bus is occupying. The same section separately requires that every driver keep the vehicle "entirely within a single lane," which independently rules out riding the painted line between two lanes of traffic. Massachusetts has never enacted an exception for slow traffic, for stopped traffic, or for filtering to the front at a red light, so the answer does not change because the cars were not moving. A violation is punishable by a forfeiture of up to one hundred dollars under M.G.L. c. 89, sec. 5, but the fine is rarely the expensive part. The expensive part is what an insurance company does with the citation after a crash. To talk through a motorcycle crash with a Massachusetts attorney, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 31 Local Crash Data
Where Do Crashes Happen in the Merrimack Valley? Three Years of Massachusetts Crash Data
Across the twenty-four Merrimack Valley and Greater Lowell communities, Massachusetts recorded 40,542 crashes from 2022 through 2024, including 89 fatal crashes, 8,893 crashes involving injury, 312 involving a bicycle, and 554 involving a pedestrian. That is ten percent of all crashes in the Commonwealth over those three years, concentrated in a region holding a considerably smaller share of the state's road mileage. The volume is where you would expect: Lowell alone recorded 7,781 crashes, the sixth-highest total of any of the 349 Massachusetts communities in the data. The lethality is not. Chelmsford, with barely a quarter of Lowell's crash count, recorded more fatal crashes than Lowell did. That inversion is the most useful thing in this dataset, and it holds across the region: the cities produce the collisions, and the highway towns produce the deaths. Every figure below comes from MassDOT crash records for 2022 through 2024 and can be checked against the town pages in the [Massachusetts crash report](/crash-report). To talk through a crash in any of these communities, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 32 Pedestrian Accidents
Pedestrian Accident Rights in Massachusetts
A pedestrian struck by a car in Massachusetts can collect no-fault benefits without owning a car, a policy, or any share of the blame. The no-fault statute puts every pedestrian on the striking vehicle's coverage. M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 34A writes "any pedestrian struck by the insured's or obligor's motor vehicle" into the personal injury protection provisions of the driver's policy, so medical bills and lost wages are paid up to at least $8,000 "without regard to negligence or gross negligence or fault of any kind". If the vehicle that struck you carried no PIP, section 34A moves the same benefits onto your own auto policy or a household member's. If no policy reaches you at all, M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 34N directs insurers to maintain an assigned claims plan, although that plan is open only to a person "resident in the commonwealth" and shuts out the uninsured owner of a vehicle and that owner's household. Fault governs everything above the no-fault layer, and it matters less than most people assume. The crosswalk duty in M.G.L. c. 89, sec. 11 applies only "When traffic control signals are not in place or not in operation", and M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 18A provides that a violation of a local pedestrian rule "shall not, in any civil proceeding, constitute negligence or be admissible as evidence of negligence". To talk through a pedestrian crash with a Massachusetts attorney, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 33 Motorcycle Accidents
Massachusetts Motorcycle Accidents and the Injury Threshold
A Massachusetts motorcycle claim is not a car claim with a different vehicle on the police report. Almost everything that limits what a car occupant can collect runs through personal injury protection, and a Massachusetts motorcycle policy does not provide personal injury protection to the person on the motorcycle. That single absence moves two things in your favor. It lifts the two thousand dollar medical-bill requirement that M.G.L. c. 231, sec. 6D otherwise puts in front of a claim for pain and suffering, which is what the Supreme Judicial Court decided in Murphy v. Bohn, 377 Mass. 544 (1979). And it removes the tort exemption in M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 34M that normally shields the at-fault driver from the first layer of your medical bills, because that exemption runs only to the extent personal injury protection benefits are payable to you. The same absence takes something away: no PIP means no first-layer medical coverage and no PIP wage benefit while the claim is pending, so your health plan is the payer from the first dollar. The advantage is also narrower than it sounds. The Appeals Court held in Prouty v. Brown, 22 Mass. App. Ct. 992 (1986), that Murphy turns on having contributed to the Massachusetts no-fault system rather than on being a motorcyclist, so a rider whose bike is insured outside Massachusetts can find the threshold applies after all. To talk through a specific crash, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 34 Car Accidents
Minor Car Accident in Massachusetts: Do I Need a Lawyer?
Usually, no. A Massachusetts crash that leaves a scuffed bumper and a stiff neck for a week is one that most people settle on their own, and a lawyer who tells you otherwise is selling something. What decides the question is not the size of the dent. It is whether your particular facts run into one of the places where Massachusetts law quietly closes a door. Under M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 34M the at-fault driver is exempt from tort liability to the extent personal injury protection benefits are payable, so the first layer of your medical bills is not something you can collect twice. Under M.G.L. c. 231, sec. 6D you cannot recover anything for pain and suffering unless the reasonable and necessary expenses in the categories that statute lists come to more than two thousand dollars, or the injury caused death, loss of a body member, permanent and serious disfigurement, a listed loss of sight or hearing, or a fracture. The clocks are short and they are not the same clock: five days to report the crash to the Registrar under M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 26, thirty days to appeal a surcharge under M.G.L. c. 175, sec. 113P, two years to present a PIP claim under sec. 34M, and three years to file suit under M.G.L. c. 260, sec. 2A. A minor accident becomes a lawyer problem when it turns out not to be minor, or when one of those doors is about to close. To talk through a specific crash, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 35 Traffic Violations
What Is the Massachusetts Hands-Free Driving Law?
The Massachusetts hands-free law is M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 13B, and it says two separate things. No driver may hold a mobile electronic device, and no driver may use one unless it is operating in hands-free mode. Holding the phone is itself the violation, so a driver who is stopped at a red light with the phone in hand is in violation even if the screen is dark and no call is in progress. The one screen a driver may look at is a navigation display, and only when the device is "mounted on or affixed to a vehicle's windshield, dashboard or center console in a manner that does not impede the operation of the motor vehicle." Fines run one hundred dollars for a first offense, two hundred fifty for a second, and five hundred for a third or subsequent offense, with a driver behavior program required after a second offense. First and second offenses are not surchargeable on a motor vehicle insurance policy; a third or subsequent offense is. Drivers under 18 are covered by a stricter statute, M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 8M, which bans any use at all and adds license suspensions. To talk through a crash involving a distracted driver, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 36 Premises Liability
Can You Sue for a Slip and Fall on Ice or Snow in Massachusetts?
Yes. In Massachusetts a property owner owes every lawful visitor the same duty of reasonable care for snow and ice that it owes for any other hazard on the property, and an injured person can bring a claim when that duty is breached. This has only been true since 2010, when the Supreme Judicial Court decided Papadopoulos v. Target Corp., 457 Mass. 368, and abolished the old rule that shielded owners from liability for so-called natural accumulations. Two things make these cases different from an ordinary slip and fall, and both catch people off guard. First, M.G.L. c. 84, sec. 21 applies a 30-day written notice requirement to snow and ice claims against private property owners, though sec. 18 also says that missing the notice is not a defense unless the defendant proves it was actually prejudiced. Second, if the fall happened on property owned by a city or town, the recovery is capped by statute and the notice rule is enforced strictly. To talk through a specific fall, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 37 Dog Bites
Will a Dog Be Put Down for Biting Someone in Massachusetts?
Not automatically, and in most cases not at all. A single bite does not trigger euthanasia under Massachusetts law. What it triggers is a process. First comes a rabies quarantine, which is a ten-day strict confinement required by state regulation for any domestic animal that bites or scratches a person or another animal, regardless of whether the animal is vaccinated. Separately, a complaint can be brought to a municipal hearing authority under M.G.L. c. 140, sec. 157, which holds a public hearing and decides whether the dog is a "nuisance dog," a "dangerous dog," or neither. If the dog is deemed dangerous, the hearing authority must order at least one of a list of remedies, and euthanasia is the last and most severe item on that list rather than the default. The owner has 10 days to petition the district court, which reviews the matter fresh. Massachusetts also forbids deeming a dog dangerous based on breed, and protects a dog that reacted proportionately to defend itself, its owner, or its household. To talk through a Massachusetts dog bite, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 38 Dealing with Insurers
How to Deal With an Insurance Adjuster in Massachusetts
After a Massachusetts car accident you are dealing with two insurance companies at once, and the law treats them completely differently. Your own insurer is on the other side of a contract you bought, and that contract requires prompt notice and cooperation with the investigation of your own claim, an obligation reinforced for PIP benefits by M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 34M. The other driver's insurer is a stranger to you. There is no contract, no duty to cooperate, and the adjuster assigned to that file is a claims professional whose employer pays what the file supports and no more. What that adjuster may and may not do is measured against the unfair claim settlement practices listed in M.G.L. c. 176D, sec. 3(9), which an injured claimant can reach through M.G.L. c. 93A. Most of the self-inflicted damage in these claims comes from treating the two relationships as if they were one. To talk through a specific claim, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 39 Premises Liability
Who Is Liable for a Slip and Fall in Massachusetts?
In Massachusetts, a property owner is legally responsible for a fall when the owner failed to use reasonable care to keep the property in a reasonably safe condition, and most of these cases turn on notice: whether the owner knew about the hazard, or should have found it, and had a reasonable chance to fix it or warn about it. Since Mounsey v. Ellard, 363 Mass. 693 (1973), one duty of reasonable care is owed to every lawful visitor, so the old licensee and invitee labels no longer decide the case. Snow and ice are judged by that same ordinary standard after Papadopoulos v. Target Corp., 457 Mass. 368 (2010), which abolished the old natural versus unnatural accumulation rule. Two short deadlines catch people off guard. A snow or ice claim against a private property owner carries a written 30 day notice requirement under M.G.L. c. 84, sec. 21, and a claim against a city or town over a defective way carries a 30 day notice under sec. 18 plus a low statutory damages cap. To talk through a specific fall, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 40 Bicycle Law
What Are the Bicycle Laws in Massachusetts?
In Massachusetts, a person on a bicycle has the right to use nearly every public road, is bound by the same traffic laws as a driver, and gets specific legal protections that most cyclists and drivers do not know exist. The core rules come from M.G.L. c. 85, sec. 11B, which governs how cyclists operate, and M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 14, which sets the duties drivers owe to cyclists. A few points matter most. An adult is not required to wear a helmet; only riders 16 and under are, and even then a missing helmet cannot be used to reduce an injured cyclist's recovery. Drivers must pass at a safe distance of not less than 4 feet. Sidewalk riding is allowed outside business districts unless a local rule says otherwise. When a cyclist is hurt, fault decides everything, and Massachusetts still lets a partly-at-fault cyclist recover. To talk through a specific crash, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 41 Legal Fees
How Much Do Personal Injury Lawyers Charge in Massachusetts?
Most Massachusetts personal injury lawyers charge a contingency fee, customarily starting around one third (33 and 1/3 percent) of what they recover for you, with no attorney fee at all if there is no recovery, though the client may remain responsible for case costs and expenses regardless of the outcome. Massachusetts does not set a general statutory percentage cap in ordinary injury cases. Instead, Mass. R. Prof. C. 1.5 forbids a clearly excessive fee and requires the agreement to be in writing and signed by you, stating the percentage that applies at settlement, at trial, and on appeal, listing the litigation expenses to be deducted, and saying whether those expenses come out before or after the fee is calculated. That last detail moves real money. Medical malpractice cases follow a sliding statutory scale under M.G.L. c. 231, sec. 60I. Ask for the written fee agreement before you sign anything. You can reach Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS, and the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 42 Traffic Violations
When Does Speeding Become a Crime in Massachusetts?
Ordinary speeding in Massachusetts is not a crime. It is a civil motor vehicle infraction, because M.G.L. c. 90C, sec. 1 defines that term as an automobile law violation "for which the maximum penalty does not provide for imprisonment," and a plain speeding violation under M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 17 carries only a fine. That means no criminal record, no jury trial, and a hearing before a clerk-magistrate rather than a criminal trial. Speeding crosses into criminal territory only when the driving also satisfies a different statute: reckless operation, negligent operation so that the lives or safety of the public might be endangered, racing or operating upon a bet or wager, operating to make a speed record, or causing a death. Those charges live in M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 24(2)(a) and sec. 24G, and they carry possible jail time. If a speeding driver injured you, you can reach Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS.
Read the full answer → - 43 Car Accidents
What Are the Booster Seat Laws in Massachusetts?
In Massachusetts, a child must ride in a child passenger restraint (a car seat or a booster seat) until the child turns 8 or measures more than 57 inches tall, whichever happens first. That is the entire legal trigger under M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 7AA: age or height, not both. 57 inches is 4 feet 9 inches, so a tall 6 year old is out from under the restraint requirement while a small 7 year old is not. The restraint also has to be used "according to the manufacturer's instructions," which is what makes the seat's own height and weight limits legally binding. After a child is out of a restraint, a seat belt is required until age 13. The fine for getting this wrong is no more than $25, it does not surcharge your auto insurance, and a violation cannot be used as evidence of contributory negligence in a civil case. You can reach Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS, and the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 44 Fault and Liability
How Is Fault Determined in a Massachusetts Car Accident?
Fault in a Massachusetts car accident is decided on two separate tracks that people constantly confuse. The first is an insurance determination: your own insurer applies the state Standards of Fault in 211 CMR 74 and decides whether you were more than 50 percent at fault, which can trigger a surcharge you can appeal to the Board of Appeal within 30 days. The second is legal fault in an injury claim or lawsuit, decided under the modified comparative negligence statute, M.G.L. c. 231 sec. 85, where you can still recover as long as your share of fault is not greater than the other side's (the 51 percent bar). These two decisions are made by different people, under different rules, and one does not control the other. Evidence like the police report, photos, dashcam footage, witness statements, and vehicle event-data recorder readings shapes both, but none of it is automatically the final word.
Read the full answer → - 45 Medical Malpractice
What Is the Statute of Limitations for Medical Malpractice in Massachusetts?
In Massachusetts, a medical malpractice lawsuit generally must be filed within three years after the cause of action accrues, under M.G.L. c. 260, sec. 4. Because of the discovery rule, that three-year clock often does not start on the day of the negligent care; it starts when the patient knew, or reasonably should have known, that they were harmed and that the harm was connected to medical treatment. A separate outer deadline, the statute of repose, bars almost all claims filed more than seven years after the act or omission, no matter when the injury was discovered. The one exception to the seven-year cap is a claim based on a foreign object left inside the body. Children have their own timeline: a child injured before age six generally has until their ninth birthday to sue, subject to the same seven-year outer limit. Miss the applicable deadline and the claim is almost always barred permanently, regardless of how strong it is.
Read the full answer → - 46 Workers Compensation
How Much Does a Workers Comp Lawyer Cost in Massachusetts?
In Massachusetts, workers' compensation attorney fees are set by statute, not by whatever a lawyer decides to charge, under M.G.L. c. 152, sec. 13A. Here is the part most injured workers do not know: in the typical contested case that the worker wins, the fee is paid by the insurance company on top of your benefits, not taken out of your weekly check. The statute fixes a dollar amount at each stage of a dispute. As of the October 1, 2025 adjustment, that is roughly $1,375 when the insurer agrees to pay before a conference and about $1,965 when an administrative judge orders the insurer to pay at conference, each plus necessary expenses, with a higher fixed fee at a full evidentiary hearing. On a lump-sum settlement, the fee is capped at 15 percent of the settlement when liability has not yet been established and 20 percent once it has. For most injured workers this adds up to real legal representation with no money out of pocket up front. You can reach Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS, and the first telephone consultation is free.
Read the full answer → - 47 Settlement Timeline
How Long Does a Massachusetts Car Accident Settlement Take?
Most Massachusetts car accident settlements resolve somewhere between a few months and two years, though the honest answer is that there is no fixed timeline and every estimate is general, not a promise. The single biggest driver of the timeline is medical recovery: a claim generally cannot be fairly valued until you reach maximum medical improvement, because settling before you know the full scope of your injuries risks giving up compensation for treatment you have not yet received. Beyond that, the length of your case depends on how quickly liability is established, how the insurer's investigation unfolds, whether your injuries clear the state's serious injury threshold, whether the available insurance limits are enough to cover your damages, and whether the case has to move into litigation because a fair offer never comes.
Read the full answer → - 48 Wrongful Death
Who Can File a Wrongful Death Claim After a Fatal Car Accident in Massachusetts?
When a person is killed in a car accident caused by someone else's negligence, Massachusetts law gives their family a path to financial accountability through the wrongful death statute. The action is brought by the executor or administrator of the deceased's estate, not individually by each surviving family member, and it can recover a specific list of damages defined by M.G.L. c. 229, sec. 2: the present value of the financial support, services, and companionship the decedent would have provided over a normal life expectancy, plus funeral and burial expenses, plus conscious pain and suffering endured before death under a parallel survival theory. Gross negligence opens the door to punitive damages as well. The family has three years from the date of death to bring the claim under M.G.L. c. 260, sec. 4. This article walks through each element in detail.
Read the full answer → - 49 Case Value
How Much Is My Massachusetts Car Accident Case Worth?
Every car accident case in Massachusetts is different, and no attorney can hand you a dollar figure before reviewing your medical records, wage documentation, and the facts of the crash. That said, the answer is not completely unknowable. The value of your claim is the sum of your compensable losses, adjusted downward if you share some of the fault, and bounded by available insurance limits. Understanding the categories of damages, the statutes that define them, and the factors that move a number up or down will help you evaluate any settlement offer you receive and have a realistic conversation with your attorney.
Read the full answer → - 50 Insurance Coverage
What Is PIP Insurance in Massachusetts and What Does It Cover?
Massachusetts Personal Injury Protection (PIP) is a no-fault benefit built into every auto insurance policy in the state. M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 34M requires every motor vehicle liability policy issued in the commonwealth to provide it, and M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 34A sets out what it pays: reasonable expenses for the medical categories that section lists, incurred within two years from the date of the accident, plus lost wages, "without regard to negligence or gross negligence or fault of any kind, to the amount or limit of at least eight thousand dollars on account of injury to or death of any one person". PIP pays as bills come in rather than at the end of the case, so it provides relief while your personal injury claim is still being evaluated. One limit catches people out: if you also carry health insurance, section 34A caps what PIP pays toward the medical expenses your plan covers at two thousand dollars, automatically and without any election on your part, and your health plan carries the rest.
Read the full answer → - 51 Insurance Coverage
What Happens If the Other Driver Has No Insurance or Not Enough Insurance in Massachusetts?
If the driver who hit you has no insurance or not enough to cover your injuries, your own auto policy steps in through uninsured motorist (UM) and underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage. Massachusetts law requires every registered private passenger vehicle to carry UM coverage under M.G.L. c. 175, sec. 113L, and the Massachusetts Standard Automobile Policy makes that protection automatic under Part 3. UIM coverage (Part 12 of the Standard Policy) is optional but widely carried and fills the gap when the at-fault driver has some insurance, just not enough. This article explains how both coverages work, what limits apply, how they interact with your PIP benefits, and what you must do to protect your claim.
Read the full answer → - 52 Car Accidents
Does Not Wearing a Seatbelt Hurt My Massachusetts Car Accident Claim?
Not wearing a seatbelt does not bar a Massachusetts injury claim, and every time the question has reached a Massachusetts appellate court the injured person has won. The usual explanation for why is wrong, though, and the difference matters to your case. M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 13A requires belts and sets a twenty-five dollar fine, and it contains no sentence keeping non-use away from a civil jury. The shield most people have in mind sits in a different statute, M.G.L. c. 90, sec. 7AA, and it reaches child restraints and safety belts for passengers under 13. For an adult, the so-called seat belt defense is an open question in Massachusetts, and the Supreme Judicial Court has said so directly. Defendants lose the argument on causation rather than on a rule: they fail to prove that a belt would have prevented or reduced the injuries. That causation requirement, not a statutory ban, is what actually protects your recovery.
Read the full answer → - 53 Car Accidents
Do I Have to Report a Car Accident in Massachusetts, and How Long Do I Have?
Yes. Massachusetts law imposes several overlapping reporting duties after a car accident, depending on how serious the crash was. The most important deadlines are (1) a written operator report to the Registrar of Motor Vehicles within five days when anyone was injured, killed, or property damage exceeds one thousand dollars, and (2) an immediate duty to stop at the scene, exchange information, and involve police when the situation requires it. Missing these obligations can carry criminal or license consequences, and it can also weaken any personal-injury claim you later bring. This article explains what you must do, when, and why it matters to your case.
Read the full answer → - 54 Dealing with Insurers
Do I Have to Give a Recorded Statement to the Insurance Company in Massachusetts?
No. After a Massachusetts car accident or personal injury, you are generally not legally required to give a recorded statement to the other driver's insurance company, and doing so almost always hurts your claim. Your own insurer is a different matter: most Massachusetts auto policies contain a cooperation clause that does obligate you to cooperate with your own insurer's investigation, which may include providing a statement. Before you speak with any insurance adjuster, recorded or unrecorded, call an attorney.
Read the full answer → - 55 Dog Bites
Who Is Liable for a Dog Bite in Massachusetts?
In Massachusetts, a dog owner is strictly liable for injuries their dog causes. You do not need to prove the owner knew the dog was dangerous, and you do not need to show the dog had bitten anyone before. If a dog bites or attacks you, the owner is responsible for your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering under M.G.L. c. 140, sec. 155. The only exceptions involve trespassers and people who were tormenting or abusing the dog at the time of the attack.
Read the full answer → - 56 Car Accidents
What Is the Serious Injury Threshold to Sue After a Car Accident in Massachusetts?
Massachusetts is a no-fault car insurance state. That means your own Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage pays your initial medical bills and a portion of lost wages regardless of who caused the crash. To step outside the no-fault system and sue the at-fault driver for full pain-and-suffering damages, your injuries must meet a statutory "serious injury" threshold defined in M.G.L. c. 231, sec. 6D. If your injuries cross that threshold, you can file a tort claim against the responsible driver. If they do not, your recovery is generally limited to PIP benefits.
Read the full answer → - 57 Fault and Liability
What Happens to My Injury Claim If I Was Partly at Fault in Massachusetts?
In Massachusetts, you can still recover compensation if you were partly at fault for an accident, as long as your share of fault is 50 percent or less. The amount you collect is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you are found 51 percent or more at fault, you recover nothing. This rule is codified in M.G.L. c. 231, sec. 85, and it applies to car accidents, slip-and-falls, motorcycle crashes, and most other negligence-based injury claims in the state.
Read the full answer → - 58 Deadlines
What Is the Statute of Limitations for a Personal Injury Claim in Massachusetts?
In Massachusetts, most personal injury claims must be filed in court within **three years** of the date of injury under M.G.L. c. 260, sec. 2A. If you miss this deadline, the court will almost certainly dismiss your case and you permanently lose the right to recover compensation, no matter how strong your claim is. Call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS immediately if you are approaching the three-year window or are unsure whether your deadline has passed.
Read the full answer → - 59 Workers Compensation
How Long Does Workers' Comp Last in Massachusetts?
In Massachusetts, workers' compensation wage-replacement benefits generally last as long as you are unable to work due to a work-related injury, subject to statutory caps that vary by the severity of your disability. Total incapacity benefits (60 percent of your average weekly wage, tax-free) can continue for up to three years before the insurer has the right to modify or stop payments under M.G.L. c. 152, sec. 34. After that period, the matter moves to the Department of Industrial Accidents for a hearing or a lump-sum settlement. Call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS for a free case review.
Read the full answer →
These articles constitute general legal information, not legal advice, and do not create an attorney-client relationship. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Attorney advertising under Mass. R. Prof. C. 7.1 to 7.5. Responsible attorney: Jim Glaser, admitted in MA only, of counsel to Keches Law.