Loring Towers Associates v. Furtick v. Boston Housing Authority (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-033-14)
Housing authority improperly terminated Section 8 benefits without fair process; third-party complaint proper in eviction case; reinstated retroactively.
Appeals Court Opinions
Commonwealth v. Whitehead (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-032-14)
Officer justified in frisking student and searching backpack on college campus based on ammunition in vehicle, threatening decals, camouflage attire, and aggressive posture.
Commonwealth v. Wallace (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-031-14)
Murder defendants indicted 2002, charged 2010, challenged delay. Court reversed dismissal, finding defendants failed to assert speedy trial rights and suffered no prejudice.
Commonwealth v. Mason (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-030-14)
Affirmed conviction for resisting arrest. Trial court properly denied peremptory challenge inquiry; evidence of challenged jurors' police connections provided race-neutral basis for strikes.
Commonwealth v. Reddy (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-029-14)
Assault conviction vacated where prosecutor improperly emphasized judge's prior finding that defendant was substantially likely to abuse victim; violation of abuse prevention order conviction affirmed.
Theophilopoulos, et al. v. Board of Health of Salem, et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-028-14)
Appeals Court reverses Superior Court judgment vacating Board of Health approval of waste transfer station expansion, holding it was minor rather than major modification to site assignment.
Commonwealth v. Gray (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-027-14)
Location of assault and battery is not an essential element of the crime and therefore immaterial to its proof.
Commerce Insurance Co., Inc. v. Gentile, et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-025-14)
Insurer successfully voided optional bodily injury coverage when insured violated operator exclusion agreement by allowing excluded driver to operate vehicle.
Pehoviak, et al. v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Company (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-024-14)
Deutsche Bank breached its duty of good faith and reasonable diligence by refusing to provide a foreclosure buyer with evidence of required notice to junior lienholders, causing Commerce Bank's junior mortgage to go unsatisfied.
Commonwealth v. Torres (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-021-14)
Police discovered a firearm during a valid inventory search of a towed vehicle. Affirmed convictions despite police failure to complete required inventory documentation form.