In the recent case of Suzuki v. Abiomed, Inc., the First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a U.S. District Court order granting summary judgment to the defendant employer, holding that the company's termination of an employee approximately fifteen months prior to the...
Month: December 2019
What happens if one spouse builds a house and the other spouse does not help?
In a recent 1:28 decision, the Appeals Court of Massachusetts considered a challenge to a judge's order that real estate acquired by the Husband prior to the marriage should remain with the Husband following the divorce. The Wife appealed a divorce judgment where the...
Arbitrating Against Chinese Companies: Recent Developments from the HKIAC
When foreign companies do business with Chinese companies, international arbitration can be a key tool for dispute resolution, as it avoids either having a foreign court judgment that is unenforceable in China or having to deal with Chinese courts and home-court...
Protections Afforded to Homeowners by the Massachusetts Homestead Act
The Massachusetts Homestead Act allows homeowners to shield up to $500,000 of equity in their principal place of residence from claims from unsecured creditors (i.e. credit card debt).Even in those circumstances where the property is held in a trust, the...
In Breach of Contract Claim, Courts May Award Both Damages and Specific Performance
In Motsis v. Ming's Supermarket, Inc., (Mass. App. Ct. Nov. 5, 2019), the Appeals Court affirms a judgment awarding a commercial tenant both monetary relief and specific performance.Monetary damages and specific performance are two remedies that a party may pursue...
Appeals Court Holds that No Easement by Necessity Created in Condominium Dispute
Earlier this year, the Massachusetts Appeals Court issued an important decision in Chamberlain v. Badaoui reversing a Superior Court judgment and holding that a condominium's master deed did not create an express easement granting to Plaintiffs' unit access through...
Conclusory Allegations, Even When Admitted by the Opposing Party, Deemed Insufficient to Defeat Summary Judgment in FLSA Dispute
Recently in Costello v. Molari, Inc. (Memo and Order, November 20, 2019), the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted an employer summary judgment because the employee failed to show that the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") applied to...
CFPB Now Claims Its Structure Is Unconstitutional
A few short months ago, I wrote a blog post about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau surviving an attack on its constitutionality in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In that case, the plaintiff alleged that the CFPB's structure was...
New Appeals Court Decision Clarifies Residency Requirement For Filing For Divorce
In Massachusetts, the durational residency requirement for a plaintiff to file for divorce is one year G.L. c. 208, § 5 (meaning, one must be a Massachusetts resident for a year before Massachusetts has jurisdiction over their divorce), but until recently, appellate...
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