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Massachusetts
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June 20, 2024
19 Dem AGs Urge Law Group, Others To Ignore DEI Detractors
A coalition of 19 Democratic state attorneys general issued a letter Thursday rebutting criticism of diversity, equity and inclusion programs within the American Bar Association, Fortune 100 corporations and law firms.
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June 20, 2024
GOP Sens. Get Tough On 6th Circ. Nominee's History
Republican senators hammered Sixth Circuit nominee Karla M. Campbell, of counsel at Stranch Jennings & Garvey PLLC, during a hearing on Thursday about her political donations, past advisory roles and the process by which she was nominated.
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June 20, 2024
ZoomInfo Hit With Race Bias Claim By Fired Account Exec
A Black former senior account executive at ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. says he was repeatedly denied promotions and transfers despite outperforming white colleagues, then was fired in retaliation for filing a discrimination complaint.
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June 18, 2024
Home Builders Sued For Non-FHA-Compliant Apartments
A group of home building and financing companies including the Toll Brothers were sued by Manhattan federal prosecutors Tuesday for allegedly violating the Fair Housing Act by building residential units that weren't accessible to people with physical disabilities.
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June 18, 2024
Town, Race Organizer Reject Boston Marathon Bias Claims
Town officials and the organizers of the annual Boston Marathon want the courts to toss a Black running group's race bias suit, arguing that group members were not barred from being spectators and that a confetti cannon, not discrimination, is to blame for a confrontation with police.
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June 18, 2024
Fed Should Vote Now On Basel Capital Hike Plan, Warren Says
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has accused Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell of "doing the bank industry's bidding" as federal regulators look to back off of significant proposed increases to big-bank capital requirements, saying he should instead put those increases to a board vote by the end of June.
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June 18, 2024
Blue States And Enviro Groups Back DOE Furnace Rule
Several blue states and environmental and consumer groups have thrown their support behind the U.S. Department of Energy's tighter energy efficiency standards for furnaces and water heaters, telling the D.C. Circuit that challenges to the new rules are meritless.
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June 18, 2024
Lender Sues To Recoup $1M From Renowned Boston Chef
A small Massachusetts bank is taking an award-winning Boston chef and restaurateur to court in an effort to recover more than $1 million in loans intended to start what turned out to be a short-lived eatery just outside the city in 2023.
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June 18, 2024
Epstein Becker Partner Rejoins Ogletree In Rhode Island
Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC has rehired an attorney who spent the past three years working with Epstein Becker & Green PC on a range of employment-related matters, the firm announced Tuesday.
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June 18, 2024
Restitution Plan For Lead-Test Defects Leaves Judge Uneasy
A Massachusetts federal judge on Tuesday questioned the legality of a plan to have a claims administrator, rather than the court, oversee victim compensation in a criminal case alleging Magellan Diagnostics hid information about inaccurate results in its lead-testing devices.
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June 18, 2024
Insurers Must Keep Defending Heating Oil Co. In Class Suit
Two Crum & Forster units must continue defending a heating oil company and several executives in a class action claiming the company provided oil with elevated levels of biodiesel that caused property damage, a Massachusetts federal court ruled, saying the policies' "failure to supply" provisions do not limit or exclude coverage.
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June 17, 2024
Teva, DOJ Signal Key Kickback Case May Fizzle At 1st Circ.
A U.S. Department of Justice kickback case against Teva Pharmaceuticals — closely watched by False Claims Act lawyers because of its multibillion-dollar stakes and its link to a major circuit split — is poised for settlement, according to a new First Circuit filing ahead of eagerly awaited oral arguments.
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June 17, 2024
Fed. Circ. Says Errors Led To Injunction In Trade Secrets Suit
A Federal Circuit panel on Monday overturned a preliminary injunction against a South Korean insulin pump patch manufacturer that allegedly stole trade secrets from a rival, saying a Massachusetts federal court made a series of errors in its determination to grant an injunction.
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June 17, 2024
Split Mass. Top Court Backs Strict View Of Prompt Pay Law
The top appeals court in Massachusetts said in a divided opinion Monday that contractors must pay overdue invoices before disputing claims under the state's prompt pay law, with two dissenting judges criticizing the majority for trying to rewrite the law "by judicial fiat."
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June 17, 2024
Mass. Dentist Indicted In Alleged $2M Medicaid Fraud
A Massachusetts dentist and her practice have been charged with fraudulently billing the state's Medicaid program, MassHealth, more than $2 million for services that were never provided.
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June 17, 2024
College Students Say Mass. COVID Liability Shield Unjust
Three former students seeking tuition refunds are urging a Massachusetts court to rule on the constitutionality of a state law wiping away schools' liability for switching to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, a statute that has all but doomed their separate federal complaints.
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June 14, 2024
Real Estate Recap: Special Servicers, 'Dirty' Money, Alt Energy
Catch up on this week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including recent litigation targeting special servicers, a 700% increase in brownfield funding, and one BigLaw real estate leader's take on alternative energy as interest rates hold steady.
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June 14, 2024
Mass. Seeks Damages From Trucking Co. In Highway Crash
Massachusetts is suing an Alabama trucking company whose driver crashed into and seriously damaged a highway overpass on I-93 just outside Boston three years ago, saying the firm hasn't paid for repairs to the structure.
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June 14, 2024
Dog Adoption Groups Assail 'Radical' CDC Import Rule
A "radical" new rule issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention banning the import of dogs younger than six months does nothing to combat canine rabies and instead will lead to the death of thousands of puppies that U.S. citizens are eager to adopt, according to a suit filed by a group of animal adoption charities.
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June 14, 2024
Dunkin' Franchise Must Face Customer's Race Bias Suit
An intermediate appellate court in Massachusetts on Friday revived part of a lawsuit brought by a Black customer of a Dunkin' franchise who says an employee deliberately ignored his order for 15 minutes, then threw his food at him and called him a racist epithet.
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June 14, 2024
Mass. Pot Regulators Lift Ban On Shipping To Islands
Massachusetts cannabis regulators approved an administrative order that will allow retailers on the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket to source their pot from mainland suppliers.
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June 13, 2024
1st Circ. Urged To Back TM Loss For Family Of Late MLB Star
A Puerto Rico agency planning a sports district in honor of late Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente has pressed the First Circuit to uphold the agency's dismissal from a trademark lawsuit filed by the baseball legend's family alleging unauthorized use of his name and likeness.
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June 13, 2024
Mass. Court Blesses Broad Liability In BMW Dealer Wage Suit
An intermediate Massachusetts appellate panel on Thursday ruled that a BMW dealership employee can sue not only her direct employer for wage law violations, but also a separate company that manages the dealership.
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June 13, 2024
Vero Biotech Tried To 'String Along' Safety Monitor, Suit Says
Georgia-based medical device maker Vero Biotech LLC reneged on a payment plan with a consulting firm hired to monitor its products, according to a lawsuit filed in Massachusetts state court on Wednesday.
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June 13, 2024
FERC Gains Full Bench With 3rd Nominee Confirmation
The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed former Massachusetts Undersecretary for Energy and Climate Solutions Judy W. Chang to fill a vacant commissioner slot at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, giving the agency a full complement of five commissioners.
Expert Analysis
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Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.
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Debt Collector Compliance Takeaways From An FDCPA Appeal
A Consumer Financial Protection Bureau amicus brief last month in an ongoing First Circuit appeal focusing on an interpretation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act can serve as a reminder for debt collectors to understand how their technologies, like bankruptcy scrubs and letter logic, can prevent litigation, says Justin Bradley at Womble Bond.
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SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap
As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.
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Googling Prospective Jurors Is Usually A Fool's Errand
Though a Massachusetts federal court recently barred Google from Googling potential jurors in a patent infringement case, the company need not worry about missing evidence of bias, because internet research of jury pools usually doesn’t yield the most valuable information — voir dire and questionnaires do, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.
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Skirting Anti-Kickback Causation Standard Amid Circuit Split
Amid the federal circuit court split over the causation standard applicable to False Claims Act cases involving Anti-Kickback Statute violations, which the First Circuit will soon consider in U.S. v. Regeneron, litigators aiming to circumvent the heightened standard should contemplate certain strategies, say Matthew Modafferi and Terence Park at Frier Levitt.
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Reimagining Law Firm Culture To Break The Cycle Of Burnout
While attorney burnout remains a perennial issue in the legal profession, shifting post-pandemic expectations mean that law firms must adapt their office cultures to retain talent, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.
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Series
Competing In Dressage Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My lifelong participation in the sport of dressage — often called ballet on horses — has proven that several skills developed through training and competition are transferable to legal work, especially the ability to harness focus, persistence and versatility when negotiating a deal, says Stephanie Coco at V&E.
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The Legal Industry Needs A Cybersecurity Paradigm Shift
As law firms face ever-increasing risks of cyberattacks and ransomware incidents, the legal industry must implement robust cybersecurity measures and privacy-centric practices to preserve attorney-client privilege, safeguard client trust and uphold the profession’s integrity, says Ryan Paterson at Unplugged.
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5 Reasons Associates Shouldn't Take A Job Just For Money
As a number of BigLaw firms increase salary scales for early-career attorneys, law students and lateral associates considering new job offers should weigh several key factors that may matter more than financial compensation, say Albert Tawil at Lateral Hub and Ruvin Levavi at Power Forward.
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How Biotech Deals May Help Competition, Despite FTC View
The Federal Trade Commission's complaint against Sanofi's proposed partnership with Maze Therapeutics highlights increasing skepticism of so-called killer acquisitions, but a closer look reveals potentially legitimate reasons behind why entities might decide to delay or abandon the development of acquired products, say consultants at Analysis Group.
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Series
Playing Competitive Tennis Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My experience playing competitive tennis has highlighted why prioritizing exercise and stress relief, maintaining perspective under pressure, and supporting colleagues in pursuit of a common goal are all key aspects of championing a successful legal career, says Madhumita Datta at Lowenstein Sandler.
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Series
The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Djerassi On Super Bowl 52
Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Ramy Djerassi discusses how Super Bowl 52, in which the Philadelphia Eagles prevailed over the New England Patriots, provides an apt metaphor for alternative dispute resolution processes in commercial business cases.
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Workplace Speech Policies Limit Legal And PR Risks
As workers increasingly speak out on controversies like the 2024 elections and the Israel-Hamas war, companies should implement practical workplace expression policies and plans to protect their brands and mitigate the risk of violating federal and state anti-discrimination and free speech laws, say attorneys at McDermott.
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Employee Experience Strategy Can Boost Law Firm Success
Amid continuing business uncertainty, law firms should consider adopting a holistic employee experience strategy — prioritizing consistency, targeting signature moments and leveraging measurement tools — to maximize productivity and profitability, says Haley Revel at Calibrate Consulting.
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And Now A Word From The Panel: A Strong Year For MDLs
While the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation granted even fewer MDL petitions last year than in 2022, hitting a 21st-century low, a closer look at the record-setting number of total actions encompassed within current proceedings reveals that MDL practice is still quite robust, says Alan Rothman at Sidley.