Westfield, Personal Injury Law Center
Dunn & Phillips has kept an office in Westfield because the injuries that happen west of the Connecticut River look different from the ones in Springfield. Route 20 crashes, Mass Pike interchange pileups, falls on factory floors, and rural roads with no shoulder produce a different kind of case, and the people hurt in them should not have to drive to Belmont Avenue to get help. The Westfield office is at 56 Washington Street, Westfield, MA 01085. Call (413) 562-8300 during business hours (Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.). If you have been hurt in an accident, the injury line at (413) 426-8657 is answered by a live person 24 hours a day.
Westfield District Court
The courthouse is at 224 Elm Street, a short trip from our office in downtown Westfield. The Clerk's Office is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and can be reached at (413) 568-8946. The court serves nine communities: Agawam, Blandford, Chester, Granville, Montgomery, Russell, Southwick, Tolland, and Westfield.
Most personal injury cases never reach a courtroom. Insurers settle the majority once liability and damages are documented. When a case does need to be filed, the dollar amount decides where it goes. Massachusetts District Courts hear civil claims where the likely recovery is $50,000 or less, and small claims up to $7,000. A serious injury case with a larger value belongs in Hampden Superior Court in Springfield. So if you were rear-ended on Route 20 and walked away with a strained neck, Westfield District Court is a realistic venue. If you were airlifted, it is not.
The District Court still matters in bigger cases. If the driver who hit you was charged with OUI or negligent operation, the criminal side of that crash is heard at 224 Elm Street. What the police say there, and what the driver admits, can shape your civil claim.
If you need to appear, expect security screening at the door. Cameras and electronic devices are restricted inside. Public Wi-Fi is available. Parking is in municipal lots within a few blocks of the courthouse rather than on site, so give yourself fifteen extra minutes. The PVTA Red 10 and Blue 23 buses stop nearby. If you have a disability and need an accommodation, the court's ADA coordinator can be reached through the clerk's number.
The Route 20 corridor and the hilltowns
From Westfield center, Route 20 runs west along the Westfield River. Five miles out, at the Russell line, it becomes the Jacob's Ladder Scenic Byway and passes under the Mass Pike bridge. From there it climbs through Russell, clips the southern edge of Huntington, and continues into Chester before crossing into Berkshire County at Becket and ending its byway stretch in Lee.
Our Westfield office serves the towns along that road and the hilltowns above it: Russell, Huntington, Chester, Middlefield, Blandford, Montgomery, Granville, and Tolland, plus Southwick and Agawam to the south. Six of those towns fall inside the Westfield District Court's jurisdiction. Huntington and Middlefield sit in Hampshire County, so a case there may run through Northampton instead. We handle both.
The people in these towns tend to know the road. They also know that when a crash happens on the byway, the nearest hospital is Baystate Noble in Westfield, the State Police barracks in Russell handles the report, and the other driver's insurer is often based in Boston and has never seen Chester Factory Village. We have.
What a first visit looks like
The office has off-street parking on site. Pull in, walk to the door, and a staff member will meet you. Walk-ins are welcome. If you would rather not wait, call ahead and we will hold a time.
Bring whatever you have: the police report or the crash exchange form, photos, the names of witnesses, your insurance card, and any medical paperwork from the emergency room or your doctor. If you do not have all of it, come anyway. Stephen Thomas or Sydney Greenberg will start the file and tell you what to request.
The first meeting is a conversation. We want to know what happened, what hurts, and who has already called you. If an insurance adjuster has left a voicemail, do not return it until we talk. Attorney Peereboom evaluates the case and tells you plainly whether we can help. Injury consultations are free, and you pay nothing unless we recover money for you.
Injuries particular to this geography
Route 20 and the byway. Two lanes, blind curves, logging trucks, and motorcycles in season. Winter turns the grade between Russell and Chester into a problem before the plows arrive. A rear-end crash here often involves an out-of-state driver, a commercial vehicle, or both, which changes who pays and how much coverage exists.
Mass Pike Exit 41. Exit 41, the old Exit 3, is where the Pike meets Route 10/202 in Westfield. It is the interchange for anyone coming off the highway to reach Westfield, Southwick, or the hilltowns, and the ramps carry tractor-trailers heading to the industrial parks. Interchange crashes tend to involve merging speed, tolls, and trucking companies with lawyers on retainer.
Industrial employers. Westfield is still a manufacturing city. Mestek on North Elm Street, Savage Arms on Springdale Road, Advance Manufacturing and Tell Tool on Turnpike Industrial Road, and Westfield Electroplating employ machinists, platers, and material handlers who get hurt on the floor. A workplace injury starts as a workers' compensation claim, which covers medical bills and part of your wages. It does not cover pain, a lost career, or the difference between the life you had and the one you have now. If someone other than your employer caused the injury, such as a subcontractor, a machine manufacturer, or a delivery driver, you may have a second claim. Those third-party cases are where full compensation lives, and they are what we look for.
Construction and roofing. The hilltowns and the Berkshires run on small contractors and subcontractors. Falls from roofs and scaffolds produce the most serious injuries we see, and the law on who is responsible just shifted. More on that below.
The people in the Westfield office
Wayne H. Peereboom, Attorney. Wayne has practiced personal injury and civil litigation in Massachusetts since 1994. He earned his law degree at Western New England School of Law and works from the Westfield office. When Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly needed a personal injury lawyer to read the Supreme Judicial Court's newest construction-injury decision, they called him. His comments appear in the paper's August 27, 2026 coverage of Suquilanda v. Skyway Roofing, Inc., a ruling that makes it harder for a subcontractor's injured employee to reach the general contractor. The roof in that case sits at Jiminy Peak in Hancock, inside the territory this office covers. Wayne called the decision fact-specific and expects defense lawyers to file more dispositive motions testing its limits. Read the coverage here: SJC: general contractor liability, roofing worker fall (Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Aug. 27, 2026).
Stephen L. Thomas, Senior Litigation Paralegal. Steve lives in Westfield, minutes from the office, and has handled personal injury and civil litigation files at Dunn & Phillips for years. He is the person who builds the case: records requests, medical bill reconciliation, demand packages, and the calls to adjusters that keep a claim moving. Clients in Westfield work with him from the first day.
Sydney Greenberg, Legal Assistant. Sydney supports the personal injury practice and speaks English and Chinese.
Paralegals and legal assistants are not lawyers and do not give legal advice. Attorney Peereboom supervises every matter in the office.
Reach the Westfield office
Dunn & Phillips, P.C., Personal Injury Law Center 56 Washington Street, Westfield, MA 01085 Office: (413) 562-8300 24-hour injury line: (413) 426-8657 Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Walk-ins welcome. Off-street parking on site.