Appeals Court

Federal Masshole has a conviction overturned

adamg — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:01:56 +0000

The Massachusetts Appeals Court today overturned the assault conviction of a gun-toting Commerce Department agent who ended a road-raging duel with a motorcyclist on Boston streets by swerving his government-owned Maxima into him and then making a run to New Hampshire as the man lay on the ground, broken and bleeding.

Court rules you need to balance your checkbook every month

adamg — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:39:04 +0000

The Massachusetts Court of Appeals ruled today that Bank of America and Citizens Bank can't be held to blame for cashing forged checks because the forger's employer waited more than 30 days to report the problem.

Grassi Design Group and Beauchemin Grassi Interiors of Boston sued the banks after the owners learned one of their employees had made out "numerous" forged checks and that both banks had cashed them. But as the court ruled:

The plaintiffs have conceded that they failed to examine the monthly statements sent to them by the defendant banks. General Laws c. 106, § 4-406, requires a bank customer promptly to examine monthly statements and to notify the bank of any unauthorized transactions, as the customer is in the best position to discover and report forgeries. If the customer fails to report the first forged check within thirty days, the customer is precluded from recovery for any additional checks forged by the same wrongdoer and paid in good faith before the bank has received notice from the customer. G.L. c. 106, § 4-406(d )(2).

Also? That whole TV thing about springing surprise witnesses? Not in Massachusetts, you don't.

Complete ruling:

A horse is a horse, of course, of course, unless that horse is a galloping horse

adamg — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:39:31 +0000

A local riding stable will have to defend itself against a claim it gave an inexperienced rider a horse that was too feisty for her, but won't have to prove there was nothing wrong with its riding equipment.

Susan Pinto sued the Revere-Saugus Riding Academy over injuries she received when she jumped off a horse named Twilight when it started galloping out of control and her saddle started slipping.

The Massachusetts Appeals Court today ruled that there were any number of reasons Pinto's saddle could have slipped and that she failed to prove that the problem was that the saddle was either defective or not properly placed on the horse - even aside from the issue of whether a state law holds stables harmless for riding accidents. The court cited laws and prior decisions in more horse-familiar territory, specifically, Wyoming and Texas:

Many reasons have been proffered in cases as to why a saddle may slip.

However, the court said the stable will have to prove it was not negligent in letting her ride Twilight, a supposedly docile, older horse that couldn't cut it on the racetrack. Pinto told academy workers she wanted 'a "bomb proof' horse, a 'dead broke horse.'" Twilight was supposed to be just such a horse, but, Pinto alleges, when a stable worker brought out Twilight, he was "prancing and tossing his head, and appeared to have a lot of energy, 'too much energy.'"

Complete decision:

Court upholds firing of Boston cop who helped beat up a guy in the Pru garage

adamg — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:24:18 +0000

The Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled today the Boston Police Department had the right to fire a patrolman who teamed up with his brother and a couple of pals to beat up a guy in a 2003 parking-garage dispute.

The court ruled that while, technically, Noel Docanto had not been convicted of the off-duty attack, it was only because he had admitted to sufficient facts and that that plea did not lessen the nature of his "felonious conduct."

The court described the incident:

Court overturns man's fourth OUI conviction because jury heard about the first three too early

adamg — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:47:14 +0000

The Massachusetts Appeals Court today overturned a drunk driving conviction partly because the jury inadvertently learned he'd already been convicted of three similar offenses.

The guy was being tried in a "bifurcated trial," in which the jury was first charged only with determining whether he'd been driving drunk in the latest incident. But a medical record the jury requested to see during deliberations indicated this was his fourth OUI trial. The judge immediately told the jury to disregard that bit of information, but five minutes later, the jury returned a verdict of guilty. Meanwhile, earlier in the trial, a state trooper had testified the man refused to answer questions during booking.

The court ruled that not saying anything during booking could not be used against the man and that this violation of his Miranda rights, coupled with the slip in the medical record, "created a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice such that reversal is required."

Complete ruling:

Court: They took the road more traveled by, and that has made all the difference

adamg — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:00:49 +0000

The Massachusetts Appeals Court today ruled a Sandwich couple could not bar people from walking along a path on their property to the beach because people had been using the path for at least 20 years. That's enough time for a "prescriptive easement" to develop, the court ruled.

However, the court said it was OK to dump boulders at the entrance to the path to keep motor vehicles out.

Complete ruling:

Court: There are some things a cop can ask you before reading you your rights

adamg — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:44:37 +0000

The Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled today a Superior Court judge was wrong to dismiss evidence from a car stop against four people charged with a brutal Roxbury home invasion in 2006.

A woman's home is her man's castle, court rules

adamg — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:37:48 +0000

The Massachusetts Appeals Court today threw out the conviction of a man police found with an illegal loaded gun, ruling police improperly went after him in his girlfriend's apartment building even though the pair raised suspicions when they barred the door in officers' face in an apparent escape bid.

The court ruled that two Boston officers investigating a Mission Hill break-in early on the morning of Sept. 2, 2006 didn't have sufficient cause to enter the building after they questioned the man as he and the woman walked along Darling Street to her residence at 30 Darling St.

According to the decision, the couple went inside the building as police looked at his Mass. ID card, then he went up the stairs while she stayed at the door.

The court ruled the man did not match the description given out by a police dispatcher for the break-in suspect and up until the point the two tried to leave, they did nothing to give police any reason to suspect they had just been involved in a crime. The court allowed as how people walking around Mission Hill at 5 a.m. could raise suspicions - as could the manner in which the pair left the officers and then locked the building door. But:

Nonetheless, the combination of those factors did not accumulate to a level of reasonable suspicion that the defendant had committed, was committing, or was about to commit, a crime. Nor did that combination equal a reasonable belief that the defendant was armed and dangerous.

Therefore, both the rush into the building and the pat frisk that revealed the gun, violated the man's constitutional rights, the court decided.

The ruling follows:

State appeals court to Boston City Council: Knock it off

adamg — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:22:33 +0000

Terry Klein has a copy of the decision and some analysis of a case in which the council was accused of illegally barring the public from at least 10 meetings over a two-year period (including one on a tularemia outbreak at a BU lab). Although the court sent some issues back to a lower court for final disposition, the justices are clearly getting a little tired of the Boston City Council, in a decision that starts:

The city council of Boston finds itself, not for the first time, on the losing end of a determination that it has improperly excluded the public from its deliberations. ...