First Night Boston to Stop Operating, Lay Off Staff
Boston residents and visitors used to celebrating New Year’s Eve in the Copley Square area may have to change their plans for ringing in 2014. First Night Boston, the nonprofit organization that has been running First Night festivals downtown since 1976, has ceased operations, citing a lack of funds to properly plan the annual affair, the Boston Business Journal reported Friday. A vote taken by the board of directors to end operations takes effect immediately, and means the organization will stop planning First Night Boston 2014, according to the article. According to a press release circulated by the First Night organization, the board hopes to transfer the First Night Boston trademark to the City of Boston, with the idea that the annual festivities might continue under the leadership of another organization. “The board, recognizing that First Night is one of the city’s signature events, plans to work with the city to identify an organization that can assume the First Night brand and eventually produce an event containing at least some of the elements of a First Night celebration,” the press release states. The non-profit agency responsible for the event will cease to operate June 30 and staff will be laid off, according to MyFoxBoston.com. If the city can only keep some of the traditional First Night events, which ones would you like to see them keep? Tell us in the comments. SOUTH END PATCH: Facebook | Twitter | E-mail Updates South End Patch
Taylor, et al. v. Eastern Connection Operating, Inc. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-088-13)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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‑11222 JUDITH ANN TAYLOR & others[1] vs. EASTERN CONNECTION OPERATING, INC. Middlesex. January 8, 2013. ‑ May 17, 2013. Present: Ireland, C.J., Spina, Cordy, Botsford, Gants, Duffly, & Lenk, JJ. Contract, Employment, Choice of forum clause, Choice of law clause. Practice, Civil, Choice of forum, Motion to dismiss. Conflict of Laws. Civil action commenced in the Superior Court Department on October 19, 2010. A motion to dismiss was heard by Dennis J. Curran, J. The Supreme Judicial Court on its own initiative transferred the case from the Appeals Court. Shannon Liss-Riordan (James W. Simpson, Jr., with her) for the plaintiffs. Robert R. Berluti for the defendant. Danielle Y. Vanderzanden, for National Federation of Independent Business Small Business legal Center, amicus curiae, submitted a brief. Audrey R. Richardson, for Brazilian Immigrant Center & others, amici curiae, submitted a brief. LENK, J. The question presented in this case is whether, in the circumstances, individuals who live and work outside of Massachusetts for a corporation headquartered in Massachusetts may bring an action in a Massachusetts court to enforce certain Massachusetts independent contractor, wage, and overtime pay statutes. Insofar as the written contract between the parties contains an enforceable clause requiring both that actions be brought in Massachusetts and that the “Contract and all rights and obligations of the parties” be determined under Massachusetts law, and where application of Massachusetts law is not contrary to a fundamental policy of the jurisdiction where the individuals live and work, we conclude that it was error to dismiss the plaintiffs’ complaint.[2] 1. Background. We recite the facts alleged in the complaint, accepting as true such facts, as well as any reasonable inferences drawn therefrom. See Mass. R. Civ. P. 12 (b) (1), (6), 365 Mass. 754 (1974); Ginther v. Commissioner of Ins., 427 Mass. 319, 322 (1998). The plaintiffs, Judith Ann Taylor, Gardner Taylor, and Donald Wellington, are individuals who live in New York and work there as couriers for the defendant, Eastern Connection Operating, Inc., a corporation headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts. The defendant is in the business of delivering packages in various States along the East Coast, including Massachusetts and New York. The plaintiffs entered into identical contracts (collectively, the contract) with the defendant to perform package pickup and delivery services exclusively in […]