Commercial/Business Dispute

A Worcester couple asked Hassett & Donnelly, P.C. for help in recovering their retirement funds that had been misappropriated by a registered representative of an international financial services firm.

The registered representative, a native of Greece who allegedly used his fluency and contacts in the Greek community to build up a client base of about 300 Massachusetts residents, had disappeared from the area and his whereabouts were unknown.

The lawyers at Hassett & Donnelly, P.C. recognized that traditional litigation would be too costly and take too long, so they took a different approach. By documenting the evidence of the fraud and notifying the Securities Division of the Massachusetts Secretary of State's office of the fraud, an investigation resulted in payment by the financial services firm totaling more than $1 million to Massachusetts residents who were allegedly defrauded by the registered representative. Within this payment by the financial services firm, the Worcester couple represented by Hassett & Donnelly, P.C. received full restitution of their retirement funds.

The plaintiff, a trucking company, had been retained to transport an oversize load from Massachusetts to Virginia, for ultimate shipment to South America. The plaintiff, in turn, hired a survey company to ensure that there would be sufficient clearance under bridges for the load. A pole car operator was also hired to drive in front of the truck and radio back if the pole attached to his car did not clear any bridges. About ten miles from departure, the pole struck a bridge. The operator radioed back to the truck, but the truck was unable to stop before the cargo struck the bridge, resulting in damages of approximately $142,000. The truck operator was cited for following too closely.

Both the survey company and the pole car operator were sued, the former being voluntarily dismissed when it filed for bankruptcy. At arbitration, the plaintiff argued that the pole car operator failed to keep sufficient distance between his vehicle and the truck, and also failed to remain in regular radio contact with the truck operator. Representing the plaintiff, we were successful in recovering from the pole car operator the bulk of the damages that had to be paid.