Boston Injury Attorney Blog

According to the Boston Globe, on May 16, 2009, 18-year-old Jonathan Caruso struck and killed a woman who was walking her dog and seriously injured her daughter. After drinking at an all night post-prom party, Caruso was driving home and fell asleep behind the wheel. He then drove off the road and hit and killed 67-year-old Carol Marean and seriously injured her daughter. Caruso carried minimum automobile liability insurance, which does not cover the $400,000.00 in unpaid medical bills for the surviving daughter.

On March 23, 2010, he was sentenced to 2 ½ years in the Essex County House of Correction with 6 months to serve in jail and 4 years probation after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count of motor vehicle homicide by reckless operation. He will also be required to speak to 10 middle and high schools describing how he was responsible for Carol Marean's death. Judge Michael C. Lauranzano, who decided on the sentence, said the case was among the toughest of his 10 years on the bench.

Caruso was initially charged with operating under the influence, but those charges were dropped when a chemical breath test given two hours after the crash showed his blood alcohol level was .02, below the legal limit. A blood test performed 10 hours after the crash showed no signs of alcohol.

A victim impact statement by one of the deceased daughters said that Caruso knew that he should not have been driving -he told police he had 10 beers in the hours before the crash - but chose to do so anyway.

Continue reading "Boston Area Prom Driver who hit Pedestrians Sentenced" »

House lawmakers have unanimously approved a bill designed to clamp down on school bullies. The Massachusetts bill would ban bullying, require school districts to come up with bullying prevention plans and expand the definition of bullying to include the growing problem of internet cyber bullying through the use of e-mails or text messages.

The legislation would also require school officials to inform parents of their anti-bullying curriculum and alert both the parents of bullies and their parents of their victims after a bullying incident. On March 18, 2010, lawmakers approved the bill on a 148-0 vote after debating the measure for more than three hours.

The push for anti-bullying legislation has gained momentum following the recent suicides of students in South Hadley and Springfield. The explosion of social networking sites, like Twitter and Facebook, means bullying can continue long after the school day is over, and bullies can entice others to gang up on their victims. The bill also requires principals to report all incidents to police.

Bullying is defined as "the severe or repeated use by one or more students of a written, verbal, or electronic expression, or a physical act or gesture, or any combination thereof, directed at another student that has the effect of: (i) causing physical or emotional harm to the other student or damage to the other student's property; (ii) placing the other student in reasonable fear of harm to himself or of damage to his property; (iii) creating a hostile environment at school for the other student; (iv) infringing on the rights of the other student at school; or (v) materially and substantially disrupting the education process or the orderly operation of a school."

With the new law, Massachusetts became the 42nd state to prohibit electronic bullying.

Continue reading "Massachusetts Approves Ban on Bullying " »