Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the single justice’s denial of Larry C. Ahart’s petition for extraordinary relief under G.L. c. 211, §3. The court held that the petition was improper because ordinary appellate remedies were available and extraordinary relief is not a substitute for the normal appellate process.

The Supreme Judicial Court reversed the Superior Court’s summary judgment in favor of Northeastern University, holding that the Town of Nahant’s eminent‑domain taking of conservation and access easements is supported by a valid public purpose, is not tainted by bad‑faith pretext, and is not invalidated by private…

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the county court's denial of the husband's petition for extraordinary relief under G.L.c.211 §3, holding that ordinary appellate remedies were available and adequate.

The court affirmed the denial of Hood’s motion to withdraw his guilty pleas and obtain a new trial. It held that the allegedly undisclosed or newly discovered evidence did not materially affect his decision to plead guilty, that he failed to show a nexus between police corruption in another investigation and his own…

The court held that the plaintiffs had statutory taxpayer standing to challenge Quincy’s expenditure of public funds on two proposed statues depicting Catholic saints. Applying the Massachusetts constitutional framework that considers constitutional text, history, purpose, secular and religious effects, and…

The court affirmed judgment for the defendants, holding that the plaintiffs lacked standing to enforce the terms of the White Fund charitable trust and that the White Stadium parcel was no longer protected parkland under article 97 when the challenged agreements were executed.

The court held that the SORB hearing examiner abused his discretion by denying Doe funds for an expert to address the application of factor thirty-seven and current research concerning repetitive sexual behavior and dangerousness.

The court affirmed summary judgment for the general contractor because the record did not establish that it retained or exercised control over the subcontractor's safety practices or the conditions that caused the plaintiff's fall.

The court affirmed the denial of Sreedhar's petition for relief in the nature of mandamus. It held that the petition did not show the absence of an adequate and effective alternative remedy because Sreedhar could seek the requested documents and appellate relief through motions in the Housing Court and the ordinary…

The court affirmed the first-degree murder conviction and denial of the defendant's motion for a new trial. It held that counsel's decision not to introduce evidence of the victim's prior violent conduct was a reasonable strategic choice, and that the evidence did not require a voluntary-manslaughter instruction for…

The court held that four-month delays in obtaining warrants to search cell phones lawfully seized incident to arrest did not make the continued seizures unreasonable under art. 14.

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the denial of Byron Palmer's motion to suppress money and drugs he discarded while fleeing officers who had approached him in a Jamaica Plain parking lot to question him about an armed robbery and shooting.

The Supreme Judicial Court held that MAG Mutual's 'limited regulatory defense' provision was triggered by the Board of Registration in Medicine's proceeding against Dr. O'Connor because the operative complaint alleged that he prescribed an addictive medication to a patient when her primary care physician would no…

The Supreme Judicial Court held that the trial judge prejudicially erred in excluding the defendant's postarrest medical records from MCI-Framingham and Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital, which documented diagnoses and treatment of mental illness and underpinned her sole defense of lack of criminal…

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the single justice’s denial of Hall’s habeas corpus petition, holding that Hall’s claims must be pursued through a Rule 30 motion in the Superior Court and that the denial was not a clear error of law or abuse of discretion.

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the single justice's denial of a petition for supervisory intervention under G.L.c.211 §3, holding that the petitioner had an adequate alternative appellate remedy and that the court will not exercise its extraordinary superintendence power where the legislature has expressly barred…

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the defendant's convictions for first-degree murder on a deliberate-premeditation theory, resisting arrest, and possession of PCP, and affirmed the denial of his motion for a new trial.

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed a Superior Court judge's allowance of the defendant's third motion for a new trial on his 1996 convictions for the 1993 murder of Keith Robinson and unlawful possession of a firearm.

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed dismissal of six Pittsfield residents' challenge to the board of health's rescission of an emergency order that had deemed a Verizon cell tower a public nuisance based on radiofrequency (RF) emission health concerns.

The court held that police searches of Dobson's person during a traffic stop exceeded the statutory limits governing searches incident to arrest because their objective purpose was to obtain a car key and investigate a locked glove compartment, rather than to obtain evidence of the arrest offense or disarm her.

The Supreme Judicial Court held that the Petersham zoning board's denial of a special permit for a large-scale ground-mounted solar energy system violated the solar provision of the Dover Amendment, G. L. c. 40A, § 3, ninth par.

The Supreme Judicial Court answered two questions of Massachusetts law certified by the First Circuit concerning St. 1997, c. 155 (a special act authorizing the Springfield water and sewer commission to privatize wastewater operations) and the Prevailing Wage Act, G. L. c. 149, §§ 26-27H.

The court affirmed the denial of Coon's petition for extraordinary relief because the denial of his criminal motion to dismiss could be adequately reviewed after a final adverse judgment.

The Supreme Judicial Court held that G. L. c. 278A, the postconviction forensic and scientific analysis act, permits digital forensic analysis of cell phones: such analysis applies a 'forensic or scientific technique' to 'evidence,' a term the act does not confine to biological material, tangible laboratory specimens…

The court upheld the commissioner's authority to reject the proposed workers' compensation rates because the evidence supported his findings that the proposed methodology did not produce rates within a reasonable range.

The court held that the plaintiff presented sufficient evidence for a jury to find that the hospital’s stated reasons for ending his residency were pretextual and that racial or national-origin discrimination may have caused the adverse employment action.

The court vacated the defendant's convictions and ordered a new trial because the combined effect of three evidentiary errors created a reasonable possibility of prejudicial influence on the verdict.

The court held that the constitutional rule barring mandatory life without parole for offenders who were under eighteen when they committed murder applies retroactively on collateral review.

The court affirmed the termination of the mother's parental rights because clear and convincing evidence supported her continuing unfitness, the department's efforts were reasonable despite shortcomings, and termination served Ilona's best interests.

The court affirmed judgments denying two trustees' requests for declarations of clear title because they failed to prove that they held the mortgages when they published foreclosure notices and conducted the sales.

The court affirmed judgment for Fleet on the claims that it breached the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and violated G. L. c. 93A. Fleet had neither the intent nor the power to sell the property after determining that the trust would terminate, and the plaintiff presented no evidence that Fleet acted…

The Supreme Judicial Court held that although the absence of accident-related injury or a manifested defect does not bar a G. L. c. 93A, § 9 claim premised on overpayment for vehicles that fail federal safety standards, the plaintiffs' complaint failed to allege noncompliance with FMVSS 206 because the GM test Ford…

The court held that the nursing-home arbitration agreement was valid and enforceable, and that the plaintiff's claims against the nursing home and its employees had to be dismissed and submitted to arbitration.

The court affirmed summary judgment for the defendants in claims arising from the unsuccessful attempted donation of a deceased child’s tissues. It held that the statute did not prohibit the solicitation or require additional informed-consent disclosures, but did require an audio recording of telephonic consent…

The court affirmed decrees dispensing with the father's consent to adoption of his two daughters. It held that termination of parental rights may be ordered even when it is not necessary to implement the children's current permanency plans, and that the judge's detailed findings regarding the father's persistent…

The court vacated the judgments against Dana-Farber on the privacy and implied-covenant claims and entered judgment for Livingston on the intentional-interference claim, while affirming Dana-Farber's liability for unlawful retaliation and the default judgments against the Globe defendants.

The court reversed the defendant’s arson conviction because his confession was involuntary under the totality of the circumstances, where police used fabricated evidence of an apparently conclusive identification together with repeated minimization of the crime and implied promises of counseling or leniency.

The court held that Boston Kenmore did not breach the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing by notifying Uno of a bona fide third-party offer for the condominium unit and declining to reallocate the purchase price among the units.

The court held that receiving workers’ compensation benefits for temporary total disability does not automatically estop an employee from claiming that she is a qualified handicapped person under Massachusetts employment-discrimination law.

The court reversed dismissal of Jarosz’s claims against his former attorney because the prior ruling denying disqualification did not have preclusive effect. Although the attorney-client-relationship issue was actually litigated, it was not essential to the merits of the underlying action, and the interlocutory…