New England Biz Law Update

Companies, more than ever, are striving for an edge in today’s uncertain business environment. As organizations brace for the possibility of a recession, calls from the C-Suite to cut costs and improve profit margins are mounting pressure on legal departments. ...

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in Massachusetts has found that a judgment debt owed by a contractor to two workers in their state Wage Act case can be discharged. Plaintiffs Julio Simoes and Eduardo Pereira, who performed construction work for ...

A federal appeals court has held that repeated denials of transfer requests can constitute an adverse employment action supporting a gender discrimination claim. The employee was a female detective who was highly educated in forensic sciences. During her 14-year tenure ...

No business is immune to being a victim of a cyber-attack. Although not reported to news outlets, local companies are being breached every single day. Cyber liability insurance costs are doubling, with the smallest policies averaging $10,000 a year. Getting ...

When employee misconduct issues arise, give employees the opportunity to tell their side of the story. Failure to hear an employee out could increase organizational risk. Generally, it’s best to: Conduct a thorough investigation. If you don’t interview the accused, ...

The recent PPP and Bank Fraud Enforcement Harmonization Act of 2022 established a 10-year statute of limitations for the prosecution of fraud by borrowers under the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program. The 10-year statute of limitations applies to Economic ...

The Federal Trade Commission is considering new regulations to restrict companies’ use of noncompete clauses. Last year, President Joe Biden asked the FTC to consider limiting these clauses. Recently, the FTC has been issuing subpoenas to businesses they believe are ...

The repeated use of a racial epithet by the 6-year-old grandson of the owners of an assisted living facility was sufficient to support a former employee’s hostile work environment claim, a unanimous panel of a federal appeals court has ruled. ...

It’s becoming a common story. The rise of social media has created a dramatic expansion of the playing field for both the collection of evidence and its presentation to jurors as well as new issues for judges to grapple with ...

A misappropriation-of-trade-secrets case that generated more meritorious motions to compel and sanctions for failure to produce documents than any in his 37-year career warranted the rare sanction of entering default judgments against the defendants on all the plaintiff’s claims, a ...