In a recent decision awarding attorneys’ fees, a U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania explicitly considered the historic attorney gender pay gap. In that case – Ray v. AT&T Mobility Services, LLC – the plaintiff, Alison Ray, sought a total of $847,945 in attorneys’...
Business Litigation Blog
OSHA Drops Its Vaccine Mandate for Large Businesses
Last week, in a statement and a notice of withdrawal, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) officially withdrew its emergency temporary standard (“ETS”) that required large employers, with 100 or more employees, to implement COVID-19 vaccination...
District of Massachusetts Holds Text Messages Between Plaintiffs and Third-Parties Not Protected from Discovery as Concerted Activities
The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts has held that group text messages between plaintiffs and third parties are not protected from disclosure in discovery as “concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual...
Court Applies Massachusetts 6-Year Statute of Limitations for Breach of Contract Claim Rather Than 3-Year Delaware Limitation Period Even When Contract is Governed by Delaware Law
It is not uncommon for parties to a contract to decide which law will govern their contractual relationship, by including a choice of law provision in the contract. There are some significant differences between state laws: for example, the statute of limitations for...
In Employment Discrimination Cases, Judge Rules that Title VII Does Not Supervene Title IX
The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts recently ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 – both of which prohibit sex-based discrimination – are separate enforcement mechanisms an...
MA Federal Court Confirms Leniency of Chapter 93A Demand Letter Requirement
In two recent cases, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts has rejected attempts to throw out consumer protection lawsuits for failure to follow the strict mandates of the Chapter 93A demand letter requirement. Massachusetts’ Consumer Protection...
District Court Finds No Jurisdiction Over Claims Against Foreign Corporate Owner and Operator of Ship in Boston Harbor Accident
The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts recently dismissed claims against two foreign corporations which owned and operated a ship which damaged a pier in Boston Harbor in 2017, in American Home Assurance Company v. M/V One Helsinki f/k/a...
Use of Pre-Existing List of Numbers Does Not Qualify as Automatic Telephone Dialing System in Violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act
Relying on the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid, the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina has found that Bank of America, N.A.’s system used to place alleged debt collection calls does not qualify as...
First Circuit Court Of Appeals Upholds Fraud Convictions, Finding No Actual Or Implied Juror Bias
In U.S. v. Kuljko, the defendant, a “convicted fraudster who hornswoggled dozens of victims out of millions of dollars,” requested that the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit vacate the jury’s guilty verdict, in part due to the trial court’s failure to dismiss a...
COVID-19 Emergency Paid Sick Leave
Governor Baker recently signed legislation requiring employers to provide COVID-19 emergency paid sick leave to eligible employees who are unable to work for COVID-19-related reasons. Eligible employees will be entitled to up to 40 hours of paid leave, with a weekly...
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