New England In-House

Reebok CEO Paul Fireman and lawyers from Boston’s Goulston & Storrs used to enter the courtroom side by side. Those days appear to be over.

Tagged with: March 31 2012 issue

An ex-DLA Piper secretary has abruptly pulled the plug on a sexual harassment complaint she lodged against the Boston law firm and a former supervisor.

Tagged with: March 31 2012 issue

The new federal consumer protection bureau has proposed a rule that would place large-scale debt collectors and consumer reporting agencies under its “nonbank” supervision program. “Our proposed rule would mean that those debt collectors and credit reporting agencies that qualify ...

Tagged with: March 31 2012 issue

A bill introduced in the U.S. Senate is aimed at accelerating the Food and Drug Administration’s approval process for new drugs and treatments needed by patients with serious or life-threatening diseases. The Transforming the Regulatory Environment to Accelerate Access to ...

Tagged with: March 31 2012 issue

A jury verdict for a plaintiff in a retaliation case must be affirmed, as several pieces of evidence that the plaintiff presented at trial “form a mosaic that is enough to support the jury’s finding of retaliation.”

Tagged with: March 31 2012 issue

Where a plaintiff brought suit claiming that the defendant failed to protect sensitive nonpublic personal information as it was obligated to do under both contract and consumer protection laws, a judgment of dismissal must be affirmed, as (1) the plaintiff’s ...

Tagged with: March 31 2012 issue

A party’s designation of a deposition witness who is not sufficiently knowledgeable or prepared for the deposition should not be treated as a sanctionable non-appearance under Rule 37 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Tagged with: March 31 2012 issue

Where a jury convicted two defendants of failing to pay federal income taxes, the findings of guilt must be affirmed because there was nothing erroneous about the jury instruction. United States v. Allen, et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 01-003-12) (18 ...

Tagged with: Feb. 29 2012 issue

Where a debtor filed an adversary proceeding in which he asserted a right to rescind a loan agreement on the ground that the disclosures made at closing did not comply with the Massachusetts Consumer Credit Cost Disclosure Act (the commonwealth’s ...

Tagged with: Feb. 29 2012 issue

The removal of a diversity case by an in-forum defendant, in contravention of the 28 U.S.C. §1441(b) prohibition against removal by an in-forum defendant, is not jurisdictional in nature but merely a procedural defect that may be waived. Samaan v. ...

Tagged with: Feb. 29 2012 issue