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Massachusetts Court Awards Preliminary Injunction to Wrongfully Terminated Board Member

Judge Kazanjian, sitting in the Massachusetts Business Litigation Session, allowed a plaintiff board member’s motion for a preliminary injunction. Judge Kazanjian’s order reinstated the plaintiff to the board of directors and...more

Massachusetts Judge Orders Plaintiff to Pay Attorneys’ Fees Because Plaintiff Had No Evidentiary Basis to Believe Facts Alleged in...

Judge Krupp, sitting in the Massachusetts Business Litigation Session, awarded a defendant more than $240,000 in attorneys’ fees, expenses, and interest under G.L. c. 231, § 6F, the Massachusetts statute authorizing fee...more

BJ’s Wholesale Club Loses Bid to Dismiss Complaint Alleging Massachusetts State Law Claims for Wiretap Violations and Invasion of...

Joe Alves filed a class-action complaint against BJ’s Wholesale Club, alleging that BJ’s uses computer code, called Session Replay Code (SRC), to secretly record consumer activity on BJ’s website. Alves claims that BJ’s...more

Massachusetts Court Dismisses Robotics Company’s Chapter 93A Claim Because Company Did Not Allege Former Employee Used or...

In Vicarious Surgical Inc. v. Beth Tragakis, Judge Salinger, sitting in the Massachusetts Business Litigation Session, dismissed a robotics company’s Chapter 93A claim for lack of any allegations that the robotics company was...more

Massachusetts Judge’s Decision Underscores Importance of Segregating Fees Attributable to Work Performed on Successful Chapter 93A...

Where a party prevails on a Chapter 93A claim, the party should submit a fee application that segregates the fees for the work necessary to prevail on the Chapter 93A claim. That’s the key takeaway from Commonwealth Insurance...more

Massachusetts Court Rejects Claim that Shareholder’s Renunciation of Shares Ended Fiduciary Duty Owed to Close Corporation

Judge Ricciuti, sitting in the Massachusetts Business Litigation Session, rejected a shareholder’s claim that she could shed herself of the fiduciary duty she owed to a close corporation by renouncing her shares in the...more

Massachusetts Highest Court Holds Grubhub Drivers Are Not Exempt from Arbitration under FAA

In Archer, et al. v Grubhub, Inc., the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled that § 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) applies to Grubhub delivery drivers. The plaintiffs, former delivery drivers for Grubhub,...more

Massachusetts Superior Court Expands Practice of Conducting Civil Proceedings Virtually

Under its recently issued Standing Order 1-22 (link here), the Massachusetts Superior Court increased the number of hearing types that it will “presumptively” conduct by videoconference. The standing order applies to...more

Massachusetts Court Tosses Out Time-Barred Claims Against Williams-Sonoma

Judge Krupp, sitting in the Massachusetts Business Litigation Session, ruled that the statute of limitations barred the plaintiff’s tort, contract, and unfair and deceptive practices claims against Williams-Sonoma....more

Massachusetts Court Rules Law Firm’s Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claim Survives Former Associate’s Motion for Summary Judgment

In Lubin & Meyer v. John J. Manning, Judge Salinger, sitting in the Business Litigation Session, ruled that Lubin & Meyer’s claims for breach of fiduciary duty against its former associate, John Manning, survived summary...more

Massachusetts Court Shields Email Communication Seeking Legal Advice About Draft Press Release

Adversaries often challenge each other’s privilege calls in the thick of litigation, and sometimes those challenges are elevated to a court’s in camera review. In Governo Law Firm LLC v. CMBG3 Law LLC, et al., Judge Salinger,...more

Boston University Must Face Trial on Oral Contract Claim Made by Former Research Scientist

In Kirk Ramey v. Trustees of Boston University, et al., Judge Krupp, sitting in the Business Litigation Session, ruled that Ramey, a former BU research scientist, was entitled to a trial on his claim that defendants, BU and...more

Massachusetts’ Highest Court Affirms Ruling Against Restaurants Seeking Insurance Coverage for Losses Arising from COVID-19 Dining...

In Verveine Corp., et al., v. Strathmore Insurance Company, et al., the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) held that claims for business losses made by three restaurants arising from COVID-19 dining restrictions were...more

Massachusetts Court Bars “Reasonable Royalty” Evidence Based on Law of the Case Doctrine

After successfully appealing a judgement and obtaining a remand of its Chapter 93A claim to the Massachusetts BLS, the Governo Law Firm moved to admit expert testimony about a “reasonable royalty” measure of damages. Governo...more

Massachusetts Court Rejects Attorney General Healey’s Attempt to Shield Identities of Uber and Lyft Drivers Under Investigatory...

Judge Krupp, sitting in the Massachusetts Business Litigation Session, granted Uber’s motion to compel documents containing the identities of drivers who shared information with the Attorney General about their work for Uber...more

BLS April 2022 Detailed 42-Page Practice Guide

In conjunction with the Massachusetts Bar Association, the current BLS judges prepared personalized responses to practice-related questions. Those questions and answers were then turned into a practice guide. The guide,...more

Judge Salinger Dismisses "Conclusory Assertions" Against Project Manager in Commercial Real Estate Dispute

Judge Salinger dismissed a real estate developer’s counterclaims against a project manager, ruling that the counterclaim allegations did not “plausibly suggest that [project manager] [wa]s liable for the contractor’s...more

In COVID-19 Trip Cancellation Dispute, Judge Ricciuti Allows Massachusetts Consumer Protection Claim to Proceed

Judge Ricciuti ruled that the plaintiff, whose educational-travel trip was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, stated a viable Chapter 93A claim that the contractual remedy provided by the tour operator improperly...more

BLS 2022 Preferences for Hearings, Conferences, Trials, and Filings

The judges sitting in the BLS during calendar year 2022 recently adopted and published guidance about their preferences and practices on court proceedings and filings. These preferences and practices include . . ....more

Advice of Counsel Defense Ruled Not Applicable in MA Securities Fraud Action

In Bertolino v. Fracassa, Judge Salinger ruled that the advice-of-counsel defense did not insulate Frederick McDonald, a defendant in the case, from liability under the Massachusetts Uniform Securities Act (MUSA), G.L. c....more

Notes on BLS/Social Law Program and 2021 BLS Decisions—Including AG Healy v. Uber Technologies

In January, the Social Law Library sponsored the Business Litigation Session 2021 Year in Review. The panel included Judge Kenneth Salinger, the BLS Administrative Justice, as well as Michael Tuteur and Andrew Yost, attorneys...more

Massachusetts’ Highest Court Invalidates Limitation of Liability Clause in Commercial Lease, Citing Public Policy

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) recently ruled that a limitation-of-liability provision provides no protection for defendants who willfully or knowingly engage in unfair or deceptive conduct in violation of G....more

New BLS Judges: Judge Peter Krupp, Judge Hélène Kazanjian, Judge Michael Ricciuti

Three new judges have joined the BLS rotation. Judge Peter Krupp replaced Judge Karen Green for the January-June rotation period of BLS1. In 2013, Governor Deval Patrick appointed Judge Krupp to the Superior Court. Before his...more

Court Denies lululemon’s Motion for Attorneys’ Fees Under Fee Shifting Provision

As reported here last summer, Judge Salinger denied lululemon’s motion to dismiss a summary process action brought by lululemon’s landlord, CWB Retail. Later in the litigation, CWB voluntarily dismissed the action with...more

Practice Pointer: Under Massachusetts Procedure, There’s No Right to Expert Depositions

Under Massachusetts procedure, a party has the right to compel an opponent to disclose its testifying expert’s opinions through interrogatories. But unlike federal procedure, a party under Massachusetts procedure must obtain...more

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