New England In-House

A nonresident defendant’s contacts with Rhode Island were not robust enough to allow the federal court to exercise jurisdiction in a lawsuit accusing that defendant of breaching a noncompete agreement with his former employer, U.S. District Court Judge William E. ...

A federal judge has denied a motion by the city of Providence seeking summary judgment in a Title VII retaliation lawsuit brought by one of its employees, concluding that conflicting evidence prevented the city from articulating a “legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason” ...

With several U.S. pharmaceutical companies now conducting large-scale COVID-19 vaccine trials, employment lawyers are beginning to field queries from their corporate clients on whether their employees should be required to take the vaccine once it becomes available. As a general ...

Tagged with: employment law

A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit brought by two women against their former employers, concluding at the summary judgment stage that the evidence was insufficient to allow their gender, age and disability discrimination claims to move forward. U.S. ...

A federal judge has found that a local union acted in good faith and therefore did not breach its duty of fair representation in not pursuing arbitration on behalf of a plaintiff member who was terminated from his job for ...

A ruling on joint motions to dismiss filed by 19 multinational oil and gas company defendants in a climate change suit brought against them by the state will have to await decisions in cases that present similar questions of “stream ...

Finding an exception to the “going-and-coming” rule enunciated by the Rhode Island Supreme Court in Branco v. Leviton Manufacturing Company, Inc. to be inapplicable, the state Workers’ Compensation Court Appellate Division vacated a trial judge’s award of benefits to a ...

Attorneys in Rhode Island say that while increased litigation appears to be imminent, insureds could face a difficult time in recouping pandemic-related losses through the business interruption provisions of their commercial insurance policies. “I see the potential for an explosion ...

A federal judge has determined that Rhode Island enjoys specific personal jurisdiction over an out-of-state mortgage servicer accused of breach of contract in the sale of a mortgage loan, consistent with the three-prong test used by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court ...

Weighing a plaintiff’s disability discrimination and FMLA retaliation claims under the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting paradigm, a federal judge in Rhode Island has determined they cannot withstand the defendant employer’s motion for summary judgment. The suit was brought by Lisa O’Rourke ...