1st Circuit Court

Woman sues over barbecue brush, seeks unspecified damages for surgery costs

A free barbecue brush that came with a new grill was no bargain, a Maine woman contends. In a January lawsuit filed in Maine state court that has since been removed to federal court there, Deborah Lamont says the high-carbon steel brush was unreasonably dangerous. Her Aroostook County Superior Court…

Feb 24, 2015 4:30 PM CST

Advocacy group for the deaf sues Harvard, MIT; allege lack of closed-captioning for online courses

An advocacy group for the deaf sued Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Thursday over a claimed lack of closed-captioning in their online educational materials. Filed in federal court in Boston by the National Association for the Deaf, the two suits say the elite schools are violating…

Feb 12, 2015 12:50 PM CST

Many courts close early Monday, plan to stay shuttered Tuesday as predicted monster snowstorm looms

As snow began falling Monday in what is forecast as a potential record-breaking blizzard in the Northeast, court officials joined those in charge of schools and other government offices in declaring an anticipatory shutdown. Amidst airport and school closings and warnings against unnecessary travel, a number of Boston and New…

Jan 26, 2015 4:50 PM CST

Lawyer charged in claimed scheme to launder nearly $1M in fraudulently obtained tax-refund checks

A Boston area lawyer who specializes in real estate closings has been indicted in a claimed conspiracy to launder nearly $1 million in fraudulently obtained federal tax-refund checks. R. David Cohen, 63, is charged, along with an alleged co-conspirator, with depositing 152 checks totaling $993,677 into several bank accounts, starting…

Jan 15, 2015 10:00 AM CST

Security measures at Boston Marathon bombing trial extend outside courthouse

As jury selection began this week in what is considered by many the highest-profile U.S. terrorism trial since Timothy McVeigh’s over the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, security was high. In addition to a fleet of U.S. Homeland Security vehicles parked outside Boston’s federal courthouse and driving around it and the…

Jan 12, 2015 6:15 AM CST

Harvard law grad loses defamation suit over plagiarism rebuke on transcript

A Harvard Law School graduate says she lost out on BigLaw work because an unfair reprimand claiming she plagiarized a law review article was included on her transcript. But a federal judge saw the matter differently, granting a summary judgment Dec. 30 to Harvard and other defendants in the defamation…

Jan 8, 2015 1:25 PM CST

Jury selection to begin in Boston Marathon bombing trial

Jury selection is expected to begin Monday in the federal capital murder trial of the surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is charged with 30 counts, including 17 that could result in the death penalty if he is convicted in the April 15, 2013 bombings at the Boston Marathon…

Jan 5, 2015 7:10 AM CST

En banc 1st Circuit ruling nixes state-funded sex-change surgery for prison inmate

Reversing a federal district judge and a three-judge appellate panel, an en banc federal appeals court on Tuesday said Massachusetts does not have to pay for sex-change surgery for a prison inmate serving a life term for a domestic slaying. Rejecting an argument that refusing needed medical treatment for Michelle…

Dec 16, 2014 2:45 PM CST

Retired lawyer sues Bill Cosby, says claims she lied about alleged sexual assault were defamatory

A retired lawyer who for years has claimed Bill Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her decades ago has now filed a defamation suit against the famous comedian. By repeatedly describing her claims that he drugged and groped her at one point during the 1970s as lies, Cosby has damaged her…

Dec 10, 2014 1:45 PM CST

Judge nixes fees for bankruptcy lawyer, citing ‘passive-aggressive’ response to required forms

A Massachusetts bankruptcy lawyer who repeatedly submitted court forms for one client without filling in all of the information they required was axed from the case on Monday by a federal bankruptcy judge. Citing attorney Walter Oney’s “passive-aggressive refusals to provide all of the pertinent information,” Judge Henry Boroff ordered…

Dec 3, 2014 2:30 PM CST

Lawyer accused in passed-note cover-up may be bounced from case, 1st Circuit says

A lawyer accused of showing a note to a client during a deposition and then lying about its contents won’t be able to continue as counsel in the federal case, a federal appeals court has ruled. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a magistrate judge’s decision to…

Nov 18, 2014 9:50 AM CST

Friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect is guilty of lying to feds, could get up to 16 years

After six days of deliberation, a friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was convicted Tuesday by a federal jury of lying to investigators. Because the jury found that the lies related to a terrorism investigation, the maximum sentence on each of the two counts on which Robel Phillipos…

Oct 28, 2014 2:10 PM CDT

Judge upholds gay-marriage ban, says contrary rulings rely on ‘ingenuity and imagination’

A federal judge in Puerto Rico has upheld a ban on gay marriage in an opinion calling heterosexual marriage “the fundamental unit of the political order.” U.S. District Judge Juan Perez-Gimenez upheld the Puerto Rico gay-marriage ban on Tuesday in a decision (PDF) that bucks the trend, report the Washington…

Oct 22, 2014 8:56 AM CDT

Woman charged in wiretap case after videotaping traffic stop wins $57K settlement

In the wake of a recent federal appeals court decision that greenlighted her civil rights suit, a New Hampshire woman has won a $57,000 settlement over a criminal case pursued against her for videotaping a friend’s 2010 traffic stop. The wiretap case against Carla Gericke wasn’t prosecuted, but she sued…

Jun 5, 2014 7:15 PM CDT

1st Circuit says woman had right to video traffic stop, OKs civil rights suit against police

A federal appeals court has given the green light to a New Hampshire woman’s civil rights lawsuit against Weare police. Carla Gericke had a constitutional right to video a police traffic stop of a friend in 2010, the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday. Hence, she may…

May 27, 2014 9:45 PM CDT