New England Biz Law Update

Can an employer, faced with a purported class action under the Fair Labor Standards Act, avoid litigation by immediately offering a settlement to the sole plaintiff before a class is certified?

Tagged with: Dec. 31 2012 issue

An employer that removed a plaintiff from his managerial position on his return from a one-week medical leave could be sued under the Family Medical Leave Act, a U.S. magistrate judge has ruled.

Tagged with: Dec. 31 2012 issue

Civil litigators say a 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling allowing a class action racketeering suit to proceed against a Boston-based law firm sends a dangerous message to tax attorneys. In Ouwinga, et al. v. Benistar 419 Plan Services, ...

Tagged with: Dec. 31 2012 issue

Legal-malpractice lawyers say the ability of a major law firm to defend itself against a complaint filed by a longtime client will rise or fall on whether a judge finds the firm’s services were so excessive that portions of its ...

Tagged with: Dec. 31 2012 issue

After stirring up the bar with a pair of cases alleging that at-will employment clauses for non-union workers violated federal law by potentially stifling concerted activity, the National Labor Relations Board has issued guidance memos that offer some relief for ...

Tagged with: Dec. 31 2012 issue

Massachusetts recently enacted legislation imposing new obligations on staffing agencies and worksite employers that use temporary workers and granting those workers a right to notice of certain terms of their employment.

Tagged with: Nov. 30 2012 issue

We are all aware of the substantial retrenchment of SEC enforcement mandated by the 2012 JOBS Act (“Act”), which contemplates crowd-funding and permits public advertising of certain “private placement” transactions (see my October column). But equally important is the impact ...

Tagged with: Nov. 30 2012 issue

The Economist predicted that 2012 would be the “Year of the Whistleblower.” That prediction has come true in many ways. And if attendance at this year’s annual whistleblowers’ convention is any guide, I predict the same thing for 2013.

Tagged with: Nov. 30 2012 issue

A defendant can be found liable for induced infringement of a method patent if it has performed some of the steps of a claimed method and induced other parties to commit the remaining steps, or if it has induced other ...

Tagged with: Nov. 30 2012 issue

African-American police officers who were fired or suspended after failing hair-sample tests to detect illegal drug use could not sue the city of Boston for discrimination, a U.S. District Court judge has ruled.

Tagged with: Nov. 30 2012 issue