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1st Circuit reopens $10.2M severance dispute over ambiguity
A $10.2M severance case heads back to U.S. District Court as the 1st Circuit finds ambiguity in a key contract provision.
Retirement – Accidental death – Causation
Where a Boston firefighter was diagnosed with hypertension, peripheral vascular disease, and lung cancer, the denial of his widow’s application for accidental death benefits should be affirmed based on a lack of evidence that the firefighter’s retirement and death were the results of the same single work-related cause.
Retirement – Criminal conviction – MTRS
Where a petitioner’s membership in the Massachusetts Teachers’ Retirement System was rescinded, that decision should be upheld based on the fact that the petitioner was found guilty of larceny under $250 while working for the Lowell Regional Water Utility prior to being hired as a teacher in Dracut.
Retirement – Teacher – Enrollment
Where the Massachusetts Teachers’ Retirement System (MTRS) denied a petitioner’s request to participate in the benefits program known as Retirement Plus, that decision should be upheld because of the petitioner’s failure to file an enrollment document during the first half of 2001.
Employment – Vaccination – Undue hardship
Where a religious discrimination complaint was filed after the denial of a plaintiff nurse’s request for a religious exemption from a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, the defendants are entitled to summary judgment because the undisputed facts show that granting the plaintiff an exemption would have caused an undue burden on the defendants.
Employment – Retaliation – Accommodation
Where a jury found that a defendant employer retaliated against a plaintiff by terminating him “for requesting or using a reasonable accommodation” in violation of G.L.c. 151B, §4(4), the district court's denial of the employer’s motion seeking judgment as a matter of law should be affirmed, as the record was sufficient to support the jury's conclusion that the plaintiff suffered an adverse[...]
Retirement – Accidental disability – Causation
Where the Cambridge Retirement Board denied a petitioner’s application for accidental disability retirement, that decision should be affirmed based on a regional medical panel’s conclusion that the petitioner’s disability was not the result of an aggravation of a workplace injury.
Retirement – Purchase of credit
Where the State Board of Retirement denied a petitioner’s request to purchase retirement credit for a five-month period of work in 1981, that decision must be affirmed because the petitioner is no longer publicly employed and he already is receiving a retirement allowance, so he cannot purchase credit for that period now.
Contract – Severance agreement – Ambiguity
Where a plaintiff corporation sought reformation of a severance agreement with the defendant, a judgment in favor of the defendant must be vacated and a remand ordered because the lower court incorrectly concluded that the agreement unambiguously promised payments of $680,000 each month for 16 months.
Retirement – Group 2 – Correctional employee
Where the State Board of Retirement declined to classify a petitioner in group 2 under G.L.c. 32, §3(2)(g), the petitioner has not carried her burden of proving that she performs eligible work during more than half of her working hours.
Retirement – Teacher – Extracurricular club supervision
Where a teacher served as the faculty advisor to a mindfulness and meditation club, it was not error for the Massachusetts Teachers’ Retirement System, in calculating the teacher’s regular compensation for retirement purposes, to exclude the sums she received for supervising the club.
Retirement – Accidental disability – Causation
Where the Methuen Retirement Board denied a firefighter’s application to retire for accidental disability, the application should have been allowed because a preponderance of the evidence, including the opinions of a unanimous medical panel, establishes that the petitioner’s incapacity was proximately caused by an incident that preceded his application by less than two years.
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
