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SJC solicits briefs for upcoming cases
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court seeks briefs for cases including Commonwealth v. Jironvil addressing trial errors and privacy issues.
Products liability – Cigarettes – Punitive damages
Where a jury returned a verdict in favor of a plaintiff in a wrongful death action against a defendant cigarette manufacturer, the verdict should be upheld because the punitive damages award, remitted by the trial judge from $1 billion to slightly more than $56 million, was within constitutionally permissible bounds.
Punitive damages in cigarette case upheld by SJC
The Supreme Judicial Court has affirmed an award of more than $56 million in punitive damages in a wrongful death action against a cigarette manufacturer.
Search and seizure – Traffic stop – Delay
Where (1) a police officer in an unmarked vehicle witnessed a defendant commit a civil traffic infraction and (2) a day later, the officer requested that other officers stop the defendant's vehicle, the defendant’s motion to suppress all evidence obtained from the traffic stop should have been allowed because the commonwealth did not carry its burden to show that the 24-hour delay in stopping th[...]
Civil practice – Settlement – IOLTA committee
Where the Massachusetts IOLTA Committee was not provided with notice of a class-action settlement until more than two years after the settlement's final approval in Superior Court, the committee suffered no prejudice, as the record provides no basis to conclude that earlier notice would have altered the outcome.
Appeals – G.L.c. 211, §3
Where a single justice denied a petition for extraordinary relief pursuant to G.L.c. 211, §3, that decision should be affirmed because the petitioner had an adequate alternative remedy in the ordinary course of appeal.
Consumer protection – Instagram – Communications Decency Act
Where the commonwealth filed a complaint alleging that the defendant, which owns and operates the social media platform Instagram, engaged in unfair business practices by inducing compulsive use by children, engaged in deceptive business practices by deliberately misleading the public about the safety of the platform, and created a public nuisance by engaging in those unfair and deceptive practice[...]
Appeals – G.L.c. 211, §3
Where a single justice denied the commonwealth’s petition for extraordinary relief from an order of a District Court judge denying its motion in limine to admit in evidence out-of-court statements of the alleged victim pursuant to the doctrine of forfeiture by wrongdoing, the commonwealth failed to establish exceptional circumstances requiring general superintendence intervention, so the judgmen[...]
Juvenile – Credit – Sentencing
Where (1) a juvenile who was adjudicated as a youthful offender received a combination sentence comprising commitment to the Department of Youth Services until age 21, followed by a suspended state prison sentence, (2) while on conditional release from his DYS commitment, the juvenile violated his probation, resulting in the imposition of the previously suspended prison sentence, and (3) the juven[...]
Criminal – B&E – Misdemeanor
Where a defendant was found guilty of breaking and entering with intent to commit a misdemeanor, the conviction should be affirmed despite the defendant’s contention that permitting the commonwealth to proceed at trial without specifying the intended misdemeanor violates due process.
Juvenile – Effective assistance – Transfer hearing
Where a transfer hearing was held to determine whether a defendant should be tried as an adult, the defendant was entitled to the effective assistance of counsel at the transfer hearing.
Criminal – Murder – Hearsay
Where a defendant was convicted of first-degree murder and assault with attempt to kill, the convictions must be vacated because of the trial judge’s mishandling of the admission in evidence of the surviving victim's hearsay statements.
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
