
THOMAS F. MAFFEI
Tom joined Andy Griesinger at what became Griesinger, Tighe & Maffei in 2000. Prior to that, Tom had spent his entire legal career at the Boston law firm of Choate, Hall & Stewart, where he started as an associate in September 1972 and was elected to partnership in January, 1979. While a partner at Choate, Hall & Stewart, Tom was a member of the firm's management committee and chaired one of the Firm's major litigation practice groups.
Tom is a past president of the Massachusetts Bar Association and a former member of the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association. He chaired the state bar association's Civil Litigation Section and served as vice-chair of the association's Committee on Professional Responsibility. Tom also served as a member of the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers and a member of the Chief Justice's Commission on the Future of the Courts. Tom has lectured and written on a variety of legal topics concerning litigation, trial practice, professional ethics and lawyer discipline issues. He teaches Professional Responsibility at Boston College Law School. He has had extensive appellate and trial court experience.
Tom's practice is devoted exclusively to handling complex civil litigation. He has had extensive trial experience. He represents large and medium-sized businesses in a variety of business and commercial disputes; he has handled high exposure coverage and bad faith claims handling disputes on behalf of insurers; and he has represented clients in real estate and construction law matters. Tom also represents lawyers in professional liability and bar disciplinary proceedings. He frequently acts as a mediator, arbitrator or court-appointed special master.
Tom graduated with honors from Boston College Law School in 1971. He was an editor of the Boston College Industrial and Commercial Law Review and was elected to membership in the Order of the Coif. Following graduation from law school, Tom served as law clerk to Honorable Edward F. Hennessy, Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
Tom's professional experiences include the following:
- Represents one of the lead designers on a part of Boston's Central Artery Tunnel project in a personal injury action arising out of the collapse of a section of the tunnel ceiling.
- Represents a major domestic life insurer in a policyholder class action seeking more than $50 million in allegedly wrongfully withheld dividends.
- Represents a Massachusetts-based venture capital firm in a dispute with an international investment banking firm over the bank's failure to place $300 million of private equity.
- Represented a New York-based insurance company against its reinsurer for the reinsurer's bad faith failure to honor billings of almost $5 million under two facultative reinsurance certificates.
- Represents a local health care institution in an action contesting the inventorship of certain valuable patents.
- Represents a major liability insurer in an action for abuse of process and malicious prosecution of a malpractice claim against a doctor who treated the company's insured.
- Served as the Hearing Officer appointed by the Governor of Massachusetts to preside over a removal hearing concerning two members of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Board of Directors.
- Served as an expert witness in an action seeking indemnity that arose out of a $20 million recovery against the former stockholders of a closely held company.
- Testified as an expert on legal fees, legal ethics and professional responsibility on behalf of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in a case brought by several law firms to recover billions of dollars in legal fees for their representation of the Commonwealth in one of the country's largest cases filed against the tobacco industry.
- Represents a renowned interior designer in a dispute over the authenticity of millions of dollars of antiques.
- Represents Savings Bank Life Insurance Company of Massachusetts, the largest issuer of term life insurance in Massachusetts, in a variety of litigation matters, including claim litigation and, most recently, a class action challenging the level of the company's retained surplus.
- Acted as one of the senior defense lawyers representing Hewlett-Packard Company in a lawsuit filed in California by a competitor alleging that HP was engaged in unfair competition. The case was successfully concluded in favor of HP.
- Acted as lead defense counsel in more than one hundred cases against national property and casualty insurers alleging bad faith claims handling. The cases have involved claims ranging from $300,000 to over $30 million. Tom's clients have included Aetna Casualty & Surety Company; Travelers Property/Casualty; National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh; Lexington Insurance Company; Chubb & Sons, Zurich American, DPIC Companies and Ace, Ltd. Tom argued and won a landmark case in Massachusetts that held that self-insuring businesses are not subject to the Massachusetts unfair claims settlement practices act and can insist on a trial even in cases where liability is reasonably clear. Because of his extensive experience in handling bad faith claims against insurers and other companies, Tom has frequently lectured on the subject of claims handling and has authored the chapters on bad faith claims handling which appear in Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc.'s two volumes entitled "Unfair Claims Handling Practices." Tom wrote the chapter on bad faith claims handling for MCLE's treatise on Massachusetts insurance law.
- Represented the trustees of a revocable trust in an action in which numerous charitable beneficiaries claim that the life beneficiaries procured their interests by exercising fraud and undue influence on the donor.
- Appointed by the Superior Court of Massachusetts to serve as Discovery Master in Arthur S. Demoulas v. Demoulas Supermarkets, Inc., the largest and longest running family business dispute ever filed in the Massachusetts courts. As Discovery Master, Tom supervised four years of multi-party discovery and authored over 800 pages of discovery opinions.
- Handled a variety of real estate and construction law matters. He was co-counsel to a national real estate development firm in a trial in federal court in Massachusetts involving Boston's largest office complex. He also acted as CO-counsel to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority on several claims arising out of the construction of the Deer Island Waste Water Treatment Plant. He has also tried cases involving architectural defects.
- Represented the plaintiff in Massachusetts Conveyancers Association vs. Closings, Ltd., a significant case involving the definition of the practice of law in the context of residential real estate closings.
- Appointed by the Superior Court in Massachusetts as Special Master in Bahig Bishay v. Mercedes-Benz of North America, Inc., 416 Mass. 1 (1993), an important case interpreting the Massachusetts automobile dealer franchise law.
- Appointed as Special Counsel to the Massachusetts Board of Registration In Medicine in a landmark physician disciplinary action involving eight cardio-thoracic surgeons who were performing low volume cardio-pulmonary bypass surgery and open surgery in a suburban hospital setting.
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CASES
The following is a list of some of Tom's court cases which were favorably concluded by verdict or summary judgment:
- Bartolotti v. Hayden, May 21, 2007
In a case of first impression, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled in favor of Tom's client, a Cape Cod landowner, when it reversed the trial court and held that a right of first refusal without a stipulated price is not invalid under the common law rule against perpetuities.
- In the Matter of Evan M. Slavitt, March 16, 2007
In this bar disciplinary case, the Supreme Judicial Court issued a decision, following briefing and argument, ruling that the proper sanction for the lawyer's conduct in question should have been a two month suspension not the one year suspension imposed by the Board of Bar Overseers, and ordering the lawyer to be immediately reinstated.
- Chervin v. The Travelers Insurance Company, 448 Mass.95 (2006)
Tom represented Travelers in this appeal which involved novel issues concerning subrogation actions brought by insurers. In the decision, the Supreme Judicial Court clarified the law of malicious prosecution in Massachusetts. In particular, the court adopted the "improper purpose" formulation in the Restatement (Second) of Torts in place of the element of "malice" when seeking to prove the tort of malicious prosecution. The court also ruled that a claim under Chapter 93A, the Massachusetts consumer protection statute, was bared because there was no business relationship between the plaintiff and the insurer. The case was remanded to Superior Court for trial.
- Susan Morrison v. Toys "R" Us, Inc., 440 Mass 1108 (2004)
Tom represented Toys "R" Us following an adverse ruling by the Appeals Court and successfully petitioned the Supreme Judicial Court to grant further appellate review. After briefing and argument, the Supreme Court reversed the Appeals Court and entered judgment in favor of Tom's client. The case holds that self-insured companies are not subject to the punitive aspects of chapter 93A if they insist on their day in court even where liability may be reasonable clear.
- Richard Goldstein et al. v. The Savings Bank Life Insurance Company of Massachusetts, 435 Mass 760 (2002)
Tom successfully briefed an argued this appeal before the Supreme Judicial Court on behalf of the insurer. In the case, the plaintiffs sought more than $50 million in allegedly wrongfully withheld dividends.Michael Panzarella vs. Travelers/Property & Casualty Company (2002)
This case involved a bad faith claim against an insurer which allegedly violated the Massachusetts bad faith statute by failing to settle a slip and fall case. The insurer had offered between $125,000 and $250,000 to settle the case. The jury returned a verdict of $1.8 million. In the bad faith action, the plaintiff sought damages of $4 million. In April 2000, the Court issued a decision ruling that the insurer had not engaged in bad faith in failing to settle the case. Tom tried the bad faith case in the Superior Court.
- FHS Properties Ltd. Partnership v. BC Associates, 175 F. 23d 81 (1st Cir. 1999).
Tom was co-counsel to limited partnerships which sued the managing general partners for a declaration that the partnership was not responsible for settlement payments made to third parties. The partnerships are the owners of the International Place office towers in Boston. The managing partners' motion for a new trial was denied by the district court judge and the decision was affirmed on appeal.
- Tri-Co., Inc. v. Star Building Systems, 32 Bank. Ct. Dec 803 (May 14, 1998).
This adversary proceeding involved a suit against Tom's client which allegedly received a post-petition payment. The Court found in favor of Tom's client and ruled that the payment was not voidable.
- Allied Flourescent Company vs Aetna Casualty & Surety Company (1996)
This bad faith case involved a claim for punitive damages in excess of $3 million for alleged bad fatith claims handling arising out of a commercial fire loss. After six days of trial in the Rhode Island Superior Court before a jury, the court directed a verdict in favor of Aetna.
- Lorraine Melanson vs. Aetna Casualty & Surety Company (1996)
This case involved a claim of bad faith in which the insureds alleged that the insurer had wrongfully denied a fire loss claim on the grounds that the insureds had procured the loss. After a jury trial in Plymouth Superior Court, in which the insureds recovered on the policy, the court entered judgment for Aetna on the chapter 93A bad faith claims.
- Foxon Packaging Corp. v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 905 F. Supp. 1139 (D. RI. 1995).
This case involved a claim under a comprehensive general liability policy (CGL) against an insurer for refusing to defend and indemnify an employer in an employment discrimination case. Tom represented the insurer, which successfully moved for summary judgment.
- Michael Andrade vs. vs. Aetna Casualty & Surety Company (1995)
In this first party action against an insurer, the plaintiff alleged that the insurer had wrongfully denied coverage under the uninsured provisions of a motor vehicle policy. The insurer denied the claim based on the fraud of the claimant. Following a trial in Suffolk Superior Court, judgment was entered in favor of the insurer on the chapter 93A claims.
- Quigley v. UNUM Life Insurance Company, 688 F. Supp. 80 (D. Mass. 1988).
In this action, co-executors of the estate of a pension plan beneficiary brought suit against UNUM for breach of contract and misrepresentation regarding the terms of the plan. Tom's motion for summary judgment on behalf of UNUM was allowed.
- Paul G. Ferragamo v. Metropolitan Bay Transportation Authority, 395 Mass. 581 (1985).
Tom defended the MBTA in this wrongful death action involving the death of a person who purchased used trolley cars, which were then cut up for scrap and recycled.
- Faulkner Hospital Corp. v. Schweiker, 702 F. 2d 22 (1st Cir. 1983).
Tom successfully represented the hospital in this Medicare reimbursement dispute in which the Court ruled that the hospital was entitled to claim reimbursement for losses it incurred in as a result of a state mandated phase out of one of the hospital's subsidiaries.
PUBLICATIONS
The following is a list of some Tom's publications and lectures.
- "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do (Correctly)," Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, February 2005
- "The Uncertain Lessons of the Andersen Conviction," Boston Business Journal, July 19 - 25, 2002
- Thomas F. Maffei and Lawrence Friedman. "Attorney/Client Privilege: Where Should We Draw the Line? Permitting Lawyers To Prevent Physical and Economic Harm," in Boston Bar Journal (January/February 2002).
- Thomas F. Maffei. "Bad Faith Claims Handling- G.L. c. 93A and G.L. c. 176D," in Massachusetts Liability Insurance Manual (MCLE, Inc. 2000).
- Editorial, "A Legal Solution for Millennium Bug," The Boston Globe, February 17, 1998
- "Latest Developments In Damage Calculations Under Chapters 93A and 176D," Unfair Insurance Settlement Practices, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc. (1997)
- "Defending Insurance Bad Faith Claims," Unfair Insurance Settlement Practices, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc. (1996)
- "Termination - The Surety's Involvement," The Construction Superconference, San Francisco, California December, 1995
- Chief Justice Edward F. Hennessy - A Fond Farewell," 74 Massachusetts Law Review 2 (Spring 1989)
- "Lawyer Professionalism: The MBA Takes The High Road" MBA Newsletter, vol. 29, Number 7 (April 1989)
- Editorial, "State Court Logjam Affects Everyone," The Boston Herald, April 15, 1989.
- "Statewide Law-Related Education Plan Off and Running," MBA Newsletter, vol 29, Number 5 (February 1989)
- "Linking Tradition With Tomorrow," MBA Newsletter, vol. 29, Number 1 (September 1988)
- "Ensuring Client Satisfaction Through Bar Education," MBA Newsletter, vol. 29, Number 4 (December 1988)
- Thomas F. Maffei and Stephen R. Latham, "Private Bar Involvement In The Development of Pro Bono Legal Services" The Massachusetts Experience," 73 Massachusetts Law Review 153 (Winter 1988).
- "Rule 11-The Wrong Approach To Professionalism In Civil Litigation," 73 Massachusetts Law Review 98 (Fall 1988)
- "The Flashner Judicial Institute: A Decade of Accomplishment," 73 Massachusetts Law Review 150 (Winter 1988)
- Chapter 11, "Civil Practice and Procedure," 1977 Annual Survey of Massachusetts Law 225.
- Chapter 14, "Civil Practice and Procedure," 1976 Annual Survey of Massachusetts Law 435
- Chapter 4, "Contracts," 1975 Annual Survey of Massachusetts Law 58
- Chapter 5, "Trusts and Estates," 1974 Annual Survey of Massachusetts Law83
- Comment, "Hazardous Toys: Private and Governmental Approaches to Product Safety," 11 B.C. Ind. & Com. L. R. 480-498 (1970)
- Comment, "The Patent Misuse Doctrine, A Balance of Patent Rights and the Public Interest," 11 B.C. Ind. & Com. L. R. 46 (1969), Reprinted in 52 Journal of the Patent Office Society 178 (1970)
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LECTURES
- "Preparing Examination and Cross-Examination of Expert Witnesses, " Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc., 2003
- "Counting Down to Trial," Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc., 2002 - 2004
- Participant, Attorney General's Distinguished Lecture Series, "Misdirected Faxes and Other Inadvertent Production Issues," March 2002
- Participant, Attorney General's Civil Trial Training Program, Northeastern University, June 3, 1998
- "The Changing Roles of Law Firms and Accounting Firms in Tax Practice", Boston Bar Association, May 20, 1998
- "Bad Faith Claims: Trends and Successful Litigation Strategies," Executive Enterprises, Inc., Orlando, Florida, April 3, 1995
- "Unfair Insurance Settlement Practices," Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Inc., February 13, 1995
- "Judicial Process in Community Courts," Harvard Law School, Fall, 1992. Hearing Committees' Training Session, Board of Bar Overseers, December, 1992
- "Courts in Crisis," United Chamber of Conference, February 15, 1989. "Court Accreditation: The Wave of the Future," Harvard School of Public Health, October 20, 1988.
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