Legal Question in Personal Injury in Massachusetts

My husband and I own two homes and recently separated. I"m living in one of the homes and he is living in the other. I visited my husband and found him with another woman in our home. In an attempt the confront the woman my husband held me. I struggled to get out of his arm and when he released me I fell down the stairs and broke my shoulder, foot and received stitches in my face. Can I sue my husband for my injuries and pain and soffering?


Asked on 9/29/11, 2:41 am

4 Answers from Attorneys

Maurice lariviere jr Law Office of Maurice LaRiviere Jr

yes

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Answered on 9/29/11, 4:22 am
Christopher Vaughn-Martel Charles River Law Partners, LLC

I am very sorry to hear about your situation.

You have a variety of options here, and may choose to use some or all of them. First, if your husband is posing a real and imminent physical threat to your safety, you might consider seeking a restraining order against him.

You might obviously also want to think about commencing divorce proceedings against him. In the course of any divorce proceedings, you could seek all appropriate abuse prevention orders.

You may also bring a claim for personal injuries against your husband.

Our firm handles family law, personal injury, and domestic violence issues, and may be able to assist or advise you on all fronts. Give us a call at 617-357-4898 and best of luck.

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Answered on 9/29/11, 5:22 am
Jonas Jacobson Law Offices of Jonas Jacobson

Sorry for your troubles. This sounds like adding injury to insult. If I were in your shoes, I would have been pretty upset by all of this.

As far as the suit against your husband, it's important to understand that there is a distinction between liability - the responsibility for your injuries, and the ability to collect on a judgment.

As far as the claim for personal injuries against your husband, the party you would really be pursuing would be the premises liability carrier for the property, though you would sue your husband - or ex husband, and the insurer would need to defend him.

From your facts, it does not sound like your husband INTENDED to hurt you - in fact, it sounds like he was intending to prevent you from hurting this other woman (an impulse I think is almost universally understandable).

As such, the negligence, or liability features of the policy should apply, if your husband is covered by the policy. (Insurance, for probably obvious reasons, does not cover intentional acts.)

Whether or not you divorce your husband, you may be able to pursue him, and thereby make a claim against the insurance policy covering the property. ...of course, the insurance company will only be responsible up to the limits of liability on that policy.

While you may choose to divorce your husband as a result of these injuries, and the upsetting events giving rise to them - I would encourage you NOT to use the same attorney for both the divorce, and the personal injury issues. Most personal injury attorneys (myself included) will work for a portion of any recovery, while divorce attorneys are ethically prohibited from doing this, and need to be paid hourly.

My name, below contains a link to my web site, if you would like to look at it. My contact information is also there.

Jonas Jacobson

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Answered on 9/29/11, 4:02 pm

You can sue him, but that would probably be taken into consideration in the property division of the divorce action. You probably want to discuss this with your divorce lawyer. Best luck. JBS

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Answered on 10/03/11, 2:24 pm


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