James P. McCarthy, Trial Attorney

Many people ask "Why did your become a trial attorney? What interested you in trial work? When were you first imbued with this great desire to represent underdogs deprived of their rights and being crushed by the establishment?"

Growing up as a young man, I always felt great empathy for those less fortunate.

Living in an urban environment, I quickly learned how difficult it was for individuals who were not blessed with great wealth to succeed in society. I suppose my young days as an adolescent motivated me to work for others who were less fortunate, who weren't being given an even break, who had their rights denied.

While at Boston College Law School, I immediately became fascinated by any law case relating to trial tactics such as trial procedure, torts and appellate rights. I knew right away I had a special love for trial work and wanted to be this so-called trial attorney. I apprenticed for several senior trial attorneys and, even though I wasn't making a lot of income; I found myself trying two to three civil and personal injury cases. I tried cases throughout the whole state of Massachusetts. On Fridays, I tried cases in district courts. I bet you would be surprised how these travel expenses added up and helped pay the rent.

It wasn't long before I developed my own practice. As a trial specialist, I started trying cases for other attorneys and litigated all types of complex personal injury cases such as medical malpractice, product liability, sports injuries, head injuries and catastrophic automobile injuries. I quickly developed a special love for medicine and medical cases. It wasn't long before I was introduced to the exciting world of medical malpractice litigation.

One long hot Boston summer when the civil trials were slow, I found myself representing the niece of my landlord, a six year old girl, who, after swallowing a penny, accidentally was found to have died in the operating room during the attempted removal of the coin. I discovered later after intense medical investigation that it was no accident that the young girl died. The reason for her unnecessary death was because, of improper surgical procedure performed by the surgeon, he carelessly tore the esophagus using improper surgical techniques. Then the inexperienced anesthesiologist attempted to remedy the problem. He carelessly intubated the esophagus and not the trachea causing the young girl to die because of a collapsed lung.

I spent several years preparing that case for trial. It was my first medical malpractice case and I was fortunate after trying the case for over three weeks to have achieved a substantial verdict on a death case against both the surgeon and the anesthesiologist. This jury verdict was particularly significant as it was from one of the more conservative counties in Massachusetts.

Suddenly my name became associated with litigating medical malpractice cases for plaintiffs. As a result of that initial success, I ultimately tried another medical malpractice case involving the misdiagnosis of a chronic kidney condition to an eleven year old girl resulting in her losing both of her kidneys potentially being wedded to kidney machine for the rest of her life. During that case, I also found that the medical caretakers had altered her records. Again this case was tried in a conservative Massachusetts county and in 1978 was the first multi-million dollar verdict in Massachusetts. The verdict, with interest, amounted to over 5.1 Million Dollars.

This jury success was reported as one of the ten highest medical verdicts in the USA and was instrumental in leading to changes in medicine, how kidneys are tested and also publicized to the medical world that juries would not tolerate doctors who alter records.

I suddenly learned that success at trial can lead in many instances to changes in medicine, changes for the better and litigation promotes product safety.

Through the years as a trial attorney I have been exposed to many types and varieties of complex personal injury cases. Our office has successfully tried to verdict a great variety of complex medical, product and head and brain injury cases. I am particularly proud of one case in the federal court where I represented a young college student against a helmet manufacturer for a serious head injury. I was able to prove that the defendant's helmet, then a top seller in the United States, was defectively designed. This finding of defective design turned out to be the first of many product liability cases against this particular manufacturer. This surge of litigation ultimately resulted in this defectively designed and unsafe helmet being removed from the American market. As a result, I believe many young men were saved from serious head and brain injury.

As an experienced trial litigator, my view is that successful plaintiffs' verdicts at trial whether in malpractice, sports related, or product design cases ultimately contribute to make medicine better, sporting equipment safer, and product manufacturers more accountable to consumers.

I enjoy being a trial attorney. It is a great honor and pleasure to advocate for our clients.

If our office can help you in any way, even if only to discuss your case and give you guidelines as to what to do, we would be most pleased to do so. Please do not hesitate to contact us. We always enjoy speaking to clients and trying to offer them help and guidance. One of the highlights of my day is speaking to a potential client giving that client as much support, assistance and guidance as I possibly can.

Thank you for your interest. I look forward to hearing from you.