Legal Briefs

 

Officer nabbed for indecent proposal

A Boston police officer found himself on the wrong side of the law after threatening to arrest a prostitute if she did not perform a sex act.

Federal prosecutors said that in 2004, Michael LoPriore, 37, of Everett approached a prostitute in Boston, flashed his badge and drove her in his own car to Quincy, where he made the improper request. LoPriore was off duty at the time.

Under a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, LoPriore pleaded guilty to violating a woman's civil rights and was sentenced to a year in prison.

The 12-year veteran of the Boston Police Department also agreed to resign from the force and, as part of the agreement, will never apply for a job as a police officer in Massachusetts.

"It's a disappointing moment in my client's life; it's very sad," said LoPriore's attorney, Thomas Drechsler of Boston. "He's looking to move on to the next phase of his life,"

 

Duped bus buyer gets $123K for missing miles

A transportation company purchased a pre-owned bus with 152,000 miles on the odometer, hoping to give it a luxurious makeover so it could be used as an upscale passenger coach for trips between Boston and New York.

But after experiencing numerous mechanical problems with the bus during the renovation project, the plaintiff company discovered that someone had refurbished the coach's odometer as well.

The company had the electronic monitoring device on the vehicle's engine checked by computer at a service facility, where it was revealed that the actual mileage on the vehicle was 100,000 miles more than what had been reflected on the vehicle's odometer and represented by the defendant seller.

The seller denied knowledge of the substantial mileage discrepancy and declined to take responsibility for any misrepresentations during the sale of the vehicle.

The seller did, however, offer a credit of $30,000 as compensation, but that amount wasn't good enough for the transportation company, according to its attorney, Jonathon D. Friedman of Boston, who helped his client bring the case to Superior Court.

The parties eventually settled out of court for $123,000.

 

Wife sues hubby over his driving

When a woman was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury following an accident in an antique car, she made sure that she went after the driver. The only wrinkle: The driver was her husband.

The two were driving in an antique car on a summer day in Groveland when the husband drove the vehicle through an intersection without stopping and was hit by another vehicle on Route 97.

The antique car was not equipped with seat belts, and as a result, both the husband and wife were ejected from the vehicle.

At the hospital, medical staff reported that the wife sustained hemorrhages, a pelvic fracture and multiple rib fractures.

The husband was cited for failing to stop his vehicle before entering the intersection, but he claimed that he could not see the stop sign, was unaware that he was entering an intersection, and could not see any traffic because overgrown trees and shrubbery obscured both the stop sign and intersection.

Unfortunately, that argument apparently was not enough to sway his wife, who, after recovering from her injuries a few months later, brought a claim against her husband, ultimately settling for $250,000.

As of press time, the wife's claim against the Town of Groveland for neglecting to maintain and repair the stop sign and intersection was pending, according to her attorney, Kenneth I. Kolpan of Boston.

 

Husband gets mad, ex-wife gets money

A man's attempt to take revenge on his ex-wife backfired when he found himself on the losing end of a $200,000 verdict in Middlesex County.

A Superior Court jury found him liable to his former spouse after evidence showed that he mailed packages containing his ex-wife's sensitive medical records to five individuals.

As a result of the incident, the ex-wife claimed to suffer emotional distress and sued for invasion of privacy.

The woman's attorney, Dudley C. Goar of Concord, said the verdict included $100,000 for the actual harm suffered by his client and $100,000 in punitive damages.

 

Dad's child payments upped after job fib

A well-employed father who claimed to be unemployed so as to avoid increased child-support payments to his ex-wife got hit with some hefty financial penalties after his lie was discovered.

When the couple's divorce was finalized in 1991 by a court in North Carolina, the ex-husband agreed to pay $1,350 per month in child support. But after he claimed that he was unemployed, the court temporarily reduced the child support to $475 per month.

After granting the temporary reduction in payments, the court ordered the ex-husband, on gaining employment, to report to his ex-wife, her attorney and the court his earnings so that a new child support order could begin.

Despite the court's order, the ex-husband, who lived out of state, managed to elude his responsibilities as a father even after becoming gainfully and consistently employed — something his ex-wife did not discover until 2003 when her ex-husband completed a financial-aid form for their college-age daughter at the daughter's request.

The ex-wife made several attempts to resolve the situation out of court, but the parties were not cooperating, and as a result, she filed a complaint in the Probate & Family Court.

A judge found that, since 1996, the ex-husband had numerous new jobs, repeatedly and knowingly failed to notify his ex-wife of his employment, and failed to have his child support obligation adjusted.

According to Melissa M. Sindeband of Cambridge, the ex-wife's attorney, the judge found the ex-husband liable for failing to notify his ex-wife of his employment and failing to adjust his child support obligation in accordance with the change in his salary.

He was ordered to pay more than $60,000 in child support, as well as $8,000 in attorneys' fees, to his ex-wife, and his child support obligation was modified to more than double the amount of the prior order.

 

Playtime leads to boy's hospital stay

A boy who fell during a climbing accident was awarded a $1.3 million settlement for the injuries he suffered from the accident.

The child fell 13 feet from the structure — which consisted of a multi-level maze surrounded by netting and access doors — landing on his head and shoulder when an access door was not properly secured.

He was rushed to a hospital emergency room by ambulance, and, en route, he lost consciousness and had a seven-minute seizure.

After his release from the hospital, the boy underwent neuropsychological testing, which demonstrated that he had cognitive deficits in the areas of processing speed, organization, language, spelling, handwriting, phonics and processing complicated information.

The child's attorneys — Kenneth I. Kolpan of Boston and Thomas B. Lesser of Northampton — retained brain injury specialists and a nationally renowned neuropsychologist and radiologist to perform further testing and 3-D MRI brain imaging on the boy, which suggested that he was at an increased risk for seizures, depression and the early onset of dementia.

It also revealed that he had a hole in his brain where tissue was destroyed in the accident.

 

Woman left untreated after motorcycle crash

A 20-year-old woman, severely injured being thrown from a motorcycle on which she was a passenger, was awarded more than $500,000 in a settlement with the motorcycle's driver, who initially refused to call for help as a result of a prior conviction.

While at the motorcyclist's home prior to the accident, the woman, the cyclist and another guest had consumed a large quantity of alcohol. The defendant then invited the woman for a ride on his motorcycle.

While they were riding, the motorcycle reached speeds of more than 100 mph. The driver lost control of the motorcycle when it hit a patch of sand, and the woman was catapulted off the back and into a tree.

The woman sustained multiple fractures and internal injuries — including a ruptured bladder and torn colon — when the defendant found her lying on the side of the road.

At the time of the accident, the defendant was on probation as a result of a criminal conviction, and so he did not call for help. Rather, he picked up the woman and brought her back to his home where he attempted to care for her.

The woman stayed at his home for nearly 18 hours before she was taken to a family member, who immediately called for emergency medical help.

The plaintiff spent 11 days in the hospital and an additional 42 days at a rehabilitation hospital. She underwent numerous surgeries, had permanent hardware installed in her right leg, underwent bone grafting and suffered from incontinence.

Jon L. Revelli of Worcester, the woman's attorney, reported that the parties settled the case for $545,000 at mediation.

 

Group takes a 'byte' out of lunch system

Technology has certainly found its place in modern society, but according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, that place is not in the lunchroom.

On urging from the ACLU, the Taunton School Committee canceled plans to commence a controversial "Lunch Bytes" program, which would have used fingerprint scans to identify students in the lunch line.

In February, ACLU staff attorney Sarah R. Wunsch wrote to Taunton's superintendent of schools, Dr. Arthur Stellar, urging the school district to reconsider its plans. A local "Ban the Scan" campaign by parents also lobbied against the $40,000 program.

While the system would not have stored students' actual fingerprints, it would have translated distinguishing points on the prints into a digital code. Security experts had expressed concern that stolen codes could be misused in new forms of biometric identity theft.

"There are legitimate and serious privacy concerns created by this system," argued Wunsch.

 

In items in which out-of-court settlements have been reported, names and locations may not be available due to the confidential nature of the agreements.