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Massachusetts
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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."
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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.
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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.
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February 27, 2024
Mass. AG Sues Boston Suburb For Flouting Housing Law
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell is seeking an injunction, fines or possibly the appointment of a special master to force the Boston suburb of Milton to comply with a state housing law requiring multifamily zoning that the town's voters rejected in a referendum earlier this month, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
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February 27, 2024
Cybersecurity Firm Says Reseller Stiffed It To Pay Other Bills
Cybersecurity firm Acronis Inc. is accusing a reseller of using the proceeds from the sale of its products to pay off other financial obligations and ignoring its $1.5 million debt to Acronis, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in Massachusetts state court.
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February 26, 2024
Clement, Prelogar Odd Bedfellows In Social Media Showdown
After GOP-led states targeted perceived stifling of conservative voices on social media, Monday's oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court could have featured predictable partisan fissures. But the case instead illustrated that legal ideology in the digital age is sometimes surprising.
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February 26, 2024
Justices Say Social Media Speech Laws Pose 'Land Mines'
The U.S. Supreme Court seemed skeptical Monday of the constitutionality of Florida and Texas laws prohibiting social media platforms from removing content or users based on viewpoint, but struggled with whether the still-developing records in the lawsuits challenging the regulations could support a meaningful ruling on platforms' First Amendment rights.
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February 26, 2024
'Pig Butchering' Victim Slaps Binance, Ex-CEO With RICO Suit
Binance and the cryptocurrency exchange's former CEO let criminal syndicates run fraud schemes through its platform by flouting laws against money laundering and money transmitting, according to an $8.1 million civil racketeering suit filed in Boston federal court.
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February 26, 2024
Boston Sued For Records Of White Supremacist Protest
The city of Boston and two law enforcement agencies are flouting the state's public records laws to avoid scrutiny over what one expert called an "intelligence failure of significant proportions" during a march by an avowed white supremacist group in 2022, a lawsuit filed Monday by the National Lawyers Guild alleges.
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February 26, 2024
Mass. Judge Won't Rethink SEC Win On Adviser Duty Breach
A Massachusetts federal judge has refused to reconsider a judgment against Commonwealth Financial Network that found it failed to disclose an arrangement with its clearing firm that favored certain mutual funds to investors, saying the company has not identified any new evidence or an error in the court's application of the law.
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February 26, 2024
Boston Moves To Settle Suit Over 2016 Police Shooting
The city of Boston has reached an agreement in principle to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the mother of a Black man who was shot to death by Boston police officers in 2016, according to a Monday filing.
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February 26, 2024
JetBlue, Spirit Tell 1st Circ. $3.8B Deal Is Good For Most Fliers
JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines told the First Circuit on Monday that a $3.8 billion merger should not have been blocked because the judge who stopped the sale sought to protect a small, hypothetical subset of travelers to the detriment of the vast majority who stand to benefit from the deal.
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February 26, 2024
Teva Tells 1st Circ. Feds Must Clear High Bar In FCA Case
Teva Pharmaceuticals told the First Circuit on Monday that the federal government should be held to — and cannot meet — a strict causation standard in a False Claims Act kickback case, asking the court to settle a matter of first impression in the circuit.
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February 26, 2024
Liberty Cuts Off Drivers' Rentals Too Soon, Suit Claims
Liberty Mutual systematically and arbitrarily ends replacement transportation coverage after seven days for policyholders whose vehicles are totaled in collisions, in violation of its own policy language, a proposed class action alleges.
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February 26, 2024
Mass. Casino Gets 2nd Fine For Taking Illegal College Bets
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Monday fined Encore Boston Harbor $40,000 for improperly taking bets on games involving in-state colleges, the second such punishment doled out to the casino in the past seven months.
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February 26, 2024
Murder, Robbery Exoneree Seeks $1M For Lost Years
A Massachusetts man who spent more than half his life in prison before being exonerated for a 1994 murder and robbery has filed a lawsuit seeking $1 million in compensation under a 20-year-old state law.
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February 26, 2024
Ropes & Gray-Led THL Taking Agiliti Private In $2.5B Deal
Medical equipment management company Agiliti is going private in a deal with private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners, Agiliti announced Monday.
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February 26, 2024
Jury Awards Woodworking Co. $158K Over 'Lemon' Machine
A Georgia federal jury has found that the manufacturer of a high-tech woodworking machine breached warranty duties to the device's buyer, awarding nearly $160,000 to a Massachusetts business that alleged it was sold a "lemon" of a machine.
Expert Analysis
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PFAS Coverage Litigation Strategy Lessons For Policyholders
While policyholders' efforts to recover insurance proceeds for PFAS-related costs are in the early stages, it appears from litigation so far that substantial coverage should be available for PFAS-related liabilities, including both defense costs and indemnity payments in connection with those liabilities, say Benedict Lenhart and Alexis Dyschkant at Covington.
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What Associates Need To Know Before Switching Law Firms
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
The days of staying at the same firm for the duration of one's career are mostly a thing of the past as lateral moves by lawyers are commonplace, but there are several obstacles that associates should consider before making a move, say attorneys at HWG.
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A Case For Sharing Mediation Statements With Counterparties
In light of a potential growing mediation trend of only submitting statements to the mediator, litigants should think critically about the pros and cons of exchanging statements with opposing parties as it could boost the chances of reaching a settlement, says Arthur Eidelhoch at Eidelhoch Mediation.
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Tackling Long-Tail Legacy Liability Risk: A Defendant's Toolkit
Johnson & Johnson was recently rebuffed in its efforts to employ the "Texas Two-Step," which is likely to affect this increasingly popular method to isolate and spin off large asbestos and talc liabilities, but companies have multiple options to reduce long-tail legacy liability risk, says Stephen Hoke at Hoke LLC.
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Preparing For Legal Scrutiny Of Data Retention Policies
Two recent cases involving Google and Meta should serve as a call to action for companies to ensure their data retention policies are updated and properly implemented to the degree of being able to withstand judicial scrutiny, especially as more data is generated by emerging technologies, say Jack Kallus and Labeed Choudhry at Kaufman Dolowich.
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Opinion
Attorneys Should Have An Ethical Duty To Advance DEI
National and state bar associations are encouraging attorneys to apply diversity, equity and inclusion practices in the legal profession and beyond, and these associations should take it one step further by formally recognizing ethical duties for attorneys to promote DEI, which could better the legal profession and society, says Elena Mitchell at Moore & Van Allen.
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Data-Driven Insights Are Key To Attracting Today's Clients
As law firm growth slows and competition for clients increases, modern firms must rely on robust data analytics to develop the sector-based expertise and industry insights that clients increasingly prioritize in relationships with counsel, says Lavinia Calvert at Intapp.
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Divergent Decisions Highlight Uncertainty Of IPR Estoppel
Two federal court decisions last month reached opposite conclusions regarding when defendants can rely on prior art to avoid discretionary denial of inter partes review challenges, creating confusion around the viability of Sotera stipulations, say Harper Batts and Li Guo at Sheppard Mullin.
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In Arbitration, Consider The Influence Of State Laws
A California appellate court's recent refusal, based in state law, to compel arbitration in Barraza v. Tesla illustrates the importance of understanding substantive and procedural differences between state arbitration law and the Federal Arbitration Act — and when those distinctions can alter case outcomes, says Richard Mason at MasonADR.
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Ghosting In BigLaw: Why Better Feedback Habits Are Needed
Not giving assignments or constructive criticism to junior associates can significantly affect their performance and hours, potentially leading them to leave the firm, but partners can prevent this by asking the right questions and creating a culture of feedback, says Rachel Patterson at Orrick.
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Rebuttal
Law Needs A Balance Between Humanism And Formalism
A recent Law360 guest article rightly questions the pretextual pseudo-originalism that permits ideology to masquerade as judicial philosophy, but the cure would kill the patient because directness, simplicity and humanness are achievable without renouncing form or sacrificing stare decisis, says Vanessa Kubota at the Arizona Court of Appeals.
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Short Message Data Challenges In E-Discovery
As short message platforms increasingly dominate work environments, lawyers face multiple programs, different communication styles and emoji in e-discovery, so they must consider new strategies to adapt their processes, says Cristin Traylor at Relativity.
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Opinion
Thomas Report Is Final Straw — High Court Needs Ethics Code
As a recent report on Justice Clarence Thomas' ongoing conflicts of interest makes evident, Supreme Court justices should be subject to an enforceable and binding code of ethics — like all other federal judges — to maintain the credibility of the institution, says Erica Salmon Byrne at Ethisphere.
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Joint Representation Ethics Lessons From Ga. Electors Case
The Fulton County district attorney's recent motion to disqualify an attorney from representing her elector clients, claiming a nonconsentable conflict of interest, raises key questions about representing multiple clients related to the same conduct and highlights potential pitfalls, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Grace Wynn at HWG.
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Lawyer Discernment Is Critical In The World Of AI
In light of growing practical concerns about risks and challenges posed by artificial intelligence, lawyers' experience with the skill of discernment will position them to help address new ethical and moral dilemmas and ensure that AI is developed and deployed in a way that benefits society as a whole, says Jennifer Gibbs at Zelle.