Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly articles from May 2005

Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly archives from May 2005

Interview with Boston atty. Timothy P. O'Neill.(Interview)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Murder! Mystery! Scandal! Just another day in the life of Rusty Sabich, the protagonist in author Scott Turow's hit novel "Presumed Innocent." But what some may not know is that Sabich was modeled...

Boston trial lawyer enjoys time as lead singer of band.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Don't be surprised if the lead singer in the band at Mohegan Sun's Wolf Den looks kind of familiar. Lynne Radiches, a trial lawyer who has worked in the Providence and Boston offices of Burns...

Commentary: Unflattering review of 'The Lawsuit Lottery'.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff If you buy one book this year, please do me a favor and make sure it is not "The Lawsuit Lottery." This book, released last month, comes with a snappy-looking press release, a nationwide media...

Commentary: IRS finalizes grantor retained annuity trusts regulations.(Internal Revenue Service (US government))
May 2, 2005... Byline: Jeffrey A. Baskies (This article originally ran in Lawyers Weekly USA, Boston, MA, another Dolan Media publication). In response to the now-famous Walton case, the IRS has changed the regulations under Sect. 2702 of the...

Verdicts & Settlements: May 2, 2005: Elderly woman slips on snowy walkway, fractures hip.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $150,000 Settlement On Jan. 7, 2003, the 82-year-old plaintiff was walking on the private walkway of a bank when she slipped and fell on snow and ice, sustaining a left hip fracture and right...

Verdicts & Settlements: May 2, 2005: Father makes claim against deceased daughter's trust.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Defense Judgment The plaintiff was the son of wealthy parents. He worked in and became part owner of the family business until business disagreements led to his being bought out of the...

Verdicts & Settlements: May 2, 2005: Head-on collision leaves motorist with head and chest injuries.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $420,000 Settlement On Dec. 23, 2002, the 42-year-old plaintiff was operating his motor vehicle on Interstate Route 90 in Lake County, Ohio. A tractor-trailer operated by the defendant company...

Verdicts & Settlements: May 2, 2005: Driver struck by oncoming vehicle on icy road.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $450,000 Settlement The 66-year-old plaintiff was driving her vehicle when it was struck by an oncoming car that had veered into her lane. The 17-year-old defendant driver maintained, and...

Verdicts & Settlements: May 2, 2005: High-pressure cable hose strikes welder's head.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $1 Million Settlement On May 1, 2000, the 41-year-old plaintiff welder was leaving a job site at the GE plant in Lynn when he was struck in the head by a high-pressure steel cable knit hose...

Verdicts & Settlements: May 2, 2005: Worker's hand becomes entangled in machinery.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $525,000 Settlement The plaintiff's dominant hand became entangled in a nip point of a new industrial machine he claimed was unguarded. The plaintiff sued the machine's manufacturer and its...

Massachusetts Lawyers in the News: May 2, 2005.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff New Associations David Ballinger has joined Nutter, McClennen & Fish in Boston as executive director and chief financial officer. Prior to joining the firm, Ballinger served as director of...

Judge may order DNA testing of non-party, Supreme Judicial Court rules.(Deoxyribonucleic Acid )
May 2, 2005... Byline: Lisa K. Bruno A judge could order a rape defendant's roommate to submit to a cheek swab for DNA analysis at the defendant's request even though the roommate was a third party not charged with any criminal offense, the Supreme...

Massachusetts judges answer questions on employment law.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff ABOUT THIS FEATURE Massachusetts has no codified rules of evidence, so judges encounter unsettled areas on a daily basis. Periodically, Lawyers Weekly asks a number of judges to respond to...

Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers Admonitions: May 2, 2005.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff SJC No. BD-2002-0026 IN RE: JOSEPH M. RIZZARI, JR. Reinstatement Hearing The Board of Bar Overseers will hold a public hearing on the petition for reinstatement of Joseph M. Rizzari, Jr.,...

Store volunteer can sue for sex harassment, Appeals Court rules.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Natalie A. Herron A woman who worked at a town "swap shop" could sue her supervisor for sexual harassment, despite the fact that she was an unpaid volunteer, the Appeals Court has ruled. The defendant supervisor argued, and a...

Superior Court judge finds co. can't avoid 151B suit despite death of employee.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Tony Wright A company could not dismiss a handicap discrimination suit brought by a former employee seeking reinstatement of his job even where the former employee died a week before the case went to trial, a Superior Court judge...

Commentary: Fair pay for the front lines of justice in Massachusetts.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Every few years, it seems, Massachusetts state judges' salaries fall way behind the rest of the country. And on each occasion, it's an arduous task to correct the situation. Sadly, a pay raise...

Commentary: Board of Bar Overseers responds to Mass. Bar Assn.'s discipline report.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff To the Editor: We respect the members of the Massachusetts Bar Association task force for their efforts in putting together their report on bar discipline in Massachusetts. In the months ahead...

Commentary: Lawyer ads only reinforce bad stereotypes.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff To the Editor: The April 11 editorial admonishing bar members who diminish our profession with advertising raises an important issue overlooked far too much in our state ("Pick Me! An...

Commentary: Judge's drowning analogy was 'disturbing'.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff To the Editor: I have to take this opportunity to express my disappointment with U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge William C. Hillman's statement made in the context of denying counsel's request to...

Commentary: Women's Bar Assn. applauds Gov. Romney for recent nominees.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff To the Editor: The Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts applauds Gov. Mitt Romney for honoring his pledge to add more women and minorities to the judiciary. Recently, the governor...

Ask The Judge - When a judge doesn't 'get it'.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Edward M. Ginsburg "Ask The Judge" offers readers an opportunity to ask a former judge with 25 years of experience on the bench questions that are of interest to them and perhaps to others. To ask Judge Ginsburg a question, e-mail...

Commentary: Courts overstepping boundaries in judicial review.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Michael Halley In "The Least Dangerous Branch," Alexander Bickel defines judicial review as the "power to apply and construe the Constitution, in matters of the greatest moment, against the wishes of a legislative majority, which...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: May 2, 2005.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Previous Conviction - Foreign Court Where a criminal defendant is prosecuted for a crime that requires a previous "conviction in any court," only previous domestic convictions...

1st U.S. Circuit Court Of Appeals Case Summaries: May 2, 2005.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Timeliness Where a federal judge sitting in Puerto Rico dismissed, for lack of timeliness, certain plaintiffs' 42 U.S.C. Sect. 1983 action against a number of municipal...

U.S. Bankruptcy Appellate Panel Case Summaries: May 2, 2005.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Untimely Complaint - Excusable Neglect Where a creditor filed an adversary complaint objecting to the debtor's discharge, the complaint was correctly dismissed as untimely. ...

MA Supreme Judicial Court Case Summaries: May 2, 2005.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Disbarment - Reciprocal Discipline Where a single justice entered an order disbarring an attorney, that order should be affirmed based on the fact that the attorney has been...

MA Appeals Court Case Summaries: May 2, 2005.
May 2, 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: May 2, 2005.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Res Judicata - Subcontractors Where a plaintiff, against whom default judgments were entered in a prior action in Middlesex Superior Court involving two subcontractors,...

District Court/Boston Municipal Court Appellate Division: May 2, 2005.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Insurance Settlement Agreement - G.L.c. 176D Where a plaintiff filed breach of contract and G.L.c. 176D violation claims alleging that the defendant insurance refused to honor a $20,000...

MA Land Court Case Summaries: May 2, 2005.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Real Property Settlement Agreement - Sewer Provisions Where the defendant in this case has filed a complaint in a separate action seeking a judgment declaring that the sewer provisions of...

MA Labor Relations Commission Case Summaries: May 2, 2005.
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Labor Election - Challenges Where, following a secret mail ballot election, the employer has raised challenges regarding supervisory, managerial and casual employees, we find that the...

Case Summaries from Miscellaneous Mass. Agencies: May 2, 2005.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Environmental Nature Of Stream Where 600 feet of a small stream exists on the grounds of McLean Hospital, I find (1) that it is not a river subject to protection under the River...

Supreme Judicial Court's landmark decision, Life After 'Goodridge'.(cases)
May 9, 2005... Byline: Tony Write Chaos and confusion. That's what opponents of same-sex marriage predicted a year ago in the wake of Goodridge v. The Department of Public Health. The Supreme Judicial Court's landmark decision affording same-sex...

Face To Face: Boxing champion & court officer, Jose Antonio Rivera.(Interview)
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff With all the fuss lately over courthouse security, lawyers conducting business at the Worcester Housing and District courts can rest assured that they're in good hands. The staff of court officers...

Worcester County Bar Association really bands together.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff You may have heard of Prince's Paisley Park... but "Pinstripe Place"? It's there that seven attorneys and one non-lawyer practice rocking to the rhythm of Aretha Franklin and the Rolling...

The Big Picture: May 9, 2005.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Lisa Bruno Wanting to highlight the importance of ethics to law students before they reach the profession, the Association of Corporate Counsel's Northeast Chapter recently honored students from six area law schools at a dinner...

Commentary: To be or not to be a lawyer? That is the question.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Stephen Seckler Behavioral economics brings together the disciplines of psychology and economics to explain how ordinary people make decisions. Behavioral economics provides some interesting explanations about the psychological...

Verdicts & Settlements: May 9, 2005: Young boy undergoes surgery for testicular torsion.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $212,500 Settlement In March 2002, the 11-year-old plaintiff was brought to the emergency room at a medical center in Lowell by his grandparents. The triage nurse noted complaints of...

Verdicts & Settlements: May 9, 2005: Fall down stairs blamed on 'ornamental' railing.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $190,000 Settlement On March 17, 2000, the plaintiff and her husband were guests of the defendant's newly opened hotel. After checking into their room, the plaintiff and her husband prepared...

Verdicts & Settlements: May 9, 2005: Teen claims false arrest after alleged school break-in.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Defense Verdict The plaintiff, then a 14-year-old juvenile, claimed he was falsely arrested by the defendant town's police. The plaintiff further alleged that he had been maliciously...

Verdicts & Settlements: May 9, 2005: Crash victim develops thoracic outlet syndrome.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $485,000 Settlement The 36-year-old plaintiff was seven-and-one-half months pregnant when she was stopped in traffic and alleged that her vehicle was violently smashed from behind on Feb. 8,...

Verdicts & Settlements: May 9, 2005: Heart attack, says emergency bypass would've lessened damage.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $400,000 Award The 37-year-old plaintiff began treating with the defendant internist in November 1996, at which time a cholesterol level of 400 was discovered, a risk factor for coronary...

Verdicts & Settlements: May 9, 2005: Patient dies after colon condition worsens.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $350,000 Settlement The 52-year-old plaintiff's decedent had a sigmoidoscopy in August 1995 for complaints of increasing abdominal cramping and diarrhea. A diagnosis of spastic colon and...

MA Lawyers in the News: May 9, 2005.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff NewsMakers New Associations Kerry T. Scarlott has joined Posternak, Blankstein & Lund in Boston as a partner in the corporate department; James P. Hawkins has joined the firm as a partner...

New Bedford attorney Fred M. Thomas dies at age of 87.(Fred M. Thomas)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Fred M. Thomas, said to be the first lawyer of Lebanese descent in the Greater New Bedford and Fall River areas, died March 20 at St. Luke's Hospital following a brief illness. He was 87. A...

Insurance co. slapped for 'bad faith' appeal by MA Superior Court judge.(cases)
May 9, 2005... Byline: Tony Wright An insurance company could be hit with double damages where it pursued an appeal instead of paying out a personal injury jury verdict without adequately investigating whether there were reasonable grounds for the...

New spouse paid from post-divorce life policy rules the MA Supreme Judicial Court.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff A woman could designate her new husband as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy acquired after her divorce even though her separation agreement promised the proceeds to her ex-husband for...

Company director's estate can't be sued for age bias rules a MA Superior Court judge.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Lisa K. Bruno Two former employees claiming wrongful termination because of their age could not sue the estate of one of the defendant company's directors for aiding and abetting the discrimination, a Superior Court judge has...

Expansion of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue's plan may limit clients' pay recovery.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Natalie A. Herron Lawyers fear an upcoming expansion of the Department of Revenue's payment intercept program could significantly lessen their clients' recovery and make attorneys collection agents for the state. Since 1998,...

Worcester County Courthouse construction project is causing headaches.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff It may not be the Big Dig, but the Worcester County Courthouse has been one public project with quite a few headaches. First there was a long, protracted battle over the site for the court....

Commentary: The future for lawyer discipline.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Daniel C. Crane The recently released report of the Massachusetts Bar Association Task Force on Lawyer Discipline calls for reducing the time it takes bar counsel to bring a petition for discipline or close matters under...

Commentary: Recent change to independent contractor law: An earthquake for employers in Mass?
May 9, 2005... Byline: Daniel S. Tarlow and Laurie F. Rubin In the late 1990s, when a federal court decided that Microsoft's "freelancers" were actually employees and that Microsoft should have been providing benefits to these workers, an earthquake was...

Massachusetts Land Court announces Draft Survey Manual.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff The Draft Land Court 2005 Manual of Instructions for the Survey of Lands and Preparation of Plans (Manual) has been proposed by a committee established by former Chief Justice Peter W. Kilborn in...

Massachusetts Rules of Appellate Procedure amended.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff At the Supreme Judicial Court holden at Boston within and for said Commonwealth on the twenty-seventh day of April, in the year two thousand and five: present, HON. MARGARET H. MARSHALL...

Massachusetts Division of Insurance to hold hearing.(Brief Article)
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation DIVISION OF INSURANCE NOTICE OF HEARING Pursuant to the provisions of the Plan of Operation of the Commonwealth Automobile...

Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney signs bills.(Brief Article)
May 9, 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. An act authorizing the appointment of Timothy Pacheco as...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: May 9, 2005.(Brief Article)
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Habeas Corpus Limitations - Tolling The one-year statute of limitations of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act cannot be tolled for a petitioner who did not properly file...

MA 1st U.S. Circuit Court Of Appeals Case Summaries: May 9, 2005.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Police - Excessive Force Where a defendant police officer was held liable for failing to intervene while a plaintiff teenager received a beating at the hands of one of the...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: May 9, 2005.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Creditor - Costs Where a secured creditor moved for reimbursement of costs pursuant to 11 U.S.C. Sects. 503 and 506, a bankruptcy judge committed no error in denying the motion...

U.S. Bankruptcy Appellate Panel rules petition to be dismissed for lack of good faith.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Chapter 13 - Dismissal - Bad Faith Where a debtor, against whom a judgment was obtained in Superior Court, filed a Chapter 13 petition, that petition must be dismissed in light...

U.S. Magistrate Judges Case Summaries: May 9, 2005.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Police Chase - MTCA Where a plaintiff, who was injured by a motorist being pursued by defendant police officers, seeks to hold the officers and the codefendant city liable,...

MA Supreme Judicial Court Case Summaries: May 9, 2005.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals G.L.c. 211, Sect. 3 - Motor Vehicle Infraction Where a petitioner, found responsible for a motor vehicle infraction, sought review under G.L.c. 211, Sect. 3, no error was...

MA Appeals Court Case Summaries: May 9, 2005.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals Judgments Affirmed The Appeals Court has affirmed, pursuant to Rule 1:28, judgments in the following cases. Anderson v. Anderson (Lawyers Weekly No. 81-324-05) (4 pages)...

MA Superior Court Case Summaries: May 9, 2005.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Employment Age Discrimination - Aiding And Abetting Where plaintiffs have filed suit against a deceased defendant's estate claiming that the defendant aided and abetted in age...

MA Land Court Case Summaries: May 9, 2005.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Real Property Easement Where a dispute has arisen regarding a certain easement, I find (1) that the plaintiff may lawfully use a four-foot right of way in Plymouth extending from the...

MA Appellate Tax Board Case Summaries: May 9, 2005.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Taxation Wakefield Properties - 'Overvaluation' Claim Where an appellant realty trust has sought real estate tax abatements for three contiguous parcels of Wakefield land for fiscal years...

MA Commission Against Discrimination Case Summaries: May 9, 2005.
May 9, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Employment Discrimination - Correction Officer Where a complainant employee of the respondent Department of Correction alleges that he was subjected to racial discrimination, that claim...

Commentary: What lawyers need to know about the new PERM regulation.
May 16, 2005... Byline: Jane P. Devlin and Steven A. Clark Only a few short weeks have gone by since the new PERM regulation from the U.S. Department of Labor went into effect on March 28, and already it has Massachusetts lawyers and their client companies...

Commentary: New tax law results in changes to design, administration of deferred comp plans.
May 16, 2005... Byline: James L. Hauser The passage of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 last October added new Section 409A to the Tax Code to supplement longstanding tax principles governing the taxation of deferred compensation. These changes...

Verdicts & Settlements-May 16, 2005: Worker who falls into hole at job site is injured.
May 16, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $750,000 Settlement A pile driver fell into an approximately 8-foot deep excavated hole, resulting in a left shoulder rotator cuff tear with a rupture of the long head of the left biceps, a...

Verdicts & Settlements-May 16, 2005: Co. withholds documents from DEP, cites privilege.
May 16, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Preliminary Injunction The defendant Department of Environmental Protection sent requests for information to the plaintiff's current and former LSPs relating to a site in Burlington as part of...

Advanced law degree may be prerequisite to practice at the top.
May 16, 2005... Byline: Amy Johnson Conner Specialization can be the ticket to the job and salary you always hoped to have. Given the demands of law school, though, true specialization is hard to attain in just three years. For some, that means an...

Verdicts & Settlements-May 16, 2005: Patient suffers bile duct injury during surgery.
May 16, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $400,000 Judgment The plaintiff, a young woman with acute cholecystitis, had a laparoscopic cholecystectomy performed by the first defendant, who allegedly negligently transected the common...

Verdicts & Settlements-May 16, 2005: Baby dies after lack of oxygen during labor.
May 16, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $1.15 Million Settlement The 28-year-old plaintiff, who was 38 weeks pregnant, was admitted to a hospital labor and delivery department at approximately 6 p.m. for elective induction of labor....

Verdicts & Settlements-May 16, 2005: Dislodged fork lift blade strikes ironworker's foot.
May 16, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $450,000 Settlement The plaintiff ironworker was injured at a construction site when he was struck on the foot by a fork lift blade that became dislodged from the fork lift while a steel beam...

Verdicts & Settlements-May 16, 2005: Improper setting of leg fracture led to years of pain.
May 16, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff $225,000 Settlement The 50-year-old plaintiff fell and fractured her femur, which was then operated on by the defendant orthopedic surgeon. It was alleged that the orthopedic surgeon...

MA Lawyers in the News: May 16, 2005.
May 16, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff New Associations Barbara A. Jones has joined the Boston office of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, Nicholson, Graham as a partner in the corporate practice. Jones focuses on corporate and securities...

Lloyd N. Cutler, a founder of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, dies after long illness.(Brief Article)(Obituary)
May 16, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff Lloyd N. Cutler, a founder of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in 1972, died in Washington, D.C. on May 8 after a long illness. He was 87. The firm merged with Hale and Dorr in Boston in 2004. ...

Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers Admonitions: May 16, 2005.
May 16, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff SJC No. BD-2005-021 IN RE: DONAL B. BARRETT SJC No. BD-2005-021 IN RE: DONAL B. BARRETT Last known address: 11 Pleasant Street Dover, MA 02030 Appeal Panel Report entered on...

U.S. District Court judge rules woman with bipolar may sue for long-term disability benefits.
May 16, 2005... Byline: Lisa K. Bruno Two recent U.S. District Court decisions holding that long-term disability plans cannot discriminate between classes of disabled persons have marked a departure from the majority of established federal precedent. ...

Suffolk Superior Court jury awards $23.8M in traumatic delivery case.
May 16, 2005... Byline: Tony Wright A Boston attorney credits the inconsistent testimony of the defendants, and his own "common sense" approach with the jury, for a $23.8 million verdict returned by a Suffolk Superior Court jury last week in a case...

One year later, MA defense lawyers adjusting to 'Stonehill' employment ruling.(Massachusetts, Stonehill College)
May 16, 2005... Byline: Tony Wright One year after the Supreme Judicial Court's landmark employment ruling in Stonehill College v. Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, et al., defense lawyers say the decision remains a thorny issue that has...

Commentary: Courthouse security in MA.(Brief Article)
May 16, 2005... Byline: Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Staff The Atlanta courthouse shooting was a painful reminder of the need for secure courthouses. Ideally, all litigants, jurors, lawyers and citizens would feel safe while inside courthouses. Trial Court...