New England Biz Law Update

A plan administrator could not terminate an employee’s long-term disability benefits despite covert surveillance video showing the employee driving, walking, jogging, bending over, flying a kite and lifting her 3-year-old child, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.

Tagged with: Jan. 30 2012 issue

A worker who was injured while commuting from his home to a construction site was not entitled to workers’ compensation even though the job required him to travel to a different location every day, a reviewing board of the Massachusetts ...

Tagged with: Sept. 2011 issue

Ariel Ayanna was not seeking to create new law when he sued his employer, a Boston law firm, for disability discrimination.

Tagged with: Sept. 2011 issue

Intellectual property lawyers throughout the 1st Circuit say a recent decision out of the U.S. Supreme Court firmly establishes that the clear and convincing evidentiary test continues to be the appropriate standard of proof in patent invalidity claims.

Tagged with: Sept. 2011 issue

Massachusetts Superior Court judge has ruled in an issue of first impression that a real estate investment company’s deferred compensation plan is subject to the state’s Wage and Hour Act.

Tagged with: July 2011 issue

An employee who claimed he was owed money under the Massachusetts Wage Act could not recover from the president and manager of the limited liability company for which he worked, a Massachusetts Superior Court judge has decided in a case ...

Tagged with: July 2011 issue

A controversial whistleblower provision in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that invalidated pre-dispute arbitration clauses applies retroactively, a U.S. District Court judge in Boston has ruled in an issue of first impression.

Tagged with: May 2011 issue

U.S. District Court judge has rejected a request for injunctive relief in a case in which two business parties entered into a seemingly valid non-compete agreement that called for their disputes to be resolved in Massachusetts.

Tagged with: March 2011 issue

Massachusetts Superior Court judge has found that a plaintiff nursing home must pay attorneys’ fees and costs for filing a frivolous lawsuit, even though the underlying complaint was withdrawn before the judge reached a ruling on the defendant’s anti-SLAPP motion ...

Tagged with: frivolous lawsuit Jan. 2011 issue sanctions SLAPP

Civil litigators say a recent Massachusetts Appeals Court decision involving an $11 million personal injury judgment means plaintiffs are no longer required to prove causation and damages when making claims against insurance companies for failure to effectuate prompt settlement offers.

Tagged with: Jan. 2011 issue late settlement offer