ZVI Construction Company, LLC v. Levy, et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-141-16)
Conversion claim against attorney dismissed; mediation confidentiality agreement enforceable; no fraud exception recognized; funds belonged to clients, not plaintiff.
Weekly
Harvard Climate Justice Coalition, et al. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-142-16)
Students lacked standing to challenge Harvard's fossil fuel investments as mismanagement of charitable funds; novel tort theory on behalf of future generations rejected.
Commonwealth v. Grundman (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-140-16)
GPS monitoring requirement properly imposed where defendant received actual notice through written probation order signed same day as sentencing.
Chadwick v. Duxbury Public Schools, et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-158-16)
Union member-union privilege does not exist under Massachusetts law, either by statute or common law, to protect employee communications from employer discovery in civil employment discrimination lawsuit.
Partanen v. Gallagher (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-157-16)
Same-sex couple using artificial reproductive technology may establish legal parentage without biological connection through presumption in G.L. c. 209C if they jointly raised child.
Commonwealth v. Campbell (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-156-16)
Trooper lacked probable cause to impound rental vehicle where driver's name was not on rental agreement. Authority to drive rental vehicle may come from renter; unauthorized use statute does not criminalize contractual violations.
Santana v. Commonwealth (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-138-16)
Rape conviction reversed for improper jury instruction does not satisfy erroneous conviction statute's eligibility requirement of grounds tending to establish innocence.
Commonwealth v. Muckle (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-139-16)
Intimidation conviction properly tried in municipal court despite statute's reference to witness and juror intimidation; convictions affirmed.
Commonwealth v. Chukwuezi (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-155-16)
Affirmed conviction for murder and unlawful firearm possession. Computer-generated simulation of shooter's height properly excluded as misleading. Sufficient alternative evidence available to jury.
Commonwealth v. White (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-154-16)
Warrantless seizure of cellular telephone improper where police lack particularized information that device contains evidence of crime, even with probable cause to suspect defendant. Unreasonable delay in obtaining warrant also requires suppression.