In the recent case of Fitzgerald v. The Chateau Restaurant Corp., No. 14-01990-J, 2016 WL 344155 (Mass. Sup. Ct. Jan. 4, 2016), a former manager at The Chateau Burlington and The Chateau Andover restaurants filed a putative class action against parent company The...
Massachusetts is one of the few states that has not adopted some version of the Federal Rules of Evidence. The rules of evidence in Massachusetts are not codified, meaning that evidentiary issues are governed by common law. In 1982, the Supreme Judicial Court ("SJC")...
In Pelullo v. Croft, the Massachusetts Appeals Court issued an important decision regarding zoning by-laws. 86 Mass. App. Ct. 908 (2014). The Defendant applied to the Natick building inspector for a permit to construct a single family home on his lot at 15 Upland...
In November 2014, Massachusetts voters approved a ballot question that requires all private sector employers to provide employees with up to 40 hours of sick leave per calendar year. Under the new law, which goes into effect July 1, 2015, employers of 11 or more...
The Appeals Court recently affirmed a Probate and Family Court judge's decision -- made pursuant to the "second look" doctrine -- to award a wife $400,000 as a substitute for the principal residence that she was to receive according to the letter of the parties'...
Naming a mortgage servicer as mortgagee on a statutory right-to-cure notice satisfies the requirements of the Commonwealth's pre-foreclosure right-to-cure statute, according to a recent decision of the Appeals Court. In Haskins v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Co, 86...
The Commonwealth's highest court, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, recently answered that question in the affirmative. On September 15, 2014, the Court decided Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association, Inc. v. Tesla Motors MA, Inc., 469 Mass. 675...
In Maiocco v. Leggs, 32 Mass.L.Rptr. 228 (2014), Judge Robert Gordon considered when a party's right to appeal a decision of the Beacon Hill Architectural Commission terminated. Under 1995 Mass. Acts, Chapter 616, the proponent of a construction project involving...
One of the many advantages of arbitration over litigation is that the parties to a dispute have the opportunity to choose the arbitrator or arbitrators who will decide their claims. The selection of an arbitrator is a critical decision point that necessarily occurs...
While Section 4-111 of the Uniform Commercial Code ("UCC") contains a three-year statute of limitations for filing claims against a bank for paying an unauthorized or altered item from an account, a more potent tool for banks can be found in UCC 4-406(f), a one-year...
Fitch Law Partners LLP reports news and insights on complex litigation topics. Clients, colleagues and friends may receive The Fitch Briefs by signing up here.