Michael Riseberg Files Amicus Brief in Case Favorably Decided by Massachusetts High Court

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently issued a decision Leavitt v. Brockton Hospital, Inc., 454 Mass. 37 (2009), in a matter in which Michael Riseberg authored an amicus curiae brief for the Massachusetts Defense Lawyers Association.  In adopting the position advocated by our client, the court held that a medical provider (outside of a failure to warn scenario) does not owe a duty to control a patient (excluding a mental health patient) to prevent the patient from causing harm to a third party.  The plaintiff was a police officer who was injured in a motor vehicle accident while en route to an accident in which a medicated patient was struck by a car while walking home from the defendant-hospital.  The court also held that the rescue doctrine did not apply where the police officer was injured while on route to the accident scene.  The case appears to impose a significant new limitation on the potential tort liability of medical providers to non-patient third parties.