New England Biz Law Update

A bankrupt airline could not be held liable to a former employee for handicap discrimination, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has found. The airline argued that a U.S. Bankruptcy Court order disallowing the discrimination claim resulted in the employee being forever barred from suing the airline under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

A judge’s decision to dismiss a plaintiff’s breach-of-contract lawsuit and sanction him $243,000 for destroying critical evidence in an employment dispute is a warning to civil litigants who do not cooperate during discovery, lawyers say.

Medical device-maker Boston Scientific will pay $22 million to resolve allegations its Guidant division paid kickbacks to doctors to get them to use its heart devices. The U.S. Department of Justice said Guidant paid physicians $1,000 to $1,500 each in ...

Initially sought $288K; awarded only $25,000

Decision by DIA clarifies question on workers

Involves ability of cos. to fight

Judge orders new trial in patent case

A 10-year battle over a novel drug treatment for a degenerative eye disease has settled for $20 million. Massachusetts General Hospital had sued Canadian drug company QLT to enforce a provision in a 1998 license agreement for Visudyne, a drug ...

Risk: To gamble on; do at one’s peril; hang by a thread; play with fire; carry too much sail; go out of one’s depth; bell the cat; make an investment; sit on a barrel of gun powder. — Webster’s New ...

Even in good times, creditors habitually cast a wide net in search of cash to satisfy their claims. In today’s economic climate, cash-starved creditors are sure to “follow the money,” pursuing a well-heeled corporate relative of the debtor, whether they ...