A company must ensure that its business operations, through adequate training of its employees, are safe for all persons including customers, employees and visitors on its property.
When a company does not do so, it is responsible for the harms and losses suffered.
The 2014 litigation with Lynnway Auto Auctions demonstrated that people working for the Lynnway were inadequately trained.
The tragedy that occurred this past week on Wednesday, May 3, 2017 is still under investigation. However, watching the various videos posted by vendors on-site just prior to the tragic event are eerily similar to the day I was on site in 2013.
Company in 2011 had a written policy that was rarely shared with the company’s drivers. Many of the Lynnway Auction drivers show up on the day of the auction with no prior experience driving for the auction.
In the hectic and chaotic environment of a car auction, cars are brought to the auction in various conditions. Many have mechanical issues. Drivers for the car auction have little if any idea of the car’s condition. The only warning observed on a car was that the car couldn’t start and needed to be towed.
Vendors are inspecting cars for possible purchases and swarm the vehicles unfettered by the Auction House up until the vehicle crosses the line to be sold.
Persons injured, whether an employee of the auction house, a temporary worker for an agency or a vendor may have claims for negligence, willful and wonton gross negligence, and workers’ compensation benefits. Workers’ Compensation benefits tend to provide more immediate compensation.
If you were injured at the Lynnway Auto Auction in Billerica, MA on May 3, 2017, while you were working for Lynnway, or any other vendor/temp agency, you are entitled to receive Workers’ Compensation benefits. These benefits include payment of weekly benefits for the time you need to remain out of work, as well as payment of medical expenses for all treatment that is reasonable, necessary, and related to your work injuries.
If you are a spouse or a dependent (member of the Employee’s family or next of kin who were wholly or partly dependent upon the earnings of the Employee for the support at the time of the injury or at the time of death), of a worker who died of injuries that occurred at work, you may be eligible for financial benefits, under the Massachusetts Workers’ Compensation Act.
Workers’ Compensation death benefits you may be eligible for include:
The insurer shall pay the reasonable expenses of burial, not exceeding 8 times the average weekly wage in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at the time of the Employee’s death.
The insurer shall pay weekly benefits equal to two-thirds of the deceased worker’s average weekly wage, up to a maximum set by the Commonwealth.