Amicus due April 19, 2010 - Argument: May 6, 2010

Keywords: Criminal Procedure - District Court - Search and Seizure - Warrants

Question Presented: Whether a district court clerk-magistrate may issue a search warrant for premises falling outside the district court’s jurisdiction, but within the district court’s county.

Facts: The Barnstable Police Department investigated the defendant and his family, who were allegedly running a drug distribution enterprise, from 1999 to 2007. By 2007, the defendant had moved to the …

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Argument: September 2010

Keywords: Criminal Law - Criminal Procedure - Lesser Included Offense - Murder

Question Presented: Whether a defendant is entitled to an instruction on the lesser included offense of manslaughter, if a conviction on that offense is barred by the statute of limitations.

Facts: The defendant, Margaret Earle, appeals from her second degree murder conviction following the death of her 20-month-old daughter. The evidence showed that the child had been stomped on by Earle …

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Argument: May 2010

Keywords: Criminal Procedure - Evidence

Question Presented: Whether a district court judge properly fined the Commonwealth $25,000 for permitting the state police to test evidence in alleged violation of an ex parte order.

Facts: Several officers conducted a warrantless search of a car on the basis of a strong odor of fresh (not smoked) marijuana. They seized an unlicensed firearm and a small plastic …

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Argument: May 6, 2010 (reserve)

Keywords: Confrontation Clause - Constitutional Law - Criminal Procedure

Question Presented: Whether admission of a 911 call made by the alleged victim of an assault and battery from a neighbor’s house violated the defendant’s right of confrontation.

Facts: After a physical fight between the defendant and the alleged victim, his girlfriend, the victim ran to a neighbor’s house and made a 911 call. On the call, the …

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Amicus due March 15, 2010 - Argument: May 6, 2010

Keywords: Affordable Housing - Local Government - Real Property

Question Presented: Whether a mortgage of real property is a “conveyance” triggering a reverter clause in the deed; whether the Board of Selectmen’s authorization to enter a deed requiring reverter on misuse of the property also authorized it to require reverter on conveyance.

Facts: The Board of Selectmen of the town of Dennis deeded a property to the Dennis Housing Authority (DHA) for the sum of $1, to be used for affordable housing. The …

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Argument: September 2010

Keywords: Administrative Law - Civil Procedure - Discrimination - Employment - Public Employees

Question Presented: Whether a defendant’s appeal permits a plaintiff to retract acceptance of remittitur; whether a jury damage award for hostile work environment may be based on a pattern of conduct not alleged in an MCAD complaint.

Facts: The plaintiff, who is gay, was the only woman employed by the Somerset Highway Department from 1984 to 2000. In 2000, she filed a claim with the Mass. Commission Against …

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Argument: May 4, 2010

Keywords: Business Judgment Rule - Corporations - Derivative Suits

Question Presented: Whether a shareholder derivative suit must be dismissed if the board of directors determines in good faith after the suit was filed that it is not in the best interests of the corporation.

Facts: The plaintiff, Halebian, is a shareholder in a mutual fund managed by the defendant CitiTrust. CitiTrust had contracts with another Citigroup subsidiary for asset management. In 2005, Citigroup sold the …

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Argument: September 2010

Keywords: Disabilities - Employment - Insurance

Question Presented: Whether a workers’ compensation self-insurance group qualifies for payments from the Massachusetts Insurers Insolvency Fund when its excess insurer is insolvent.

Facts: The Massachusetts Care Self-Insurance Group (“MCSIG”) is a self-insurance pool of nursing home care businesses, designed to meet the member businesses’ duties under the Workers Compensation Act. As of 1995 …

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Argument: September 2010

Keywords: Insurance - Malicious Prosecution

Question Presented: Whether the tort of malicious prosecution occurs, for insurance and indemnity purposes, on the date the malicious lawsuit is filed, or on the date it is terminated in the defendant’s favor.

Facts: In 1998, the plaintiff, Billings, sued the Petersons over a proposed wetlands development. The case was dismissed in April 2000 as a result of an earlier settlement. In March 2000 …

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Argument: April 7, 2010

Keywords: Constitutional Law - Criminal Law - Probation - Sex Offenders

Question Presented: Whether a judge can modify a sex offender’s probation to require him to wear a GPS tracking device, absent a probation violation.

Facts: The defendant began the probationary portion of his sentence for a set of sex offense convictions in 2009, after serving 15 years in prison and another four years committed as …

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