Massachusetts

  • December 18, 2024

    CVS Fueled Opioid Epidemic In Rush For Profits, Feds Say

    The U.S. Department of Justice unveiled a suit Wednesday accusing CVS, the nation's largest pharmacy chain, of knowingly filling invalid prescriptions for powerful opioids and ignoring internal pleas from its pharmacists as it allegedly put profits over safety. 

  • December 18, 2024

    Bain Seeks Controlling Stake Despite Fuji Soft Rejection

    Bain Capital is seeking to execute a tender offer for a controlling stake in Fuji Soft despite the Japanese company's decision to proceed with an alternative buyout offer from KKR, stating in a Wednesday presentation that it has "significant concerns" about a Fuji Soft special committee's independence.  

  • December 18, 2024

    Atty Seeks Grievance Doc's Disclosure In Alleged Abuse Case

    A Massachusetts lawyer who filed a grievance alleging that a law professor sexually assaulted her when she was a student has asked a federal court in Brooklyn to order a state attorney grievance committee to make its formal decision in the matter public, arguing the committee violated her First Amendment rights by withholding the records.

  • December 18, 2024

    1st Circ. Says It Can't Review Revoked Visa Petition

    The First Circuit said it lacks the authority to review U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' decision to revoke a Brazilian woman's I-140 permanent resident petition after discovering she never worked as a physiotherapist like she claimed.

  • December 18, 2024

    The Biggest 1st Circ. Rulings Of 2024

    The nation's smallest federal circuit court in 2024 issued an opinion tackling the government of Mexico's efforts to hold U.S. firearms makers responsible for the flow of illegal arms across the southern border, determining the claims are not barred by a litigation shield, among other high-profile decisions.

  • December 18, 2024

    Top Conn. Cases Of 2024: Kickbacks, Paybacks And Bribes

    Judges and juries in Connecticut awarded several multimillion-dollar verdicts against companies big and small in 2024, socking Johnson & Johnson in a talc case in which the already substantial damages could multiply and ordering a pharmacy that paid kickbacks to cough up nearly four times the money it cost the state.

  • December 17, 2024

    Corteva Rips Inari's 'Shrill' Claim Of Sham Seed Patent Suit

    Corteva Agriscience LLC has fired back at Inari Agriculture Inc.'s claim that a suit alleging Inari infringes Corteva's seed patents amounts to "objectively baseless" sham litigation, saying its rival is making "shrill assertions" that "cannot be squared" with an earlier ruling in the case.

  • December 17, 2024

    TelexFree Victims Seek Class Cert. Over Ponzi Losses

    Victims of the multibillion-dollar TelexFree Ponzi scheme have asked a federal judge to certify their class in their suit against the litigation's remaining defendants, including TelexFree insiders and Wells Fargo, arguing that cases arising from Ponzi schemes are the "very archetypes for class treatment."

  • December 17, 2024

    Mass. Judge Apologizes For Slamming Alito Over Flags

    A Massachusetts federal judge has apologized for violating ethics rules when he publicly criticized U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in the wake of reports that two flags used by Donald Trump supporters to protest the 2020 election were flown outside Alito's houses.

  • December 17, 2024

    Laser Maker Loses Bid To Trim Patent Suit In Mass.

    A Massachusetts federal judge has shot down laser maker NKT Photonics' bid to dodge allegations it infringed one of the patents asserted in a lawsuit from a company owned by a University of Michigan professor.

  • December 17, 2024

    AGs Can File Opposition To Clearview AI BIPA Deal

    An Illinois federal judge is allowing 22 states and the District of Columbia to challenge a deal to end multidistrict litigation over Clearview AI's practice of automatically collecting biometric facial data online, with attorneys general arguing the settlement would provide no meaningful injunctive relief and give plaintiffs an unknown financial stake in the company.

  • December 17, 2024

    Fuji Soft Favors KKR Offer Over Higher Bain Bid

    Fuji Soft said in a statement Tuesday that it supports a buyout tender offer from U.S. private equity firm KKR that is worth about $4.15 billion and opposes a competing, higher bid from Bain Capital.

  • December 17, 2024

    Ex-Pol Can't Shake Fraud Rap Over Jury's Racial Makeup

    A Massachusetts federal judge denied a Vietnamese-American former state senator's bid to undo his conviction for unlawfully accepting unemployment assistance and filing a false tax return, rejecting claims that jury selection was tainted by "racial animus" on the part of prosecutors.

  • December 17, 2024

    Former Massachusetts AG Frank Bellotti Dies At 101

    Former Massachusetts Attorney General Francis Bellotti, who spent more than a decade as the state's top prosecutor, died Tuesday at 101, his family said.

  • December 17, 2024

    1st Circ. Revives Bias Case Against Rhode Island Vets Agency

    The First Circuit breathed new life into a former Rhode Island official's employment discrimination case, ruling that the evidence could be reasonably interpreted as showing she was terminated due to her gender or sexual orientation.

  • December 16, 2024

    Circuit-By-Circuit Guide To 2024's Most Memorable Moments

    One judge said a litigant's position would cause "an effing nightmare," and another decried the legal community's silence amid "illegitimate aspersions." Public officials literally trashed one court's opinion, and fateful rulings dealt with controversial politicians, social media and decades of environmental policy. Those were just a few appellate highlights in 2024, a year teeming with memorable moments both substantive and sensational.

  • December 16, 2024

    Mass. Police Arrest 12 In High-End Car Theft Ring Probe

    Police in Massachusetts have arrested a dozen people whom state prosecutors accused of stealing $2.6 million worth of high-end automobiles, and seized firearms and other allegedly related evidence, the state attorney general's office announced Monday.

  • December 16, 2024

    Justices Cite Loper Bright, Remand NLRB Successor Bar Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court remanded an NLRB dispute Monday about a Puerto Rico hospital's liability for withdrawing recognition from a union under the agency's successor bar standard, telling the D.C. Circuit to review its deference to the board under Loper Bright.

  • December 16, 2024

    Mass. Paper To Close, Pay $1.1M To Settle Defamation Case

    A Massachusetts mayor said he has settled his defamation claims against the city's local newspaper for a $1.1 million payment and an agreement that the publication will close its doors later this week.

  • December 16, 2024

    The Biggest Massachusetts High Court Rulings Of 2024

    Massachusetts' highest court added two justices this year while taking up several novel legal issues, including one town's effort to phase out the sale of tobacco, a paralyzed Uber rider's fight against arbitration, and a dispute over whether a hospital website's use of tracking cookies violates the state wiretap statute.

  • December 13, 2024

    Real Estate Recap: New Mapping, Terrorism, What We Learned

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including a new state-by-state mapping tool for real estate practitioners, one BigLaw attorney's view of terrorism liability safeguards for commercial real estate, and takeaways from the multifamily and life sciences sectors in 2024.

  • December 13, 2024

    J&J Unit Deemed Family Duties A 'Distraction,' Suit Says

    A prosthetics company owned by Johnson & Johnson said an employee returning from parental leave had "distractions outside of work" as it gave him negative performance reviews before firing him, according to a suit filed in Massachusetts federal court Friday.

  • December 13, 2024

    Mass. Law Wipes Out Pandemic Tuition Case Against Tufts

    Tufts University on Friday defeated a putative class action seeking tuition refunds for pandemic closures of the Boston-area school's campus, as a Massachusetts federal judge upheld a state law providing immunity to colleges that shut their doors during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • December 13, 2024

    'Copycat' Nantucket Wine Event Ordered To Issue Retraction

    A Massachusetts liquor distributor was ordered Friday by a federal judge to post a bold-type correction and issue press releases retracting claims that it had acquired and "re-branded" a long-running Nantucket wine and food festival.

  • December 13, 2024

    Mass. Cannabis Biz Gets Receiver Amid $10M In Debt

    A Massachusetts judge on Friday agreed to appoint a receiver to oversee either a sale or liquidation of cannabis grower and retailer Revolutionary Clinics, which owes nearly $10 million to its primary lender and thousands more to landlords and other creditors.

Expert Analysis

  • Realtor Settlement May Create New Antitrust Pitfalls

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    Following a recent antitrust settlement between the National Association of Realtors and home sellers, practices are set to change and the increased competition may benefit both brokers and homebuyers, but the loss of the customary method of buyer broker compensation could lead to new antitrust concerns, says Colin Ahler at Snell & Wilmer.

  • In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State

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    On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.

  • How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts

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    As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Various Paths For Labor And Employment Law

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    Labor and employment law leans heavily on federal agency guidance, so the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to toss out Chevron deference will ripple through this area, with future workplace policies possibly taking shape through strategic litigation, informal guidance, state-level regulation and more, says Alexander MacDonald at Littler.

  • Series

    Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.

  • Opinion

    Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.

  • 3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • After Chevron

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    Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard in June, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 37 different rulemaking and litigation areas.

  • Opinion

    Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem

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    The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.

  • Series

    Skiing And Surfing Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    The skills I’ve learned while riding waves in the ocean and slopes in the mountains have translated to my legal career — developing strong mentor relationships, remaining calm in difficult situations, and being prepared and able to move to a backup plan when needed, says Brian Claassen at Knobbe Martens.

  • Unpacking The Circuit Split Over A Federal Atty Fee Rule

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    Federal circuit courts that have addressed Rule 41(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are split as to whether attorney fees are included as part of the costs of a previously dismissed action, so practitioners aiming to recover or avoid fees should tailor arguments to the appropriate court, says Joseph Myles and Lionel Lavenue at Finnegan.

  • How Justices' Chevron Ruling May Influence Wind Projects

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    Parties both for and against the development of East Coast offshore wind development are watching the U.S. Supreme Court closely for its anticipated ruling challenging long-standing principles of agency deference that may subject decision making based on that precedent to upheaval, say attorneys at Robinson & Cole.

  • After A Brief Hiccup, The 'Rocket Docket' Soars Back To No. 1

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    The Eastern District of Virginia’s precipitous 2022 fall from its storied rocket docket status appears to have been a temporary aberration, as recent statistics reveal that the court is once again back on top as the fastest federal civil trial court in the nation, says Robert Tata at Hunton.

  • Recruitment Trends In Emerging Law Firm Frontiers

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    BigLaw firms are facing local recruitment challenges as they increasingly establish offices in cities outside of the major legal hubs, requiring them to weigh various strategies for attracting talent that present different risks and benefits, says Tom Hanlon at Buchanan Law.

  • Series

    Glassblowing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    I never expected that glassblowing would strongly influence my work as an attorney, but it has taught me the importance of building a solid foundation for your work, learning from others and committing to a lifetime of practice, says Margaret House at Kalijarvi Chuzi.

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