Keith Halpern Attorney at Law

$7

Commercial Dispute

My client invested $50,000 for a 10% interest in a developer's real estate trust. The developer flourished, but refused to give the investor an accounting and did not distribute any profits. When the developer still failed to provide a complete accounting after suit was filed, the Court entered judgment against him and conducted a hearing on damages.

$2.8M

Medical Malpractice

A recent college grad with Crohn's Disease went to MetroWest Hospital's ER, complaining of excruciating stomach pain. The internist responsible for his care diagnosed a non-emergency partial bowel obstruction related to Crohn's. He prescribed medication to reduce inflammation. As he waited for the medication to work, my client's condition deteriorated. He developed a grapefruit size mass in his belly, increasing pain, abdominal rigidity and dehydration - all signs of a complete obstruction requiring surgery. The Dr. went home, without arranging for a surgical consult or an MRI, even though he suspected the presence of a complete obstruction. By morning, my client was suffering from kidney failure and was in shock. He was transferred to Beth Israel for emergency surgery and lost two feet of bowel that had become necrotic from loss of blood. As a result, he is at high risk of becoming unable to digest food, requiring him to go on IV nutrition or undergo a bowel transplant.

$900,000

Product Liability

A graduate student in Chemistry was conducting an experiment with an electrical hotplate when an explosion occurred. He suffered minor burns. More significantly, he was exposed to toxic tin fumes which impaired his short-term memory. The hotplate was defectively designed in that fumes were drawn into the body of the hotplate by a fan and then exposed to a sparking mechanism that controlled the thermostat.

$900,000

Product Liability

After driving several hours late at night in the rain, an 18 year-old in an SUV went off the side of the road and rolled over. There were no witnesses and he retained no memory of the accident. He suffered partial paraplegia, necessitating a wheelchair, and also suffered brain damage which impaired his ability to talk. Accident reconstruction experts concluded that the vehicle went off the road at a point where there was no curb, and then rolled over when the left tires struck a curb as the vehicle proceeded off the highway. Experts were used to establish that the vehicle's defective design made it prone to rollover and uncrashworthy.

$750,000

Medical Malpractice

A 45 year-old man became depressed after being diagnosed with kidney disease. His doctor improperly prescribed Trilafon, an anti-psychotic medication, over a period of 15 years. The man began to have difficulty walking, involuntarily bending forward. He was diagnosed with tardive dyskinesia, a disorder characterized by involuntary twisting of the torso, arms and hands, and a variety of facial movements and tics. As early as 1975 certain anti-psychotic medications had been causally linked to the development of this permanent disorder.

$500,000

Medical Malpractice

A 4 year-old boy was transported by ambulance upon suffering a seizure. The ambulance lacked appropriate equipment and failed to go to the nearest hospital. An EMT used the wrong type of airway tube, causing the boy to vomit, and then failed to clear the airway. The boy suffered oxygen deprivation resulting in impairment of his motor, speech and cognitive abilities.