Massachusetts

  • October 18, 2024

    Meta Can't Ax Mass. AG Suit Over Hooking Kids On Instagram

    A Massachusetts judge has refused to release Meta Platforms Inc. from the state attorney general's suit alleging the social media giant deployed design features aimed at addicting kids to Instagram, finding Meta wasn't immune from claims based on its own business conduct. 

  • October 18, 2024

    1st Circ. OKs Prosecution Of Alleged Illicit Medical Pot Grow

    The First Circuit has determined that the federal prosecution of two Mainers accused of running an unlawful marijuana cultivation operation can continue despite a federal policy that bans the U.S. Department of Justice from bringing cases against medical cannabis entities.

  • October 18, 2024

    Fake 'Hollywood Reporter' Scams Job Seekers, Mass. AG Says

    Scammers posing as the publishers of entertainment industry trade publication The Hollywood Reporter created an impostor website to lure job seekers into a cryptocurrency fraud scheme, the Massachusetts attorney general alleged in a complaint Friday.

  • October 18, 2024

    AGs Slam 4th Circ. Bid To Restore NC Abortion Drug Limits

    In a joint amicus brief to the Fourth Circuit, a coalition of 17 states and the District of Columbia has said the abortion drug mifepristone is a part of women's reproductive healthcare, assailing the "needless" limits that states including North Carolina have sought to impose on the drug's access.

  • October 18, 2024

    Allianz, Santander End Shareholder Suit Coverage Fight

    Allianz has agreed to drop its request in Massachusetts federal court for a ruling that it is not obligated to cover Santander Holdings' defense in a now-settled 2022 shareholder lawsuit, a recent filing showed.

  • October 18, 2024

    Verbose BigLaw Attys Irk Judge: 'Not Serving You Well'

    A Boston federal judge on Friday laid into attorneys for Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, and Ropes & Gray LLP for what she called needlessly aggressive and voluminous court filings in heated fraud litigation involving the sale of a Mexican funeral business.

  • October 18, 2024

    LinkSquares Sued For Denying OT To Legal Tech Sales Reps

    A former sales employee has filed an overtime class action alleging his former employer, Boston-based legal tech company LinkSquares Inc., misclassified inside sales staff as exempt from overtime pay in violation of federal and state wage laws.

  • October 18, 2024

    Fantasy Sports Sites Crossed Line Into Betting, Suit Says

    Yahoo Fantasy Sports, PrizePicks and Underdog Fantasy have been hit with a lawsuit seeking to recover potentially millions of dollars in "pick 'em" bets and other wagers placed by Massachusetts players directly with the platforms, which are not licensed to offer sports betting in the state.

  • October 18, 2024

    FTC Faces More Pressure To Block $16.5B Novo-Catalent Deal

    A dozen advocacy groups are pushing the Federal Trade Commission to block Novo Holdings' planned $16.5 billion purchase of Catalent, arguing that the deal would stifle competition for certain obesity and gene therapy drugs — and that no remedy can fix that.

  • October 18, 2024

    JPMorgan Says Trial 'Needless' After Couple Loses $20M Suit

    JPMorgan Chase Bank NA told a Massachusetts federal judge Thursday there is no need for a two-week trial on the bank's counterclaims after it scored a pretrial win in a suit brought by an elderly couple who said bad investments cost them $20 million.

  • October 17, 2024

    Karen Read Can't Avoid Retrial Without Verdict, Mass. Says

    Massachusetts prosecutors on Thursday told the state's top court that Karen Read, the woman accused of killing her police officer boyfriend in a case that garnered national attention, cannot escape a retrial by pointing to posttrial juror claims that the jury voted to acquit her on two counts, noting that a formal verdict was never rendered before a mistrial was declared.

  • October 17, 2024

    Northwestern Hits Moderna With Patent Suit Over COVID Vax

    Northwestern University has launched a patent infringement lawsuit in Delaware federal court accusing Moderna of wrongly taking research that the school did when the company was making its COVID-19 vaccine.

  • October 17, 2024

    $20B Verizon-Frontier Deal Faces Scrutiny, And Other Rumors

    A growing list of Frontier Communications' largest shareholders are concerned about its planned $20 billion takeover by Verizon Communications, and a group of former professional athletes are in talks to buy a stake in the NFL's Buffalo Bills. Here, Law360 breaks down these and other notable rumors from the past week.

  • October 17, 2024

    Ex-Genzyme Exec Says Anxiety Disclosure Led To Firing

    A former marketing director for Sanofi subsidiary Genzyme says he was fired on a pretext after disclosing that he suffers from anxiety, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Massachusetts state court.

  • October 17, 2024

    Restaurant Says Toast Refusing To Update Bank Info

    A Boston restaurant says it's struggling to stay afloat because point-of-sale provider Toast Inc. won't update its banking information and is sitting on more than $200,000 in revenue, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in Massachusetts state court.

  • October 17, 2024

    Ex-Defender Returns To 4th Circ. With Sex Bias Case

    A former North Carolina public defender appealed her bias case against the judiciary to the Fourth Circuit for a second time after a North Carolina federal judge refused to reconsider his ruling that she did not provide adequate notice to her ex-employer before filing suit.

  • October 17, 2024

    Fuji Soft Founder Endorses Bain Capital Bid Over KKR

    The founder of Japanese software developer Fuji Soft on Thursday publicly supported Bain Capital's counterbid to take the company private, alleging that competing bidder KKR submitted its proposal "in a manner that was not intended by Fuji Soft."

  • October 17, 2024

    States, Industry Urge DC Circ. To Scrap Truck GHG Rule

    Dozens of states and industry groups are imploring the D.C. Circuit to pull the plug on a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule setting greenhouse gas emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles, arguing it mandates a transition to electric vehicles that the agency has no authority to push.

  • October 17, 2024

    Pa. AG Can't Get State Claims Restored In FTC Amazon Suit

    A federal judge tersely denied a request from Pennsylvania's attorney general, who had sought to reinstate her state's consumer protection claims against Amazon in the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust suit.

  • October 17, 2024

    Feds Say Accused Embezzler Used Company Card After Arrest

    Boston federal prosecutors say a Florida man awaiting trial on charges he embezzled nearly $6 million from his former employer held onto a corporate American Express card and used it for personal items including 14 bottles of pricey Veuve Clicquot champagne.

  • October 17, 2024

    If Trump Wins, Here's Who Could Be The Next Boston US Atty

    Acting Massachusetts U.S. attorney and former Ropes & Gray LLP partner Josh Levy may remain in his post under a Kamala Harris presidency, but a victory for Donald Trump in next month's presidential election would all but assure the state will have a new top federal prosecutor next year.

  • October 16, 2024

    Atty Pressed On DMI Stock Drop Focus In Del. Merger Suit

    A Delaware vice chancellor repeatedly pressed an attorney for shareholders of 3D printer manufacturer The ExOne Co. Wednesday on the relative importance of a stock drop experienced by acquirer Desktop Metal Inc. before and after shareholders voted on a $575 million merger.

  • October 16, 2024

    Pharma Co. Contractor Settles SEC Insider Trading Claim

    An information technology consultant for a Massachusetts biopharmaceutical company will pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over $28,000 to resolve claims he immediately dumped shares of his client when he got wind of its yet-to-be announced plans for major layoffs.

  • October 16, 2024

    PTAB Refuses To Review Pioneer Corn Seed Patent

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has said it won't review a challenge to a plant utility patent owned by a unit of a DowDuPont spin-off, handing another loss to a Massachusetts plant breeding startup in a larger legal fight over seed patents between the companies.

  • October 16, 2024

    Pa. AG Wants State Claims Restored In FTC Amazon Suit

    Pennsylvania's attorney general wants to get back into a joint state and federal antitrust case against Amazon, asking a Washington federal judge to reconsider tossing claims under Pennsylvania's consumer protection law because Amazon allegedly concealed its unfair trade practices from Pennsylvania customers.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    Now More Than Ever, Lawyers Must Exhibit Professionalism

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    As society becomes increasingly fractured and workplace incivility is on the rise, attorneys must champion professionalism and lead by example, demonstrating how lawyers can respectfully disagree without being disagreeable, says Edward Casmere at Norton Rose.

  • A Look At State AGs Supermarket Antitrust Enforcement Push

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    The ongoing antitrust intervention by state attorneys general in the proposed Kroger and Albertsons merger suggests that states are straying from a Federal Trade Commission follow-on strategy in the supermarket space, which involved joining federal investigations or lawsuits and settling for the same divestment remedies, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Series

    Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My ongoing military experience as a judge advocate general in the National Guard has shaped me as a person and a lawyer, teaching me the importance of embracing confidence, balance and teamwork in both my Army and civilian roles, says Danielle Aymond at Baker Donelson.

  • A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates

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    Hourly rates for partners, associates and support staff continued to rise in the first half of this year, and this growth shows no signs of slowing for the rest of 2024 and into next year, driven in part by the return of mergers and acquisitions and the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, says Chuck Chandler at Valeo Partners.

  • 7th Circ Joins Trend Of No CGL Coverage For Structural Flaws

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    The Seventh Circuit, which recently held potential structural instability did not count as property damage under a construction company's commercial general liability policy, joins a growing consensus that faulty work does not implicate coverage without tangible and present damage to the project, say Sarah Abrams at Baleen Specialty, and Elan Kandel and James Talbert at Bailey Cavalieri.

  • Opinion

    States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions

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    Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.

  • Series

    Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.

  • Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice

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    The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.

  • Why High Court Social Media Ruling Will Be Hotly Debated

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    In deciding the NetChoice cases that challenged Florida and Texas content moderation laws, what the U.S. Supreme Court justices said about social media platforms — and the First Amendment — will have implications and raise questions for nearly all online operators, say Jacob Canter and Joanna Rosen Forster at Crowell & Moring.

  • 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.

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