Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Massachusetts
-
March 04, 2024
Justices Say States Can't Keep Trump Off Ballot
The U.S. Supreme Court found that states can't bar Donald Trump from running for reelection this year based on a 14th Amendment provision, with justices on Monday reversing a Colorado high court decision that barred Trump from the state's primary election ballot.
-
March 04, 2024
JetBlue And Spirit Nix $3.8B Deal After Court Block
JetBlue Airways said Monday that it has reached an agreement with Spirit Airlines to end their planned $3.8 billion merger, after the U.S. Department of Justice convinced a Massachusetts federal court to block the deal earlier this year.
-
March 01, 2024
Ga. Tech Prof Gets Most China-Tied Fraud Charges Tossed
A Georgia federal judge on Friday overruled a federal magistrate in dismissing nine of 10 criminal charges against a former Georgia Institute of Technology professor who was accused of using his post to help bring foreign nationals into the U.S. to covertly work for Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE.
-
March 01, 2024
Harvard Grad Conned Alums In $3M Scheme, NY AG Says
A Harvard Business School graduate suspected of swindling nearly $3 million from his fellow alum — one of whom reportedly took his own life after losing $100,000 — has been ordered by a New York state court judge to stop soliciting investors in what investigators called a classic Ponzi scheme.
-
March 01, 2024
GSK, Shook Hardy Can Recover Costs After Zofran MDL Win
GlaxoSmithKline and its attorneys from Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP can recover more than $450,000 in legal costs after beating a multidistrict suit claiming the company's anti-nausea drug Zofran caused birth defects, a federal judge has ruled.
-
March 01, 2024
Dartmouth Urges NLRB To Pause College Hoops Vote
Dartmouth College urged the National Labor Relations Board to hold off on a scheduled union vote among its men's basketball players, saying an agency official grossly misapplied federal law and ignored precedent in allowing the election to proceed.
-
March 01, 2024
CVS, Walgreens Receive FDA's OK To Dispense Abortion Drug
Pharmacy giants CVS and Walgreens announced Friday that they have received federal certification to dispense the abortion drug mifepristone and will begin doing so soon in certain states — a development that President Joe Biden hailed as historic and that comes amid a larger battle in the U.S. Supreme Court.
-
March 01, 2024
Thoma Bravo Ups Everbridge Deal Size By $300M, To $1.8B
Cooley LLP-advised software company Everbridge said Friday that Kirkland & Ellis LLP-led Thoma Bravo has agreed to up its proposed acquisition of Everbridge to $35 per share from $28.60, boosting Everbridge's implied value on the transaction from $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion and sending its stock soaring an additional 25%.
-
March 01, 2024
Fired Boston Top Cop Says 'Destroyed Reputation' Merits Trial
A Boston police commissioner fired after decades-old allegations of domestic abuse surfaced told a federal judge he is entitled to his day in court for his defamation suit, saying the city's former mayor "destroyed" his reputation in the press.
-
February 29, 2024
Pentagon Leak Suspect To Change Plea In Hearing Next Week
Federal prosecutors indicated Thursday that a former Massachusetts Air National Guardsman will change his not guilty plea to charges he posted hundreds of top-secret military intelligence documents online, asking a Massachusetts federal judge to schedule a change of plea hearing for next week.
-
February 29, 2024
Two More Cos. Hit With 'In Concert' Delaware Bylaw Suits
The number of class actions targeting companies' boards of directors and allegedly "coercive" bylaw provisions continues to grow, as two new investor suits were filed in Delaware's Court of Chancery against Massachusetts payments software company Flywire Corp. and California subscription software company Zuora Inc.
-
February 29, 2024
Medtronic Expands Its Bladder Device Patent Fight
Medical device conglomerate Medtronic has opened two more fronts in its fight over a new kind of "neuromodulation solution" for bladder and bowel control issues that's at the center of its ongoing intellectual property dispute with a newer and smaller rival, a recent acquisition of Boston Scientific.
-
February 29, 2024
Mass. High Court Revises 'Complex' Anti-SLAPP Guidance
The Massachusetts anti-SLAPP statute can't shield a company from being sued over years of litigation allegedly aimed solely at thwarting a potential competitor, the state's highest court said Thursday as it issued new guidance intended to make it easier for judges to resolve such disputes.
-
February 29, 2024
Biden Floats 3 Nominees To Return FERC To Full Strength
President Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled a trio of nominees to fill vacant commissioner slots at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, including the solicitor general of West Virginia and a former Massachusetts energy official.
-
February 29, 2024
Insurance Co. Settles Mass. Worker's Long COVID Suit
Lincoln Life Assurance has agreed to resolve a suit alleging it wrongly cut off disability payments to a worker who was recovering from over a year of debilitating long-term symptoms caused by COVID-19, according to a Thursday order in Massachusetts federal court.
-
February 29, 2024
Harvard Faces Appeal Of Ruling Over Alleged Body Part Sales
Families suing Harvard University over the alleged theft and sale of body parts donated to the institution's medical school on Thursday appealed a ruling that found the university was immune from all claims across a dozen related lawsuits.
-
February 29, 2024
Amazon Seller Thrasio Seeks $360M DIP Facility In Ch. 11
Thrasio Holdings Inc., which aggregates third-party brands for sale on Amazon, has urged a New Jersey bankruptcy court to sign off on an agreement the company struck with lenders to finance the consumer goods business' Chapter 11 case to the tune of $360 million.
-
February 29, 2024
Hub Hires: Proskauer, Hogan Lovells, The SJC
The shortest month of the year was a day longer this year and featured some significant Boston legal market moves, including a new member of the top court, a new finance attorney at Proskauer, and Hogan Lovells adding a longtime Foley Hoag partner.
-
February 28, 2024
Au Pair Agency Can't Arbitrate Wage Claims, Judge Says
Au pair agency Cultural Care has waived any claimed right to pursue arbitration in a proposed collective wage complaint by extensively litigating the case for several years, including a trip to the First Circuit, a Massachusetts federal judge concluded Wednesday.
-
February 28, 2024
Green Groups Back Mass. Lobstering Closure To Save Whales
Conservation groups told a Massachusetts federal court that an offshore seasonal fishing closure is critical to stop gear entanglements threatening nearly extinct North Atlantic right whales, urging the court to reject the lobster industry's move to block the restrictions.
-
February 28, 2024
Construction Co. Boss Gets 9 Mos. For $1M Payroll Tax Fraud
A Boston federal judge has sentenced the owner of two Massachusetts construction companies to nine months in prison for failing to pay more than $1 million in employment taxes over a decade.
-
February 28, 2024
Equinox And Trainer Ignored Struggling Before Injury, Suit Says
An Equinox personal trainer ignored a client whose struggle to complete a bench press led to a ruptured pectoral muscle, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Massachusetts.
-
February 28, 2024
Mass. High Court Nominee Who Dated Gov. Confirmed 6-1
A Massachusetts Appeals Court justice and former WilmerHale partner whose past relationship with Gov. Maura Healey raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest was confirmed 6-1 to a seat on the state's highest court on Wednesday, with several members of the Governor's Council dismissing those concerns.
-
February 28, 2024
NuVasive Can Pierce Co. To Collect From Ex-Rep, Judge Says
NuVasive Inc. can pierce the corporate veil to collect a $617,000-plus arbitration judgment it won against a company operated by one of its former sales representatives who improperly cut ties with the medical device company and violated his noncompete agreement, a Boston federal judge has ruled.
-
February 28, 2024
Major Amazon Seller Thrasio Enters Ch. 11 To Cut $500M Debt
Thrasio Holdings Inc., a consumer goods company that is one of Amazon's largest third-party sellers, announced Wednesday that it entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New Jersey with the aim of cutting nearly $500 million in debt while bringing in more capital.
Expert Analysis
-
Without Stronger Due Diligence, Attys Risk AML Regulation
Amid increasing pressure to mitigate money laundering and terrorism financing risks in gatekeeper professions, the legal industry will need to clarify and strengthen existing client due diligence measures — or risk the federal regulation attorneys have long sought to avoid, says Jeremy Glicksman at the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office.
-
Every Lawyer Can Act To Prevent Peer Suicide
Members of the legal industry can help prevent suicide among their colleagues, and better protect their own mental health, by learning the predictors and symptoms of depression among attorneys and knowing when and how to get practical aid to peers in crisis, says Joan Bibelhausen at Minnesota Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers.
-
Building On Successful Judicial Assignment Reform In Texas
Prompt action by the Judicial Conference could curtail judge shopping and improve the efficiency and procedural fairness of the federal courts by implementing random districtwide assignment of cases, which has recently proven successful in Texas patent litigation, says Dabney Carr at Troutman Pepper.
-
Do Videoconferences Establish Jurisdiction With Defendants?
What it means to have minimum contacts in a foreign jurisdiction is changing as people become more accustomed to meeting via video, and defendants’ participation in videoconferencing may be used as a sword or a shield in courts’ personal jurisdiction analysis, says Patrick Hickey at Moye White.
-
Opinion
Humanism Should Replace Formalism In The Courts
The worrying tendency for judges to say "it's just the law talking, not me" in American decision writing has coincided with an historic decline in respect for the courts, but this trend can be reversed if courts develop understandable legal standards and justify them in human terms, says Connecticut Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher.
-
Don't Let Client Demands Erode Law Firm Autonomy
As clients increasingly impose requirements for attorney hiring and retention related to diversity and secondment, law firms must remember their ethical duties, as well as broader issues of lawyer development, culture and firm integrity, to maintain their independence while meaningfully responding to social changes, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.
-
Distressed Cannabis Cos. Have A Few Options, With Caveats
As the cannabis industry falls on tough times and a potential recession looms, attorneys should understand the limited restructuring options available to distressed cannabis businesses, absent key bankruptcy protections — and the pitfalls these options may present, say Griffen Thorne and Ethan Minkin at Harris Bricken.
-
Opinion
Federal Judge's Amici Invitation Is A Good Idea, With Caveats
An Arkansas federal judge’s recent order — inviting amicus briefs in every civil case before him — has merit, but its implementation may raise practical questions about the role of junior attorneys, economic considerations and other issues, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation.
-
Fox Ex-Producer Case Is A Lesson In Joint Representation
A former Fox News producer's allegations that the network's lawyers pressured her to give misleading testimony in Fox's defamation battle with Dominion Voting Systems should remind lawyers representing a nonparty witness that the rules of joint representation apply, says Jared Marx at HWG.
-
Opinion
Stanford Law Protest Highlights Rise Of Incivility In Discourse
The recent Stanford Law School incident, where students disrupted a speech by U.S. Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan, should be a reminder to teach law students how to be effective advocates without endangering physical and mental health, says Nancy Rapoport at the University of Nevada.
-
Opinion
Proposed Broadcast Ban On Sports Betting Ads Is Overbroad
The Betting on our Future Act, which proposes a total broadcast ban of advertising for sports betting, would violate commercial speech rights due to the heightened protection of advertising speech since the tobacco ban, and is unlikely to pass constitutional muster under a key U.S. Supreme Court test, says Mark Conrad at Fordham University.
-
Dispute Prevention Strategies To Halt Strife Before It Starts
With geopolitical turbulence presenting increased risks of business disputes amid court backlogs and ballooning costs, companies should consider building mechanisms for dispute prevention into newly established partnerships to constructively resolve conflicts before they do costly damage, say Ellen Waldman and Allen Waxman at the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution.
-
Dormant Commerce Clause Issues Are Evolving In Cannabis
As federal courts across the country wrestle with how the Constitution’s dormant commerce clause applies to state-legal cannabis markets, industry stakeholders will need to watch how the issue evolves in several key contexts, including interstate compacts, say Tommy Tobin and Andrew Kline at Perkins Coie.
-
Pollutant Insurance Case Holds Clues For Ohio Train Litigation
A recent Rhode Island Supreme Court decision in Regan Heating v. Arbella could mean that the wide-reaching impacts of the February train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, will trigger the enforcement of any total pollution exclusion contained in Norfolk Southern's commercial general liability policy, says Kayla O’Connor at Saxe Doernberger.
-
Practical Skills Young Attorneys Must Master To Be Happier
For young lawyers, finding happiness on the job — with its competitive nature and high expectations for billable hours — is complicated, but three skills can help them gain confidence, reduce stress and demonstrate their professional value in ways they never imagined, says career counselor Susan Smith Blakely.