Given that his last day in the office was more than five years ago, former state employee John Sorrentino figured by now his golden years in Florida would be that much more comfortable, thanks to the retirement benefits he had earned through nearly 20 years working for the Department of Public Health ..read more

A Massachusetts man who told police he was exorcising a demon and performing a baptism when he shoved his father's head under water multiple times has been convicted of involuntary manslaughter in his death ..read more

Marshfield appears unlikely to draw a state lawsuit promptly after its Town Meeting on April 22 reportedly rejected a plan that would have complied with new zoning requirements for communities near MBTA service. Marshfield Town Meeting shot down an 84-acre zoning change by a 169-289 vote, according to The Patriot Ledger, which reported that the ..read more

Following is a list of the cases scheduled to be argued before the Supreme Judicial Court in May, with summaries of the issues presented in each case ..read more

Where a plaintiff participant in a retirement plan has filed a complaint alleging violations of the duty of prudence and a failure to monitor plan fiduciaries, a motion to dismiss should be denied except to the extent that the plaintiff seeks to hold the defendants liable for maintaining Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA) as a custodian in light of a joint investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York attorney general ..read more

Where a divorce judgment has been challenged on appeal, the judgment must be amended because the lower court erred by treating a $5 million bonus both as a divisible asset and as income for purposes of calculating alimony ..read more

Where a plaintiff union has alleged that the defendant promulgated and maintains a standard for firefighters’ turnout gear that effectively requires manufacturers to use polytetrafluoroethylene and other substances that are carcinogenic, the defendant’s motion to dismiss should be allowed in part with respect to a civil conspiracy claim but denied in part as to G.L.c. 93A and negligence claims ..read more

Where a defendant has moved for leave to amend its counterclaims to add Bank of America as a trustee process defendant and to include a counterclaim for an attachment on trustee process, that motion should be allowed because the proposed counterclaim would not be futile and the plaintiff has not shown that it would be unfairly prejudiced ..read more

Where (1) an application for a comprehensive permit was filed, (2) the Hingham zoning board imposed setback conditions that addressed the density and intensity of the project and (3) the Housing Appeals Committee struck those conditions, the committee’s decision should be upheld because the board failed to prove that a valid local concern outweighed the need for affordable housing ..read more

Where a petitioner retired from the Gloucester Retirement System on accidental disability and from the Essex Regional Retirement System on superannuation, he is not entitled to continue to receive two retirement allowances under the “dual membership law,” G.L.c. 32, §5(2)(e), so his retirement must be calculated according to §3(7)(d) instead ..read more