A person aggrieved by discrimination in a place of public accommodation need not file a charge with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination and exhaust her administrative remedies before filing suit, a Superior Court judge has decided. In so ruling, the ...
Read More »Noncompete’s choice-of-law provision not determinative
A nonresident defendant’s contacts with Rhode Island were not robust enough to allow the federal court to exercise jurisdiction in a lawsuit accusing that defendant of breaching a noncompete agreement with his former employer, U.S. District Court Judge William E. ...
Read More »Hospital ‘offer letter’ found not to be binding contract
A hospital’s emailed “offer letter” did not constitute a valid, binding contract, nor could the doctor who received it establish a promissory estoppel claim, a Superior Court judge in Massachusetts has decided. At the outset of his decision in Moore ...
Read More »Gig worker bound by ‘clickwrap’ arbitration agreement
A gig worker who cleaned houses through an online service provider that allegedly misclassified her as an independent contractor was bound by a “clickwrap” mandatory arbitration agreement, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. Plaintiff Maisha Emmanuel submitted ...
Read More »IP attorneys doubt patent waivers solution to global need for COVID vaccine
It certainly makes for a good sound bite, especially as outbreaks rage across India. But intellectual property attorneys doubt that waiving patent and other IP protections for COVID-19 vaccines would turn the tide on the global pandemic. On May 5, ...
Read More »City denied summary judgment in employee’s retaliation claim
A federal judge has denied a motion by the city of Providence seeking summary judgment in a Title VII retaliation lawsuit brought by one of its employees, concluding that conflicting evidence prevented the city from articulating a “legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason” ...
Read More »1st Circuit kicks ex-employee’s race-bias claim to arbitration
It is up to an arbitrator to determine arbitrability of a discrimination claim that a onetime employee brought against a company based on mistreatment he allegedly encountered as a contractor years after his period of employment ended, the 1st U.S. ...
Read More »Firms offering wide range of alternative fees
While rumors of the demise of the billable hour may have been greatly exaggerated, law firms are increasingly offering a range of alternative fee arrangements for clients now more open to accepting them. Apart from the traditional contingency fee agreement, ...
Read More »Year later, ABA issues ethical guidance for working remotely
A lawyer’s ethical obligations when working remotely are outlined in a new opinion issued by the American Bar Association nearly a year after most attorneys set up shop at home in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 10, the ...
Read More »Attorney writes ‘handbook’ for in-house tech lawyers
David Sclar has just self-published the book he wishes he could have turned to for practical advice once his career course was set as in-house counsel guiding digital health and wellness companies on matters ranging from security and privacy to ...
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