Argument: Not yet scheduled.

Keywords: Administrative Law - Arbitration - Discrimination - Employment

Question Presented: Whether an employee’s agreement to arbitrate all “claims and disputes” bars her from asserting claims before the Mass. Commission Against Discrimination.

Facts: The employee, Randi Simmons, signed an agreement shortly after beginning employment in which she agreed to arbitrate all disputes and claims, and acknowledged that she was waiving her right to …

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Argument: September 2010

Keywords: Consumer Protection - Insurance - Statute of Limitations

Question Presented: Whether a government consumer protection action “accrues” when the violation occurs, or when the government has reason to know of it.

Facts: Anawan Insurance Agency paid commissions to a broker from 1997 to 2001, even though the broker’s license had expired early in the relationship. The Massachusetts Division of Insurance discovered …

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Argument: September 2010

Keywords: Constitutional Law - Criminal Procedure - Judicial Review - Search and Seizure

Question Presented: Whether police were justified in impounding and searching a vehicle when the driver was arrested at 4:15AM in a “high crime area” and the car’s owner could not be contacted.

Facts: Officers saw the defendants leave an after-hours party at a residential home at 4:15 AM, carry open bottles of beer into a car, and drive away. (Remarkably, parties at …

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Argument: September 2010

Keywords: Consumer Protection - Contract Law

Question Presented: Whether a plaintiff may recover under 93A for a violation that was not disclosed until after sending its demand letter, but prior to filing suit.

Facts: The plaintiffs were scheduled to take a cruise on September 16, 2001, with the defendant Norwegian Cruise Line. As a result of the September 11 attacks, they decided not to …

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Argument: Not yet scheduled.

Keywords: Criminal Law - Probation

Question Presented: Whether a defendant intimidates a witness by making a threat after proceedings are closed; whether a defendant commits the crime of threat to commit a crime, where the threat is communicated only to the child victim’s mother.

Facts: The defendant, Kenneth Hamilton, was incarcerated after violating probation. After leaving prison he left a voicemail message with his former probation officer, blaming her for his incarceration and threatening to …

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Argument: October 2010

Keywords: Environmental Law - Local Government - Mandamus - Sovereign Immunity

Question Presented: Whether the Town of Boxford may sue to enjoin the Mass. Department of Transportation from operating a road salt storage facility.

Facts: The Mass. Department of Transportation (“DOT”) maintains a road salt storage facility in the Town of Boxford, which it uses to de-ice major highways. Salt has contaminated the groundwater near …

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Argument: Not yet scheduled.

Keywords: Commerce Clause - Constitutional Law - Tax

Question Presented: Whether a ferry company transporting many out-of-state visitors between points within Massachusetts is “engaged in” interstate commerce.

Facts: Global Companies, a fuel company, sold fuel to Hy-Line and collected sales tax. Hy-Line provides about one quarter of the transportation between Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Its …

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Argument: October 2010

Keywords: Criminal Procedure - Immigration

Question Presented: Whether police violation of the Vienna Convention justifies a motion to withdraw a guilty plea.

Facts: The defendant, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, was arrested and charged with crimes three times in 2003. At no time was he given notice of his right to communicate …

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Argument: October 2010

Keywords: Damages - Energy - Real Property - Takings - Zoning

Question Presented: How should a plaintiff prove damages from a taking based on a development plan that is currently barred by statute?

Facts: The defendant water authority took property by eminent domain from the plaintiff energy company to build a sewer relief system. Market value was paid based on anticipated industrial uses. The …

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Argument: October 2010

Keywords: Contract Law - Corporations - Disabilities - Discrimination - Employment

Question Presented: Whether a retaliation claim may lie under c. 151B where the employee was terminated three years before the employer’s alleged retaliatory action; whether board members may be liable for tortious interference with their own corporation’s contract.

Facts: Plaintiff Psy-Ed, a magazine publisher, employed defendant Kimberly Schive in its Boston office from 1993 to 1996. In 1996 Psy-Ed closed the Boston office and fired most employees. Schive, who …

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