Commonwealth v. Coffman (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-092-13)
Sex offender convicted of failure to register; trial judge properly rejected defendant's uncorroborated protective custody defense as implausible and inconsistent.
Appeals Court Opinions
Commonwealth v. Sullivan (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-090-13)
Affirmed attempted kidnapping conviction; reversed annoying or accosting conviction due to lack of sexually explicit conduct required by statute.
Central Mutual Insurance Company v. True Plastics, Inc., et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-091-13)
CGL policy "temporary worker" exception applies when insured reasonably expected worker furnished to meet short-term workload condition at time of assignment.
Commonwealth v. Morgan RV Resorts, LLC, et al. (and five companion cases) (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-089-13)
Judge must recuse herself from cases involving former firm despite no actual bias when appearance of impartiality might reasonably be questioned.
Commonwealth v. Letkowski (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-088-13)
Defendant convicted of kidnapping, robbery, and rape challenges seizure of ski mask and knife from car stop, invocation of Miranda rights, and references to his silence at trial.
Harmon Law Offices, P.C. v. Attorney General (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-085-13)
Attorney General's civil investigative demands to foreclosure law firm upheld; firm's claims of attorney-client privilege and litigation privilege rejected as insufficiently related to contemplated litigation.
In the Matter of the Estate of Sharis (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-086-13)
Grandson's will challenged for lack of independent counsel and fiduciary's undue influence; burden shifted to fiduciary beneficiary; affirmed.
Hugenberger, et al. v. Alpha Management Corp. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-087-13)
Consumer Protection Act claim requires introduction of statutory demand letter at trial to prove an element of the case and determine available damages.
Alford v. Thibault, et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-084-13)
Life tenant with absolute power of sale under will owes no fiduciary duty to remainder interests regarding sale price, and sale below market value under tax foreclosure pressure was not fraudulent.
First Specialty Insurance Corporation v. Pilgrim Insurance Company (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-082-13)
General liability insurer owed no duty to defend insureds sued for negligent hiring and supervision where policy's automobile exclusion contained language explicitly covering such claims.