9/9/21
By: R. Victoria Fuller & Diandra Franks In Shaw’s Supermarkets, Inc. v. Margarita Melendez, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (the “SJC”) recently held that its 2020 COVID-19 statute of limitations tolling order tolled the statute of limitations for all civil actions, not just those actions for which the limitations period would have expired during the tolling period. In Shaws, the plaintiff was allegedly injured on September 3,…
Massachusetts SJC Expands Rights of Property Owners in Eminent Domain Cases
5/26/21
By: Marc Finkel In a landmark ruling involving the rights of property owners under the Massachusetts “quick take” eminent domain statute (M.G.L. c. 79), the Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) recently determined that the “quick take” statute allows for a property owner to challenge the validity of the taking while also accepting a pro tanto (partial)…
5/17/21
By: Kevin Kenneally and William Gildea The United States District Court, District of Massachusetts (Hillman, J.), recently held that Plaintiffs must affirmatively plead and prove that there is a safer alternative product design in order to maintain defect claims against the product manufacturer. Ducat v. Ethicon, Inc., 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72793 (D. Mass., April…
A Massachusetts Attorney Is Suspended for Overbilling Clients
4/7/21
By: Nancy Reimer and Eleni Demestihas In the Matter of [Attorney] (SJC 12850) the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court found the attorney not only charged excessive fees to multiple clients but did so intentionally over a matter of months. In 2015, as an equity partner, the attorney did not bill her time contemporaneously. Instead, she tasked…
Massachusetts SJC Restricts Standard of Causation in Cases Involving Multiple Tortfeasors
3/10/21
By: Marc Finkel In a landmark decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) recently discontinued use of the substantial contributing factor standard of factual causation in matters where multiple sufficient causes of liability may exist amongst multiple defendants. In Doull v. Foster, SJC-12921 (February 26, 2021), the SJC determined that the traditional “but-for” standard of factual…
1/13/21
By: Thomas Hay In a Massachusetts trial court action, Timothy Lyons v. Phillip C. Farmer Development, Inc., Docket No. 1781-cv-01156, Freeman, Mathis & Gary, LLP prevailed on a motion for involuntary dismissal following the conclusion of the first civil bench trial held in Middlesex County Superior Court since the courts closed in March 2020 due to…
Massachusetts Statute of Repose Applies One Building At a Time
12/22/20
By: David Slocum The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (the “SJC”) recently issued an important decision addressing the previously unanswered question of when the Massachusetts 6-year statute of repose for defective design, planning, or construction is triggered for purposes of alleged defects in the common areas of a multi-building, multi-phase condominium construction project. In D’Allessandro v.…
Slip and Fall Damages: A Changing Landscape For Residential Landlords In Massachusetts
9/2/20
By: Marc Finkel In an important development for Massachusetts based residential landlords, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) recently narrowed the availability of certain claims tenants may bring against landlords for slip and falls arising out of the accumulation of snow and/or ice. In Goreham v. Martins, 485 Mass. 54 (2020), the SJC determined that…
Massachusetts’ Highest Court Rules No Double Recovery Allowed for Back Wages
8/5/20
By: Zinnia Khan On July 14, 2020, the Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) of Massachusetts held employees cannot recover unpaid back wages under two different Massachusetts wage laws because doing so would amount to a double recovery with the same set of allegations. The ruling in Donis v. American Waste Services LLC, et al. (SJC-12842) reversed…
6/22/20
By: Janet Barringer and Zinnia Khan The Massachusetts Superior Court’s recent decision in Now Business Intelligence, Inc. v. Sean Donahue, et al., held minor changes in an employee’s job duties will not create a “new employment contract” so as to invalidate or obviate the employee’s existing non-compete agreement with the employer. This decision reveals the best…
6/16/20
By: Catherine Scott It is a long-settled principle of contract law that an individual who seeks to recover damages under a broken contract will only be allowed to recover a figure sufficient to put that person in the place he or she would have been had the contract been performed. Courts have routinely referred to these types of damages as “benefit of the…
Law Firm Falls Victim To E-Mail Scam – Loses Appeal Following Allowance Of Summary Judgment
5/28/20
By: Marc Finkel In 2019, the United States Treasury Department released statistics detailing the number of reported business email compromise incidents over a three- year period. The number of monthly incidents increased exponentially over those three years from approximately 500 reported incidents per month in 2016 to over 1,100 reported incidents per month in 2018. …