In 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) issued a major decision impacting the calculation of alimony and child support. In Cavanagh v. Cavanagh, in addition to setting a new procedure for determining alimony...more
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) has ruled that a forfeiture clause triggered by a breach of a non-solicitation agreement is not a "forfeiture for competition agreement" under the Massachusetts Noncompetition...more
On March 11, 2025, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (the “SJC”) issued a decision concluding that once a losing party satisfies a judgment in full, postjudgment interest stops running even if the losing party then...more
Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the 2024 Appellate Judges Education Institute (AJEI) Summit in Boston, Massachusetts. The Summit was an enriching experience, offering deep insights into the evolving dynamics of...more
On July 20, 2024, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) decided Shoucair v. Board of Appeal of Boston, 494 Mass. 319 (2024), which clarified the standard for imposing a bond on a party who appeals the grant of...more
In its decision this morning in Shoucair v. Board of Appeal of Boston, the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) held that in court appeals under § 11 of the Boston Zoning Enabling Act (Section 11), the trial judge can require the...more
Foley Hoag LLP publishes this quarterly Update primarily concerning developments in product liability and related law from federal and state courts applicable to Massachusetts, but also featuring selected developments for New...more
Justices Strike Down Tax Assessed on Capital Gain from Sale of Exempt Urban Redevelopment Project, a Win for Massachusetts Urban Redevelopment and Affordable Housing - On Friday, March 10, 2023, the Supreme Judicial Court...more
Nearly a decade ago, I wrote an article for the New England Real Estate Journal about a decision issued by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court that provided an important reminder to commercial leasing practitioners on...more
Pepsi-Cola Metro. Bottling Co. v. Emp’rs Ins. Co., 2022 Wisc. App. LEXIS 598 (Wisc. Ct. App. July 8, 2022) - Wisconsin Court of Appeals (in a divided decision) holds that a “post-loss” assignment of rights under a...more
Until today someone appealing a decision by a local conservation commission under both the Massachusetts wetlands protection act and a local wetland protection bylaw had to appeal the decision under the Massachusetts law to...more
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (“Court”) addressed in a June 2nd Opinion application of the City of Waltham, Massachusetts, (“Waltham”) zoning code to the construction of a solar energy system. See 2022 WL...more
In a recent decision, Terence Meehan v. Medical Information Technology, Inc., the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that an employer cannot terminate an employee for exercising the right to file a rebuttal to a...more
After successfully appealing a judgement and obtaining a remand of its Chapter 93A claim to the Massachusetts BLS, the Governo Law Firm moved to admit expert testimony about a “reasonable royalty” measure of damages. Governo...more
On April 14, 2022, in Devaney v. Zucchini Gold, LLC, the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC), the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, ruled that the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) preempts state remedies...more
On April 21, 2022, in the case of Verveine Corp. v. Strathmore Insurance Company (No. SJC-13172), the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC), the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, determined that various losses...more
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has issued a unanimous opinion in Meehan v. Medical Information Technology, Inc., holding that the termination of an at-will employee for exercising the statutory right of rebuttal to...more
On December 17, 2021, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled that an employee discharged for submitting a written rebuttal to his employer in response to the placement of negative information in his personnel...more
Massachusetts is seeing an increase in Tips Act claims, and the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) just reinforced that a lack of clarity in fee- and tip-related documentation may result in employer liability,...more
On August 23, 2021, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in Hovagimian v. Concert Blue Hill, LLC, that the Massachusetts Tips Act requires that an employer pay service employees any “service charge” listed on an...more
In cases allegedly involving an interest in real property, the Massachusetts lis pendens statute, G.L. c. 184, § 15, allows the defendant to file a special motion to dismiss frivolous claims. If the trial court allows the...more
In Parker v. EnerNOC, Parker alleged that she was terminated less than one month after closing the most lucrative client contract in EnerNOC’s history in part because she complained about the amount of her commission for the...more
In what passes for high drama in the world of Massachusetts land use law, the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC), after hearing oral argument last Thursday in an important case involving standing in zoning appeals, entered an order...more
On March 6, 2020, just a day after hearing oral argument, the Supreme Judicial Court reaffirmed the longstanding principle that abutting landowners have standing to challenge the application of zoning bylaws only if they...more
In a February 12, 2020 decision, Parker v. EnerNOC, Inc., SJC-12703, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that the full commission which would have been due to an employee had she not been retaliated against and...more