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Criminal – Consent – Indecent assault and battery
Where a jury convicted a defendant of indecent assault and battery, that conviction should be upheld despite the defendant’s contention that the evidence was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the victim, having agreed to allow the defendant to give her a tattoo on her front and outer thigh, did not consent to the defendant touching her pubic area and inner thigh of her other l[...]
Appeals Court reinstates 93A claim against tobacco company
Massachusetts Appeals Court rules Chapter 93A claims don’t require fraud liability, reviving a tobacco wrongful death lawsuit against Philip Morris.
Securities – Standing
Where claims of conversion, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence and violation of the Uniform Securities Act (G.L.c. 110A) were dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, the judgment of dismissal must be vacated because the plaintiffs' allegations of injury suffice to establish standing.
Ruling leaves homeowners separated from beach lot
Massachusetts Appeals Court rules derelict fee statute does not apply to Nantasket Beach dispute, ordering judgment for town on quiet title claim.
Consumer protection – Cigarettes – Jury instruction
Where a jury returned a verdict for a defendant tobacco company under G.L.c. 93A, a remand must be ordered because the trial judge erred by giving the jury an instruction that effectively precluded a finding of liability under Chapter 93A unless the jury also found liability under the more restrictive standard for fraud and misrepresentation.
Real property – Derelict fee statute
Where (1) the plaintiff town of Hull commenced an action seeking to establish and quiet title to an undeveloped part of “Beach Avenue” and (2) a judge determined and declared that the defendants hold the fee title to the disputed area pursuant to the derelict fee statute (G.L.c. 183, §58), the judgment must be vacated because the fee was conveyed to another party in 1887, then to the town in [...]
Criminal – Animal cruelty
Where a defendant was convicted of animal cruelty, the commonwealth did not meet its burden of proving that the defendant unnecessarily failed to provide her dog with proper shelter and protection from the weather, but the evidence did establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant unnecessarily failed to provide her with proper food and drink.
Appeals Court upholds division of husband’s closely held securities
The Appeals Court ruled a wife was entitled to half of her husband’s Fidelity equity compensation, rejecting a time-rule formula for dividing complex compensation assets.
Criminal – Licensure – Joint venture
Where a defendant was charged with carrying a firearm without a license under a joint venture theory, it was error for the trial judge not to instruct the jurors that they needed to find that the coventurer lacked a license in order to convict the defendant.
Domestic relations – Closely held securities – Modified time rule formula
Where a judgment of divorce nisi has been challenged on appeal, the judgment should be upheld despite the husband’s argument that the Probate & Family Court judge erred by failing to apply the modified time rule formula set forth in Baccanti v. Morton, 434 Mass. 787, 801 (2001), to closely held securities obtained in connection with his employment.
Criminal – Firearm possession – Rifle
Where a defendant has challenged his two convictions of unlawful possession of a rifle, the convictions must be reversed because there was no competent evidence that the weapon at issue had a rifled bore.
Appeals Court: excess policy covered golf cart injury
Ambiguity in a “follow-form” provision prevented an insurance carrier from enforcing a family member exclusion to bar excess liability coverage of injuries sustained by the daughter of insureds while she was riding in a golf cart, the Appeals Court has ruled.
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
