Argument: September 2010

Keywords: Criminal Procedure - Search and Seizure

Question Presented: Whether college police improperly entered a dorm room without consent or a warrant, on reports of conduct that violated the residence policy but not the law.

Facts: Resident directors for a Boston College dorm brought two students to campus police with a report that defendant Daniel Carr was bullying them and boasted of having a knife, and …

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Argument: September 2010

Keywords: Employment

Question Presented: Whether an employer may offer an employees a choice between deducting costs of accidents from their wages and disciplinary action.

Facts: ABC Disposal Service (“ABC”) employs drivers to collect solid waste throughout the Commonwealth. By company policy, when a driver damages an ABC truck or third party property, ABC first determines …

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Argument: September 2010

Keywords: Public Employees - Sovereign Immunity - Torts

Question Presented: Whether claims of private nuisance against public employers are subject to the limitations of the Mass. Tort Claims Act.

Facts: The defendant Mass. Department of Transportation (“MassDOT”) granted permits for certain private parties to modify a state highway next to the plaintiff’s property, as part of a construction project …

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Argument: September 2010

Keywords: Consumer Protection - Damages - Torts

Question Presented: Whether double or treble damages under c. 93A must be awarded individually against each defendant, or may be awarded jointly and severally.

Facts: The plaintiff was a tenant in the defendants’ apartment building. The two landlords (father and son) had made substantial modifications to the building without appropriate building permits and inspection. As …

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Argument: September 2010

Keywords: Foreclosure - Real Property

Question Presented: Whether banks, trustees in mortgage securitization schemes, could foreclose on properties some ten to fourteen months before they acquired explicit mortgage assignments from the original mortgagees.

Facts: The plaintiffs, two banks, each foreclosed on properties in 2007, after advertising foreclosure sales. The banks purported to be “Present holder of said mortgage” in the notices, on the basis …

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Argument: September 2010

Keywords: Commercial Property - Landlord and Tenant - Real Property

Question Presented: Whether commercial landlords are required by G.L. c. 186, § 19 to repair unsafe conditions upon written notice, regardless of the terms of the lease.

Facts: The plaintiff tenant leased a commercial building from the defendant landlord to be used as a salon. During the lease, the tenant gave written notice to the landlord that the …

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Argument: Not yet scheduled.

Keywords: Constitutional Law - Criminal Procedure - Probation

Question Presented: Whether a defendant violates probation running “from and after” his jail sentence if he commits a crime while still serving the sentence.

Facts: The defendant was convicted of various crimes and sentenced to two and a half years in the house of corrections, with a ten year term of probation to run “from …

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Argument: Not yet scheduled.

Keywords: Civil Procedure - First Amendment - Judicial Review

Question Presented: Whether a civil hearing for commitment of a person found not guilty by reason of mental illness should be closed to the public to protect the defendant’s privacy.

Facts: The defendant was found not guilty by reason of mental illness of murdering her four-year-old child, and committed to a state treatment facility. Three years later, the Department of Mental …

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Argument: Not yet scheduled.

Keywords: Administrative Law - Commercial Property - Energy - Regulated Utilities - Tax

Question Presented:

Facts: Boston Gas is a regulated utility whose property and profits are heavily controlled by the Department of Public Utilities (“DPU”). Boston Gas owns nearly 1000 miles of delivery pipe and …

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