Recent decisions have cast light on the dispute over the proper treatment of claims of taxing authorities arising in a “straddle” tax year, which begins before the bankruptcy filing date and ends after it.  Because of the ambiguities of the drafting in revised § 507(a)(8) of the Bankruptcy Code, a tax claim arising in a straddle year could...

A familiar scenario: After an intensive mediation, the parties draft a term sheet intended to be binding and to replace their existing contract which included an arbitration clause. A formal settlement agreement cannot be reached, however, and the parties disagree on the legal effect of the term sheet. What now? Is the dispute for the court or...

This article addresses some recent developments highlighting potential risks and pitfalls for directors and officers of a corporation if good corporate governance is not followed. Under the internal affairs doctrine, corporate governance is determined by the law of the state in which a company is incorporated regardless of its principal place...

Like judges, arbitrators are paid for their time. Judges, of course, draw a salary from the treasury, while arbitrators are paid by the parties. The freedom to choose an arbitrator best suited to the case is one of the great advantages of arbitration, but because some businesses are “repeat players,” appearing frequently before a particular...

Effective October 1, 2018, Massachusetts will have a new statute regulating employers' enforcement of non-competition agreements. This article briefly summarizes key provisions of this new law, which applies to agreements entered into on or after its effective date. Summary of Statute Most notably, the statute requires that employee...

In a recent Radio Entrepreneurs podcast, we discussed the various circumstances under which principals of a company can be exposed to personal liability for the debts of that company, including potential liability for...

Most attorneys representing closely held companies in Massachusetts likely took note of the recent decision in Baker, et al. v. Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, et al., in which the Appeals Court allowed the non-client minority members of an LLC to pursue breach-of-fiduciary-duty claims against the company’s counsel. The...

When a Ponzi scheme collapses, as they all eventually do, the court must develop a process for repayment of victims based upon the limited funds that may be available.  A critical component of this process is determining the amount of a victim’s claim that will share in any recovery.  The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a...

Attorney Andrea MacIver wrote "SHOOT NOW, ASK QUESTIONS LATER: HOW TECHNOLOGY-BASED STARTUPS DRAFTKINGS AND FANDUEL ARE CHANGING THE WAY WE DO BUSINESS" for the Quinnipiac Law Review, Vol. 35, Rev. 217. I. INTRODUCTION “We were really focused on how to get a business started, how to raise capital, how to find an office. We weren't thinking...

One of the principal benefits for an individual filing for bankruptcy is the so-called fresh start, that is, a discharge of liabilities that arose prior to the bankruptcy.  A recent decision of the Massachusetts Bankruptcy Court addressed the right to a discharge in relation to covenants not to compete with a former employer or...

In November 2016, we provided an update on a novel bankruptcy case addressing an individual’s right to exempt the value of their home under the Massachusetts homestead law.   Specifically, the case involved whether Massachusetts law could be applied to exempt the value of property located in another state (it can).  A Massachusetts bankruptcy...

Occasionally, a person or company in bankruptcy (the debtor) and a related person or company allow their financial affairs to become a bit too entangled. In these circumstances, bankruptcy courts may impose several remedies, one of which is substantive consolidation. Substantive consolidation effectively provides for the merger or combination of...

The First Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that the federal government was able to terminate a bankrupt's Medicare/Medicaid Provider Agreement without violating the automatic stay, rendering an important decision on the intersection of bankruptcy and Medicare law. On June 15, 2015 Parkview sent the Center for Medicare & Medicaid...

The bankruptcy appellate panel for the First Circuit (BAP) recently ruled on the rights of a licensee of trademarks when the licensor files for bankruptcy and the licensor rejects the contract during the bankruptcy case. Tempnology, the debtor in bankruptcy, had a prepetition agreement with Mission Product Holdings (MPH) giving MPH certain...

When an individual files for bankruptcy, the law generally allows that individual (the "debtor") to keep, or exempt, certain assets, with the remaining assets being sold to pay claims of creditors.  Exemption rights are designed to help the debtor achieve a "fresh start" after bankruptcy.  In Massachusetts, state law allows a debtor to exempt...

Almost three years ago now, the Supreme Court decided Atlantic Marine Construction Company v. U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, 134 S. Ct. 568 (2013) and instructed both courts and litigants on the correct procedural and analytical framework for enforcing a contractual forum-selection clause. The Court held that: (1) the party...

One of the principal benefits for an individual filing for bankruptcy (a “debtor”) is the entry of a discharge, or forgiveness of debts arising prior to the bankruptcy filing.  Section 727 of the Bankruptcy Code provides circumstances under which a debtor may have their discharge denied in its entirety.  Section 523 of the Code, in turn,...

One of the principal benefits of purchasing assets out of bankruptcy is that buyers typically are able to acquire the assets “free and clear” of the liabilities of the company in bankruptcy.  This ability allows the purchaser to better estimate value for the assets or business to be acquired by limiting concerns of inheriting problems of the...

Have you ever sent a text and immediately regretted it? Have you ever sent a text that ultimately became a binding contract to sell a $3 million dollar piece of real estate? Loose fingers beware, according to a recent Massachusetts court decision a text can be deemed to constitute consent to a binding real estate transaction. In St. John’s...

Arbitration is often a preferred alternative to litigation of large complex commercial cases.  Many studies have shown that arbitration offers procedures that are more economical and efficient than court proceedings.  For example, a recent survey conducted by the American Arbitration Association (AAA), the largest provider of alternative dispute...