FMG’s BlogLine features an array of articles written by our attorneys who cover recent legal trends and developments both locally and nationally. Explore our blogs on a multitude of legal and industry topics.
5/4/22
By: Michael M. Hill In a sea change for antidiscrimination laws, the Supreme Court ruled in Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller, P.L.L.C. that, under certain federal statutes, plaintiffs cannot obtain damages for mental or emotional distress. The statutes implicated by this ruling are Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, Title IX of the Education…
U.S. Supreme Court Addresses Parameters of Free Speech
5/3/22
By: Doug Holthus On May 2, 2022, the United States Supreme Court announced its decision in Shurtleff v. City of Boston, et al., 596 U.S. _ (2022). The primary issue presented: the parameters of freedom of speech. The City of Boston, MA has a tradition. For many years, a flagpole erected outside of Boston’s City…
Avoid These Practitioner Pitfalls When It Comes to Trade-Secret Misappropriation Trials
5/2/22
By: Nancy M. Reimer and William A. Hadikusumo A recent decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Financial Information Technologies, LLC v. iControl Systems, USA, LLC, — F.4th — (11th Cir. Dec. 22, 2021) provides an all too real example of the oft-used idiom “do as I say, not…
Employer overcomes religious-based challenge to vaccine mandate
5/2/22
By: Janet R. Barringer On April 27, 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit Court ruled in Together Employees, by Individual Representatives v. Mass. Gen. Brigham Inc. (2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 11379), that a hospital system may require its workers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine over its employees’ religious objections as…
Elon Musk’s planned purchase of Twitter reignites questions of open source code security
4/29/22
By: Alexia Roney On April 25, 2022, Elon Musk sealed the deal to buy Twitter, Inc., for $44 billion. Among the changes to the platform, Musk has floated making the algorithm that prioritizes tweets “open source,” so the public could view and improve it. This generated articles in major news media over the security of…
4/28/22
By: Sean P. Kelly In a recent Appeals Court decision, Kennedy v. Abramson, 100 Mass. App. Ct. 775 (2022), the Massachusetts Appeals Court reinforced the vitality of the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur as a means for plaintiffs to be heard in front of jury even where there is limited evidence of a prior defective…
Ohio Appellate Court addresses “Permanent and Substantial Deformity”
4/25/22
By: Doug Holthus Ohio Revised Code §2315.18 imposes certain limits upon the available recovery of personal injury compensatory (non-economic) and punitive damages awards. An exception to the cap on non-economic damages exists where the plaintiff can establish that the injury complained of constitutes a “(P)ermanent physical functional injury that permanently prevents the injured person from…
4/22/22
By: Mary-Kate Planchet In Erika L. McNamara, Willard F. Warren and Kenneth Bennett v. Government Employees Insurance Company, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 9090 (11th Cir. Apr. 5, 2022), the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit determined whether a qualifying “excess judgment” for bad faith must be based on a verdict or may…
Massachusetts High Court Issues Two Important Wage and Hour Decisions
4/22/22
By: Jennifer Markowski, R. Victoria Fuller and Chris Redd The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) recently issued a pair of decisions clarifying potential damages under Massachusetts’ wage and hour laws. Reuter v. City of Methuen addressed the appropriate measure of damages when an employer fails to timely pay wages. The Massachusetts Wage Act, M.G.L. c.…