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Criminal – Annoying or accosting another
Where a defendant was charged with annoying or accosting another (G.L.c. 272, §53) after he approached and spoke to a 15-year-old girl on her way home from work, a District Court judge’s decision to dismiss the complaint must be reversed because there was probable cause to believe that the defendant's acts and language satisfied both the “offensive” and “disorderly” elements of the offe[...]
Parent and child – Termination – Adoption plan
Where a Juvenile Court judge terminated a mother's parental rights to her three children and approved an adoption plan proposed by the Department of Children and Families, the judge erred in approving the adoption plan regarding one of the children, as a social worker testified that the DCF had not yet acquired the information necessary to determine the child's best interests.
Domestic relations – Divorce – Alimony and property division
Where a divorce judgment has been challenged on appeal, a remand is necessary because the judge failed to make the statutory findings required by G.L.c. 208, §§34, 53(a), and the judgment is silent on the division of the marital estate.
Parent and child – Termination
Where a mother’s parental rights were terminated, there was no error in the determination of unfitness but the record failed to support the finding that termination was in the best interests of the child, so the termination portion of the decree must be vacated and the cases remanded for further findings.
Search and seizure – Reasonable suspicion – Police stop
Where a defendant moved to suppress evidence seized when he was stopped by the police, the motion should have been allowed because the facts known to the officers at the time of the seizure supported, at most, a hunch that the defendant was engaged in criminal activity.
Civil practice – Abuse of process – Discovery dispute
Where (1) a plaintiff filed a complaint in Superior Court seeking to compel a deposition and (2) the defendant filed a counterclaim alleging abuse of process, the plaintiff’s motion to dismiss the counterclaim should have been allowed because the defendant lacked any “entitlement to relief under the law” in the context of a discovery dispute.
Criminal – Firearm – Improper storage
Where a defendant was convicted of improper storage of a firearm, that conviction must be reversed because the evidence at trial was insufficient to prove that the firearm was unsecured as required under G.L.c. 140, §131L.
Contract – Chapter 93A – Double damages
Where a defendant general contractor paid a plaintiff subcontractor only a fraction of what was owed for clearing snow and ice, the plaintiff should not have been awarded double damages, as the evidence was insufficient to establish liability under G.L.c. 93A, §11.
Real property – Easement – Notice
Where a Land Court judge (1) declared that the defendants have no right to pass over any portion of the property of the plaintiffs and (2) enjoined the defendants from entering the plaintiffs' property, a remand is necessary because discovery was erroneously restricted on the issue of whether the plaintiffs had actual knowledge of an unregistered document encumbering their property with an easemen[...]
Damages – Chapter 93A
Where (1) a plaintiff attorney filed a complaint seeking to recover outstanding legal fees, (2) the defendant filed a G.L.c. 93A counterclaim and (3) the judge found that the attorney had committed knowing or willful violations of Chapter 93A and awarded the defendant treble damages, the case must be remanded for a recalculation of damages.
Search and seizure – Firearm – Plain view
Where a juvenile moved to suppress a firearm, that motion should have been allowed because the firearm was seized without any articulable reason to suspect that the firearm was unlawfully possessed or used.
Immigration – Dependency – Neglect
Where a plaintiff filed a complaint requesting declaratory and equitable relief in the form of a decree of special findings that she was dependent on the Probate & Family Court, a decision to dismiss that complaint must be reversed because it is not in the plaintiff's best interests to return to her country of nationality, Brazil.
Verdicts & Settlements
- Injury during baby’s adenoidectomy leads to stroke
- Construction worker’s hand caught in cement mixer
- Worker trapped in freezer, dies during steam cleaning
- Pedestrian, 69, hit by motor vehicle while in crosswalk
- Four-vehicle pileup leaves driver with spinal cord injury
- Nursing home staff blamed for kidney-failure death
- Pharmacy’s late delivery blamed for patient’s death
- Man, 25, drowns after swimming lesson at fitness club
Opinion Digests
- Jurisdiction – Forum selection clause – Non-signatory
- Criminal – Responsibility
- Attorneys – Lien
- Landlord and tenant – Default judgment
- Zoning – Constructive grant – Comprehensive permit
- Fraud – False Claims Act – Settlement share
- Civil practice – Discovery – Cybersecurity
