Massachusetts Probate and Family Courts are statutorily authorized to establish parentage pursuant to complaints filed under M.G.L. c. 209C, § 5 (“209C”). Under 209C (specifically 209C, § 6(a)(1)), there exists a statutory presumption whereby the spouse of an...
The Supreme Judicial Court recently reversed the dismissal, affirmed on appeal, of an employee’s action for wrongful termination for exercising his right under G.L. c. 149 § 52C to file a rebuttal to being placed on a performance improvement plan for inclusion in his...
Pursuant to the National Bank Act, the Home Owners’ Loan Act, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, the “Valid-When-Made” doctrine has provided that if a loan is valid when it is made it cannot later become invalid or unenforceable because it is sold or assigned to a...
In the recent Essex Land Court decision of McWilliams, et al. v. Town of Rockport, et al., the Court evaluated a challenge to the Rockport Zoning Board’s decision to grant a defendant LLC a special permit allowing it to operate a restaurant with a maximum indoor and...
A recent case out of the Seventh Circuit, Bartlit Beck LLP v. Okada, dealt with a common question about arbitration: what happens when the other side refuses to participate. In Bartlit Beck, that law firm had represented Kazuo Okada in a multi-billion dollar lawsuit...
In Ithaca Finance, LLC v. Lopez (Decision and Order, January 3, 2022), the Massachusetts Land Court allowed Defendant’s motion to vacate a 2016 Judgment and found that Defendant could redeem the property at issue in accordance with M.G.L. c. 60, § 68. The Land Court...
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...
In response to consumer complaints, in 1991 Congress passed the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) to discourage and prevent unsolicited advertisement over telephone lines. The TCPA places restrictions on the use of automatic telephone dialing systems, both...
In a recent Rule 23 decision, McCrea v. Clayton, a panel of the Massachusetts Appeals Court vacated and remanded the lower court’s order denying Mother’s motion to alter or amend a modification judgment that required her to pay child support to Father because the...
In Granger v. Nesbitt, the District Court for the District of Massachusetts exercised its discretion to quash service instead of dismissing the case despite the plaintiff’s untimely and improper service on the Canadian defendants. The case involved a car accident that...
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