Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly articles from April 2004

Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly archives from April 2004

Q&A with Brian Knuuttila Gardner, Gardner Democrat.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Rep. Brian Knuuttila, a Gardner Democrat, is the sponsor of H4321, the bill that proposes to raise the minimum hourly rate paid to court-appointed lawyers in Massachusetts, which has not seen an...

Commentary: A famous juror ... is that OK?
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Let me get this straight. In New York, former Tyco executives Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz are on trial for embezzlement. (As Lawyers Weekly went to press last week, the jury was still...

Judging the judges: Part 1.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Dave Yas First of two parts. Can judges' performance be measured by how efficiently they handle a docket? Massachusetts attorneys say "no," according to a Lawyers Weekly poll. Attorneys also feel that judicial evaluations...

Massahcusetts Lawyers in the News: April 5, 2004.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Alden J. Bianchi and Donald W. Schroeder have joined Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo in Boston. Bianchi will head the employee benefits and executive compensation practice of the...

Boston attorney, Melville Chapin, died at 85.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Longtime corporate lawyer Melville Chapin, who was of counsel at the Boston firm Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, died at Massachusetts General Hospital after suffering a brain hemorrhage while vacationing...

Mass. Appellate Tax Board Case Summaries: April 5, 2004.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Taxation Renovator Of Kitchens - Sales Taxes Where evidence indicates that the appellant is a renovator of kitchens and not a vendor of cabinets and countertops, we hold that the...

Mass. Appellate Division Case Summaries: April 5, 2004.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Dismissal Motion - Petition For Civil Commitment Where a woman has challenged a denial of her motion to dismiss a civil commitment petition filed by a hospital, we conclude...

Massachusetts Appeals Court Case Summaries: April 5, 2004.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals Judgments Affirmed The Appeals Court has affirmed, pursuant to Rule 1:28, judgments in the following cases. Although the decisions do not appear to address any substantive issues...

Verdicts & Settlements April 5, 2004: Woman trips on stairs, needs hip replacement.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $375,000 Settlement On the evening of Oct. 19, 2000, the plaintiff, a 34-year-old computer specialist, was walking down the concrete back porch stairs from her apartment. When she reached the...

Verdicts & Settlements April 5, 2004: Driver hits parked vehicle; pedestrian's legs crushed.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $1.25 Million Settlement On June 2, 2003, the plaintiff was removing items from the trunk of her motor vehicle, which was parallel parked on the right-hand side of North Street in Natick. The...

Verdicts & Settlements April 5, 2004: Nerve cut during surgery, patient loses use of arm.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $750,000 Settlement In March 1999, the plaintiff, then a 55-year-old X-ray technician at a suburban hospital for more than 30 years, scheduled a routine appointment with his primary care...

Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers Admonitions: April 5, 2004.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Supreme Judicial Court No. 2004-018BD IN RE: W. THEODORE HARRIS, JR. Supreme Judicial Court No. 2004-018BD IN RE: W. THEODORE HARRIS, JR. Last known address: 71 Pleasant Street...

Cleaning ladies return lost engagement ring to Boston attorney.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff In a world overflowing with cynicism and greed, its moral fiber shredded by incidents of white-collar thievery and breasty wardrobe malfunctions on nationwide television during "family hour,"...

Boston attorneys say non-expert witnesses persuasive in patent cases.
April 5, 2004... Byline: John O. Cunningham Two Boston patent litigators say that a recent $2.1 million verdict in a bench trial was the result of executing a simple plan: presenting proof of patent infringement with non-expert witnesses rather than...

Mass. Appeals Court nixes death case without an expert.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Lisa K. Bruno A university could not be found liable for the death of a student evaluated at its health center where the plaintiffs' claim of negligent practices was not supported by expert testimony, the Appeals Court has held....

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: April 5, 2004.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Accord And Satisfaction - Constitutionality Where a woman has signed an accord and satisfaction agreeing to the dismissal of a criminal complaint charging her husband with assault...

Mass. Land Courts Case Summaries: April 5, 2004.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Real Property Proposed Development - Location Of Dwelling Where a dispute has arisen regarding the proposed development of a Wayland lot, I find that any proposed development of the...

U.S. Magistrate Judges Case Summaries: April 5, 2004.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Qualified Immunity - Police Shooting Where (1) a plaintiff, who was shot by the police following a car chase which resulted in his arrest, was awarded by a jury $250,000 on a...

Verdicts & Settlements April 5, 2004: Worker: Injured back when metal stairs collapsed.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $110,000 Settlement The plaintiff, a delivery truck driver, alleged that he suffered a herniated disc as a result of a collapse of metal stairs attached to a loading dock at the defendant's...

Verdicts & Settlements April 5, 2004: Repairman falls from ladder, hurts his back.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $450,000 Settlement The plaintiff, an HVAC repairman, fell on the premises of a retail business while accessing rooftop HVAC units via means of a fixed ladder provided by the owner. The ladder...

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court seeks amicus briefs.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT FOR THE COMMONWEALTH ANNOUNCEMENT THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT IS SOLICITING AMICUS BRIEFS OR MEMORANDA FROM INTERESTED PARTIES IN THE FOLLOWING APPEAL PENDING BEFORE THE...

Mass. Supreme Judicial Court Case Summaries: April 5, 2004.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals G.L.c. 211, Sect. 3 Petition - Corporation's Assignment Of Counterclaims Where a petitioner, the owner and sole shareholder of a construction company, has appealed from a single...

Mass. Superior Courts Case Summaries: April 5, 2004.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Pharmacy Alliance - Dispensing Fee Reduction - Reconsideration Where (1) a plaintiff filed suit against the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy seeking...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: April 5, 2004.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Late Proof Of Claim - Notice Where a debtor seeks reconsideration of an order granting a judgment creditor's motion to file late proof of claim, the debtor's request should be...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: April 5, 2004.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals 1st Circuit Jurisdiction - Magistrate Judge Where a defendant has appealed a magistrate judge's ruling finding the defendant guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol on a...

The new Chief Justice of Administration and Management's initiatives.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff When it comes to adequate funding, things are never easy for the Trial Court Department. But there was a ray of hope recently when the Legislature did in fact override the governor's veto of $5.9...

Massachusetts lawyer is also general manger of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff The "Big Bad Bruins" of the 1960s and '70s may have been the roughest group in the National Hockey League, but John Ferguson of the rival Montreal Canadiens was one tough guy in that era who was...

Massachusetts men perish on boat; rare suffering damages awarded.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Tony Wright Massachusetts lawsuits brought in connection with deaths at sea usually only result in economic-support damages for family members who lose a loved one. But plaintiffs' attorneys in a recent maritime case were able...

Easier discovery under new criminal provisions in Massachusetts.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Jason M. Scally Criminal lawyers will no longer need to file motions for certain "routine" discovery requests under changes to the Massachusetts Rules of Criminal Procedure recently promulgated by the Supreme Judicial Court. ...

Mass. Dept. of Industrial Accidents Case Summaries: April 5, 2004.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Workers' Compensation Unilateral Termination - Partial Incapacity Benefits Where an administrative judge ruled that a self-insurer's unilateral termination of an employee's G.L.c. 152,...

Mass. Commission Against Discrimination Case Summaries: April 5, 2004.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Public Accommodation - Service Dog Where a respondent, the owner of a store containing a fruit stand and deli, discriminated against a complainant customer who was...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: April 5, 2004.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Insolvency Of Bank - Accountant's Liability Where a debtor bank's bankruptcy trustee has filed a complaint alleging that but for the defendant accounting firm's negligence in...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: April 5, 2004.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Environmental Clean Water Act - 'Point Source' A "point source" as defined by the Clean Water Act isn't exempt from permit requirements merely because it does not itself add pollutants...

Mass. Dept. of Environmental Protection Case Summaries: April 12, 2004.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Environmental Water Withdrawal Permits - Conditions Where (1) the Department of Environmental Protection has issued water withdrawal permits to 10 communities and water boards in the...

Mass. Land Courts Case Summaries: April 12, 2004.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Real Property Trespass Claim Where the plaintiff has filed suit, claiming that a defendant has committed "common law trespass" in violation of the plaintiff's right to use a certain...

Mass. Commission Against Discrimination Case Summaries: April 12, 2004.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Employment Handicap Discrimination - Epilepsy Where evidence indicates that respondent employers terminated a complainant receptionist because of her epilepsy, the respondents will be...

Mass. Supreme Judicial Court Case Summaries: April 12, 2004.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals Petition Under G.L.c. 211, Sect. 3 - Challenge To Criminal Convictions Where an individual (1) unsuccessfully appealed his criminal convictions to the Appeals Court, (2) was...

Q&A with Dean Richlin, Boston attorney.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Dean Richlin is a litigator by nature, so it's no surprise that the former first assistant attorney general left the AG's Office last month to join Foley Hoag's litigation department so he could...

Hampden County Bar Assn. coordinating cleanup event.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff It's too bad that money doesn't grow on trees, because Springfield -- like other cities and towns in Massachusetts suffering budgetary woes -- could use all the help it can get. But local...

Two high schools to open in Massachusetts for "at-risk" children.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Two high schools in the Bay State will be open this fall for a new kind of learning experience designed especially for "at-risk" children, thanks in large part to local lawyers. Newton's Jeff...

Hampden Court implements individual calendar system.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff TO: MEMBERS OF THE BAR AND PUBLIC FROM: DAVID M. FULLER, FIRST JUSTICE PROBATE AND FAMILY COURT RE: IMPLEMENTATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL CALENDAR SYSTEM Effective April 1, 2004 this...

Guidelines for notaries will protect confidences in Massachusetts.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Jason M. Scally Lawyers who double as notaries should be able to maintain attorney-client confidentiality in their notary practice under a revised set of guidelines released by the governor's office last week -- even though all...

Massachusetts Appeals Court Case Summaries: April 12, 2004.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals Judgments Affirmed The Appeals Court has affirmed, pursuant to Rule 1:28, judgments in the following cases. Although the decisions do not appear to address any substantive issues...

District Court/BMC Appellate Division Case Summaries: April 12, 2004.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Landlord And Tenant Summary Process Action - Notice Of Lease Termination Where a plaintiff municipal housing authority (1) gave a defendant tenant notice that his lease was being...

Mass. Superior Courts Case Summaries: April 12, 2004.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Document Production - Confidentiality Where plaintiffs' counsel wishes to obtain copies of documents in the defendant's possession, the identity of those documents...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: April 12, 2004.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals Failure To Oppose Dismissal Motion Where plaintiffs have appealed a U.S. District Court order dismissing their claim for attorney's fees and costs, the order should be affirmed...

Verdicts & Settlements April 12, 2004: Rotator spindle catches apron; worker hurt.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $850,000 Settlement The plaintiff, an immigrant temporary worker, was working on a 12-foot-high open platform where he was manually pushing spinach from a conveyor belt lift into a centrifuge...

Putting judicial evaluations on display.
April 12, 2004... Byline: David L. Yas Second of two parts. Should the results of judicial evaluations be made public in Massachusetts? While the traditionalists among us might bristle at the thought of raw criticism of judges being unleashed in...

Boston attorney gets Alabama death-row inmate's conviction and sentence vacated.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Richard L. Neumeier is a lifesaver -- literally. Thanks to the Boston attorney, an Alabama death-row inmate's conviction and sentence was recently vacated. Which begs the question: What's a...

Pittsfield attorney offering free legal advice in exchange for voter signatures.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Rinaldo Del Gallo III may be contemplating shaking things up in Berkshire County, but it is his innovative approach to securing a place on the ballot in the upcoming run for the district attorney's...

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court says tenant with refusal right balks, but condo sale OK.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Tony Wright An owner could sell his entire condominium building without first ensuring that he was receiving a "fair market" price for the lone unit that carried with it a right-of-first-refusal, the Supreme Judicial Court has...

Texas company is sued in Massachusetts, jurisdiction based on e-mails.
April 12, 2004... Byline: John O. Cunningham A Texas company could be sued for defamation in Massachusetts after sending e-mails containing statements critical of a Needham company's products to 60 Massachusetts residents, a U.S. District Court judge has...

Massachusetts Lawyers in the News: April 12, 2004.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Mary Ellen Manganelli has been named an associate at Bulkley, Richardson & Gelinas in the firm's Boston office. Manganelli will work in the litigation/alternative dispute resolution department. ...

Massachusetts law firms announce staffing changes: April 12, 2004.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Jennifer Norton, Melissa J. Richard and Beth A. Nuzzo have joined Conn, Kavanaugh, Rosenthal, Peisch & Ford in Boston. Richard and Nuzzo recently graduated from law school and Norton has almost 10...

U.S. Magistrate Judges Case Summaries: April 12, 2004.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Prisons Altercation With Fellow Inmate Where a plaintiff has filed a civil rights action seeking to hold the defendant sheriff liable for injuries the plaintiff sustained while in jail,...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: April 12, 2004.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Real Property 'Valuable Minerals- - Pittman Underground Water Act Sand and gravel are not "valuable minerals" that the United States government retains title to under the Pittman...

Verdicts & Settlements April 12, 2004: Car accident leaves driver with back strain.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $390,000 Verdict This was a motor vehicle accident that occurred on Sept. 27, 2000. The plaintiff, a 61-year-old man, was traveling down the road when the defendant pulled from a stop sign...

Verdicts & Settlements April 12, 2004: Delay in diagnosis of 'benign' prostate cancer.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $150,000 Settlement In 1996, prostate biopsy specimens of the 66-year-old plaintiff were reviewed by the defendant pathologist and reported to be "benign prostatic hyperplasia." Three years...

An update on structured settlements.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff In 2000, the Legislature enacted G.L.c. 231, Sect. 2 regulating the sale or transfer of structured settlement rights with the intent of protecting recipients of structured settlements from...

Revised Executive Order for Massachusetts notaries.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff SUMMARY OF PROPOSED CHANGES TO NOTARY EXEC. ORDER The following proposed changes to Executive Order 455 (03-13) respond to feedback that we received from the legal community and public: *...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says worker may sue for 'indirect' discrimination.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Tony Wright A worker may sue his former employer for age bias on the theory that he was fired by an "innocent" superior who relied on inaccurate information provided by an employee who was biased, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of...

Appellate Division Massachusetts Case Summaries: April 12, 2004.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Contract Nursing Home - Death Of Resident Where a plaintiff nursing home filed suit seeking to hold the estate of a deceased resident liable for the decedent's unpaid daily charges,...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: April 12, 2004.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Tax Levy - Automatic Stay Where a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge denied the Massachusetts Department of Revenue's motion for an order authorizing and directing a Chapter 13...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: April 12, 2004.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Mortgage - Modification - Homestead Where Chapter 13 debtors seek to modify a mortgage holder's secured claim, the request should be denied in light of the anti-modification...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: April 12, 2004.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Elections Initiative Petition - Public Support For Religious Schools Where (1) plaintiffs, whose children attend private schools sponsored or supported by religious institutions, wish to...

Verdicts & Settlements April 12, 2004: Construction site auger causes knee injury.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $710,000 Settlement The plaintiff was a 48-year-old unmarried union tunnel worker. On April 20, 2000, he was working for a subcontractor at a large construction site in Boston. He was moving...

Verdicts & Settlements April 12, 2004: Man dies after hospital discharge; EKG results disputed.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $300,000 Settlement This case involved the death of a 50-year-old man who allegedly did not receive proper evaluation of his chest pain and an abnormal EKG prior to his discharge from the...

Notice Of Hearing At Massachusetts Division Of Insurance.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation DIVISION OF INSURANCE One South Station, Boston, MA 02110-2208 (617) 521-7794, Fax: (617) 521-7758...

$3.9M Settlement In Case With Both Negligence And Med-Mal.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Tony Wright It was a case that other lawyers turned down, perhaps due to its complexity: a car-accident case with both a negligence component against a construction company and a medical-malpractice claim against doctors who...

Mass. Lawyers Express Concerns About Whether Or Not Experts Should Disclose Work-Product Materials.
April 19, 2004... Byline: John O. Cunningham Lawyers say that recent rulings by local U.S. District Court judges reveal a split as to whether the obligation to provide expert discovery requires the disclosure of materials considered by an expert that would...

Verdicts & Settlements April 19, 2004: Melanoma On Foot Proves Fatal And Results in $150K Settlement.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $150,000 Settlement In this wrongful death case, the plaintiff contended that each of the defendants deviated from the standard of care in failing to diagnose melanoma, and as a result the...

Verdicts & Settlements April 19, 2004: Misdiagnosis of 'mini strokes' leads to $1.75M settlement.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $1.75 Million Settlement This medical-malpractice claim involved allegations of failure to diagnose a likely impending stroke after a series of transient ischemic attacks (TIAs). The case was...

Verdicts & Settlements April 19, 2004: Wrist Fracture Heals Wrong And Leads To $200K Med-Mal Suit.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $200,000 Settlement The 14-year-old plaintiff had a displaced fracture of the wrist through the growth plate. Manipulation of the fracture in the emergency room by the orthopedic resident,...

Verdicts & Settlements April 19, 2004: Man Dies Of Colon Cancer Leading To $450K Settlement.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $450,000 Settlement When the plaintiff's decedent was 50 years old, he began treating with the defendant primary care physician. At no time was any colon cancer screening reportedly performed....

Mass. Judge Diana L. Maldonado Speaks To Fourth and Fifth Graders in Roslindale.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Last month, Judge Diana L. Maldonado spoke to a group of fourth- and fifth-graders in Roslindale as part of the elementary school's celebration of Women's History Month. The students and their...

The Future Of Sentencing Guidelines In Massachusetts Will Not Be Enacted Anytime Soon.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff The state's proposed sentencing guidelines have languished for years while lawmakers battle over various details that the guidelines contain. Robert A. Mulligan, as the chairman of the...

Witness-ID Proposal May Complicate Depositions In Massachusetts Courts.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Jason M. Scally Lawyers might have to ensure that witnesses have proper photo identification at depositions -- or risk having the depositions cancelled -- under newly proposed notary guidelines for court reporters. Gov. Mitt...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: April 19, 2004.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Unlawful Distributions - Insolvency Where a committee of unsecured creditors has filed a complaint alleging unlawful distributions by the debtor to the defendant, I find that...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: April 19, 2004.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Search And Seizure Searches Of Person And Of Apartment Where a defendant, who is charged with being a felon in possession of ammunition and other crimes, has filed a suppression motion, I...

Verdicts & Settlements April 19, 2004: Collagen injection causes scar and leads to $175K settlement.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $175,000 Settlement The plaintiff sought a Zyplast collagen injection at the medical practice office of the defendant physician, but was examined and treated by the defendant registered nurse...

Commentary: Who Are The People In Your Neighborhood?
April 19, 2004... Byline: David Yas Just a tale of the remarkable and the bizarre from Worcester Superior Court. The case of Commonwealth v. Lapen contemplates the eternal question: How can one be charged with assault by means of a dangerous weapon and...

'Chats' with jurors: The new voir dire in Massachusetts?
April 19, 2004... Byline: John O. Cunningham For years, the plaintiffs' bar has lamented that the traditional "group" approach to voir dire in Massachusetts -- which rarely includes individual questioning of prospective jurors -- is not effective at...

Western New England College School of Law to host LLM program for real estate planners in Fall 2005.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Getting an LLM in estate planning used to mean schlepping all the way down to the University of Miami in Florida. And while the thought of relocating to a kinder climate for a couple of years...

New England estate planning lawyer and legal secretary open an ice cream shop.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff You might think an estate-planning lawyer would put his money into stocks, bonds or complex trusts for retirement, but a young North Shore attorney is betting on ice cream instead. Joshua S....