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Parent and child – Termination – Sibling visitation
Where a mother was found unfit, a remand is necessary for the judge to reconsider the issue of sibling visitation.
Mortgages – Foreclosure auction – Irregularities
Where a Housing Court judge found in favor of the plaintiff in a post-foreclosure summary process action, there is no indication that the judge considered the defendants’ evidence relating to their claim of irregularities in a 2020 foreclosure auction, so a remand for a new trial must be ordered.
Criminal – Animal cruelty – Hearsay
Where a jury found a defendant guilty of animal cruelty, the improper admission of hearsay statements prejudiced the defendant, so the conviction must be vacated and the case remanded.
Criminal – Jury waiver – Colloquy
Where a defendant was found guilty of reckless endangerment of a child, that conviction must be vacated because the judge did not engage in a colloquy regarding the defendant’s waiver of her right to a jury trial.
Criminal – Harassment prevention order – Threat
Where a defendant was convicted of violating a harassment prevention order based on an email that she copied to the plaintiff who obtained the order, the conviction must be reversed because the evidence was legally insufficient to establish the contents of the email amounted to a “true threat,” or other constitutionally unprotected speech, as required to constitute an act of harassment.
Attorneys – Litigation privilege – SLAPP
Where a plaintiff’s claims against defendant attorneys were dismissed, the judgment of dismissal must be reversed in part, as the plaintiff’s claims against some of the defendants are not barred by the litigation privilege.
Employment – Gender discrimination – Causation
Where summary judgment was awarded to the defendants on a plaintiff’s claims of gender discrimination, the judgment must be vacated because the judge used an incorrect standard in determining that the plaintiff failed to establish a prima facie case of gender discrimination.
Domestic relations – Property division – Alimony
Where a divorce judgment has been challenged on appeal, the portions of the divorce judgment relating to property division and alimony must be vacated because the judge erred by failing to consider the husband's noneconomic contribution as the child's primary caretaker.
Criminal – Duplicative convictions
Where (1) a defendant was charged with violation of an abuse prevention order (G.L.c. 209A, §7) and stalking in violation of an abuse prevention order and (2) a jury returned a guilty verdict on the first count and a guilty verdict of the lesser included offense of violation of an abuse prevention order on the second count, the latter conviction must be reversed as duplicative.
Appeals – Mootness – Real estate attachment
Where a defendant, as personal representative of the estate of his mother, has appealed from the denial of his motion to vacate an order of post-judgment real estate attachment by the Superior Court, the attachment order must be vacated because it is moot.
Civil practice – Sex offender classification – Risk of reoffense
Where a Superior Court judge affirmed a plaintiff’s classification by the Sex Offender Registry Board (SORB) as a Level 2 sex offender, the matter must be remanded to SORB for further proceedings because the hearing examiner failed to provide sufficient analysis as to the plaintiff's risk of reoffense.
Search and seizure – Automobile exception – Firearm
Where a Superior Court judge suppressed a firearm found in a defendant's vehicle, that order must be reversed because the search was justified by the automobile exception to the warrant requirement.
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
