Our Work

Petrucelly, Nadler & Norris P.C. is a progressive full-service civil law firm. With a combined experience of over 80 years, our four (4) attorneys and one (1) paralegal provide a range of legal services to our clients that best meet their needs. 

To that end, we proudly represent individuals, non-profit organizations, and businesses who work in the progressive community in New England.  We undertake a wide variety of civil litigation from civil rights work to employment discrimination to personal injuries and numerous other cases to help our clients achieve justice and better their lives.  We also advise people and organizations that advocate for social justice on issues such as alternative life styles, wills, health care proxies, estate planning, contracts, consumer rights, housing, real estate, and family law.  Our broad range of expertise and tenacious advocacy enable us to represent our clients very successfully.

A few select examples of our cases are:

• After a six (6) day public hearing, the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) held that our client, an Asian American female professor at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, was denied promotion on the grounds of discrimination and retaliation.  The MCAD Hearing Officer took the “unprecedented step” of ordering the promotion of our client to Full Professor and awarded her $154,503.30 in lost wages and $200,000.00 in emotional distress damages, plus 12% interest per year for six (6) years.  The Commission further imposed a civil penalty of $10,000.00 on the University for its discriminatory and retaliatory actions against our client and ordered University Administrators to undertake anti-discrimination training.

• At trial, we obtained a jury award totaling over $700,000 for our client whose property was continuously flooded due to her neighbor’s negligent construction of a home and driveway. Our client purchased a horse farm in 1989 which contained a primary residence, horse stables, riding paddocks, and garden.  In 2003, the defendant constructed her home and hired a site excavator, the co-defendant, to construct a 270-foot driveway.  Due to water buildup on the defendant’s property, the co-defendant placed an 80-foot drainage pipe under the driveway directed at our client’s property.  Whenever it rained, the water on the defendant’s property flowed through the drainage pipe onto our client’s property, flooding, and causing substantial damage to her property and livelihood.  After trial, the jury rendered its verdict in the total amount of $529,000 equally against both defendants: $289,000 for our client’s property damage and loss of business, and $240,000 for emotional distress, plus interest at 12% per year for three (3) years.

• We have successfully brought claims on behalf of many children who have been lead poisoned in homes and apartments throughout Massachusetts against the owners and property managers of said properties for the damages to children who sustain lead poisoning at a young age.  As a result of being lead poisoned, a child normally will require medical treatment and the child’s functioning in school and behavior can be greatly impaired.  In a recent case, where our client was lead poisoned in an apartment, she required special educational services throughout elementary school, including tutoring, and would likely continue to suffer from neuropsychological effects of lead poisoning.  The case was complicated by the fact that the child’s highest level of lead poisoning occurred after she vacated her apartment, but we convinced the landlord’s insurer that the landlord was still liable.  We settled her claim for $170,000.

• Successfully litigated and settled a pharmaceutical case against a national drugstore chain where our client, who is blind, sought to fill a prescription for a narcotic drug.  The pharmacy filled the prescription, but dispensed double the prescribed dosage.  The plaintiff, over the course of a week, applied the medication as prescribed and suffered a debilitating overdose, which resulted in her suffering extreme discomfort, confusion, nausea, and lethargy.  The overdose caused permanent worsening of her sleep apnea that required numerous sleep studies and supplemental oxygen therapy during sleep.  The defendant pharmacy admitted the error, but disputed our client’s damages.  The case settled right before trial in mediation for $200,000.00.

• Prosecuted a wrongful death action for the estate of a young woman who was run over from behind by an articulating boom lift construction vehicle while waiting at a crosswalk at a light. Although the various defendants steadfastly pointed to each other as the responsible party until the day of the trial, we were finally able to negotiate a settlement for the estate in the amount of $4,030,000.00.  Please see our News Update page for more information on this case.

• Obtained class certification for tenants in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who were unlawfully charged a finder’s fee of one month’s rent for apartments by a property management company, The Niles Company, Inc., that employed an unlicensed sales person.  After extensive litigation and negotiations, the defendants finally agreed to a Settlement Agreement and Judgment filed with the Court, which included changing their practices and refunding finder’s fees to the Class.  The Court approved a fund for refunds of the unlawful finder’s fees, incentive payments for the named plaintiffs and attorney’s fees and expenses for plaintiffs’ counsel in the total amount of $200,000.00.

• Litigated an employment discrimination and retaliation claim for a woman with multiple sclerosis ('MS') who, after sixteen years of exemplary employment, was let go due to an alleged reduction in force. We persuaded the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ('EEOC') to find probable cause that the employer discriminated and retaliated against her on account of her disability.  As a result, we obtained a settlement of over $309,000.00 for our client's past lost wages, her severe emotional distress, contributions to her retirement account, and reasonable attorney's fees.
   
• Represented a union roofer who was seriously injured after falling backwards off a steeply pitched roof because his employer and the general contractor failed to provide fall protection safety devices such as a safety lanyard and harness that would have prevented his injuries.  The roofer fell nine (9) feet onto a metal drain, sustaining permanent injury to his left wrist, neck and back.  As a result, he was unable to work for over three (3) years and suffered from constant pain and post traumatic stress disorder from the fall.  We were able to obtain a settlement for him, including workers compensation benefits that totaled $590,000.00.
   
• Successfully litigated a constitutional and Voting Rights claim in conjunction with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law challenging the re-districting of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.  In February 2004, the Plaintiffs in the case won a great victory for the voters of the City of Boston when the Court held that the re-districting violated the Voting Rights Act.  Please see our News Update page for more information on this case and Petrucelly, Nadler & Norris's role in the victory.
   
• Pursued lawsuits for a class of former residents of the Fernald State School who had been secretly experimented on with radioactive isotopes in the 1940s and 1950s and settled those suits favorably for the victims and their families.
   
• Litigated a class action lawsuit against vinyl window blind companies that sold mini-blinds containing lead that harmed children.  Settled the case with a monetary award for our clients and an agreement to remove the blinds from the market and allow consumers to trade in their old lead-containing mini-blinds for new ones without lead.
   
• Represented a tenant who fell off a second floor porch because the landlord had not properly secured the railing to the post.  When the tenant leaned on the railing, he fell 14 feet to the pavement below and sustained a severe head injury and other physical injuries.  The case was tried to a jury to a successful conclusion in excess of $1 million dollars.
   
• Represented a victim of racial discrimination against a major corporation for his unlawful termination.  After public hearing, the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination awarded our client the highest award for emotional distress at that time in the amount of $100,000, plus back wages and other damages.
   
• Over the past 28 years our firm has incorporated and obtained tax-exempt status for literally hundreds of non-profit corporations with operations all over the country. We also continue to represent some of the most active non-profit corporations and small businesses in New England as part of our ongoing service.
   
• Our firm also handles traditional contract, real estate matters, wills, health care proxies, durable powers of attorney, trusts and estates, as well as business, consumer, housing and family law disputes.
   
• We are one of the largest providers of Group and Pre-paid Legal Service programs in Massachusetts, servicing legal services plans for the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the Boston Teachers Union, Hyatt and ARAG Legal Plans, as well as the Union Privilege Legal Services Plan, a union legal services plan established by the AFL-CIO.

Please feel free to contact any of us through this web site or phone us at (617) 720-1717.