Massachusetts

  • March 01, 2024

    GSK, Shook Hardy Can Recover Costs After Zofran MDL Win

    GlaxoSmithKline and its attorneys from Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP can recover more than $450,000 in legal costs after beating a multidistrict suit claiming the company's anti-nausea drug Zofran caused birth defects, a federal judge has ruled.

  • March 01, 2024

    Dartmouth Urges NLRB To Pause College Hoops Vote

    Dartmouth College urged the National Labor Relations Board to hold off on a scheduled union vote among its men's basketball players, saying an agency official grossly misapplied federal law and ignored precedent in allowing the election to proceed.

  • March 01, 2024

    CVS, Walgreens Receive FDA's OK To Dispense Abortion Drug

    Pharmacy giants CVS and Walgreens announced Friday that they have received federal certification to dispense the abortion drug mifepristone and will begin doing so soon in certain states — a development that President Joe Biden hailed as historic and that comes amid a larger battle in the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • March 01, 2024

    Thoma Bravo Ups Everbridge Deal Size By $300M, To $1.8B

    Cooley LLP-advised software company Everbridge said Friday that Kirkland & Ellis LLP-led Thoma Bravo has agreed to up its proposed acquisition of Everbridge to $35 per share from $28.60, boosting Everbridge's implied value on the transaction from $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion and sending its stock soaring an additional 25%. 

  • March 01, 2024

    Fired Boston Top Cop Says 'Destroyed Reputation' Merits Trial

    A Boston police commissioner fired after decades-old allegations of domestic abuse surfaced told a federal judge he is entitled to his day in court for his defamation suit, saying the city's former mayor "destroyed" his reputation in the press.

  • February 29, 2024

    Pentagon Leak Suspect To Change Plea In Hearing Next Week

    Federal prosecutors indicated Thursday that a former Massachusetts Air National Guardsman will change his not guilty plea to charges he posted hundreds of top-secret military intelligence documents online, asking a Massachusetts federal judge to schedule a change of plea hearing for next week.

  • February 29, 2024

    Two More Cos. Hit With 'In Concert' Delaware Bylaw Suits

    The number of class actions targeting companies' boards of directors and allegedly "coercive" bylaw provisions continues to grow, as two new investor suits were filed in Delaware's Court of Chancery against Massachusetts payments software company Flywire Corp. and California subscription software company Zuora Inc.

  • February 29, 2024

    Medtronic Expands Its Bladder Device Patent Fight

    Medical device conglomerate Medtronic has opened two more fronts in its fight over a new kind of "neuromodulation solution" for bladder and bowel control issues that's at the center of its ongoing intellectual property dispute with a newer and smaller rival, a recent acquisition of Boston Scientific.

  • February 29, 2024

    Mass. High Court Revises 'Complex' Anti-SLAPP Guidance

    The Massachusetts anti-SLAPP statute can't shield a company from being sued over years of litigation allegedly aimed solely at thwarting a potential competitor, the state's highest court said Thursday as it issued new guidance intended to make it easier for judges to resolve such disputes.

  • February 29, 2024

    Biden Floats 3 Nominees To Return FERC To Full Strength

    President Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled a trio of nominees to fill vacant commissioner slots at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, including the solicitor general of West Virginia and a former Massachusetts energy official.

  • February 29, 2024

    Insurance Co. Settles Mass. Worker's Long COVID Suit

    Lincoln Life Assurance has agreed to resolve a suit alleging it wrongly cut off disability payments to a worker who was recovering from over a year of debilitating long-term symptoms caused by COVID-19, according to a Thursday order in Massachusetts federal court.

  • February 29, 2024

    Harvard Faces Appeal Of Ruling Over Alleged Body Part Sales

    Families suing Harvard University over the alleged theft and sale of body parts donated to the institution's medical school on Thursday appealed a ruling that found the university was immune from all claims across a dozen related lawsuits.

  • February 29, 2024

    Amazon Seller Thrasio Seeks $360M DIP Facility In Ch. 11

    Thrasio Holdings Inc., which aggregates third-party brands for sale on Amazon, has urged a New Jersey bankruptcy court to sign off on an agreement the company struck with lenders to finance the consumer goods business' Chapter 11 case to the tune of $360 million.

  • February 29, 2024

    Hub Hires: Proskauer, Hogan Lovells, The SJC

    The shortest month of the year was a day longer this year and featured some significant Boston legal market moves, including a new member of the top court, a new finance attorney at Proskauer, and Hogan Lovells adding a longtime Foley Hoag partner.

  • February 28, 2024

    Au Pair Agency Can't Arbitrate Wage Claims, Judge Says

    Au pair agency Cultural Care has waived any claimed right to pursue arbitration in a proposed collective wage complaint by extensively litigating the case for several years, including a trip to the First Circuit, a Massachusetts federal judge concluded Wednesday.

  • February 28, 2024

    Green Groups Back Mass. Lobstering Closure To Save Whales

    Conservation groups told a Massachusetts federal court that an offshore seasonal fishing closure is critical to stop gear entanglements threatening nearly extinct North Atlantic right whales, urging the court to reject the lobster industry's move to block the restrictions.

  • February 28, 2024

    Construction Co. Boss Gets 9 Mos. For $1M Payroll Tax Fraud

    A Boston federal judge has sentenced the owner of two Massachusetts construction companies to nine months in prison for failing to pay more than $1 million in employment taxes over a decade.

  • February 28, 2024

    Equinox And Trainer Ignored Struggling Before Injury, Suit Says

    An Equinox personal trainer ignored a client whose struggle to complete a bench press led to a ruptured pectoral muscle, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Massachusetts.

  • February 28, 2024

    Mass. High Court Nominee Who Dated Gov. Confirmed 6-1

    A Massachusetts Appeals Court justice and former WilmerHale partner whose past relationship with Gov. Maura Healey raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest was confirmed 6-1 to a seat on the state's highest court on Wednesday, with several members of the Governor's Council dismissing those concerns.

  • February 28, 2024

    NuVasive Can Pierce Co. To Collect From Ex-Rep, Judge Says

    NuVasive Inc. can pierce the corporate veil to collect a $617,000-plus arbitration judgment it won against a company operated by one of its former sales representatives who improperly cut ties with the medical device company and violated his noncompete agreement, a Boston federal judge has ruled. 

  • February 28, 2024

    Major Amazon Seller Thrasio Enters Ch. 11 To Cut $500M Debt

    Thrasio Holdings Inc., a consumer goods company that is one of Amazon's largest third-party sellers, announced Wednesday that it entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New Jersey with the aim of cutting nearly $500 million in debt while bringing in more capital.

  • February 27, 2024

    TV Station Can't Kill Verizon Counterclaims In Carriage Fight

    A Rhode Island television station can't dodge counterclaims that it was the one responsible for letting Verizon know that it had been paying retransmission fees to the wrong company, the Massachusetts federal judge overseeing the TV station's lawsuit against Verizon and Nexstar has ruled.

  • February 27, 2024

    Ex-NESN Exec Gets 3½ Years In Fraud Scheme

    A former executive at the Massachusetts cable network that broadcasts Red Sox and Bruins games was sentenced Tuesday to 3½ years in prison for embezzling nearly $600,000 from his employer through an elaborate invoicing scheme, crimes a judge called both "deliberate" and "insidious" and the government called "brazen."

  • February 27, 2024

    Architect May Be Negligent, But He's No Liar, Court Rules

    An intermediate Massachusetts appellate panel ruled Tuesday that a home contractor could not show an architect acted with deception or dishonesty when he repeatedly questioned the company's billing during a $2.5 million home renovation project.

  • February 27, 2024

    PTAB Takes Up Challenge To Dyson Hair Dryer Patent

    An administrative patent board has decided to look into a petition from a Massachusetts home appliance brand that makes the case that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office should never have issued a patent to Dyson covering a kind of hair dryer.

Expert Analysis

  • What Lawyers Must Know About Calif. State Bar's AI Guidance

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    Initial recommendations from the State Bar of California regarding use of generative artificial intelligence by lawyers have the potential to become a useful set of guidelines in the industry, covering confidentiality, supervision and training, communications, discrimination and more, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Industry Must Elevate Native American Women Attys' Stories

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    The American Bar Association's recent research study into Native American women attorneys' experiences in the legal industry reveals the glacial pace of progress, and should inform efforts to amplify Native voices in the field, says Mary Smith, president of the ABA.

  • A Look At Mass. Sports Betting Data Privacy Regulations

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    The Massachusetts Gaming Commission recently approved data privacy regulations under the state's sports wagering act to promote responsible gaming, showing a trend of regulators directing companies on how to protect personal information used by artificial intelligence systems, say Liisa Thomas and Kathryn Smith at Sheppard Mullin.

  • And Now A Word From The Panel: Tracking MDL Geography

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    In recent years, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has predominantly selected states east of the Mississippi River as venues for new MDLs — but with half of the proceedings it has created in recent months venued in Arizona and California, the panel is not neglecting the western part of the country, says Alan Rothman at Sidley.

  • Understanding Discovery Obligations In Era Of Generative AI

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Attorneys and businesses must adapt to the unique discovery challenges presented by generative artificial intelligence, such as chatbot content and prompts, while upholding the principles of fairness, transparency and compliance with legal obligations in federal civil litigation, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • An Overview Of Circuit Courts' Interlocutory Motion Standards

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    The Federal Arbitration Act allows litigants to file an immediate appeal from an order declining to enforce an arbitration agreement, but the circuit courts differ on the specific requirements for the underlying order as well as which motion must be filed, as demonstrated in several 2023 decisions, says Kristen Mueller at Mueller Law.

  • The Case For Post-Bar Clerk Training Programs At Law Firms

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    In today's competitive legal hiring market, an intentionally designed training program for law school graduates awaiting bar admission can be an effective way of creating a pipeline of qualified candidates, says Brent Daub at Gilson Daub.

  • Attorneys Have An Ethical Duty To Protect The Judiciary

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    The tenor of public disagreement and debate has become increasingly hostile against judges, and though the legislative branch is trying to ameliorate this safety gap, lawyers have a moral imperative and professional requirement to stand with judges in defusing attacks against them and their rulings, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.

  • What Cos. Should Know About FTC's Proposed Junk Fee Rule

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    The Federal Trade Commission recently announced a notice of proposed rulemaking targeting junk fees and how businesses may advertise prices to consumers — and since it would give the agency powers to seek monetary penalties against businesses that do not comply, companies should look to get ahead now, say Phyllis Marcus and Nicole Johnson at Hunton Andrews.

  • FTC Orange Book Move Signals New Pharma Patent Scrutiny

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent dispute against improper listing of drug patents in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Orange Book indicates heightened surveillance of the pharmaceutical industry, particularly where competition-related consequences of patent or regulatory processes are concerned, say attorneys at Fenwick.

  • AI Can Help Lawyers Overcome The Programming Barrier

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    Legal professionals without programming expertise can use generative artificial intelligence to harness the power of automation and other technology solutions to streamline their work, without the steep learning curve traditionally associated with coding, says George Zalepa at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Harvard's Broker Fight Shows Active Risk Management Is Key

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    Harvard University’s recently filed suit against its insurance broker for alleged malpractice in handling the Students for Fair Admissions claim illustrates that risk management requires the concerted effort of policyholders, brokers and insurers to protect against disastrous losses, say William McMichael and David Klein at Pillsbury.

  • Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World

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    As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.

  • General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI

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    With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.

  • AI Isn't The Wild West, So Prepare Now For Bias Risks

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    In addition to President Joe Biden's recent historic executive order on safe, secure and trustworthy artificial intelligence, there are existing federal and state laws prohibiting fraud, defamation and even discrimination, so companies considering using or developing AI should take steps to minimize legal and business risks, says civil rights attorney Farhana Khera.

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