Attorney Ann T. McNulty's Legal Cases

Medical malpractice

medical malpractice

N/A

OUTCOME: Settled after mediation

*Attorney McNulty won over One Million Dollars for a child in a medical malpractice case after discovering that long before the child’s diagnosis of hip dysplasia, her mother repeatedly expressed conc ... ern to the pediatrician that her toddler, “walked funny.” The pediatrician ordered an X-Ray, but the radiology report of hip dysplasia was filed by office staff before the pediatrician read it. The pediatrician, assuming the X-Ray was negative, informed the client that her daughter’s hips were fine, and “all toddlers walk funny.” Timely diagnosis likely would have meant non-surgical treatment, the delay meant surgery and lower body casting for several months was required.

Arbitration

Back Injury

N/A

OUTCOME: Arbitration Award

car damage doesn’t always indicate extent of injury… *Attorney McNulty won $100,000.00 for her client, a back seat passenger in a car that got scratched in a very minor car accident. The insurer paid ... the car owner $150.00 for the damage to the paint, but refused to pay Attorney McNulty’s client compensation for his back pain. The insurance defense was “there really wasn’t even an accident.” The insurer argued that it was impossible for our client to have been injured when the car he was in was only scratched. Attorney McNulty proved that when the car swerved to avoid a serious accident, the plaintiff fell forward and suffered a twisting injury.

Employee benefits

Chronic Fatigue: total disability

N/A

OUTCOME: Won Summary Judgment

employers “cannot ignore” workers’ obvious health problems… *Attorney McNulty won Summary Judgment in federal court after bringing an ERISA claim against an American multinational telecommunications c ... orporation for failing to provide disability payments to her client who suffered continual and worsening fatigue which ultimately lead to her quitting her job. The corporation argued that since the client was suffering from an undiagnosed condition at the time of her employment, she was not entitled to benefits and even if she had a diagnosed condition, she didn’t seek benefits, but quit. Attorney McNulty proved that her client’s symptoms rendered her so fatigued that she suffered cognitive impairment which should have led her immediate supervisors to provide her with advice and encouragement to seek benefits and HR assistance rather than stand by and watch her decline and resign her position.

Insurance

Insurer's Fail

N/A

OUTCOME: Won Declaratory Judgment

a golf cart is a motor vehicle… *Attorney McNulty won the full amount for her client’s automobile insurance policy on a theory that a golf cart was an “uninsured motor vehicle.” The client was serious ... ly and permanently injured by a golf cart being driven on his street. The golf cart operator's homeowners' insurance carrier was able to deny coverage since the policy only covered injuries caused by a golf cart when it was operated on a golf course. Attorney McNulty brought suit against the client’s automobile insurance company when they refused to arbitrate the uninsured claim she brought against them. Attorney McNulty argued that the golf cart was a motor vehicle within the meaning of the client’s auto insurance policy and that since the policy covered a personal injury to her client if injured by an uninsured motor vehicle the same should apply to a golf cart. The insurance company fought hard to convince the court that a golf cart wasn’t a motor vehicle within the meaning of an automobile policy. In a case of first impression, the court sided with Attorney McNulty.

Personal injury

Minor child sues Dad

N/A

OUTCOME: Awarded full policy limits

love, honor, & sue?… * Attorney McNulty obtained $100,000 settlement, the full policy limits, for a seven year-old boy who was accidentally shot by his best friend. Our client’s dad, a police of ... ficer, had stopped home where he lived with his wife and kids, intending to return right to work. He put his loaded work revolver under the bed in his own bedroom. His son and a friend, who had been playing outside, came in, went upstairs unnoticed, and began playing hide and seek. The friend opened the door to the parents bedroom ran in and hid under the bed. Seeing the gun and thinking it was a toy, he pointed it at our client and pulled the trigger. Miraculously, our client only suffered a slight wound. In a “friendly lawsuit” against his father, Attorney McNulty claimed that her client’s father was negligent in leaving his loaded gun unattended and not safely locked. It was foreseeable, even with his intentions of hiding his gun and placing it there for just minutes, that someone in the house could find the loaded gun and cause injury to themselves or others.

Medical malpractice

...if he was a Kennedy...

N/A

OUTCOME: Settled 2 days before trial

uninsured, suicidal, & discharged… Attorney McNulty won a settlement in a wrongful death case of a man who committed suicide after he was released from the mental health unit of a hospital. The man ha ... d attempted suicide by means of carbon monoxide poisoning and he was admitted to the hospital’s mental health unit. He was uninsured, depressed, divorced, unemployed, lived alone, and was estranged from his children. Nurse’s notes reported he was continuing to having fantasies about committing suicide “by asphyxiation.” Twenty-six hours later the attending psychiatrist told him he could be discharged. The man agreed and said he was feeling better. After he failed to report to an outpatient program the next day, the police were alerted and went to his home. They found him dead by suicide. Attorney McNulty referred the family to a colleague who specialized in wrongful death by suicide. The specialized attorney declined the case for two reasons: almost 90 % of medical malpractice cases in Massachusetts are lost by plaintiffs and the definition of suicide is the victims take their own lives and juries don't like to find against treating doctors in these cases. Also, the damages as they are measured under the law, simply were not great enough as weighed against the cost of proceeding to trial with a great risk of loss. She took the case to 4 more experts who all declined the case. Attorney McNulty told the man’s young-adult son that she believed malpractice occurred and wouldn’t give up. She obtained a respected psychiatrist’s opinion that agreed with her instincts: the man should not have been discharged and as a result he committed suicide when he did. She fought relentlessly on behalf of the family. The psychiatrist’s and hospital’s insurers refused to make any reasonable offer of settlement on the case until 2 days before trial. Only then because Attorney McNulty discovered that a page of the hospital record had been altered. Unbeknownst to some, right after the man’s suicide, Attorney McNulty had her client get a copy of his father’s records and she had pored over every page. When she received the "certified" copies of what was supposed to be the same records she saw a single sentence on the original copy was missing certified copy from the hospital. The sentence itself was not significant to the case, but the deception was a game changer. The case settled for an undisclosed amount.

Ann T. McNulty's Legal Cases (6)

medical malpractice

Back Injury

Chronic Fatigue: total disability

Insurer's Fail

Minor child sues Dad

...if he was a Kennedy...