Lawyer Calls Fatal Car Crash Into Apple Store ‘100% Preventable’ in Announcing Suit

The recent crash into an Apple storefront in Massachusetts that killed one person and injured 19 was “100% preventable,” according to the attorney for two of those injured in the accident.

Boston attorney Douglas K. Sheff has brought lawsuits against Apple, the developer of the Derby Street Shops shopping area in Hingham, and the driver of the vehicle that crashed through the store’s glass windows on Nov. 21

The personal injury complaints filed in state court are on behalf of Matthew Timberger, a customer who was injured, and Stephen Parrish, an Apple employee who was injured. Both suits bring counts of negligence and loss of consortium and seek unspecified damages but Parrish’s complaint does not name his employer, Apple.

Sheff said that the tragedy was foreseeable and “100% preventable” by the developer and Apple. “They simply needed to place a few barriers, or bollards, between the parking lot traffic, which was busy holiday traffic, and the public,” he claimed in announcing the litigation at a Tuesday news conference.

The complaints maintain that on the day of the accident there were not any protective devices between the public parking area, the sidewalk in front of the Apple Store, and the outside glass front of the Apple Store itself.

The suits, filed in Middlesex Superior Court, maintain that there are numerous vehicle-into-building crashes every day and that bollards, traffic barriers and protective devices are “known to protect against catastrophic personal injuries as a result of a vehicle-into-building crash.”

The complaints allege that WS Development and/or Apple “knew or should have known of the risk of a motor vehicle driving into and/or through the glass front of the Apple Store, whether negligently, recklessly, or intentionally.”

Police have reported that Bradley Rein drove a Toyota SUV through the Apple store’s glass front at a high rate of speed, killing Kevin Bradley, a New Jersey resident who was doing construction work in the store at the time.

According to police, Rein said he was unable to stop his car because his right foot became stuck on the gas pedal. In addition to being named in the civil suits brought by Timberger and Parrish, Rein faces criminal charges including motor vehicular homicide.

WS Development, which developed the Derby Street Shops in Hingham, also owns developments in the Seaport district and Fenway area in Boston, and malls in Lynnfield and Chestnut Hill, as well as properties in Palm Beach and Tampa, Florida

Sheff was joined at the press conference by Kathy Jo Cook, whose personal injury law firm recently merged with Sheff’s to form Sheff & Cook in Boston.

Top Photo: Worker use a tow truck to remove a damaged SUV from inside an Apple store, Monday, Nov. 21, 2022, in Hingham, Mass. At least one person was killed and multiple others were injured Monday when the SUV crashed into the store, authorities said. The SUV was removed though a large hole in the glass front of the building that resulted from the crash. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)