New England Biz Law Update

A tax consultant should not have been found liable for misappropriating trade secrets after he used his ex-employer’s allegedly proprietary “tax arbitrage” strategy in providing services to its former clients, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The ...

Finding an exception to the “going-and-coming” rule enunciated by the Rhode Island Supreme Court in Branco v. Leviton Manufacturing Company, Inc. to be inapplicable, the state Workers’ Compensation Court Appellate Division vacated a trial judge’s award of benefits to a ...

“Brand representatives” who demonstrated products and provided free samples at retail stores were exempt from overtime requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act, a U.S. District Court judge in Massachusetts has decided. Defendant Summit Retail Solutions sent the plaintiff employees ...

Attorneys in Rhode Island say that while increased litigation appears to be imminent, insureds could face a difficult time in recouping pandemic-related losses through the business interruption provisions of their commercial insurance policies. “I see the potential for an explosion ...

An insurance carrier did not abuse its discretion by attributing the death of an ERISA plan participant in a car crash to a pre-existing condition and denying his widow’s claim for accidental death benefits, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of ...

Employment lawyers don’t know precisely what shape the wave of litigation triggered by employer responses to the COVID-19 pandemic will take, but few doubt that that wave is coming. In the “rush” to implement furloughs and layoffs, many employers simply ...

A Delaware choice-of-law provision was properly applied in enforcing a non-solicitation agreement against a former sales employee who went to work for a competitor, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has determined. Defendant Timothy Day and his onetime employer, ...

Weighing a plaintiff’s disability discrimination and FMLA retaliation claims under the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting paradigm, a federal judge in Rhode Island has determined they cannot withstand the defendant employer’s motion for summary judgment. The suit was brought by Lisa O’Rourke ...

A business that provides sales and marketing services to energy and wireless companies was not the “joint employer” of door-to-door salespeople hired by one of its subcontractors, a judge in Massachusetts’ Business Litigation session has decided. Defendant Credico (USA) LLC ...

Purchasers of a diabetes drug can pursue antitrust claims based on allegations that drug maker Sanofi-Aventis wrongfully extended its monopoly by improperly listing a patent in the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s “Orange Book,” the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of ...