Massachusetts

  • August 22, 2025

    Mass. Hospital, Contractor Sued Over Legionnaires' Death

    The alleged failure by a Massachusetts hospital and its contractor to properly maintain a water system led to the death of an elderly patient in February, according to a suit in state court.

  • August 22, 2025

    1st Circ. Says Muralist Filed Copyright Case Too Late

    The First Circuit has affirmed the dismissal of a copyright infringement lawsuit that a muralist had brought against the organizers of a Massachusetts state fair over promotional videos for the event that used her artwork without crediting her, finding that even though this was the third time she sued, a federal district court was right to declare her latest claims time-barred.

  • August 22, 2025

    Hometap Can't Escape Mass. AG's Consumer Protection Suit

    A Massachusetts judge has rejected arguments from financial startup Hometap that existing consumer protection and debt collection laws do not apply to its "novel" home equity product, denying the company's motion to dismiss a suit brought by the state's attorney general.

  • August 22, 2025

    Real Estate Recap: 401(k) Boost, Eyes On Florida

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including attorney insights into what President Donald Trump's executive order on retirement fund investing means for real estate assets, as well as the biggest issues Florida real estate practitioners are watching in the second half of 2025.

  • August 21, 2025

    1st Circ. Rejects Flyers' $34M Fee Bid In JetBlue-Spirit Case

    Passengers who launched an antitrust challenge to the since-scrapped JetBlue-Spirit Airlines merger are not eligible to collect up to $34 million in legal fees, the First Circuit ruled Thursday, finding that because the deal was blocked in a parallel government case, the passengers are not actually the prevailing parties.

  • August 21, 2025

    Democratic Sen. Urges Trump Admin To Plan For Tariff Refunds

    Senate Small Business Committee ranking member Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., sent a letter Thursday to agency leaders in President Donald Trump's administration requesting the government prepare a tariff refund plan in case federal courts strike down Trump's emergency tariffs.

  • August 21, 2025

    DOJ Gets Backing In Fight Over Public Benefits

    A group that fights to restrict immigration into the U.S. is urging a Rhode Island federal court to let the Trump administration narrow noncitizens' access to programs like Head Start, homeless shelters and food banks, arguing Thursday that a coalition of 20 states is trying to obstruct immigration enforcement and give benefits to "illegal aliens."

  • August 21, 2025

    High Court Allows Trump Admin To Cancel $783M In NIH Grants

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Trump administration to resume the mass termination of scientific grants, overturning rulings by lower courts that had kept the funds flowing to universities and other recipients. 

  • August 21, 2025

    Mass. Sheriff Pleads Not Guilty To Pot Extortion Scheme

    Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins pled not guilty Thursday in a federal courtroom to charges that he used his position to obtain pre-IPO shares in a cannabis retailer, then a refund when the investment lost money.

  • August 21, 2025

    Minor Leaguers Ask Justices To Kill MLB Antitrust Exemption

    Former players accusing Major League Baseball and its teams of colluding to pay minor leaguers "poverty level" wages are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case and overturn baseball's century-old exemption from antitrust law.

  • August 21, 2025

    Software Startup Catamorphic Settles Wage, OT Class Action

    Software startup Catamorphic has agreed to settle a proposed class action brought by three former sales employees in Massachusetts and California who say the company failed to pay them overtime and engaged in other "widespread, repeated and consistent" violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, a Wednesday court filing says.

  • August 20, 2025

    Judge Grills Feds On Upending 30-Year Noncitizen Benefits

    A Rhode Island federal judge seemed perplexed Wednesday by a government attorney's contention that for nearly 30 years, various administrations across the political spectrum have wrongly interpreted a law the Trump administration now says requires immigration status checks for additional federal benefits.

  • August 20, 2025

    Argent To Shell Out $4.5M To Exit Workers' ESOP Suit

    Argent Trust Co. will pay $4.5 million to exit a class action alleging it approved a sale of undervalued shares in an electrical component company's employee stock ownership plan in a deal to shut the program down, according to a filing in Massachusetts federal court.

  • August 20, 2025

    Receiver Shielded In Senior Home Shutdown, 1st Circ. Says

    A court-appointed receiver for a Massachusetts assisted living facility is shielded by quasi-judicial immunity from claims that it orchestrated a "resident dumping" scheme, the First Circuit said Tuesday, reversing a lower court's decision.

  • August 20, 2025

    Biotech Replimune Faces Derivative Suit Over Trial Claims

    Executives and directors of biotechnology company Replimune Group Inc. face shareholder derivative claims that they concealed issues affecting a clinical trial of one of the company's lead immunotherapy candidates.

  • August 20, 2025

    Property Manager Settles With Mass. AG Over Data Breaches

    One of the largest property management firms in Massachusetts will pay $795,000 to settle allegations by the state attorney general's office that it failed to prevent or address a series of five data breaches between 2019 and 2021.

  • August 20, 2025

    Insurers Say Gov't Misusing FCA To Get Medicare Cost Cap

    Insurers accused of paying brokers to steer customers to their Medicare Advantage plans asked a Massachusetts federal judge to dismiss a False Claims Act lawsuit, saying the government is mischaracterizing legal payments for marketing as kickbacks in an attempt to impose caps it has thus far been unable to obtain.

  • August 19, 2025

    Tufts Student Says Feds Can't Dodge Detention Oversight

    Turkish student Rümeysa Öztürk, who the Trump administration arrested after she co-wrote a pro-Palestinian column in her university's newspaper, told the Second Circuit on Monday that the government's position that she can't challenge her detention via habeas proceedings is unconstitutional.

  • August 19, 2025

    21 AGs Push DEA To Schedule 'Designer Xanax'

    Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman and 20 other state attorneys general are urgently asking the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to schedule an unregulated substance known as "designer Xanax" under the Controlled Substances Act, saying it is contributing to overdose deaths and posing a growing threat to public health.

  • August 19, 2025

    Suno Says Indie Artists' AI Copyright Claim A Stretch

    Artifical intelligence music generator Suno on Monday asked a Massachusetts federal judge to trim a proposed class action on behalf of independent musicians, saying the plaintiffs fail to offer any support for their novel claim that the songs generated by the tool are copyright-infringing copies.

  • August 19, 2025

    Nantucket Civil Rights Case Partially Revived On Appeal

    A Massachusetts intermediate-level appeals court ruled Tuesday that "hostile" responses by Nantucket's longtime town manager to a Black resident's comments about a hate crime investigation could reasonably be found by a jury to violate the resident's state civil rights.

  • August 19, 2025

    $150K Settlement Approved In Cohen Cleary Data Breach

    A federal judge in Massachusetts filed an order last week granting final approval of a $150,000 settlement between law firm Cohen Cleary PC and a class of more than 12,000 former clients who sought relief after a 2022 cyberattack on the firm's computer systems.

  • August 19, 2025

    MoFo-Led Industrial REIT Receives $1B PE Takeover Offer

    Plymouth Industrial REIT Inc., advised by Morrison Foerster LLP, said Tuesday it is reviewing a roughly $1 billion takeover offer from Sixth Street Partners, a private equity firm that has invested in the real estate investment trust since at least last year.

  • August 19, 2025

    Trump's 'Abnormal' Use Of FCA Could Get Tricky In Court

    The Trump administration is wielding the False Claims Act in unusually narrow ways to drive policies on social and cultural issues — including gender-affirming care and diversity, equity and inclusion programs — but the government's potential theories of liability under the federal law remain largely untested and might not hold up in court, experts say.

  • August 18, 2025

    HHS Says Layoffs, Reorganization Are Within Its Authority

    The Trump administration urged a Rhode Island federal judge to toss claims that massive cuts to the Health and Human Services Department violate the U.S. Constitution and usurp congressional authority, arguing the state plaintiffs don't have the authority to dictate how the executive branch manages its personnel.

Expert Analysis

  • New DOJ Penalty Policy Could Spell Trouble For Cos.

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    In light of the U.S. Department of Justice’s recently published guidance making victim relief a core condition of coordinated resolution crediting, companies facing parallel investigations must carefully calibrate their negotiation strategies to minimize the risk of duplicative penalties, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Series

    Playing Baseball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing baseball in college, and now Wiffle ball in a local league, has taught me that teamwork, mental endurance and emotional intelligence are not only important to success in the sport, but also to success as a trial attorney, says Kevan Dorsey at Swift Currie.

  • APA Relief May Blunt Justices' Universal Injunction Ruling

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    The Administrative Procedure Act’s avenue for universal preliminary relief seems to hold the most promise for neutralizing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. CASA to limit federal district courts' nationally applicable orders, say attorneys at Crowell.

  • Wells Fargo Suit Shows Consumer Protection Limits In Mass.

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    The Massachusetts Appeals Court's May decision in Wells Fargo Bank v. Coulsey underscores that consumer rights are balanced against the need for closure, and even the broad protections of state consumer protection law will not open the door to relitigating the same claims, say attorneys at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Managing Risks As State AGs Seek To Fill Enforcement Gap

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    Given an unprecedented surge in state attorney general activity resulting from significant shifts in federal enforcement priorities, companies must consider tailored strategies for navigating the ever-evolving risk landscape, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Skillful Persuasion

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    In many ways, law school teaches us how to argue, but when the ultimate goal is to get your client what they want, being persuasive through preparation and humility is the more likely key to success, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.

  • Litigation Inspiration: How To Respond After A Loss

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    Every litigator loses a case now and then, and the sting of that loss can become a medicine that strengthens or a poison that corrodes, depending on how the attorney responds, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • While On Firmer Ground, Uncertainty Remains For SEC's ALJs

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    The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia's recent opinion in Lemelson v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission affirmed the legitimacy of the SEC's administrative proceedings, but pointedly left unanswered the constitutional merits of tenure protection enjoyed by SEC administrative law judges — potentially the subject of future U.S. Supreme Court review, says Dean Conway at Carlton Fields.

  • FDA's Hasty Policymaking Approach Faces APA Challenges

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    Though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has abandoned its usual notice-and-comment process for implementing new regulatory initiatives, two recent district court decisions make clear that these programs are still susceptible to Administrative Procedure Act challenges, says Rachel Turow at Skadden.

  • The Metamorphosis Of The Major Questions Doctrine

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    The so-called major questions doctrine arose as a counterweight to Chevron deference over the past few decades, but invocations of the doctrine have persisted in the year since Chevron was overturned, suggesting it still has a role to play in reining in agency overreach, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Series

    Playing Mah-Jongg Makes Me A Better Mediator

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    Mah-jongg rewards patience, pattern recognition, adaptability and keen observation, all skills that are invaluable to my role as a mediator, and to all mediating parties, says Marina Corodemus.

  • Calif. Air Waivers Fight Fuels Automakers', States' Uncertainty

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    The unprecedented attempt by Congress and the Trump administration to kill the Clean Air Act waivers supporting California's vehicle emissions standards will eventually end up in the U.S. Supreme Court — but meanwhile, vehicle manufacturers, and states following California's standards, are left in limbo, says John Watson at Spencer Fane.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Navigating Client Trauma

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    Law schools don't train students to handle repeated exposure to clients' traumatic experiences, but for litigators practicing in areas like civil rights and personal injury, success depends on the ability to view cases clinically and to recognize when you may need to seek help, says Katie Bennett at Robins Kaplan.

  • Opinion

    4 Former Justices Would Likely Frown On Litigation Funding

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    As courts increasingly confront cases involving hidden litigation finance contracts, the jurisprudence of four former U.S. Supreme Court justices establishes a constitutional framework that risks erosion by undisclosed financial interests, says Roland Eisenhuth at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

  • Quantifying Trading-Based Damages Using Price Impact

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will likely increasingly rely on price impact analyses to demonstrate pecuniary harm from trading-related misconduct, meaning measuring price impact will be helpful in challenging SEC disgorgement, determining appropriate remedies, and assessing loss causation and damages in private litigation, says Vyacheslav Fos at Boston College and Erin Smith at Compass Lexecon.

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