New England Biz Law Update

A rule that lawyers and judges in Massachusetts and beyond have been using to determine damages in patent infringement cases has been abolished by the Federal Circuit Court.

Tagged with: Jan. 2011 issue patent infringement

A controversial non-compete bill that was gaining considerable steam in Massachusetts after it advanced out of a House committee last session was quietly dropped from the state’s recently enacted economic development law.

Tagged with: Nov. 2010 issue

Superior Court judge in Massachusetts has ruled that a CEO whose company pension plan lost nearly $1.5 million during the stock market collapse of 2000 could not recover against a hedge fund manager under the state’s Uniform Securities Act.

Nearly two years after Congress enacted an evidentiary rule aimed at protecting lawyers who mistakenly turn over privileged materials during discovery, practitioners say they are still struggling with critical aspects of the measure. Signed by President George W. Bush in ...

The advice a corporate lawyer gave to only one of two doctors who co-owned a health center was protected by the attorney-client privilege, a Massachusetts Superior Court judge has ruled.

When the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed federal fraud charges against the powerful New York hedge fund Galleon Management and its billionaire owner, officials seized the opportunity to issue a warning to those working in the industry.

A cleaning service company that claimed it was merely in the business of selling franchises to third parties misclassified its franchisees as independent contractors in violation of M.G.L.c. 149, §148B, a U.S. District Court judge in Massachusetts has ruled.

A recent ruling from a federal judge marks the first time any court in the country has found that whistleblower protections apply to those working in the mutual fund industry, according to several lawyers familiar with the case.

A 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling has created a “reasonable efforts” common-law contract standard that imposes new duties on corporate parties who purchase other companies’ assets, according to several practitioners familiar with the case.

A judge’s decision to dismiss a plaintiff’s breach-of-contract lawsuit and sanction him $243,000 for destroying critical evidence in an employment dispute is a warning to civil litigants who do not cooperate during discovery, lawyers say.