Fitch Law Partners LLP

08/27/2022

Ice cream truck is again the biggest hit of the annual lobster 🦞 party!

08/19/2022

Supreme Judicial Court Forces Delivery Drivers to Arbitrate Claims Against Grubhub

Joining other courts that have addressed the same issue in their own jurisdictions, on July 27 the Commonwealth’s highest court decided Grubhub’s food delivery drivers are not a “class of workers engaged in ... interstate commerce” and, therefore, are not exempt from the Federal Arbitration ...

08/18/2022

Getting to Know the Convention on the Contracts for the International Sale of Goods

It is increasingly common for purchases and sales to cross international boundaries. When that happens, what law applies? First, the parties to a contract must look to the contract to determine what law applies. If the contract is silent, the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the Internatio...

08/17/2022

Condominium Trust, Management Company, and Concierge Services Provider Have to Duty of Care to Protect Residents from Foreseeable Crimes

The Superior Court recently held a condominium trust, condominium property management company, and concierge services provider owed residents a duty of care to protect against foreseeable crime by third parties who enter through common areas. Dr. Richard Field and Dr. Lina Bolanos lived in a large c...

08/16/2022

Penalties for Violation of the BSA Reporting Requirements: On a Per-Form or Per-Account Basis?

The purpose of the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) is, among other things, to require “certain reports or records where they have a high degree of usefulness in criminal, tax, or regulatory investigations or proceedings or in the conduct of intelligence or counterintelligence activities …” 31 U.S...

08/15/2022

Doing More with Less: In Zoning Board of Appeals of Milton v. HD/MW Randolph Avenue, LLC, et. al., the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Affirms a Judgment by the Housing Appeals Committee to Strike Down Restrictions in a Comprehensive Permit that Made an Affordable Housing Project Significantly More Uneconomic

In 2014, the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency (“MassHousing”) issued a project eligibility letter to developer HD/MW Randolph Avenue, LLC (“HD/MW”) for a ninety unit, mixed-income residential development in Milton. The letter qualified HD/MW to apply to the Milton Zoning Board of Appeals...

08/08/2022

Employer Ordered to Pay Treble Damages For Late Payment of Wages, Pursuant to Massachusetts Wage Act

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently ruled that an employer who failed to pay a discharged employee for accrued unused vacation time until three weeks after the date of her discharge violated the Massachusetts Wage Act. The Court held that the employer was strictly liable to the employe...

08/07/2022

In unanimous opinion, Supreme Court champions trial court discretion in international child custody disputes.

On June 15, the Supreme Court in Golan v. Saada resolved a circuit split regarding the application of the “grave risk” exception under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (“Hague Convention”). Adopted in 1980 and ratified by over 100 countries (includin...

08/06/2022

Supreme Judicial Court Finds Attorneys' Fees Are Not Damages

Where an insurance policy provides coverage for damages because of, e.g., bodily injury, property damage, or advertising injury, does that insurance policy cover attorneys’ fees awarded as a result of a covered claim? The Supreme Judicial Court has just said that it does not. In Vermont Mutual Ins...

08/05/2022

COVID-19 and War in Ukraine Impact International Arbitration Cases

Last summer, experts predicted a significant uptick in international arbitrations (especially those held via international arbitral institutions) would outlast the COVID-19 crisis. Unfortunately, despite our strongest wish that COVID-19 would be behind us by this summer, we are still in the throes o...

08/04/2022

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Addresses the Right of First Refusal Contemplated by the Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program

The federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program (LIHTC), IRC §42, was created to encourage the creation of low-income rental housing for low-income households. It provides tax incentives to investors to make equity investments in exchange for tax credits and other tax benefits. Pursuant to IRC §...