The Supreme Judicial Court has recently affirmed in Monell v. Boston Pads, LLC, 471 Mass. 566 (2015) that real estate brokerage companies can continue to classify real estate salespersons as independent contractors and are not subject to the Massachusetts independent...
Month: August 2015
It’s Not Over Till It’s Over: Assets Earned After Service Of Divorce Complaint Are Included In The “Marital Estate”
From a legal perspective, getting hitched in Massachusetts is fairly quick and simple, requiring little more than a valid marriage license and a proper officiant. It is not even necessary to be wed by a clergy member or Justice of the Peace, as anyone over the age of...
International Jurisdiction and the FIFA Indictment
Shortly after New York Attorney General Loretta Lynch's 47-count indictment involving FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) was announced in May, legal insiders and outsiders alike were asking how the U.S. was able to coordinate the arrests of...
Gender-Based Discrimination Claim Remanded For Determination By Jury
Even a seemingly objective performance evaluation process may not insulate an employer from claims by an employee that their termination was discriminatory. In a 2013 unpublished decision, Rochat v. L.E.K. Consulting, LLC, 83 Mass. App. Ct. 1108 (2013), the Appeals...
As a Trustee, Can You Partition Real Estate Owned by a Trust?
Trustees sometimes face beneficiaries disagreeing about how to maintain real estate owned by a trust, such as a family vacation home. But does a trustee have standing to bring a partition action to sell Massachusetts real estate? Likely not. Under Massachusetts's...
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Reaffirms MERS System Under Texas Law
The United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has held that recording Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. ("MERS") as the holder or beneficiary of a mortgage comports with Texas law. Harris County Texas, et al. v. MERSCORP Inc., et al., No....
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