New England Biz Law Update

A life insurance company’s disbursement of death benefits under certain employee-benefit plans via the use of “retained asset accounts,” or RAAs, did not violate its duty of loyalty under ERISA, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The ...

An employer could not rely on the “inevitable disclosure” doctrine to block an employee from working for a competitor, a U.S. District Court judge has ruled. The defendant employee — who had been a scientist for plaintiff Boston Scientific, a ...

A company that hired an independent contractor without requiring him to sign a confidentiality agreement could not later sue him for misappropriation of trade secrets, a Massachusetts Superior Court judge has decided. The plaintiff company apparently had brought aboard the ...

The president of a closely held family corporation needed board approval to terminate his brother, the vice president of the company, a Massachusetts Superior Court judge has ruled in a case of first impression. The corporation argued that its president, ...

A company that provides recordkeeping and administration services for qualified tuition plans was not entitled to a preliminary injunction blocking a former employee from going to work for a company that performs similar functions, a U.S. District Court judge has ...

A skycap who was fired because his employer said he solicited tips in violation of company policy could bring a retaliation claim asserting that he was actually terminated for his involvement in a Fair Labor Standards Act action against the ...

Individual borrowers alleging that Bank of America mismanaged their loan modification requests under the federal Home Affordable Modification Program were not entitled to certification as a class, a U.S. District Court judge has found. As a HAMP servicer, the bank ...

Tagged with: Nov. 1 2013 issue

A rare appellate decision addressing the enforceability of non-solicitation agreements in employment contracts shows that such provisions will be broadly construed in Massachusetts, according to attorneys who practice in the field. In a 25-page opinion, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court ...

Tagged with: Nov. 1 2013 issue

A technology company could not sue former employees for downloading proprietary information onto personal storage devices before they joined a competitor without showing that the employees had physically accessed the information through fraudulent or unlawful means, a U.S. District Court ...

Tagged with: Aug. 31 2013 issue

An employee who claimed his employer fired him because it did not want to cover his disabled wife’s medical expenses could sue the employer for “associational discrimination” under Chapter 151B, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has found.

Tagged with: Aug. 31 2013 issue