News

February 1, 2010:   The SJC issued an opinion in favor of the firm’s clients reversing a fee award entered in the Probate Court in a will contest case.  Tom Maffei and Doug Tillberg represented the prevailing parties.  The case was extensively reported in the legal press and was featured in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as an important case dealing with legal fees and fee shifting awards. 

November 20, 2009:  After a week long trial of insider trading claims brought by the SEC, a jury sitting in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts returned a verdict in favor of our client, David Hinkle.  Mr. Hinkle was represented by Dan Tighe and Doug Tillberg.

November 2009:  Our client, Massachusetts General Hospital, settled its
litigation with a Canadian drug company when the Canadian company agreed to pay MGH $20 million in additional royalties on the sale of Visudyne, a drug used to treat diseases of the eye.  The settlement was the largest settlement reported by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly for 2009.  Tom Maffei, Dan Tighe and Scott McConchie represented MGH.

October 2009:  After two and a half week jury trial, a Middlesex County jury returned a verdict in favor of our client, Emptoris, Inc., on various contract claims brought against Opera Solutions and some of its employees.  Subject to post-trial motions, Emptoris expects judgment to enter in its favor in the amount of approximately $1.5 million.  Emptoris was represented by Dan Tighe and Scott McConchie.

October 2009:  Tom Maffei was selected for inclusion in the 2010 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® in the specialty of Ethics and Professional Responsibility Law.

October 10, 2009:  Tom Maffei was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers at the College’s annual meeting in Boston.  There are 5729 members of the College throughout the United States and Canada.  The College, whose membership is by invitation only, is the premier professional organization of trial lawyers in North America.

July 13, 2009:  Tom Maffei and Patricia Hennessey published an article in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly entitled “Lawyer Comings and Goings: Issues to Consider in the Current Environment.”  The article addressed the effect the economic downturn is having on the legal profession and what lawyers caught in the downturn should consider when thinking about making a change.

June 2009:  Tom Maffei was elected a trustee of the Social Law Library in Boston and a trustee of the Flashner Judicial Institute.

April 24, 2009:  Tom Maffei participated on a panel at the American Bar Association’s Spring 2009 National Legal Malpractice Conference in Miami, Florida on the examination and cross-examination of expert witnesses in legal malpractice cases.

February 19, 2009:  In 2006, our foreign clients were sued in Massachusetts federal court.  We obtained the dismissal of the complaint against them as well as sanctions against the plaintiff, who was required to pay all of our clients’ attorneys’ fees.  The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the award of sanctions below, and also allowed our clients’ motion for fees and double costs related to the appeal.  Scott McConchie represented the defendants.

February 10, 2009:  An article in Law 360 highlighted a recent decision of a US Magistrate Judge in Boston in Max Planck v. Whitehead Institute ruling that our clients are entitled to a jury trial on their damage claims.  The plaintiffs are represented by the GT&M and Irell & Manella, LLP of Los Angeles.

July 1, 2008:  The Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled in favor of the firm’s clients in a dispute over the terms of a tenancy in a commercial office building.  In particular, the Appeals Court reversed the Superior Court’s ruling on summary judgment and held that the landlord had not acted in bad faith, as a matter of law, when it sought an increase in rent greater than that provided for in the option portion of the original lease. Tom Maffei argued the appeal.

June 10, 2008:  After briefing and oral argument by the firm, the Middlesex Superior Court dismissed a negligence claim brought against one of the firm’s clients, a law firm that was giving risk management advice to insureds via a malpractice insurer’s pre-claim hot-line.

May 14, 2008:  The Superior Court issued a Memorandum of Decision and Order allowing our client’s motion to dismiss claims for breach of the duty to defend and indemnify and for violation of M.G.L. c. 93A, where the plaintiff claimed that it was a third party beneficiary of a commercial general liability policy issued by the firm’s insurer client.  Tom Maffei and Doug Tillberg represented the insurer.

January 2008:  Tom Maffei was elected to the Board of Trustees of MCLE, Inc., the largest provider of continuing legal education programs to Massachusetts lawyers.

December 2007:  The firm obtained dismissal of a purported class action suit against it in which the plaintiffs alleged that our client’s lightbulb packaging was unfair and deceptive.  Tom Maffei and Scott McConchie represented the client along with the client’s outside corporate counsel. 

November 2007:  A judge in the Business Litigation Session of the Suffolk Superior Court granted in part our client’s motion for summary judgment, ruling that our client’s interpretation of the parties’ data license agreement was correct and the defendant owed payment to the firm’s client on certain invoices issued in connection with the license agreement.  

September 15, 2007:  Summary judgment was entered for one the firm’s insurance company clients in a case involving the failure of the insured to update information on his life insurance application, information which had materially changed between the time he applied for insurance and the time the policy was approved.  The Essex County Superior Court agreed with our client that the policy was void ab initio. Scott McConchie represented the insurer.

May 21, 2007:  The Supreme Judicial Court ruled in favor of the firm’s client, a commercial property owner, ruling that a right of first refusal without a stipulated price was not invalidated by the rule against perpetuities.  Tom Maffei and Scott McConchie represented the commercial property owner.

March 15, 2007:  The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts entered summary judgment in favor of the firm’s client in a securities case and denied the plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification.  Dan Tighe represented the prevailing party.