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Motor vehicles – OUI – Second offense
Where a jury convicted a defendant of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor (OUI) and negligent operation of a motor vehicle, the judgments must be vacated because the defendant was unfairly prejudiced by the admission of inadmissible OUI second offense evidence.
Criminal – Bad acts instruction
Where a defendant was convicted of one count of indecent assault and battery on a person over age 14, the conviction must be vacated because it was prejudicial error not to provide a jury instruction on bad acts after the defendant requested such an instruction.
Tort – Harassment prevention order
Where a defendant has challenged a G.L.c. 258E harassment prevention order, that order must be vacated because the plaintiff failed to prove the occurrence of three acts constituting harassment.
Criminal – Threat
Where a defendant was convicted of threatening to commit a crime, the judgment of conviction must be vacated because the judge did not inform the jury that the commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was aware of or consciously disregarded a substantial risk that the communication at issue would be viewed as threatening violence.
Criminal – Harassment prevention order
Where a defendant was convicted of violating a harassment prevention order, the conviction must be reversed because of a lack of any evidence via a stipulation or otherwise that the defendant had knowledge of the order and its terms.
Tort – Harassment prevention order
Where a harassment prevention order has been challenged on appeal, the order must be vacated because it was not supported by evidence of three separate acts of willful and malicious conduct.
Evidence – Cellphone recording – Prior bad act
Where a defendant was found to be a youthful offender, the defendant’s conviction must be vacated because of a combination of errors related to the jury’s consideration of a video recording extracted from the defendant’s cellphone depicting a youth, allegedly the defendant, pointing a gun at the phone’s camera.
Domestic relations – Abuse prevention order – Continuance
Where a defendant has challenged an abuse prevention order, the defendant's request for a continuance should have been allowed, so the order must be vacated.
Search and seizure – Selective enforcement – Traffic stop
Where a defendant filed a motion to suppress evidence on the ground that a traffic stop resulted from selective law enforcement based on his Hispanic ethnicity, a judge’s decision to allow that motion must be vacated and a remand ordered so that the judge may clarify his factual findings and legal conclusions.
Search and seizure – Exit order
Where a defendant has challenged the denial of his motion to suppress, arguing that a police officer lacked a lawful basis to order him to step out of his car, a remand must be ordered because it is unclear whether the lower court credited portions of the officer’s testimony that are critical to determining whether the exit order was reasonable.
Corporate – Fee award – G.L.c. 156D
Where (1) a plaintiff brought suit after trying unsuccessfully to get the defendants to provide corporate documents to which she was entitled under G.L.c. 156D and (2) the plaintiff was awarded counsel fees, a remand must be ordered because of the lack of an explanation for the inclusion of fees that appear to fall outside the ambit of the statute.
Zoning – Subdivision rules – Dead-end streets
Where (1) two plaintiffs filed an application with the planning board of Grafton seeking a special permit and site plan approval to build a multi-family residential development and (2) the board denied waivers from a provision of the town’s subdivision rules imposing length restrictions on dead-end streets, it was arbitrary and capricious to deny the waivers based on alleged safety concerns, so [...]
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
