Commonwealth v. Doty (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-129-15)
Single buyer-seller drug transaction insufficient to prove conspiracy to distribute cocaine; agreement to sell to third parties required.
Weekly
Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company v. Workers’ Compensation Trust Fund (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-128-15)
Insurer in liquidation sought reimbursement for second injury benefits. Trust fund refused payment after run-off period began. Primary jurisdiction doctrine required administrative determination of statutory interpretation.
The Home Insurance Company v. Workers’ Compensation Trust Fund (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-127-15)
Insurer in liquidation cannot claim COLA reimbursements without having collected and transmitted required employer assessments to the workers' compensation trust fund.
Molina v. State Garden, Inc. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-126-15)
Temporary worker sued client company for negligence despite receiving workers' compensation benefits. Alternate employer endorsement naming client as additional insured in staffing company's policy provides immunity under Workers' Compensation Act exclusivity provisions.
Commonwealth v. Sallop (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-151-15)
Double jeopardy bars resentencing on completed sentences; permits resentencing on uncompleted sentences if aggregate punishment unchanged, with limits on probation revocation.
Reade v. Secretary of the Commonwealth, et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-150-15)
Federal disability payments and property tax abatements for disabled veterans, not contingent on financial need, do not qualify a litigant as "indigent" under Massachusetts's fee-waiver statute.
Commonwealth v. Hampton (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-125-15)
Ineffective assistance claim for failure to investigate and interview corroborating witness to self-defense claim. Credibility of such witness properly belongs to jury, not trial judge.
Commonwealth v. Dorazio (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-148-15)
Conviction reversed where trial court admitted evidence of defendant's prior acquittal on unrelated sexual assault charge. Massachusetts Constitution bars such evidence in subsequent criminal prosecutions.
Coghlin Electrical Contractors, Inc. v. Gilbane Building Company, et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-149-15)
Construction management at risk contracts include an implied warranty of design sufficiency, but the CMAR's recovery is limited to reasonable reliance on defects.
Commonwealth v. Melucci (and six companion cases) (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-124-15)
District Court wrongly dismissed firearms complaints with prejudice based solely on frustration with continuances when no prejudice to defendants was shown.