US courts continue to be divided on the enforceability of emergency arbitration awards. As addressed in previous writings, in 2019 the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia refused to enforce an international Emergency Award in the Al Raha case,...
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, has deepened a split among federal appellate courts, holding that government agencies can be sued under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”), 15 U.S.C.A. § 1681. The DC Circuit joined the Seventh...
In a recent Rule 23 decision, a panel of the Massachusetts Appeals Court upheld the lower court’s modification judgment shifting legal and primary physical custody of the parties’ two minor children from their mother to their father, noting the mother’s conduct...
In a recent unpublished decision, reversing a Superior Court decision, the Massachusetts Appeals Court concluded that certain agreements did not constitute “contracts of employment” and, therefore, were subject to the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). In Cuneo v....
The Massachusetts Appeals Court recently held in the case of Kettle Brook Lofts, LLC v. Stacy Specht, that a condominium’s master deed and the Massachusetts condominium statute, G.L. c. 183A, invalidated a developer’s attempts to unilaterally extend its time to...
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...
On September 22, 2021, the Suffolk County Superior Court held a contractor would be compelled to arbitrate a dispute with its electrical subcontractor. The decision shows that by taking action consistent with an agreement to arbitrate—in this case arguing the merits...
Strabag SE, a large international construction company based in Austria was awarded construction contracts for two major road projects in Libya in 2003. In 2006, after Libya began requiring foreign construction firms to carry out their contracts in conjunction with a...
In Booth v. Booth, the Massachusetts Appeals Court vacated the Probate and Family Court’s decision to consider the Husband’s pension as a source of income for alimony purposes in the divorce, as well as the alimony award, and remanded. The parties were married for 35...
Invoking a doctrine called “direct benefits estoppel,” on July 8, 2021, the Supreme Judicial Court forced the New England Patriots to arbitrate a dispute with charter aircraft company Team 125, Inc. Under direct benefits estoppel, a signatory to an arbitration...
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