New England In-House

A Florida-based private equity firm that bought the iconic Friendly’s restaurant chain in 2007 and managed it straight into Chapter 11 bankruptcy by 2011 used a common industry practice to buy back the assets of the business for a bargain ...

Tagged with: Feb. 29 2012 issue

One of New England’s largest law firms has suffered a significant, and potentially costly, defeat at the hands of a federal judge.

Tagged with: Feb. 29 2012 issue

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

Tagged with: Feb. 29 2012 issue

An award of summary judgment for a defendant employer on a plaintiff’s retaliation claim must be affirmed based on the plaintiff’s inability to show that she suffered an adverse employment action after complaining about age discrimination. Gómez-Pérez v. Potter (Lawyers ...

Tagged with: Feb. 29 2012 issue

Where a jury rendered a verdict in favor of the plaintiff in an age discrimination action brought pursuant to Massachusetts law, the verdict should be upheld, as the trial judge committed no error in (1) giving a mixed-motive jury instruction, (2) ...

Tagged with: Feb. 29 2012 issue

Where a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge found that the defendants did not violate the discharge injunction by refusing to foreclose or release its mortgage lien on the plaintiff debtors’ residence, the judge’s ruling was not inconsistent with Pratt v. General ...

Tagged with: Jan. 30 2012 issue

Where an assignee of a mortgage lender asserted an equitable interest in the home of the debtors, that claim was properly rejected based on the fact that a new mortgage instrument, executed in connection with a refinancing, listed as collateral ...

Tagged with: Jan. 30 2012 issue

Neither the Air Carrier Access Act nor Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act provides a private cause of action against air carriers for disability discrimination based on a plaintiff’s claim that Jet Blue Airways failed to provide her ...

Tagged with: Jan. 30 2012 issue

A U.S. District Court judgment dismissing a plaintiff’s disability discrimination complaint against the defendant Department of Veterans Affairs must be affirmed in light of the plaintiff’s failure to file a formal complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission within the ...

Tagged with: Jan. 30 2012 issue

Where (1) a defendant failed to close on a real estate purchase and sale agreement, (2) the seller retained his deposit, sold the property to a third party for a lower price and then assigned its claim for the price ...

Tagged with: Jan. 30 2012 issue