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Massachusetts
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May 20, 2024
Senate Confirms 1st Circ. Judicial Nomination
The Senate voted 49-40 on Monday evening to confirm Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Aframe to the First Circuit, making every judge on the appellate court's full bench a Democratic presidential pick.
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May 20, 2024
Insider Trader Settles With SEC Over Friend's ADI Tip
A Massachusetts accountant who admitted to trading on inside information about Analog Devices Inc.'s plans to buy a California semiconductor company has settled related civil charges lodged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a Monday filing in federal court.
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May 20, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Delaware was full of drama last week, as proposed changes to the state's corporate law statutes raised eyebrows and a professor's friend-of-the-court brief sparked a very unfriendly public exchange. Delaware's court of equity banged the gavel on pipeline and social media disputes, and shareholders filed new suits alleging insider trading, vote bungling, unfair stock buybacks and merger shenanigans. In case you missed any of it, here's the recap of all the top news last week from Delaware's Chancery Court.
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May 20, 2024
Upscale Mass. Restaurant's COVID Loss Claims Fail In Appeal
Massachusetts restaurant chain Davio's is not entitled to coverage for what it says were property losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an intermediate state appellate court concluded on Monday, finding its arguments are no different from those rejected by the state's highest court two years ago in a similar case.
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May 20, 2024
Latham-Led CyberArk Buying PE-Backed Venafi In $1.54B Deal
Latham & Watkins LLP is guiding Newton, Massachusetts-based CyberArk on a new deal to buy fellow cybersecurity company Venafi from Chicago-based private equity firm Thoma Bravo, represented by Kirkland & Ellis LLP, at an enterprise value of $1.54 billion, CyberArk said Monday.
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May 17, 2024
VA Deal Winner Says Protest Not Based On Common Sense
The winner of a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs mail-order pharmacy deal urged the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to toss a competitor's protest of the award, saying the protester's challenge was based on an incorrect reading of applicable regulations.
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May 17, 2024
FCA Relators Seek Finders Fee For SpineFrontier Doc Deals
Three whistleblowers who tipped off the federal government to a medical device company's multimillion-dollar kickback scheme said Friday the Justice Department is refusing to pay them a cut of the $3 million in False Claims Act settlements paid by surgeons who admitted participating in the sham consulting ploy.
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May 17, 2024
Judge Won't Bar Thermo Fisher Exec's Jump To Repligen
A Massachusetts judge won't block a former Thermo Fisher Scientific executive from jumping to smaller rival Repligen, calling a noncompete agreement signed by the employee overbroad and suggesting that it was really aimed at stifling competition in a ruling released Friday.
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May 17, 2024
1st Circ. Rejects Ex-Immigration Judges' Bid For Asylum Redo
The First Circuit's full bench refused to reopen a Salvadoran woman's case seeking asylum, despite former immigration judges weighing in to say that the judge who denied her asylum didn't follow a legal requirement to ensure her record was complete.
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May 17, 2024
SEC Can Try To Show Jurisdiction Over German In $3M Claim
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will be allowed to pursue evidence to support its case for disgorgement of $3.3 million in allegedly ill-gotten gains from a German man whose son was implicated in a $150 million pump-and-dump scheme, a federal judge in Boston ruled on Thursday.
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May 17, 2024
Mass. Hospital Pays $24.3M To Settle Heart-Surgery FCA Case
Cape Cod Hospital will pay $24.3 million to settle claims it flouted Medicare billing rules for hundreds of heart-valve replacement surgeries in what's understood to be the largest recovery under the False Claims Act from a Massachusetts hospital.
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May 16, 2024
FDIC's Gruenberg Scolded By Senators Over Agency Culture
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Martin Gruenberg on Thursday faced a second round of congressional reprimand from both sides of the political aisle over his agency's workplace misconduct scandal, but Senate Democrats seemed ready to let Gruenberg clean up the mess himself and continue his tenure.
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May 16, 2024
Ex-Pharma Exec Cops To Contempt For Barred Finance Work
A Boston federal judge on Thursday accepted a former pharmaceutical company executive's guilty plea to a criminal contempt charge for using an alias to work on a finance venture despite a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ban.
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May 16, 2024
Mass. Business Owner Charged In $18M Pandemic Loan Scam
A Massachusetts man was arrested Wednesday on federal charges that he fraudulently sought $18 million in pandemic relief loans for multiple companies and used some of the proceeds to purchase a luxury condo while wiring other funds overseas.
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May 16, 2024
Nantucket Accused Of Biased Car-Rental Licensing
A Nantucket couple has sued the island town's government in Massachusetts federal court, alleging it enforced an illegal and racially biased bylaw enacted 27 years ago to shut down their car rental business.
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May 16, 2024
Weighted Baby Swaddle 'Inherently Dangerous,' Suit Alleges
A Massachusetts company has been hit with a proposed class action over its allegedly "inherently dangerous" weighted baby blankets and swaddling wraps, a product category suspected in multiple infant deaths and under investigation by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
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May 15, 2024
Conn. Strip Club Owner Ran 'Brothel,' Hid $5.7M, Feds Say
The man in charge of a Connecticut strip club and two of his associates operated the business as a brothel, took payments for "commercial sex acts," lied to secure a $150,000 federal COVID-19 relief grant, and hid $5.7 million in income from the IRS, according to a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday.
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May 15, 2024
Mass. Senate Aide Alleges Retaliation After Bias Complaint
A constituent services aide to a Massachusetts state senator is alleging that the lawmaker and his former chief of staff stonewalled his requests for accommodation after a leg injury left him unable to climb stairs, then iced him out after he filed a complaint with the state's anti-discrimination agency.
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May 15, 2024
Brothers Stole $25M Of Crypto In 12 Seconds, Feds Say
Two Massachusetts Institute of Technology-educated brothers were charged with orchestrating a first-of-its-kind cryptocurrency heist that allowed them to siphon virtual tokens worth around $25 million from Ethereum blockchain users within just 12 seconds, an indictment unsealed Wednesday said.
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May 15, 2024
Pet Telehealth Startup Canned Vet After Bite Injury, Suit Says
A Massachusetts veterinarian says she was lured to a mobile pet care startup but replaced months later by a younger vet after she claimed workers' compensation for a dog bite suffered on the job.
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May 15, 2024
Quikrete Unit Settles With Mass. AG Over Runoff At Paver Site
A Quikrete Holdings Inc. subsidiary that makes concrete pavers is settling claims that runoff from its southeastern Massachusetts facility is polluting a river and neighboring wetlands in violation of the federal Clean Water Act, according to a proposed consent decree.
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May 14, 2024
Berkshire Bank Sued For Customer's Alleged $90M Ponzi
Massachusetts-based Berkshire Bank is facing a proposed class action brought by an investor seeking to hold the bank liable for providing financial services to a bankrupt local business person whom the investor has accused of operating a $90 million Ponzi scheme.
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May 14, 2024
Couple Attacks Chase's 'Pack Of Lies' In $20M Loss Case
An elderly couple claiming they lost tens of millions through bad investments with JPMorgan Chase Bank NA said in a heated Massachusetts federal court hearing Tuesday that the big bank shouldn't pocket a pretrial win based on a magistrate judge's "extreme" analysis.
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May 14, 2024
Trial Averted In Boston Health Agency Harassment Case
A former Boston health department employee on Tuesday reported that she had settled her claims against the city and a former boss who she says sexually harassed her, scuttling a trial that would have featured several high-profile witnesses, including a federal judge.
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May 14, 2024
Shire Settles Claims Over Alleged ADHD Generic Delay
Purchasers of the medication Intuniv have settled a years-old class action against drugmaker Shire PLC and manufacturer Actavis over allegations that the companies struck an anti-competitive deal to delay the production of a generic version of the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder drug.
Expert Analysis
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Lessons From This Year's Landmark Green Energy IP Clash
In this year's Siemens v. General Electric wind turbine patent dispute, a Massachusetts federal court offers a cautionary tale against willful infringement, and highlights the balance between innovation, law and ethics, as legal battles like this become more frequent in the renewable energy sector, say John Powell and Andrew Siuta at Sunstein.
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Series
The Pop Culture Docket: Judge D'Emic On Moby Grape
The 1968 Moby Grape song "Murder in My Heart for the Judge" tells the tale of a fictional defendant treated with scorn by the judge, illustrating how much the legal system has evolved in the past 50 years, largely due to problem-solving courts and the principles of procedural justice, says Kings County Supreme Court Administrative Judge Matthew D'Emic.
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Series
Performing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer
The discipline of performing live music has directly and positively influenced my effectiveness as a litigator — serving as a reminder that practice, intuition and team building are all important elements of a successful law practice, says Jeff Wakolbinger at Bryan Cave.
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Expect CFPB Flex Over Large Nonbank Payment Cos.
A recent enforcement action and a new rule proposal from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau indicate a growing focus on the nonbank payment ecosystem, especially larger participants, in 2024, say Felix Shipkevich and Jessica Livingston at Shipkevich.
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Breaking Down High Court's New Code Of Conduct
The U.S. Supreme Court recently adopted its first-ever code of conduct, and counsel will need to work closely with clients in navigating its provisions, from gift-giving to recusal bids, say Phillip Gordon and Mateo Forero at Holtzman Vogel.
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Rockport Ch. 11 Highlights Global Settlement Considerations
A Delaware bankruptcy court’s recent rejection of Rockport’s proposed settlement serves as a reminder that there is a risk that a global settlement executed outside of a plan may be rejected as a sub rosa plan, but shouldn’t dissuade parties from seeking relief when applicable case law supports approval, says Kyle Arendsen at Squire Patton.
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Opinion
Legal Profession Gender Parity Requires Equal Parental Leave
To truly foster equity in the legal profession and to promote attorney retention, workplaces need to better support all parents, regardless of gender — starting by offering equal and robust parental leave to both birthing and non-birthing parents, says Ali Spindler at Irwin Fritchie.
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'Manufacturing' Amid Mass. Adoption Of Single-Sales Factor
Massachusetts’ recent adoption of single-sales-factor apportionment will benefit companies that have a greater in-state physical presence, reinforce the importance of understanding market-sourcing rules, and reduce the manufacturing classification's importance to tax apportionment, though the classification continues to be significant to other aspects of taxation, say attorneys at McDermott.
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1st Circ. Ruling Helps Clarify Test For FLSA Admin Exemption
The First Circuit’s recent decision in Marcus v. American Contract Bridge League will help employers navigate the Fair Labor Standards Act's "general business operations" exemption and make the crucial and often confusing decision of whether white collar employees are overtime-exempt administrators or nonexempt frontline producers of products and services, says Mark Tabakman at Fox Rothschild.
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How Cannabis Cos. Are Adapting In Shifting Bankruptcy Arena
Recent bankruptcy cases show that federal courts have begun to demonstrate more openness to downstream businesses in the cannabis industry, and that even though receivership can be a viable option for those denied access to the bankruptcy system, it is not without its own risks and complexities, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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Series
Writing Thriller Novels Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Authoring several thriller novels has enriched my work by providing a fresh perspective on my privacy practice, expanding my knowledge, and keeping me alert to the next wave of issues in an increasingly complex space — a reminder to all lawyers that extracurricular activities can help sharpen professional instincts, says Reece Hirsch at Morgan Lewis.
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What Lawyers Must Know About Calif. State Bar's AI Guidance
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.
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Industry Must Elevate Native American Women Attys' Stories
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.
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A Look At Mass. Sports Betting Data Privacy Regulations
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.
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And Now A Word From The Panel: Tracking MDL Geography
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.