Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly articles from March 2005

Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly archives from March 2005

MA Superior Court rules buyers cannot sue private home seller under Chapter 93A.
March 7, 2005... Byline: John O. Cunningham Buyers of residential property who experienced problems with their septic system after purchase could not bring an action for Chapter 93A violations against a non-commercial seller, a Superior Court judge has...

MA Superior Court rules UM Insurance Co. cannot get files from non-party carrier.(uninsured motorist insurance)
March 7, 2005... Byline: Lisa K. Bruno The insurance company for a driver seeking uninsured motorist benefits could not compel an alleged tortfeasor's insurance company to produce files showing the basis for its denial of coverage, a Superior Court judge...

Bar laments session loss at Middlesex Probate and Family Court.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Lisa Bruno Attorneys are expressing concern over the limited availability of satellite sessions in Marlborough and Concord in the wake of scheduling changes announced by the Middlesex Probate & Family Court. Previously, the...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: March 7, 2005.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Contract Indian Law The Department of Health and Human Services is legally bound to pay the "contract support costs" needed to maintain health and education programs pursuant to its...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: March 7, 2005.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Sentencing - Drug Treatment Where a federal judge delegated to a probation officer the authority to decide whether a defendant should undergo drug treatment if he should test...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: March 7, 2005.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Labor Foreign Workers - Seasonal Employment Where plaintiff employers have challenged legislative and regulatory standards for hiring foreign temporary workers, the complaint should be...

Verdicts & Settlements -March 7, 2005: Artist falls down stairwell, injures dominant hand.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Defense Judgment The plaintiff, an artist by profession, worked as a designer for a small print shop owned and operated by his brother in Buzzards Bay. In January 2000, the plaintiff...

MA Supreme Judicial Court Case Summaries: March 7, 2005.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Admission - Waiver Of Examination - Practice Of Law Where an attorney admitted to the bar of the District of Columbia sought to be admitted to the Massachusetts bar without...

MA Appeals Court Case Summaries: March 7, 2005.
March 7, 2005... 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...

MA Superior Court Case Summaries: March 7, 2005.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Agency And Partnership Dissolution - Joint Ventures Where this court has ruled that a plaintiff limited partnership's dissolution of three joint ventures was in contravention of the joint...

District Court/Boston Municipal Court Appellate Division Case Summaries: March 7, 2005.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals Rule 8C - Eviction Where a defendant tenant has appealed a judgment for the plaintiff lessor in a suit for possession of an airplane hangar, an appeal filed by the defendant has...

MA Land Court Case Summaries: March 7, 2005.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Real Property Planning Board - Special Permit - Hillside Protection By- Law Where a plaintiff landowner has challenged the defendant Saugus planning board's decision to deny the...

District Court/Boston Municipal Court Trial Division Case Summaries: March 7, 2005.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Search And Seizure Police Conduct - Response To Noise Complaint Where a defendant charged with marijuana possession and other crimes has filed a suppression motion, I hold that the motion...

MA Appellate Tax Board Case Summaries: March 7, 2005.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Taxation Acquisition Of 'Bad Debts' - Reimbursement Of Sales Taxes Where a taxpayer acquired sales accounts from furniture vendors, the taxpayer is not entitled to take advantage of the...

MA Housing Court Case Summaries: March 7, 2005.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Landlord And Tenant Exclusionary Rule Where (1) a plaintiff landlord brought an action to evict the defendant tenant based on evidence of drug activity found by the Boston police and (2)...

Commentary: Murphy v. Herald: The limits of the 1st Amendment.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Where does a man go to get his reputation back?" That was the question attorney Howard M. Cooper asked a jury in the recent libel case brought by Superior Court Judge Ernest B. Murphy against the...

Commentary: The dilemma of mediator opinions and proposals.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Peter Contuzzi Many mediators and attorneys, especially those who represent insurance companies, must have been surprised by the Jan. 10 front page article entitled "Company That Ignored Mediator Could Be Liable For Bad Faith." The...

Commentary: Letter to the Editor: 'Makeover' raises questions.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff To the Editor: I have a couple of factual quibbles with your feature on the newly restored John Adams Courthouse in Boston ("Extreme Makeover," Feb. 21). In the accompanying story, you refer...

Commentary: Letter to the Editor: DOR directive poses 'trap'.(Letter to the Editor)
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff To the Editor: The Department of Revenue's Child Support Enforcement Unit issued Directive on CSE 04-2 on Dec. 22, 2004, which is a trap for the unwary. Although the directive is entitled...

Commentary: The case of he said, she said.(legal composition)
March 7, 2005... Byline: Martha Siegel Elegant variation is a stylistic construct that takes a core word and varies it slightly throughout the text or narrative toward the end of a more erudite presentation. In legal writing, however, elegant variation...

Massachusetts judges, prosecutors call for staff pay hikes.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff The state's judges, prosecutors and public defenders have called on lawmakers to increase the pay of their staff and other court employees, describing compensation as a "critical" component of...

MA governor retracts plan to empower state's tax officials.(Massachusetts, Mitt Romney)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Gov. Mitt Romney is backing off his proposal to give the state's top revenue officials authority to pursue corporations that lower their tax bills by transferring profits outside Massachusetts. ...

MA lawmakers propose cell phone user's Bill of Rights.(Massachusetts)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Cell phone customers frustrated with dropped calls, hard to understand bills and excessive overage charges could find relief under proposed legislation establishing a cell phone user's Bill of...

Amendment in MA Legislature regarding abstinence education project fuels debate about sex ed.(education, Massachusetts)(Brief Article)
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Gov. Mitt Romney drew criticism and praise from both sides of the sex education debate recently for returning a proposal that would have allowed abstinence-only education funding to also be used in...

MA governor signs bills into law: March 7, 2005.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff The following bills have been signed into law by Gov. Mitt Romney. The anticipated effective dates are listed but are subject to change. The number preceding the title of each bill (i.e., the...

Stomach-reduction surgery lawsuits growing.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Nora Lockwood Tooher Former New England Patriots offensive coordinator Charlie Weis will always be remembered as one of the "geniuses" who brought the team three Super Bowl victories in the last four years. But he also came...

The longest-tenured mayor in Brockton, MA's history to return to practice of law.(Massachusetts, John T. Yunits)
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Brockton Mayor John T. Yunits wasn't born a politician. He was drafted. A trial lawyer by trade, "Jack" (as he is known around town) was running his own firm in the mid-1990s when members...

US Supreme Court answers the question: "What is a vessel in navigation?".(cases of workplace accidents)
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff An admiralty law question under the Jones Act had federal circuit court judges scratching their heads for years and casting out multiple competing answers that left lawyers adrift in a sea of...

Commentary: Exploring the legal, the non-legal, the illegal.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Thoughts while trying to find a Massachusetts lawyer who practices trusts but not estates... Would this be a bad time to admit that I am an alumnus of Milton Academy? And trust me, nothing...

Commentary: The dilemma of funded offshore trusts.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Alexander A. Bove Jr. and Melissa Langa One of the most basic principles of asset protection planning is to avoid having the client's assets be an "easy take" for his creditors, the worst case being where the client has everything...

Verdicts & Settlements -March 7, 2005: Man suffers hemorrhage after surgery.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $500,000 Settlement The 66-year-old plaintiff had a medical history of type II diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease with a prior heart attack, obesity, hypercholesterolemia and an...

Verdicts & Settlements -March 7, 2005: Vehicle collides with tow truck in breakdown lane.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Defense Verdict The defendant truck driver was operating a tractor trailer on Route 93 northbound in the middle lane on Aug. 17, 1998, when a car cut in front of him from the left lane. The...

Verdicts & Settlements -March 7, 2005: Woman dies of pulmonary embolus following ER visit.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $600,000 Settlement The plaintiff's decedent had a medical history significant for diabetes, extreme obesity and past blood clots in her legs. On Sept. 3, 1998, the plaintiff's decedent...

MA Superior Court judge rules town can be sued for ambulance delay.(Massachusetts)
March 7, 2005... Byline: Tony Wright A town could be sued for negligence by the widow of a man who died of a heart attack after a delayed response by rescue workers to her "911" call, a Superior Court judge has ruled. The defendant town argued that it...

Verdicts & Settlements -March 7, 2005: Treatment slow for woman with cauda equina syndrome.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $2.2 Million Settlement On Jan. 29, 2001, the plaintiff, a 43-year-old crisis counselor, awoke with severe back pain. That day, the plaintiff saw the first defendant internist with a...

Verdicts & Settlements -March 7, 2005: Car rear-ended while turning; driver sustains herniated disc.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $60,000 Verdict On April 2, 1998, the 39-year-old plaintiff was operating her two-door Subaru on Route 20 in Auburn when she slowed to take a right-hand turn into the parking lot of a coffee...

MA Lawyers in the News: March 7, 2005.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff NewsMakers New Associations Michael J. Garko has joined the Boston office of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi as an associate. Garko focuses his practice in insurance and business trial...

Commentary: Letter to the Editor: Pay scale for ADAs unreasonable.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Letter to the Editor To the Editor: Several lawyers have written that the pay judges receive is absurdly low. I agree. What about the assistant district attorneys who spend the same amount of time in the courtroom litigating...

Commentary: Letter to the Editor: New low for judicial nominees.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Letter to the Editor To the Editor: Nominations for confirmation of judges to the federal court reached a new low recently when the president's list of 20 candidates failed to include a single judge from Massachusetts. ...

Commentary: Letter to the Editor: Nothing stupid about 'Super Lawyers' listing.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Letter to the Editor To the Editor: I read with amusement the guest article by attorneys Leonard H. Kesten and Richard E. Brody, "Competition Is Stiff For Massachusetts Stupid Lawyers," Feb. 28. It should be noted,...

Commentary: Letter to the Editor: Stunning John Adams Courthouse should be seen in person.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Letter to the Editor To the Editor: The newly renovated John Adams Courthouse is stunning! As the home of the Supreme Judicial Court and the Appeals Court, the building reflects the highest aspirations of our legal system. ...

Georgia man tells Mass. Bar Assn. about experience of being wrongly convicted of rape.(Calvin C. Johnson Jr.)
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff For 16 years, no one would listen to Calvin C. Johnson Jr. Now people pay money to hear the Georgian man tell his story. Speaking to a rapt audience at the Massachusetts Bar Association's...

Special master to Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund speaks to Mass. Bar Assn.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff "I love being here," Kenneth Feinberg told a throng of Boston lawyers, "because it's the one place where people don't look at me funny when I ask them where to park my car." Feinberg, special...

Commentary: Thanks, But No Thanks: 10 Clients To Avoid.
March 14, 2005... Byline: David Mandell Lawyers always seek new clients. A successful law practice depends on it. Yet avoiding clients is as important as gaining them. The wrong clients cost time, income, reputation or worse. Client avoidance is an...

Massachusetts Lawyers in the News: March 14, 2005.(appointments and promotions at lawfirms)
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff NewsMakers New Associations Michael R. Berube has joined the North Adams firm of Donovan & O'Connor as an associate. He focuses his practice on representing accident victims with an...

Bernard J. Dwyer, former Suffolk County assistant district atty. dies.(attorney)(Obituary)
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Bernard J. Dwyer, a former Suffolk County assistant district attorney, died Feb. 27 at Kindred Hospital in Boston. He was 74. Dwyer grew up in Somerville and attended Boston College. He served...

Anna Hubbard Doherty, former Probate & Family Court judge, dies.(Obituary)
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Anna Hubbard Doherty, who sat on the Probate & Family Court, died Feb. 24 at her winter home in Florida. She was 66. Doherty attended the University of Massachusetts and graduated from Suffolk...

Edmund V. Keville, retired Appeals Court judge, dies.(Obituary)
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Edmund V. Keville, who served on both the Appeals Court and Probate Court, died Feb. 28 at his home in Belmont. He was 94. Keville grew up in Belmont, graduating from Harvard College in 1933...

Supreme Judicial Court finds Dept. of Social Services must prove mom is unfit to get custody.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Jason M. Scally The Department of Social Services should bear the ultimate burden of proving that a child's birth mother was unfit to parent where the mother was seeking a review of a previous order placing her daughter under the...

Probate & Family Court says man should get alimony back after ex-wife's marriage.(Gross v. Herman)
March 14, 2005... Byline: Lisa K. Bruno A divorced husband was entitled to be reimbursed for alimony payments he made to his ex-wife after the date of her remarriage, a Probate & Family Court judge has ruled. The wife argued that the parties had agreed...

$19.5M drunk driving verdict largest ever in Worcester.
March 14, 2005... Byline: John O. Cunningham All Stephen Hanlon wanted was an apology. What he got instead was a $19.5 million verdict reportedly the largest ever in Worcester County and what is believed to be the all-time top verdict for an auto...

Superior Court judge finds fireman can't be barred from job by future injury risk alone.
March 14, 2005... Byline: John O. Cunningham A firefighter who took disability retirement because of a heart attack should not have been denied reinstatement by a state medical panel, even where a doctor found he had a "greater than average risk" for future...

District Court/BMC Appellate Division Case Summaries: March 14, 2005.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Negligence Restaurant - Metal In French Fry Where judgment has been awarded to the plaintiff in a negligence and breach of warranty case, we conclude that the decision should be upheld,...

Appellate Tax Board Case Summaries: March 14, 2005.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Taxation Acquisition Of 'Bad Debts' - Reimbursement Of Sales Taxes Where a taxpayer acquired sales accounts from furniture vendors, the taxpayer is not entitled to take advantage of the...

Commentary: When a colleague becomes impaired: Obligations of lawyers, firms.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Ellen M. Meagher An attorney in your firm starts to miss work more often. Some days when the lawyer comes to work, you think you smell alcohol on his breath. Perhaps the lawyer seems to consistently forget things that you have...

Commentary: What's wrong with my brackets? The perils of running an NCAA pool.
March 14, 2005... Byline: David J. Barend So, have you filled out your brackets yet? You say, "brackets? What do you mean brackets?" I say you're a liar and good for you for lying. For the few who manage to avoid the annual epidemic that is "March...

Lawyers participate in Annual Walk to the Hill for Civil Legal Aid.(Brief Article)
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Sen. Andrea F. Nuciforo Jr. of Pittsfield addressed hundreds of lawyers participating in the Annual Walk to the Hill for Civil Legal Aid, during which the group called for an increase in state...

Massachusetts Division of Insurance posts hearing notice: March 14, 2005.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACUSETTS Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation DIVISION OF INSURANCE NOTICE OF HEARING In accordance with the authority granted to the...

Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination proposes changes to regs.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff NOTICE OF PROPOSED REGULATORY CHANGE Pursuant to M.G.L. c.151B, s.3, p.5 and M.G.L. c.30A, s.3, the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination hereby gives notice of a proposed amendment...

Verdicts & Settlements March 14, 2005: Doctor refuses salary reduction, ultimately fired.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Defense Judgment In response to increasing financial pressures, the defendant hospital in Great Barrington began to work with all of its hospital-owned medical practices to reduce costs,...

Verdicts & Settlements March 14, 2005 Baby suffers severe hypoxic injury during delivery.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $1.15 Million Settlement The 32-year-old plaintiff, with a prior delivery by Caesarean section, was due to deliver her second child. The plaintiff requested an elective C-section. Her...

Verdicts & Settlements March 14, 2005: Driver found not guilty in drive-by shooting of girl.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Defense Verdict The defendant was found not guilty of all counts in a first-degree murder case in which the district attorney alleged that the defendant had been the driver in a drive-by...

Verdicts & Settlements March 14, 2005: Patient develops infection following oral surgery.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $292,908 Verdict The plaintiff had a molar extraction performed by his general dentist, who fractured the tooth, leaving the roots in place. The dentist referred the plaintiff to the defendant...

Verdicts & Settlements March 14, 2005: Woman rejects sexual advances by boss, leaves job.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $500,000 Verdict The plaintiff alleged she was subjected to quid pro quo discrimination by her immediate superior at the defendant company. After attempting to end a relationship with her...

Verdicts & Settlements March 14, 2005: Man dies after rectal cancer spreads.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $750,000 Settlement The plaintiff's decedent was seen by the defendant physician between 1988 and 1997 for regular physical examinations. In June 1990, the defendant performed a rectal...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: March 14, 2005.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Prior Convictions Whether a defendant's prior convictions constituted violent felonies under the Armed Career Criminal Act must be established by considering the convicting...

1st U.S. Circuit Court Of Appeals Case Summaries: March 14, 2005.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Discovery - Informants' Identities Where (1) a plaintiff owner of thoroughbred race horses filed a false light defamation action and (2) the district court allowed the...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: March 14, 2005.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Admiralty Auction - Summary Judgment Where (1) the plaintiffs, disappointed bidders at an auction for shipyard property and equipment, have sued to enjoin the defendant U.S. Maritime...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: March 14, 2005.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Counsel Fees - Conversion Where the U.S. Trustee has moved for reconsideration of an order allowing compensation for the debtor's counsel in a case converted from Chapter 11 to...

U.S. Magistrate Judges Case Summaries: March 14, 2005.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Jurisdiction Federal - Admiralty - Dock Where a plaintiff has filed suit seeking to recover for an ankle injury suffered at a dock owned by the defendant, a motion by the defendant to...

Supreme Judicial Court Case Summaries: March 14, 2005.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals G.L.c. 211, Sect. 3 - Denial Of New Trial Motion Where a single justice has rejected a petition, filed under G.L.c. 211, Sect. 3, challenging a Superior Court denial of an...

Appeals Court Case Summaries: March 14, 2005.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals Judgments Affirmed The Appeals Court has affirmed, pursuant to Rule 1:28, judgments in the following cases. Commonwealth v. Cabrera (Lawyers Weekly No. 81-156-05) (9 pages)...

Superior Court Case Summaries: March 14, 2005.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Agency And Partnership Dissolution Where the plaintiffs and the defendant own real property as partners, a permanent injunction should be issued requiring the parties to wind up the...

District Court/BMC Trial Division Case Summaries: March 14, 2005.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Evidence Stalking - Out- Of-State Incident - Acquittal Where a defendant charged with stalking has moved to suppress evidence indicating that he burned down a house owned by the victim in...

Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination Case Summaries: March 14, 2005.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Race Discrimination Claim - Correction Officer Where an African-American correction officer has filed a complaint against his union and two union officers, I find that the...

Commentary: The unraveling of Boston law firm Testa Hurwitz & Thibeault.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Two months later, and many are still wondering what happened. How could a pioneer in the high-tech world with hundreds of attorneys and solid financials have come undone? The pain in F....

Housing Court Case Summaries: March 14, 2005.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Landlord And Tenant Exclusionary Rule Where (1) a plaintiff landlord brought an action to evict the defendant tenant based on evidence of drug activity found by the Boston police and (2)...

Gov. Romney: Conditional OK to stem cell funding.(governor Mitt Romney)
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Gov. Mitt Romney offered conditional support for using public funds to support stem cell research, while the legislation's leading supporter backed away from assigning a specific dollar amount for...

Mass. Legislature's Elder Affairs Committee makes senior tax relief priority.(Massachusetts)(Brief Article)(Column)
March 14, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Tax relief and long-term care top the list of priorities for the Legislature's Elder Affairs Committee, members said at the first meeting of the newly formed committee. When asked by...

Commentary: Editorial: Who is writing the decisions?
March 21, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff In a recent Appeals Court case, In re: Adoption of Abby, a judge was reversed on the grounds that the decision was clearly erroneous and the findings unsupported by the evidence. But what made...

Commentary: Letter to the Editor: Boston Herald attorney takes issue with editorial.
March 21, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff To the Editor: As one of the Boston Herald's attorneys in Judge Ernest B. Murphy's libel suit, I am familiar with all of the evidence that was presented in that case, unlike most of your...

Commentary: Letter to the Editor: 'Colonial,' 'closings' decisions are meaningless.
March 21, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff To the Editor: Something is very rotten in the Massachusetts bar, particularly, the real-estate bar. With all due respect to the former Massachusetts Bar Association president and bar...

MA. prosecutors say witness intimidation involving gang-related crimes becoming daily problem.(Massachusetts)
March 21, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Last summer, a 10-year-old boy playing football in a Boston park was shot in front of dozens of people and not a single witness came forward. Last month, five individuals were shot in...

Hearsay: March 21, 2005.
March 21, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Q. Can you sue a hairdresser for negligence if he or she "ruins" a client's hair? A. Since the Legislature failed to promulgate a bad-hair- day liability statute, the answer (a favorite...