Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly articles from April 2007

Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly archives from April 2007

Notices from the Courts: April 2, 2007.(Public notice)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Standing orders issued by MCAD Standing Order of the Commissioners Regarding Pre-Determination Case Process. February 20, 2007 Recently, the Commission has re-evaluated and modified...

Mass. Legal Obituaries: April 2, 2007.(Raymond R. Cross, James R. Lawton)(Obituary)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Raymond R. Cross, a retired Superior Court judge, died March 16 at his home in Longmeadow. He was 82. Cross graduated from Brown University and Harvard Law School. In addition to practicing...

Commentary: Jury empanelment process deserving of major overhaul.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Any honest trial lawyer will tell you that her primary objective in selecting a jury is to identify those 12 citizens who will most likely share her client's interpretation of the truth. (Truth,...

Appellate Tax Board Case Summaries: April 2, 2007.(CFM Buckley/North LLC v. Board of Assessors of Town of Greenfield)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Taxation Limited liability companies - Charitable exemption Where three appellant nursing homes assert that they qualify for a charitable tax exemption under G.L.c. 59, Sect. 5, cl. 3, we...

District Court/BMC Appellate Division Case Summaries: April 2, 2007.(Bonadio v. Iebba)(Advance Me Inc. v. Catfish Grille)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil practice Default judgment - Service of process Where a defendant moved for relief from a default judgment, an order denying that motion must be reversed given uncontroverted evidence...

Appeals Court Case Summaries: April 2, 2007.(Commonwealth v. Brown)(Logan v. Commissioner of the Department of Industrial Accidents)(Doe, Sex Offender Registry Board v. Sex Offender Registry Board)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals Judgments affirmed Elliot v. Grillakis (Lawyers Weekly No. 81-255-07) (9 pages) (auto accident case; challenge to denials of the plaintiff's motions for a judgment n.o.v. and for...

U.S. Bankruptcy Appellate Panel Case Summaries: April 2, 2007.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy 'Carve-out' funds - Professional fees Where a party objected to the payment of professional fee applications from "carve-out" funds, the objection must be overruled under the...

Labor Relations Commission Case Summaries: April 2, 2007.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Labor Reconsideration - 'Unlawful work transfer' charge Where a union has asked us to reconsider our November 2006 dismissal of a prohibited practice allegation made against the...

Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination Case Summaries: April 2, 2007.(MCAD v. Pereira)(Sutherland v. New Montalegre Restaurant)(Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination v. Rockmore Co.)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Employment Discrimination - Age - National origin Where a respondent employer failed to appear in response to a complaint alleging discrimination on the basis of age and national origin,...

Supreme Judicial Court Case Summaries: April 2, 2007.(Commonwealth v. Phinney)(Fuentes v. Commonwealth)(Commonwealth v. Laguer)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals G.L.c. 211, Sect. 3 Where a single justice denied certain requests for relief made by a plaintiff, we hold that the single justice's decision must be affirmed as the plaintiff did...

Superior Court Case Summaries: April 2, 2007.(Martin v. Town of Upton)(Winders v. Board of Appeal on Motor Vehicle Liability Policies and Bonds)(Nissenbaum v. Town of Boxford Zoning Board of Appeals)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Evidence Treatment records Where, in a personal injury case involving a child allegedly injured on town land, the defendant town has moved for discovery of (1) the plaintiff child's...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: April 2, 2007.(United States v. Tobin)(United States v. Bravo)(Aspen v. Bissonnette)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Misprision of felony - Withdrawal of plea Where a defendant, who pled guilty to the crime of misprision of a felony, has now requested to withdraw that plea, we conclude that his...

Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers Admonitions: April 2, 2007.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff ADMONITION NO. 07-09 The respondent received an admonition for his conduct in two matters. In the first case, the clients, a husband and wife, engaged the respondent on February 25, 2004,...

Commentary: A note to our readers about editorial "Getting the numbers right at MCAD".(Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination)(Brief article)(Column)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff In the March 26 issue of Lawyers Weekly, an editorial appeared entitled "Getting the numbers right at MCAD." Calling on the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination to issue its annual...

Commentary: 'Moot' made moot? Astute.(Moot v. Department of Environmental Protection)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff The Supreme Judicial Court created an uncomfortable situation in the real-estate world with February's ruling in Moot v. Department of Environmental Protection. Now it's up to the Legislature to...

Commentary: Law paper gets all A's from lots of eager pupils.(Column)
April 2, 2007... Byline: David Yas My hands were cold and stained with black ink, all the way up to the middle knuckle. I was tired. My voice was hoarse. But the stack of newspapers that sat on Causeway Street was gone; only the tattered plastic bands that...

Massachusetts governor signs bills: April 2, 2007.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff 18. An act validating the actions taken at a certain election held in the Town of Wareham. App. and eff. March 5, 1 page. 19. An act reorganizing the Governor's Cabinet and certain agencies of...

Well-known court-watcher gets special seating in U.S. District Court in Boston.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff As the malicious-prosecution trial of four men wrongfully convicted in a 1965 murder neared its conclusion recently in U.S. District Court in Boston, one well-known courthouse habitue who had...

Change-order will correct design flaw in new Worcester County Regional Justice Center.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff After years of debate about architectural aspects of the new Worcester County Regional Justice Center, a new rumor is circulating in the Worcester legal community about a possible design flaw. ...

Legacy of Supreme Judicial Court's decision about confessions to police that are not tape-recorded.(Commonwealth v. DiGiambattista)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Noah Schaffer "I was wrong," admits Hampden County District Attorney William M. Bennett of his initial reaction to the Supreme Judicial Court's 2004 decision in Commonwealth v. DiGiambattista. The ruling, largely seen as a boon...

Mass. attorney: unclaimed money piling up in IOLTA accounts.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Noah Schaffer A lawyer who frequently represents clients before the Board of Bar Overseers claims that millions of dollars are sitting in attorneys' Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts because the rightful owners of the funds...

Limited-liability companies denied charitable exemption by Mass. Appellate Tax Board.(CFM Buckley/North, LLC v. Board of Assessors of Town of Greenfield)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Eric T. Berkman Three nursing homes are ineligible for a charitable tax exemption under G.L.c. 59, Sect. 5, where they were run as limited-liability companies, the Appellate Tax Board has ruled. The nursing homes argued that...

BBO not subject to public records law, Supreme Judicial Court rules.(Kettenbach v. Board of Bar Overseers)
April 2, 2007... Byline: David E. Frank Neither the Board of Bar Overseers nor the Office of Bar Counsel must comply with a public records request seeking all documents related to an attorney's bar status, the Supreme Judicial Court has decided. The...

Gants to lead Superior Court's Business Litigation Session; others also named.(Chief Justice Barbara J. Rouse appoints Ralph D. Gants as Allan van Gestel retires)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Byline: David Frank Superior Court Chief Justice Barbara J. Rouse has announced that Judge Ralph D. Gants will replace Judge Allan van Gestel in the Business Litigation Session when he officially retires in January. Gants -- already a...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: April 2, 2007.(Nascimento v. Preferred Mutual Insurance Company)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Insurance Oil leak - Pollution exclusion Where (1) the plaintiff's underground oil storage tank allegedly leaked, allowing home heating oil to contaminate his neighbors' properties, (2)...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: April 2, 2007.(Rockwell International v. U.S. ex rel. Stone)(Limtiaco v. Camacho)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil practice Qui tam - False Claims Act The False Claims Act's "original source" provision requires relators to have direct and independent knowledge of the information on which their...

Mass. Lawyers in the News: April 2, 2007.(Greenberg Traurig L.L.P. appoints Derek Davis)(Burns and Levinson appoints James L. Spaur)(Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo P.C. appoints Susan M. Finegan)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff New associations Derek Davis has joined the Boston office of Greenberg Traurig as a shareholder. James L. Spaur has joined Burns & Levinson in Boston as an associate. Stephanie S....

Commentary: Purchasing a competitor's trademark as a 'keyword' online.
April 2, 2007... Byline: John E. Ottaviani Your client calls with a question. She wants to purchase Internet advertising that is triggered when her company's trademarks are typed into a search request. She also wants to purchase the trademarks of some of...

Mum's the word at open house welcoming former Mass. Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly.(Greenberg Traurig L.L.P.)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff It was billed as an open house, but it sounded as if there would be lots of closed mouths at the March 29 welcome by the Boston office of Greenberg Traurig for its new shareholder, former state...

Commentary: Coach's Corner: Succession planning issues when selling a small law firm.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Edward Poll For the small firm, and especially the sole practitioner, selling a law practice to another qualified lawyer can alleviate a host of succession planning issues. However, without adequate planning for a sale, a sole...

Seller's Market: Q&A on how lawyers can market their legal business.(LegalBizDev's James Hassett)(Interview)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Seller's Market offers practitioners information about marketing their skills and services as attorneys. This week, reporter Barbara Rabinovitz talks shop with James Hassett, president of...

Expert Opinion: Q&A about tax ramifications for limited-liability partnerships/companies.(Wellesley Group's David H. Feinberg)(Interview)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff In Expert Opinion, Lawyers Weekly interviews specialists in the management of law firms. This first week of April, with taxes on many readers' minds, reporter Noah Schaffer speaks with Wellesley...

Verdicts & Settlements April 2, 2007: Rapid delivery leaves newborn with neurological injury.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $2 million settlement The plaintiffs claimed that the defendant obstetrician, asleep at home, failed to come to the hospital for what he knew or should have known would likely be a rapid labor...

Verdicts & Settlements April 2, 2007: Despite abnormal ultrasound, cancer surgery delayed.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $1.5 million settlement The 58-year-old plaintiff's medical history was significant for angioplasty surgery in 1995 and recurrent epididymitis of the right testicle, which had been treated...

Verdicts & Settlements April 2, 2007: Patient's cancer spreads after biopsy test misread.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $1.5 million settlement The 54-year-old plaintiff was diagnosed with malignant melanoma in 2003. The plaintiff claimed the defendant pathologist misread a biopsy specimen from her foot in...

Verdicts & Settlements April 2, 2007: 500-pound weight falls on machine operator.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $350,000 settlement On Dec 7, 2004, while the plaintiff employee was performing his duties as a machine tender, a 500-pound weight fell 10 feet onto the employee, causing a crush injury to his...

Verdicts & Settlements April 2, 2007:Synagogue cantor abuses mentally disabled woman.(Getz v. Shapiro)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $5.95 million verdict The 30-year-old mentally disabled plaintiff had a history of multiple mental, emotional and intellectual challenges. She had obsessive compulsive disorder, which severely...

Verdicts & Settlements April 2, 2007:Tenants sue landlord over bedbug infestation in unit.(Johnson v. McKenna)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $20,650 verdict The plaintiffs filed suit against their former landlord seeking damages based on a pervasive bedbug infestation. At trial, the plaintiffs offered evidence that the...

Mass. Department of Industrial Accidents Case Summaries: April 9, 2007.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Workers' compensation Medical evidence - Causation Where an employee has been awarded permanent and total incapacity benefits, we hold that the award must be reversed as unsupported by the...

Mass. Labor Relations Commission Case Summaries: April 9, 2007.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Labor Start times - 'Repudiation' claim Where a union has filed a prohibited practice charge against the Board of Higher Education, we hold that the charge must be dismissed because the...

Land Court Case Summaries: April 9, 2007.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Real property Tax taking - Notice Where a judgment entered for the plaintiff town of Norwell in a tax taking case, I hold that the judgment must be vacated because the due process rights...

Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination Case Summaries: April 9, 2007.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals MCAD - Petition for review Where a hearing officer ruled in favor of the respondent, the complainant's appeal must be dismissed because, while he did file a timely notice of...

Division of Administrative Law Appeals hears wetlands permit application case.(Brief article)
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Environmental Wetlands - Vernal pools Where a developer's motion for a directed decision was denied in connection with a wetlands permit application, the motion should now be allowed in...

Other Mass. Agencies: April 9, 2007.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Zoning Comprehensive permit Where the Brookline zoning board issued a comprehensive permit for a condominium project, some of the permit's conditions must be stricken on the ground that...

Supreme Judicial Court Case Summaries: April 9, 2007.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Arbitration Nursing home Where a plaintiff whose father died while a patient at the defendant nursing home filed suit alleging negligence and wrongful death, the complaint should have...

Superior Court Case Summaries: April 9, 2007.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Arbitration Stay request Where a plaintiff sheriff has asked this court to stay arbitration of a grievance filed by the defendant union, I find that the stay request must be granted...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: April 9, 2007.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Forbearance agreement Where a bank claims that a debt owed by Chapter 7 debtors under a postpetition forbearance agreement is excepted from discharge, the bank is not entitled...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: April 9, 2007.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Attorney-client relationship Where a defendant attorney and two codefendant law firms were sued by a plaintiff for negligence, misrepresentation, violation of G.L.c. 93A, breach...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: April 9, 2007.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil rights Police - Arrest of motorist Where a plaintiff motorist has brought a civil rights suit against two police officers involved in a roadside arrest, the officers (and the...

U.S. Magistrate Judges Case Summaries: April 9, 2007.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Commercial Exclusion of liability Where a plaintiff has filed a negligence action alleging that engines sold by the defendant were defective, summary judgment should be awarded to the...

Massachusetts governor signs bills: April 9, 2007.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff 25. An act authorizing the Town of Wellesley to establish a group insurance liability fund. App. and eff. March 14, 1 page. 26. An act establishing a sick leave bank for Karen White, an...

Longtime public official Thomas Trimarco joins Boston firm O'Neill and Associates.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Onetime private practitioner and longtime public official Thomas H. Trimarco is back in the private sector, as a senior vice president in charge of litigation support for the downtown Boston...

Massachusetts attorney launches sole practice specializing in animal-law issues.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Walpole attorney Robert H. Fennessy Jr.'s phone has been ringing off the hook for weeks, ever since the media began reporting on a nationwide recall of pet food. Fennessy, who spent two...

'Johansson' should be published decision.(Letter to the editor)
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff To the editor: On March 26, Lawyers Weekly included a reference to Johansson v. Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, et al., a decision that was issued pursuant to Appellate Court...

Higher salary won't compel increase in child support, rules Appeals Court.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Eric T. Berkman A divorced mother was not entitled to an increase in child-support payments where her ex-husband's income grew without creating a disparity in their respective standards of living, the Appeals Court has found. ...

As Superior Court Business Litigation Session forges ahead, 'lingering concerns' persist.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Barbara Rabinovitz As a team of judges prepares to lead the Superior Court Business Litigation Session when its current administrative judge steps down later this year, some skeptics of the BLS remain skeptical, if not outright...

Supreme Judicial Court rules son is precluded from filing wrongful death claim against nursing home.
April 9, 2007... Byline: David E. Frank A son should be precluded from filing a wrongful-death suit against a nursing home where he had signed a binding arbitration agreement prior to admitting his father to the facility, the Supreme Judicial Court has...

Supreme Judicial Court 's Chief Justice Marshall is more open to amicus briefs than predecessors.(Margaret H. Marshall)
April 9, 2007... Byline: Barbara Rabinovitz Although amicus curiae briefs have a long, proud history at the Supreme Judicial Court, Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall seems more welcoming of them than her recent predecessors may have been. Lawyers...

Mass. lawmakers press to keep MCAD under Office of Administration and Finance.(Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination )
April 9, 2007... Byline: Noah Schaffer State legislators acted last week to keep the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination from becoming part of the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. But one legislator involved in the...

Mass. Legal Obituaries: April 9, 2007.(Robert J. DeGiacomo)(John P. Donnelly)(Obituary)(Brief article)
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Robert J. DeGiacomo, a retired U.S. magistrate judge, died suddenly on March 24 in Seattle. He was 84. DeGiacomo graduated from Boston College Law School in 1948 and began his legal career as...

Commentary: Recovery of multiple attorneys' fees under Chapter 93A.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Robert D. Cohan Your client can recover multiple attorneys' fees under G.L.c. 93A when those fees can properly be characterized as damages. This will depend on whether you can establish that your client was "forced" to incur those...

District Court/BMC Appellate Division Case Summaries: April 9, 2007.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil practice Commitment hearing - Motion to dismiss Where a judge denied a respondent's motion to dismiss a petition for civil commitment, the judge erred, as the commitment hearing was...

Appeals Court Case Summaries: April 9, 2007.(Commonwealth v. Ferrer)(Commonwealth v. Laro)(Commonwealth v. Boone)
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals Judgments affirmed Commonwealth v. Cepulonis (Lawyers Weekly No. 81-281-07) (5 pages) (motion to revise and revoke sentence; judicial recusal) (No. 06-P-425) (April 2, 2007). ...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: April 9, 2007.(Brief article)
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Environmental Clean Air Act - Permit The Clean Air Act requires a permit for modifications to a coal-fired electricity generating plant even though the plant didn't increase its annual...

Mass. Lawyers in the News: April 9, 2007.(Parker Scheer appoints Jodie A. Caruolo)(Gelb and Gelb appoints Carrie S. Rose)(Burns and Levinson promotes Richard M. Coen, Orlando Lopez )(Brief article)
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff New associations Jodie A. Caruolo has joined Parker Scheer in Boston as a senior associate and head of the firm's domestic relations practice group. Carrie S. Rose has joined Gelb & Gelb...

Massachusetts legal community's fundraiser for Hillary Clinton brings in well over $1 million.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff If Massachusetts is, as some say, an ATM for presidential candidates passing through on their way to New Hampshire and the Granite State's much-vaunted presidential primary, then the automated...

Commentary: Federal prosecutor, kidnapped, lives to tell harrowing story.("The Birthday Party: A Memoir of Survival")(Book review)
April 9, 2007... Byline: Peter Elikann "The Birthday Party: A Memoir of Survival" By Stanley N. Alpert G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2007 305 pages; $24.95 The veteran New York police detectives and FBI agents debriefing Assistant U.S. Attorney...

Commentary: TechnoLAWgically Speaking: The importance of backing up data.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Henry B. Chace TechnoLAWgically Speaking is a new, occasional feature on The Practice page that will discuss how advances in office technology can best be used in the management of a law practice. * * * Beep, beep, beep,...

Commentary: Lunch Box: The Kinsale in Boston.(Restaurant review)
April 9, 2007... Byline: Barbara Rabinovitz The Kinsale 2 Center Plaza Boston (617) 742-5577 Breakfast, lunch and dinner, seven days a week Standing in the shadow of Boston's Pemberton Square court complex and spread across several...

Commentary: Make the right hire: use an employment agency.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Edward Poll We've emphasized before that even the smallest practices benefit from hiring the right administrative help to free up attorney time for practicing law and winning new clients. However, the hiring process in itself...

Verdicts & Settlements April 9, 2007: Woman dies of pneumonia following misdiagnosis.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $2 million settlement The 38-year-old decedent died on Feb. 29, 2000, as a result of respiratory failure and sepsis due to pneumonia. On Feb. 9, the decedent reported to the defendant...

Verdicts & Settlements April 9, 2007: Driver on methadone strikes tractor trailer, dies instantly.(Cormer v. Estate of Justin Farrell)
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $300,000 verdict On May 12, 2004, the 58-year-old plaintiff, a tractor-trailer driver, was operating his unit in Windsor when the defendant's decedent, traveling at an estimated 85 to 100...

Verdicts & Settlements April 9, 2007: Wife, ejected from antique car in accident, sues spouse.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $250,000 settlement On July 4, 2005, the plaintiff was a front-seat passenger in an antique car operated by her husband. The vehicle was headed westbound on Center Street in Groveland when it...

Verdicts & Settlements April 9, 2007: Pedestrian, struck in intersection, said to have been drunk.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $750,000 settlement The plaintiff was crossing the street at a dangerous intersection in Boston on Dec. 22, 2001, when he was struck by a car driven by the defendant. Two medical students...

Verdicts & Settlements April 9, 2007: Untreated 'inflammation' turns out to be esophageal cancer.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $1 million settlement The decedent's medical history was significant for gastro-esophageal reflux disease, or GERD, and asthma. In August 1998, he was hospitalized under the care of the...

Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers Admonitions: April 9, 2007.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff BBO Public Reprimand No. 2007-4 IN RE: P. STEPHEN TURO Last known office address: 177 Grafton Street Worcester, MA 01604 Order (public reprimand) entered by the Board March 12, 2007 ...

Commentary: Together, we're disappointed.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Many in the legal community were instilled with a sense of optimism after the election of Gov. Deval L. Patrick last November. While no one expected Patrick to play favorites with the...

Mass. Judicial Scouting Report: Judge Connolly.(Brief biography)
April 9, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff THE LOWDOWN ON JUDGE CONNOLLY Born Nov. 7, 1942, in Boston Graduated Boston College Law School (1969); St. John's Seminary (1964) Appointed to Superior Court bench in 1990 by Gov....

Commentary: In Woburn, saying farewell to good-time Charlie.
April 9, 2007... Byline: David Yas Another installment in my quest to visit 100 courthouses before the calendar year is out... The day I show up at Woburn District Court just happens to be Charlie Winchester's last day on the job. The court's...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: April 16, 2007.
April 16, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Counsel fees - Turnover Where a Chapter 7 trustee has moved for an order requiring the debtor's counsel to repay $1,000 in legal fees, the motion should be allowed, as the fees...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: April 16, 2007.(Torres v. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico)(Esther Taffanelli-Figueroa v. Fajardo-Velez)(United States v. Henry)
April 16, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil practice Pretrial motion - Immunity Where a judge denied a pretrial motion asserting sovereign and qualified immunity, the judge acted permissibly in light of the fact that the...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: April 16, 2007.(Amgen Inc. v. F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd.)(Brief article)
April 16, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Parent and trademark Antitrust counterclaims Where (1) a plaintiff brought suit alleging patent infringement and (2) the defendant has asserted antitrust counterclaims, the plaintiff's...

U.S. Magistrate Judges Case Summaries: April 16, 2007.(Renaudette v. Astrue)(Bourgeois v. Astrue )
April 16, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Social Services Disability benefit denial Where the defendant Commissioner of Social Security has denied disability benefits to a 38-year-old plaintiff alleged to be suffering from lower...

Mass. Lawyers in the News: April 16, 2007.(Nixon Peabody L.L.P. opens another office)(appoints Mark FitzGerald)(Tentindo, Kendall, Canniff and Keefe appoints Joseph J. Durant)(Brief article)
April 16, 2007... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff New associations Angela M. DiTullio has been named case specialist I at the Wrentham District Court. Nixon Peabody, which has an office in Boston, has opened an office in Chicago. W....