New Bedford Educators Association v. Chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, et al. (and two consolidated cases) (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-108-17)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA, 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us 16-P-654 Appeals Court NEW BEDFORD EDUCATORS ASSOCIATION vs. CHAIRMAN OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BOARD OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION & others[1] (and two consolidated cases[2]). No. 16-P-654. Middlesex. May 4, 2017. – August 23, 2017. Present: Trainor, Vuono, & Sullivan, JJ. Practice, Civil, Standing, Declaratory proceeding, Action in nature of mandamus, Relief in the nature of certiorari. Administrative Law, Standing, Judicial review. Declaratory Relief. Mandamus. Board of Education. Commonwealth, Education. Education. School and School Committee. Labor, Public employment. Civil actions commenced in the Superior Court Department on July 18, July 23, and October 21, 2014. After consolidation, motions to dismiss were heard by Kimberly S. Budd, J. Laurie R. Houle for the plaintiffs. Iraida J. Alvarez, Assistant Attorney General (Pierce O. Cray, Assistant Attorney General, also present) for the defendants. VUONO, J. In these consolidated cases, we consider the propriety of actions taken by the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (commissioner) and by the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (board) in creating and approving “turnaround plans” for chronically underperforming schools pursuant to the so-called Achievement Gap Act (Act), G. L. c. 69, § 1J. The plaintiffs, New Bedford Educators Association (NBEA), Holyoke Teachers Association (HTA), and Boston Teachers Union (BTU) (collectively, the unions), filed separate complaints, later amended, in the Superior Court against the commissioner, the board, and its chairman (collectively, the defendants), alleging that the defendants failed to satisfy the requirements of the Act with regard to four chronically underperforming schools located in New Bedford, Holyoke, and Boston.[3] The unions sought declaratory relief pursuant to G. L. c. 231A. NBEA and HTA also sought certiorari review under G. L. c. 249, § 4, and relief in the nature of mandamus pursuant to G. L. c. 249, § 5. The defendants moved to dismiss the unions’ complaints under Mass.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1), 365 Mass. 754 (1974), for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Following a hearing, a judge dismissed the complaints, concluding that the unions did not have standing to challenge the turnaround plans because the unions’ primary concerns were outside the area of interest protected by G. L. c. 69, § 1J, and because the defendants’ statutory duty was to students, not to local teachers’ unions. On appeal, the unions contend that the judge erred in dismissing their complaints solely on the basis of standing. For the reasons […]
Categories: News Tags: 1110817, Association, Bedford, Board, cases, Chairman, consolidated, Education, Educators, Elementary, Lawyers, massachusetts, Secondary, Weekly
DaRosa, et al. v. City of New Bedford (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-081-15)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us SJC-11759 JOHN DaROSA & others[1] vs. CITY OF NEW BEDFORD; MONSANTO COMPANY & others,[2] third-party defendants. Bristol. January 8, 2015. – May 15, 2015. Present: Gants, C.J., Spina, Cordy, Botsford, Duffly, Lenk, & Hines, JJ. Public Records. Municipal Corporations, Public record. Attorney at Law, Work product, Attorney-client relationship. Privileged Communication. Practice, Civil, Discovery. Civil action commenced in the Superior Court Department on October 24, 2008. A motion to strike privilege and work product objections to certain documents and to compel their production, filed on May 15, 2014, was heard by Richard T. Moses, J. An application for leave to prosecute an interlocutory appeal was allowed by Judd J. Carhart, J., in the Appeals Court, and the case was reported by him to that court. The Supreme Judicial Court granted an application for direct appellate review. Shephard S. Johnson, Jr., for city of New Bedford. Mary K. Ryan (Cynthia M. Guizzetti with her) for AVX Corporation. John J. Gushue, for ABC Disposal Service, Inc., was present but did not argue. Mark P. Dolan & Stanley F. Pupecki, for Tutor Perini Corporation, submitted a brief. Michael R. Perry & Aaron D. Rosenberg, for NSTAR Electric Company & another, submitted a brief. John J. Davis & John M. Wilusz, for Massachusetts Municipal Association, amicus curiae, submitted a brief. Martha Coakley, Attorney General, & Judy Zeprun Kalman, for the Commonwealth, amicus curiae, submitted a brief. Brandon H. Moss, for Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association, Inc., amicus curiae, joined in a brief. GANTS, C.J. In General Elec. Co. v. Department of Envtl. Protection, 429 Mass. 798, 801 (1999) (General Electric), we held that “materials privileged as work product . . . are not protected from disclosure under the public records statute unless those materials fall within the scope of an express statutory exemption.” We noted that there is not an express statutory exemption for work product and rejected the claim that work product is protected from disclosure by an implied exemption. See id. at 801-806. In General Electric, the parties were not yet in litigation, so the work product was sought under the public records act rather than in discovery. And in General Electric we did not reach the issue whether the work product would be protected from disclosure under the “policy deliberation” […]
Three Arrested in New Bedford in Relation to Marathon Bombings
Three people with ties to the Boston Marathon bombing were arrested Friday night in New Bedford. Police arrested three suspects from the Hidden Brook Apartments on Carriage Drive in New Bedford, according to ABC6.com in Providence Friday night. Minutes later, police in Watertown took into custody Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the second suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings. South End Patch