An arbitrator has rejected a $30 million claim by the Massachusetts Technology Park Corp. (MTC), and awarded KCST USA, f/k/a Axia NGNetworks USA, Inc., and Axia  NetMedia Corp. $12.2 million from MTC, a Commonwealth of Massachusetts state agency, in the dispute over the...

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...

Murphy & King Attorneys Dan Rabinovitz and Christopher Condon presented at the American Bankruptcy Institute's 25th Annual Northeast Bankruptcy Conference and 13th Annual Northeast Consumer Forum in Stowe, Vermont, in July 2018. Dan Rabinovitz contributed to a panel which discussed approaches to complex bankruptcy cases, highlighting...

This past December, Murphy & King Shareholder Dan Rabinovitz once again led the week long National Institute of Trial Advocacy’s Boston Trial Program. The program culminates with the attorney participants trying mock jury trials at the Moakley Courthouse on Boston’s waterfront. Rabinovitz enlisted the help of 100 Boston area high school...

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...

Murphy & King, Professional Corporation announced today that it has launched a White Collar Defense and Internal Investigation practice and hired veteran attorney Daniel Rabinovitz to lead the new practice group. Rabinovitz has joined Murphy & King as a shareholder of the firm and is an experienced business, securities, and white collar...

Recently Congress voted to disapprove the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Arbitration Agreements Rule, which would have prohibited agreements to arbitrate in certain consumer financial contracts that bar consumers from...

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...

We recently launched an initiative to engage associate attorneys in developing their networking and business development skills called “Raising the Bar 3.0.”  It was set up as a business development initiative where each associate attorney was assigned a secret identity known only to the administrator of the initiative.  Each networking and...

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...

Murphy & King, Professional Corporation announced today that Attorney Steven M. Veenema has been elected a Shareholder of the firm. After beginning his career at a large Boston firm, Veenema has been practicing at Murphy & King since 2012. He represents clients in complex business disputes, focusing on shareholder, intellectual property...

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...

Boston, MA – (January 3, 2017) – Murphy & King, Professional Corporation announced today that Andrea L. MacIver has joined the firm as an Associate working on complex business and commercial litigation matters. In this role, Ms. MacIver will assist the practice in shareholder disputes, claims of commercial fraud, IP disputes and complex...

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...

Attorney David Evans participated as part of a panel of experienced arbitrators, advocates and inside counsel discussing arbitration in 2016 and focusing on (a) real world experience and data regarding litigation and arbitration time tables and costs; (b) when arbitration makes sense and when it might not; and (c) a detailed overview of the most...

Andrew Lizotte chaired a panel on Current Retail Bankruptcy Issues at the 18th Annual New England Bankruptcy Law Conference held in Boston on November 16, 2016.  Andrew’s presentation focused on recent operational and legal developments impacting the retail industry.  Andrew was joined on the panel by Don Rothman at Riemer & Braunstein,...