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Massachusetts
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April 17, 2024
Ex-Pharma Exec's Contempt Plea Rejected By Judge
A Massachusetts federal judge on Wednesday rejected a former pharmaceutical executive's agreement to plead guilty to contempt for using an alias to get around a consent judgment in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission fraud case, saying both the former executive and the government knew he'd view the sentence as too low.
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April 17, 2024
American Urges 1st Circ. To Reject 'Radical' JetBlue Ruling
American Airlines has told the First Circuit that a judge's "radical vision of the antitrust laws" that blocked its Northeast Alliance joint venture with JetBlue shouldn't stand, arguing that federal enforcers are relying on misleading claims and outdated precedent to prop up the lower court's mistaken conclusion.
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April 17, 2024
Waste Co. Strikes Deal To End 401(k) Mismanagement Suit
A waste management company reached an agreement to end a former worker's proposed class action claiming it breached federal benefits law by stacking its $813 million retirement plan with needlessly expensive funds, according to a filing in Massachusetts federal court.
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April 16, 2024
Vineyard Wind Urges 1st Circ. To Uphold Project Approval
Developers of an offshore wind energy project near Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, on Tuesday urged the First Circuit not to revive a fishing group's legal challenge to the endeavor, arguing the environmental review process was solid.
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April 16, 2024
Winston & Strawn Settles Brief-Plagiarizing Allegations
A Tuesday filing indicated that Winston & Strawn LLP has managed to settle copyright infringement allegations coming from a boutique intellectual property firm that went to a federal court in Manhattan to accuse the BigLaw firm of copying a motion-to-dismiss filing "nearly verbatim."
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April 16, 2024
Buttigieg, State AGs To Probe Consumer Airline Complaints
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Tuesday announced a new partnership with Colorado and over a dozen other states to investigate consumer complaints about air travel, vowing to hold airlines and ticket agents accountable for excessive flight cancellations and unfair business practices.
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April 16, 2024
DraftKings Workers Say Ex-Boss Tried To Lure Them To Rival
Two DraftKings higher-ups testified Tuesday that their former boss had tried to lure them to join rival sportsbook Fanatics with multimillion-dollar compensation offers, contradicting their former supervisor's claim that he never attempted to get his top lieutenants to help him set up a new office for Fanatics in Los Angeles.
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April 16, 2024
Boston Judge Wary Of Ordering Bias Probe For City Contracts
A Massachusetts federal judge on Tuesday questioned whether she has the authority to order the U.S. Department of Justice to look into alleged racism in the city of Boston's system of awarding contracts, and whether members of several advocacy groups even have standing to make the request.
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April 16, 2024
Excess Carriers Say Property Co. Not Covered In Antitrust Suit
Two excess insurers said they don't owe coverage to a property management company for underlying litigation alleging a price-fixing conspiracy involving software company RealPage Inc., telling a Massachusetts federal court that a professional services exclusion in the primary policy bars coverage.
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April 15, 2024
Dems Grill Chamber Over 'Outrageous' CFPB Card Fee Suit
Two top Democratic senators are calling on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to explain why it sued to block the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's $8 credit card late fee rule, a case they say is "outrageous" and puts the interests of big banks over the group's rank and file.
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April 15, 2024
Harvard Says Antisemitism Case Not 'Legally Appropriate'
Harvard University has said a lawsuit seeking to force it to submit to court-ordered monitoring and other conditions following allegations of antisemitism on campus "is neither an effective nor legally appropriate vehicle" to address the issue.
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April 15, 2024
Bond Co. Asks For Life-Saving Pause On $811M Fine
Immigration bonding company Libre by Nexus Inc. has begged a Virginia federal court for more time to pay an $811 million judgment for predatory bonding practices, saying it would collapse if forced to pay before it can execute its transfer to a new owner.
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April 15, 2024
Senators Demand Info On CFTC Chats With Bankman-Fried
Two U.S. senators have asked the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's chair to detail all of his communications and meetings with convicted FTX fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.
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April 15, 2024
Justices Won't Nix FDA Labeling Preemption For State Claims
The Supreme Court on Monday let stand lower court findings that the unique authority of the federal Food and Drug Administration preempted and, therefore, justified dismissing a proposed class action that alleged a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary broke Massachusetts law by misbranding Lactaid drug products as dietary supplements.
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April 15, 2024
Bomb Dog Trainer Links Cancer To Job In Benefits Denial Suit
A Massachusetts state police trooper says he was diagnosed with cancer after being exposed to hazardous materials while training an explosives-detection dog at Logan Airport, according to a suit seeking line of duty injury benefits.
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April 15, 2024
1st Circ. Reopens Fired Whole Foods Worker's BLM Mask Suit
The First Circuit reinstated a lawsuit accusing Whole Foods of unlawfully disciplining and then firing an employee who wore a Black Lives Matter mask at work, overturning the Amazon-owned supermarket chain's pretrial win.
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April 12, 2024
Moderna, Pfizer COVID Vax IP Suit Paused Amid PTAB Review
A Massachusetts federal judge on Friday agreed to pause Moderna Inc.'s COVID-19 vaccine patent infringement suit against Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech until the Patent Trial and Appeal Board weighs in on a pair of patents, issuing a stay despite objections from Moderna.
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April 12, 2024
Crypto-Friendly Atty Reveals Backers In Bid To Unseat Warren
The cryptocurrency-boosting attorney running in Massachusetts to unseat crypto critic Sen. Elizabeth Warren has garnered the support of notable digital asset industry leaders, according to his quarterly report to the Federal Election Commission.
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April 12, 2024
Jury Says 3D Printing Firm Owes $17.3M For Infringing Patent
A Delaware federal jury has ruled that 3D printing company Markforged infringed one of two claims in a patent owned by smaller competitor Continuous Composites over a machine for 3D printing, putting it on the hook for more than $17.3 million.
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April 12, 2024
Fraudster Gets 2 Years For African Sports Ponzi Scheme
A federal judge has sentenced a Massachusetts fraudster to 27 months in prison and ordered him to pay more than $625,000 in restitution for a Ponzi scheme involving African youth sports, according to a Thursday statement.
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April 12, 2024
Boston Marathon Hit With Bias Suit By Black Running Group
A Black-led running group filed a federal discrimination suit to bar the Boston Marathon and a suburb along the storied 26.2-mile race route from racially profiling and harassing its members, following an intense confrontation with police at last year's event.
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April 12, 2024
Off The Bench: Ohtani 'Victim' In Theft, Arbitration Nod To NFL
In this week's Off The Bench, Shohei Ohtani looks to get off the hook on sports-betting allegations while his former interpreter faces charges, the NFL wins a critical court victory in the Brian Flores lawsuit, and troubled WWE founder Vince McMahon cuts even more financial ties with the company.
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April 12, 2024
Zoll Says 'Cookie-Cutter' Hack Claims Don't Show Harm
Zoll Medical Corp. is asking a Boston federal judge to toss a proposed class action brought by medical device customers whose personal information was released during a ransomware attack last year and an earlier data breach in 2019, arguing the consumers weren't actually injured.
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April 12, 2024
Construction Co. Owner Cops To Causing IRS $2.8M Tax Loss
A Massachusetts construction company owner pled guilty to running an "off-the-books" cash payroll scheme that cost the federal government $2.8 million in tax losses, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
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April 11, 2024
State Rules Can't 'Obliterate' Federal Rights, Justices Told
The U.S. Supreme Court must clarify that states are categorically prohibited from requiring plaintiffs to exhaust local administrative remedies before pursuing claims that state officials violated federal rights, several Alabamans told the court Thursday, warning that state prerequisites obliterate federal rights.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
3 Principles Should Guide MTC's Digital Products Tax Work
As the Multistate Tax Commission's project to harmonize sales tax on digital products moves forward, three key principles will help the commission's work group arrive at unambiguous definitions and help states avoid unintended costs, say Charles Kearns and Jeffrey Friedman at Eversheds Sutherland.
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How High Court Is Assessing Tribal Law Questions
The U.S. Supreme Court's four rulings on tribal issues from this term show that Justice Neil Gorsuch's extensive experience in federal Native American law brings helpful experience to the court but does not necessarily guarantee favorable outcomes for tribal interests, say attorneys at Dorsey & Whitney.
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In-Office Engagement Is Essential To Associate Development
As law firms develop return-to-office policies that allow hybrid work arrangements, they should incorporate the specific types of in-person engagement likely to help associates develop attributes common among successful firm leaders, says Liisa Thomas at Sheppard Mullin.
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Perspectives
A Judge's Pitch To Revive The Jury Trial
Ohio state Judge Pierre Bergeron explains how the decline of the jury trial threatens public confidence in the judiciary and even democracy as a whole, and he offers ideas to restore this sacred right.
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How To Recognize And Recover From Lawyer Loneliness
Law can be one of the loneliest professions, but there are practical steps that attorneys and their managers can take to help themselves and their peers improve their emotional health, strengthen their social bonds and protect their performance, says psychologist and attorney Traci Cipriano.
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Opinion
Litigation Funding Disclosure Should Be Mandatory
Despite the Appellate Rules Committee's recent deferral of the issue of requiring third-party litigation funding disclosure, such a mandate is necessary to ensure the even-handed administration of justice across all cases, says David Levitt at Hinshaw.
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Recalling USWNT's Legal PR Playbook Amid World Cup Bid
As the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team strives to take home another World Cup trophy, their 2022 pay equity settlement with the U.S. Soccer Federation serves as a good reminder that winning in the court of public opinion can be more powerful than a victory inside the courtroom, says Hector Valle at Vianovo.
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Mass. Age Bias Ruling Holds Employer Liability Lessons
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s recent ruling in Adams v. Schneider Electric — upholding a laid-off employee’s age discrimination claim — is an important reminder that employers may face liability even if a decision maker unknowingly applies a discriminatory corporate strategy, say attorneys at Armstrong Teasdale.
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It's Not You, It's Me: Breaking Up With Mass. FCA Prosecutors
A recent Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's Office settlement, which required a hospital to admit to certain facts, continues a state trend away from traditionally defense-friendly nonadmission language and may complicate the prospects of amicably resolving future False Claims Act cases, say Jonathan York and Scott Memmott at Morgan Lewis.
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Immigration Program Pitfalls Exacerbate Physician Shortages
Eliminating shortcomings from U.S. immigration regulations and policies could help mitigate the national shortage of physicians by encouraging foreign physicians to work in medically underserved areas, but progress has been halted by partisan gridlock, say Alison Hitz and Dana Schwarz at Clark Hill.
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Perspectives
Mallory Gives Plaintiffs A Better Shot At Justice
Critics of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern claim it opens the door to litigation tourism, but the ruling simply gives plaintiffs more options — enabling them to seek justice against major corporations in the best possible court, say Rayna Kessler and Ethan Seidenberg at Robins Kaplan.
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What's Next For Enviro Justice After Affirmative Action Ban?
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision striking down affirmative action measures in university admissions raises questions about the future of the Biden administration's environmental justice initiatives — but EJ advocates may still have reasons for cautious optimism, say J. Michael Showalter and Robert Middleton at ArentFox Schiff.
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Strategies For Conducting More Effective Plea Negotiations
The sentencing of “Varsity Blues” scandal architect Rick Singer earlier this year provides a helpful case study on the plea bargain process, spotlighting three key negotiation concepts and seven tactics for defense attorneys, say lawyers at Riley Safer.
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Courts Can Overturn Deficient State Regulations, Too
While suits challenging federal regulations have become commonplace, such cases against state agencies are virtually nonexistent, but many states have provisions that allow litigants to bring suit for regulations with inadequate cost-benefit analyses, says Reeve Bull at the Virginia Office of Regulatory Management.
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How Construction Industry Can Help Mitigate Wildfire Impact
The recent uptick of wildfires across North America has resulted in renewed calls for construction job site changes and increased management of sites in order to mitigate the risk of outbreaks and workers' exposure to hazardous air quality, say Josephine Bahn and Jeffery Mullen at Cozen O'Connor.